The Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction is pretty straight forward. It is expressed in various ways, e.g. “What you put out is what you get back,” Likes attract likes,” Birds of a feather flock together.” Or, simply put: “We attract what we think about.”

Quantum Physics is demonstrating that thought does move matter and that by thinking certain thoughts, we get predictable outcomes. For example, if an observer expects a quantum (currently the tiniest observable object) to behave as a particle, it will. If the observer expects the quantum to behave as a wave, that’s the way it will behave. In effect, our thoughts direct energy to create our reality and everything in it.

If we spend time thinking about something positive that we want, we can attract it, thus demonstrating the power of positive thinking. If we spend time thinking about something negative that we don’t want, we will attract it as well, thus demonstrat¬ing the power of negative thinking.

Most of us do not focus our thoughts very well. We think about things we want, things we don’t want, things we love, things we fear, and because the Law of Attraction always works perfectly, this collection of conflicting and confused thoughts creates a haphazard and mixed result. When this happens, we are not cre¬ating on purpose, we are creating aimlessly. To work the Law of Attraction to our advantage, we need to be very disciplined and laser-like in our thinking.

Managing The Law of Attraction to achieve exactly what we want is tricky. Here are ten ideas to be mindful of, that if not taken into account, can undermine the achievement of our desired outcomes. They are:

1. We are frequently too fuzzy or imprecise in formulating and expressing exactly what we want and when we want it. To focus our thoughts and con¬centrate them on what we want, it is helpful to write goal state¬ments, in cur¬sive script, describing exactly what we want. Make sure that each statement is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Related to your values, and Trackable/Time-related (SMART). Edit and rewrite them until you are satis¬fied that you have very tight, clear, SMART statements of exactly what you want.

2. Once we have clear, concise goal statements, we need to declare that we want them. Some do this in prayers to God, First Cause, Source Energy, All That Is, etc., some declare it to “The Universe”, some express an intention that the subconscious mind can work on. To me, these are all the same thing, so whatever works best for you, is the way to go.

When expressing our want(s), it seems to add energy if we visualize. That is, run a little movie in your mind of what it would be like to have the goal. See its attributes and features; feel the enjoyment derived from having it. Employ the senses and the emotions – all of these add potency. As well, visualizing works best when in an altered state of consciousness, with the subconscious mind at the fore, such as when in hypnosis, self-hypnosis, meditation, or just before falling asleep.

Now, there seems to be two opposing views here. Some say we should state our intention, and in an almost obsessive way, repeat it over and over, at every opportunity. The other view says: Articulate your goal and then release it, forget about it, and allow the universe to do its thing.

My view is that both work and each can be effective. The key element is belief – if you believe one approach works, it probably will, and it doesn’t really matter which one you pick.

3. We have to discipline ourselves and focus our thoughts on what we want and be sure not to dwell on the lack of it. For example, if we want peace, then love peace, don’t hate war. If we want wellness, think about health and don’t dwell on illness or disease. If we want wealth, think about money and abun¬dance and not about upcoming bills or the lack of funds.

4. It is important that we live at a vibrational level similar to the vibrational level that we set up when we originally got excited about the thing we wanted.

The idea here is based in physics. Physics tells us that, at the sub-atomic level, everything is vibrating energy. Everything vibrates, tables, chairs, you and me. Humans vibrate at a faster frequency than animals and inanimate objects, and humans vibrate differently from each other, depending on how evolved we are and on what we are thinking and feeling.

So here’s the dilemma: If we look at our constantly changing world and identify a new goal, we become excited about the prospect of achieving that goal. That excitement results in a particular vibrational frequency, usually one that is higher than normal. Now, when we go about our daily living, things may not be as exciting, and so our vibration drops. As long as it stays at this lower level, it will not match the level of excitement or the vibration we had when we expressed our goal or want. There is an incom¬patibility here. When we think of our goal, our vibrational frequency is at one level and when we are living most of our life, it’s at another. Because the two are not on the same level, they can’t exist together, so the goal can’t be achieved.

The challenge now is to get the level of vibration in daily life to rise and match the level of the goal. One significant clue for doing this is presented in Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret’, where she says at the end: “The most important thing is to be happy.” Being happy raises our vibration and so does being grateful. So, if we focus our attention on pleasant thoughts or engage in activities that bring us joy or gratitude, we raise our vibration. The more we vibrate at this higher frequency, the more likely we are to meet our goals.

