The Law of Attraction is a term that was popularized by the New Age movie The Secret. The Law of Attraction describes a phenomenon where thought and mental focus shape external circumstances. In other words, our thinking and mental focus helps to manifest the physical circumstances of our lives.
According to the Law of Attraction, if we think of and mentally focus upon financial abundance we will be financially abundant; if we think of and mentally focus upon financial lack we will be financially impoverished.
The Law of Attraction is a quite controversial notion because it presumes that life circumstances are, in significant part, attracted through mental focus. So that situation you’d always thought was just a bad break… actually you brought it about through your focus. This is a concept that many people are likely to reject.
But here’s the good news, according to Law of Attraction:
Much of what has been attracted has occurred through subconscious or unconscious thought and mental focus. If we become conscious about our thinking and focus we can direct them in such a way as to bring about life outcomes we’d prefer to have. For instance, if we consciously and consistently think about and focus on financial abundance eventually financial abundance will come about.
This notion is often written off as absurd. Most of us are convinced that the way to shape the external world to our liking is through physical effort, often significant physical effort. Tell someone that they can make the external world to their liking simply through thought and mental focus and you’re quite likely to have it solidly rejected.
Fair enough. No one is obligated to accept a belief about anything. People who presume the Law of Attraction is nonsense are likely not to apply it and so will never know whether it is, in fact, nonsense.
But is it nonsense? In reality the so-called Law of Attraction is a new label that’s been attached to an ancient notion of shaping the external world through mental focus. This notion absolutely did not spring into being when the film The Secret was released. There are references to it in ancient spiritual texts including The Bible, wherein Jesus said —
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
The classic book Think And Grow Rich was written by Napoleon Hill in the 1930’s. Within this text the author reveals the method many early American financial successes used for achievement: simply think and focus upon it as if it were already so.
Sound familiar? If not then see the Biblical quotation above. By the way this discussion is not religious in nature. References to intentional manifestation occur across all religions and are found in nonreligious texts as well.
I personally find the Law of Attraction to be a valid notion because I am convinced the essence of human beings is not a flesh and blood physical form: go deeper into it and find pure conscious awareness itself, the infinite and ultimate All. It is this presence that can, and does, manifest. In fact it manifests regularly, even constantly. If we make a conscious effort to direct this manifestation can we succeed, and subsequently see specific life circumstances come about?
Try this simple exercise to test the validity of the Law of Attraction for yourself. Honestly consider your own life, from all aspects. Does the reality of your life, happy or not, match or conflict with the general state of your focus and thinking as it relates to your life? In other words, is your focus and thinking about life in alignment with the way your life presently is, or not?
Only the individual can provide a truthful answer to this question but my experience is that, when thinking and focus are genuinely analyzed, they typically do match the external circumstances of our lives.
If we decide to make the effort to consciously manifest life circumstances, to consciously implement the Law of Attraction, here are some guidelines:
– Give serious and very specific insight into what is wanted and then consider not the means — I want ten million dollars — but the end — I want financial security without having to work a job.
– Write down the specific end that is wanted — handwritten or typed. Write this desired end out in present tense, as if it’s already come about — Not I want to have… but I have…
– Immediately read this written desired end (out loud or mentally). Going forward, read it twice per day: once in the morning and once at night.
– Spend at least fifteen minutes per day thinking about and focusing on this desired end; again, as if it’s already happened. See it. Feel it. Have fun with it. You don’t need to force any sort of emotional response into your vision — you don’t have to “feel” enthusiastic or excited or anything of this sort. Just think about and focus upon your wished for end as an already completed manifestation.
(Get more information about the Law of Attraction Here and Here.)
