You hear it repeatedly in the worlds of motivation and self-improvement: Raise your frequency. Vibrate higher. Unlock the energy inside you.
It sounds good. It feels powerful. But what does it mean?
Nikola Tesla once said, “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
Every thought is real, not just an idea, but a burst of electricity. When you think, neurons fire across tiny gaps in your brain, sending electric signals back and forth at incredible speed. Those electrical patterns move, creating vibration. What is vibration? Vibration is movement back and forth – tiny waves of energy shaking through space, like a plucked guitar string.
Your thoughts, though invisible, create tiny waves of movement through the energy field around you. When that movement repeats at a certain speed, it forms a frequency – how fast something vibrates. Scientists measure frequency in hertz: one hertz equals one whole vibration per second.
If something moves back and forth 440 times in a second, its frequency is 440 hertz – the same principle that tunes a guitar string or measures your brainwaves. A slow frequency feels heavy and sluggish. A fast frequency feels light, alive and powerful. Your body, emotions and thoughts constantly shift up and down this invisible scale, tuning your experience moment by moment.
When people talk about “higher frequency” thoughts, they’re tapping into something real, yet often misunderstood. Scientists can’t hook up a machine and measure the frequency of a single thought.
However, they can measure the overall electrical activity of the brain using devices like EEGs. Different mental states create different brainwave frequencies. So, while we can’t say exactly what frequency a single thought is, we know your state – calm, creative, fearful, inspired – corresponds to real, measurable shifts in how fast your brain is vibrating.
A hopeful thought hums at one frequency. A fearful thought hums at another. You are tuning yourself moment by moment like a living instrument.
Thoughts don’t stay in your brain. They trigger real physical reactions in your body. Hopeful thoughts release serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin; fearful thoughts flood you with cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals don’t just change how you feel; they change how your entire body vibrates – your breathing shifts. Your heart rate speeds up or slows down. Your muscles tighten or relax. Your cells resonate differently depending on what’s moving through you.
People mean this by a vibrational state – a biological symphony shaped by your thoughts and emotions. You are electric. You are vibrating. You are broadcasting – whether you realize it or not.
When you speak, you unleash those frequencies into the world around you. Sound is vibration. When you talk, your voice literally moves molecules through the air. You change the physical environment around you with your words – the tone you use, the energy you carry, the emotional charge inside each syllable.
A kind word lifts a room. A sharp word cuts it down. Words aren’t just ideas; they are ripples of energy – real forces that move through people, changing how they think, feel and even see themselves. Your voice is not a decoration. It is a transmitter. Use it wisely, and it becomes one of your most powerful forces.
Your dominant frequency becomes the lens through which you see the world. If you run on fear, the world looks hostile and overwhelming. If you run on gratitude or courage, the world looks open, full of possibility. The frequency at which you live in colors every interaction. It determines whether you see setbacks as signs to quit or signals to adapt. It defines whether you see obstacles as walls or doorways.
Reality doesn’t change. You do. And by tuning yourself, you start to experience a different world altogether.
Tesla wasn’t just speaking to inventors or engineers. He was speaking to anyone ready to wake up to the truth: You are not just walking through life – you are shaping it from the inside out. Every thought, every emotion, every word is a pulse sent into the world, bending and shaping your path.
You’re not waiting for change. You’re creating it. Charge yourself wisely. What you build with your energy becomes the life you live.
• Toby Moore is a Shaw Local News Network columnist, star of the Emmy-nominated film “A Separate Peace,” and CEO of CubeStream Inc. He can be reached at feedback@shawmedia.com.