To this end, it’s a good idea to periodically examine our thoughts, be vigilant about what we say, watch what we expose ourselves to, and be careful about who we hang around with. All of these can be sources of negativity and all can lower our vibration and undermine our intent.

5. Speaking about watching what we say, some people think that expressing our intentions is best stated with the words: “I want…” I disagree because if we declare a want to The Universe, that what we will get…wanting. I think it’s better to express such words as: “I have, I am, I enjoy my …, I love my…, I am grateful for…, etc.”

6. Many of us harbor limiting beliefs such as: We are not worthy, I don’t deserve to have it, it’s just not possible, all rich people are crooks, etc.

Believing is seeing, so if we don’t believe something, we won’t see it. Henry Ford said: “If you believe it is or if you believe it isn’t, you’re right.” Belief, or expectation, is critical to manifesting our goals, and developing a new one or getting rid of an undesirable one is not always easy. To make matters worse, we often don’t even know what our beliefs are. Discovering a limiting belief and dealing with it could involve lengthy psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, or some other remedial program.

After identifying the limiting belief, the usual approach is to affirm an oppo¬site belief often enough that it becomes dominate and pushes the old one away. A negative form of this is called Brainwashing, and it can work. Affirmations work best in conjunction with vivid visualization, picturing the preferred belief in action, employing the senses and emotions. And, these work best when we are in hypnosis, self-hypnosis, meditation, or just before falling asleep.

7. Someone once said: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” A plan is a delinea¬tion of the steps (often mini-goals) that we intend to take in order to reach our intended target. If a goal doesn’t at least start with a plan, then it’s merely a wish and lacks potency. In reality, however, goals are often achieved in ways that the planner never envisaged, and the journey to achieving the goal, with its various twists and turns, is more of a learning experience than ever originally intended.

8. Some action on our part is required, even if only a first step. Leaving it all to “The Universe” isn’t usually enough. If you want to win the lottery, you have to buy a ticket.

9. If a goal conflicts with one of our values, we are setting up a dissonance that will frustrate the goal’s realization. For example, if we strongly value fam¬ily, we probably won’t achieve, or hold for long, a corporate position that will involve long hours and frequent travel. It isn’t always easy to recognize such a conflict, but we all come with a built-in guidance system that can help – the emotions.

All of our emotions fall into two camps: those that make us feel good and those that make us feel bad. When we think thoughts or undertake actions that make us feel good, this is our system telling us that we are on the right track. And conversely, thoughts and behaviours that make us feel bad tell us we are on the wrong track. Again, feeling good is how we raise our vibration, and when we feel good, we know that our goal is compatible with our values.

10. Our want may not be in our overall best interest. Put another way, we incar¬nate into each physical life with a pre-set general purpose, aiming to touch a few bases and experience a few ideas, in order to learn and evolve. If we establish a goal or a want that would undermine our overall life-purpose, it becomes like pushing string uphill – it probably won’t happen. There’s not much we can do here, but chances are that such a goal would not really excite nor would it be consistent with our values. Re-examining and picking a different goal would likely be our best course.

Well, that’s about everything I know about the Law of Attraction. I got most of it from the books and recordings that are sitting on my bookshelf. I have more than a dozen such sources and they are all saying approximately the same thing: “We attract what we think about.”

The earliest source I know of is from Plato in the year 391 B.C., “The Law of Affinity.” After that, I have “The Master Key, which was published in 1912.” This is followed by Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich,” Norman Vincent Peale’s “Power of Positive Thinking,” Earl Nightingale’s “The Strangest Secret,” right up to modern day works by Brian Tracy, Ester and Jerry Hicks (Abraham), Deepak Chopra, and Wayne Dyer.

This story has been told over the centuries, and it seems to boil down to:
• Get a clear picture of what you want.
• Declare it and choose your words carefully.
• Think about it and not the lack of it.
• Have a plan and take some action.
• Eliminate limiting beliefs, if you can identify them.
• Ensure that your goals are consistent with your values and life purpose.
• Keep your vibration up.

So that’s my take and I don’t for a moment, think that is all there is to it. I do seem, however, to be achieving more of my goals and I have every intention to keep writing new ones and giving each of them considerable thought. I hope you do too.

More about this subject and others can be seen at www.peterhdennis.com.