Can the law of attraction work for YOU?

According to the many exponents of the 'law of attraction,' when we really want something and when our desires, thoughts and actions are in alignment, the thing we want will manifest. But is it really that simple? If so, then why are there examples of passionate, hardworking, dedicated people who don't get what they really, really want. What about the candidates in the run up to the US presidential election this year? Presumably they all really, really want to be president, they are all passionate about this and they are all working hard to achieve it - isn't everything in alignment? But only one of them can be the winner. Does all this 'law of attraction' stuff really work?

First, it's important to realize that the 'Law of Attraction' isn't just wishful thinking - it has a scientific basis.

The last thing we want to do is get bogged down with quantum theory. I have a Science degree from Oxford, and believe me, quantum mechanics is not a 'light' subject. But what we can say for sure (as far as we can say anything for sure) and in simple terms is that, in a sense, nothing is real - everything is energy; every person, every object, every thing is a disturbance in an energy field which pervades the universe. In a very important sense, we are all connected together and vibrations in the energy field tend to accumulate with other, similar vibrations. In other words, like attracts like. When you think about something habitually, you tend to attract it. I will be exploring the area of the Science behind the law of attraction in future articles. In the meantime, an excellent book to read on this subject is The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra.

Where you are currently is a result of your past thoughts, beliefs and feelings

You need to accept you current situation. You created it, you chose it, so you need to take responsibility for it. But your current reality is, in a sense, always just an echo of your past thoughts, beliefs and feelings. What you are thinking and feeling right now is creating your new, future reality. What's in your mind is more important than anything else, because this is where you're headed.

Be clear about what you desire to create

Because what's in your mind is so crucial, you need to make sure you're clear about what it is you're trying to create. Most people create by default by a random and endlessly changing streams of thoughts and feelings. By becoming conscious of your habitual thinking patterns and how they are making you feel, you can start to replace them with better, more carefully constructed thoughts. Only with consistent and habitual thoughts and feelings will you start to consciously manifest your desires.

Don't try to control the process.

Once you have chosen, then the universe does everything else. You don't need to figure out how it will happen - you couldn't orchestrate things as well as the universe can even if you tried.

Bob Proctor says, 'everyone that ever accomplished everything did not know how they were going to do it. They only knew they were going to do it.'

Things are going to happen, people are going to turn up in your life, you're going to see something or get something in the mail that turns on a light. Whatever happens, it isn't going to be through your manipulation of events. A farmer doesn't make crops grow by going out every day, watching them, measuring them, pulling them - all s/he can do is to sow the seed and let nature do the rest. We tend to get impatient, to say 'this isn't working - I need to do something' and then we revert to the old patterns of doing things our way. Look back on your life - could you have planned it like that? We need to be open to the fact that we don't have a clue - not a clue - about what is going to happen tomorrow. But if we relax, let go and trust the universe (or God) to get things done, it will happen, and you will find yourself looking back in amazement at how events lined themselves up and everything came together to deliver what you chose to manifest.

Don't be too desperate As I have written about elsewhere, when we try to achieve something too hard, we tend to push it away. The awkward teenaged boy who is desperate for a girlfriend just comes across as desperate and needy, whereas the confident, self assured guy attracts girls effortlessly - this 'law of reverse effort' seems to be a constant theme of nature - sometimes it's called detachment - when you act and believe that all will be well, detached form the specific details of the outcome, then all will indeed be well.

Abraham-Hicks wrote, 'No matter what it is, if you really want it, and if you get out of the way of it, it will happen. It must be. It is Law. It can be no other way. It's the way this Universe is established. If you want it and you relax, it will happen.'

Do you really believe what you are thinking and saying?

Affirmations work for some people, not for others. You can stand in front of the mirror every morning repeating your affirmations but, if you don't really believe them, they're not going to be effective. It seems to me that affirmations can serve some purpose - they can focus your conscious attention on what you are choosing to manifest, and that can't be a bad thing. But what's more important is your underlying beliefs and, even more important, the feelings you have about those beliefs. If you truly believe what you're saying to yourself, and you feel good about it, then everything is 'lined up' and the law of attraction will deliver what you want.

According to Joe Vitale, 'It's really important that you feel good, because this feeling good is what goes out as a signal to the universe and starts to attract more of itself to you.'

But often there is a conflict between the way we feel, the things we believe and the things we tell ourselves. And there's the rub - you've got to make sure that every part of you is in agreement. But before you give up or decide to get psychotherapy or make an appointment with a hypnotist, the good news is that it's not that hard - basically you need to find a way of making yourself feel good about what you are saying to yourself. If you're saying 'I am rich' and then feeling envious about the guy driving the new Mercedes, then you're associating being rich with the feeling of jealousy, defeating your self-talk.

How you make yourself feel good is something I will be exploring in future articles. There are some techniques such as the Sedona method, the Emotional freedom technique (EMT) and Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) which will be the subject of future posts.

The timing needs to be right

Things will happen at the right time. When everything has come together, the result will manifest. How and when this happens is not for us to say. An oak tree takes a long time to grow, a cress seed will develop into a full grown plant in a matter of days. But you are a magnet, and you are endlessly attracting things to yourself - if the magnet is more powerful then things will naturally manifest faster. Like anything, practice makes you better. But don't be anxious; don't keep trying to figure out how things will happen and when. It's very important to be happy with the current situation - feeling good now is the best way to create an abundant future.

In the end, the key is to keep holding on to the thought, and truly believe it, and find a way of feeling it - thoughts become things.

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