Law of Attraction
Much has been written about the Law of Attraction. It is the concept discussed in the fairly recent hit movie, The Secret. The idea is that you attract what you think about. It’s simple enough to understand - if you think negative thoughts or believe in negative outcomes for your life, then that is what you’ll attract. Conversely, if you think positively and believe that only positive outcomes can happen in your life, then that is what you’ll attract.
I am a logical person, and I have never given much weight to such visceral concepts; however, as a habitual negative thinker, I have discovered that during the last 6 years or so, much of my life has been rather negative. Also, there have been many negative consequences in the last 6 years.
So when the time came to move to the island, I saw an opportunity to change the way I think, the way I do things, and to try to dump my negative thinking patterns. Let me tell, you it isn’t easy! A habitual negative way of thinking can literally rob a person of years of their life. I know this - at 50 I feel that the last 5 or 6 years have been a sheer waste of time.
Slowly I am coming around to what the “spiritual teachers” have been saying for centuries. Live in the present moment, meditate whenever possible, practice affirmations (or positive thinking), and visualize your goals. To the negative thinker, there is an immediate resistance to these practices.
For me it goes something like this.
- Live in the Present (ah, this is nice: inner voice - wait a minute, I’ve actually stopped worrying - this is uncomfortable - better start worrying again!)
- Meditate (inner voice - I can’t do that. My brain is way too noisy; I just fall asleep)
- Affirmations (I will achieve goal X: inner voice - No you won’t! Look at your past, you’ve proven beyond doubt that you’re an inept idiot!)
- Visualization (a sail boat in the Mediterranean: inner voice - whaddya mean? That’s not possible, you’re broke and you’ll always be broke!)
I am slowly learning that affirmations are one of the toughest things to practice for a negative thinker. Affirmations dictate that you should say positive things that aren’t necessarily true. For example, an overweight person wishing to lose weight might say, “I am slim and I am beautiful”. So, it is not necessary to believe your affirmations, it is only necessary to say them, over and over, consistently for a period of time. In the end, the message gets driven into the subconscious mind, and then the subconscious mind will accept them as true, and then they become true! Affirmations require faith, another real problem for the negative thinker. Negative thinker’s don’t have any faith.
So what does this have to do with the law of attraction? Glad you asked.
Visualizing is the concept of seeing one’s self at some point in the future actually living out the dream. If your dream is to own a yacht, then visualizing is “seeing” all the features of the yacht, the size and type of the engines, the color, the helicopter on the back, the name, the parties that will be thrown, the people you’ll invite, whatever. They say the clearer the picture, the better chance of achieving the dream.
Something I’ve been visualizing (when I’m not worrying or beating myself up that is), is getting together with friends and jamming on the guitar. I’ve had my guitar for over 15 years, but I’ve never actually found the right group of people. But moving to the island, for some reason, brought this little dream to reality. Recently I met a new friend, and he mentioned that he has friends over every Wednesday night to jam, and would I like to join?
I was a little apprehensive at first - what if they were all expert musicians, and I’m just sitting there like an inept beginner? But I decided to go for it. Lo and behold, they are all friendly guys who don’t give a rats ass if I can play or not, they are just there to have fun. And I am now a part of that fun
For the friend who initially invited me to the guitar jam sessions, his law of attraction visualization became a reality too. He had been wanting to start a blog for midlifers, and had actually begun to learn the ins and outs, but had found the process a little overwhelming. When I discovered this, I said, hey! I already have such a blog. Do you want me to help you with yours? And so, that is what has happened. He now has a blog because he met me, a person who has some experience with blogs.
I cannot think of a better example of the Law of Attraction at work. Both of us wanted something. We both found it. And it is all because we THOUGHT about it. That is what the law of Attraction is all about.
“You will become what you think about” - Earl Nightingale.
“What you can conceive and believe, you can achieve” - Napolean Hill
