Purposeful Growth

Have you ever heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it? I’ve found it’s true for me. Writing about the Law of Attraction helps me to better understand, clarify, and apply it to my life. I hope this article helps you, too. If you missed part 1, dated October 9, you can read it at this blog. Click “When the Law of Attraction isn’t Working,” along the lower right side of this page, or just page down to the October 9 entry.

When the Law of Attraction Isn’t Working, part 2

In the last article, I described the Universal Law of Attraction: like attracts like. We attract that which is like us—in energy vibration, not physical appearance. When it seems this law isn’t working it’s our natural tendency to question it. But the Law of Attraction always works; it never fails to bring us exactly what we’re attracting.

When life is not what you want it to be, accept that you’ve attracted exactly what you’re experiencing. Even if it’s hard to believe, believe it anyway. This is crucial—if you do not accept that the universe is working just as it should, you lack the power to change life experience. This is step 1, the most important step to take in attracting the life you desire.

The remaining 7 steps that follow will help you consciously utilize the Law of Attraction:

2. Clarify what you want. Visualize the thing you desire and—this is important—feel the resulting emotion. Emotion—a state of being—is what we really desire. The things we think we want are only a means to an end—the end being an emotion. We think we want money, but we really want the emotion of security, abundance, or some other emotion/state of being which money will bring. We think we want a life partner, but what we really want is to love and be loved, to be intimately connected to another.

3. Identify any negative emotions associated with what you want. Watch carefully for negative emotions associated with what you want. We often fear some aspect of what we believe we desire. This fear will diminish our powers of attraction, probably resulting in more of what we now have. Pursue these negative emotions, what do they convey, what are you avoiding?

Do you desire to write a book, but fear it, too? The energy projected from your fear will offset any positive energy projected from your desire to complete the book—you’ll continue to attract the inability to complete the book.

4. Clarify what you don’t want and why. Visualize what you don’t want, and note the associated emotions. List these emotions. Next to each negative emotion, ask yourself what belief you might hold, or what experiences you might have had that cause that emotion. A negative emotion is always associated with a fundamental belief, perhaps buried deep in the subconscious.

Taking the book example again, assume you realize what you don’t want is to invest a huge amount of time and energy writing a book which few people read—a waste of your effort. As you think about this, you feel unimportant, insignificant, as if you’ve nothing to contribute. Insignificance is what you really fear, and this is what is preventing you from achieving the completed book.

A belief you hold is sponsoring this fear of insignificance. In plain, harsh words, you might believe the following: I have nothing of value to offer the world. Perhaps you subconsciously hold this belief because of harsh criticism from parents, teachers, or employers. As long as you hold this belief, you will continue to attract life experiences directly or indirectly supporting the belief.

5. Carefully examine each belief you identified in step 4. Accept that this belief has been true for you up until now, but it need not be true in your future. Decide to discard the belief, realizing that broad generalizations are oversimplifications. Look for exceptions to the belief. Look for examples in your life that disproves the belief. Perhaps you find you enjoy writing, and others enjoy reading what you write.

6. Convert each belief to a form that will help you; write each belief identified in step 4 on a new line. Now revise the belief to form a positive affirmation supporting forward movement. For example, assume you’ve identified the following belief as a source of your fear associated with writing a book: I am not a brilliant writer, so a book that I write may be laughable to others. Make the following change: The book I write will be the best book I can write at this time, and my satisfaction and reward will come from doing my very best, rather than from the opinions of other people.

7. Transfer your list of modified beliefs—these are now positive, supportive affirmations—to a clean sheet of paper. Read each affirmation slowly and carefully twice each day, morning and evening. As you read each affirmation—each new belief—feel the emotion associated with it.

8. Reinforce your positive orientation by calling forth similar, positive emotions each day. Make a habit of allowing only positive thoughts. A good way to do this is to think of three things you are grateful for having in your life. Hold each in your mind and feel the emotion of it. Do this upon waking each morning and before going to sleep each evening.

When something negative happens—as it will—look carefully for a positive aspect to hold in your mind. A traffic jam on your way home may slow you down, but also gives you an opportunity to relax and think of pleasant evening activities.

Will you always attract the life you desire by following these steps? I wish the answer were a resounding yes. For those who are life masters—or close to mastery—the answer is a consistent yes. Masters consciously create exactly what they desire. Unfortunately, most of us fall short of mastery, so the best we can do is to strive for our life’s desires using this process, accepting that we may fall short at times.