Lately I've been reading a lot of what's out there about the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction. It's nice to think that I could think my way into a million-dollar, beach-front home.
In many areas of my life, I know that it was my thoughts and motivations that made things happen in my life. I have had a lot of my dreams come true, while I know friends of mine who never try to make their dreams come true -- they don't think it's possible.
Last night I read a couple of articles that grounded the ideas of the law of attraction and positive thinking. While I don't like the title of his site because it only adds to the hype, there's an article on Instant Wealth Attraction about beliefs that makes sense to me. It basically says that it doesn't matter what I'm thinking or trying to attract to myself if I have an underlying belief that cancels it out. For example, if I'm thinking and visualizing a beach-front home, I'll never live in it if I believe that people who have those houses are selfish, overly rich, and wasteful.
I read an article by Jerry and Esther Hicks that spoke about having an emotion to match what it is I am trying to attract into my life. The most important emotion to have is joy. It is from joy that we have the ability to create/attract/make happen anything we want in our lives. It makes sense to me that, if I'm coming from a joyous place, my life won't be dependent on what "things" are or are not in my life. I won't HAVE to have something, so I won't be coming from a point of lack when trying to make something happen.
When I think about the dreams I've made come true in my life, I have always believed the dream was possible and just thinking about the dream brought me joy. I didn't have to have the dream right away; it was good enough to just daydream about it. And, gradually, things shifted that made my dreams reality.
What are you all thinking about the hype over the law of attraction and positive thinking?
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Comments: 16
I think you've hit the nail on the head, though. It really IS about joy.
If everyone practiced the LOA on some level, they world would be a happier place :)
I do have some issues with the movie THE SECRET though....it is not that I don't agree with it, but some peole who are not familiar with the LOA could misinterpret it based on the movie. It just makes it seem too simple. In my opinion the LOA takes a lot of practice- you have to totally reshape your thinking and way of behaving. It is a process...but this is just my opinion. Maybe some people can accomplish it overnight. I wish I could...but I am learning :)
If you look more closely at "The Secret", "What the Bleep Do We Know" or read more closely "Write it Down, Make it Happen", you'll see it's more about belief, being joyful, thankful and keeping that positive mindset, living your life as if your goals have already been achieved, and - I cannot say it enough... Faith (which we all know can move mountains!). :-D
I also agree that you have to be grateful & positive- but the most important is faith.
The Hicks' work, Lyn Grabhorns book (can't remember its name but it is about Emotional Energy), and many others can be viewed as a spiritual way of talking about basic psychological principles - where you focus is what you percieve. Focus on the bad that people do and you will percieve only the bad that people do (while ignoring the good they do).
I worked with someone who always whined about how bad she was treated by the boss but I never saw the evidence. She was just used to complaining and percieved ever action the poor man did as an intentional slight against her. He was no saint but no devil either. Worse she thought the world was against her. We both decided to move on, and I told her I was focusing happy thoughts about my next job. She did the same. Over the next month or so I was told of three new jobs coming up that I would be a shoe-in for. My co-worker got two leads out of the blue. When I told her to go for them herself, she wouldn't, complaining about having the time to do the application or she might not like the new office or supervisor. I did take one of the new jobs eventually, and she didn't even apply for the ones she'd been told about. She was still stuck and whining last time I saw her.
LOA? Or just percieving the world in a new way and not missing the opportunities when they present themselves? I think it is both. Positive emotional energy breeds enthusiasm to take the plunge and keep the motivation going. However, I have used LOA and had a result that can't be put down to changed psychology - eg, I thought how nice it would be to connect to my childhood, and within the week I ran into an old schoolfriend I hadn't seen since I was 13. Coincidence, my sceptic friend would say. Maybe, but I will continue to test and believe, because the cool rational world of the sceptic is good for building planes and buildings but not much fun for enjoying the world and feeling empowered.
I dwelled on it constantly, but than after awhile, I started thinking, what's next? There has to be more. I can see the results, but I really don't know how to do it, except just to think about something that I want. So I began to search (on the internet), every topic that had any bearing on The Law of Attraction. I was starting to become obsessive, but that's how I get, when something moves me, that much.
The Law of Attraction says that everything is energy...so I looked up energy. I looked up quantum physics, and I found sites that spoke, in depth, about how you can change your life, by just changing your thinking. After I'd gathered enough information, I decided to try it.
One night, I constructed a creative thought: I wanted to go to work the next day, and find on the floor, a crisp, new $20 bill. So I began to envision myself, walking through the parking lot and the building, and looking down and seeing a crisp, new $20 bill on the floor. I saw myself pick it up, fold it up and slip it into my pocket.
The next day came. I walked through the parking lot, then through the building. I kept looking down, because I KNEW that I would find it. The morning went by and it was time to go to lunch.
As I was walking out of the building, I noticed a woman, about 20 feet ahead of me. Suddenly, a huge amount of crisp, new $20 bills began flying through the air! They had slipped out of her pocket (she had them in a bank envelope), and they were all over the floor. When she realized what had happened, she began to gather them, and then continued out of the building.
Now let's analyze this: (1) I decided on what I wanted. (2) I said it to myself, as if it already happened. "I am walking through the parking lot and through the building and I find a crisp, new $20 bill. I go to pick it up and then I slip it in my pocket." This is what I kept saying to myself.
(3) I actually thanked the powers that be (in my case, God), for this gift, and I said I was grateful. (4) I began to visualize the entire scene. And I did that over and over again that night, probably at least twenty time. (5) I let the thought go, and went to sleep.
(6) When I got up the next morning, and as I was dressing, and while I was driving, and as I was walking into the building, I kept my focus on that one, solitary thought. Then it was time to actually work, so I let it go. (7) It happened.
Why was it someone else's money, instead of it being mine? I think I know the answer to that now. When I firt visualized it, I had one fear: that it would be someone else's money and I would basically be benefiting from someone else's loss and I didn't want that. So you see, the fear factor messed up the ending.
What I learned from this is that, before you start doing any of this, if you want it to work, you have to get rid of any imbedded fear that is in your mind, regarding the situation. For example, you can't have the belief that "money is evil so if I have too much, that makes me evil, too." Believe it or not, lots of people think this way, because someone pounded that fact into their brain, when they were younger.
I think I've made progress in the two months that I've been studying this. I actually found a company that offers a kind of Mind Expansion course that comes on a CD. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it's turned out to be an amazing tool. It helps you get rid of those useless fear that stop you from suceeding. It takes away stress and competely relaxes you within minutes (I never had another sleepless night, after I started this.) And it helps you to focus on what you really want.
Well, I think I've taken up this whole page, lol. But anyway, if you want to know where to get this program, just contact me by e-mail. I'd be happy to point you towards a better life. :)
I think the other key to all this is ego. If we are wanting things just for ego's sake, we may get it, but it may not work out the way we were hoping it would.
I highly recommend the Conversation with God books as a place to start studying. While I can't say I completely agree with everything Neale Donald Walsch writes, I do believe he has a lot of good things to say. And I haven't experienced him to be one of the ego-driven writers out to make a million...or two...as their sole purpose