how do i play higher rated

how do i change the settings so I can play opponents that have a higher rating than me?

You don't anymore.  Before they changed it a few years ago so many folks were playing only higher that it screwed up the seeks.  You can still enter open tournaments though.  Here's the original thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/livechess/new-logic-for-auto-pairing-and-seek-graph

EDIT:  Actually you still can send seeks for higher rated, but you have to set up a Custom game each time.  Custom is in the drop down time menu.

When you click Custom, a Rating Options button pops up and you're in business.  It could take much longer to get a match though.  Here's the article on it.

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1622811-how-are-seeks-matched-in-live-chess-

Have fun!

You can set up your rating options in custom then change back to one of the regular time controls and that should put you in the auto-pairing pool with those custom rating options set.

Thank you.