Tag Archives: Self-Help Memoir

Contributor: Law of attraction believer Max of powerfulintentions.org and the Empower Network.

I have been deeply involved in spirituality for a number of years now. From a young age I felt a burning desire to know what was real and true. I knew that there was more to life than I was seeing. I felt incomplete, disconnected and lost.

I had a very comfortable childhood and yet I always felt something was missing. Like many people, I assumed that by perfectly arranging the circumstances of my life I could find this completeness. This belief was seen through by the time I finished high school. During my four years there I had desire after desire fulfilled, until there was nothing more I could ask for. I had a large group of friends, a great girlfriend, I was a star athlete, and was even crowned prom king. I was acutely aware of this blessed period of my life, and yet, the hole in my heart was as big as ever. My life had conformed to exactly what I wanted, but I felt the same as I always had: incomplete. From that moment I knew that simply getting what I liked and avoiding what I didn’t like was not going to be enough.

This realization forced my to look deeper into life. I started devouring books on philosophy and religion. I became taken by the ideas of Buddhism and Indian philosophy. In these teachings I found confirmation of something I had sensed my entire life: that there was a deeper reality to life that the vast majority of people are unaware of. And that this unawareness is the cause of all suffering, confusion, and discontentment in life. I was told, and I believed, that only by discovering this truth for myself could I find lasting peace and happiness.

From that moment on I did everything I could to find a way to access this deeper consciousness. I began meditating, doing yoga, ingesting psychotropic plants, as well as reading, listening, and watching various spiritual teachers alive and dead. During a particularly condensed period of focus I experienced a fundamental shift in my awareness. I still can’t put into words what happened, but it completely changed the course of my life. Equal parts clarity and confusion poured into my experience; however one thing was certain: I still felt incomplete.

I was still searching.

Years later this experience continued to reverberate through my life, slowly dissolving all forms of resistance. My life became easier and easier, but my seeking was as strong as ever. I felt I had reached a dead end in my spiritual search. I couldn’t keep waiting for enlightenment to fix my life. I realized that, in a way, I had been using spirituality to avoid fully engaging with my life. Life was passing me by and I realized I need to stop waiting and start living the life I wanted now before it was too late.

Around this time, a friend of mine who I met while teaching English in South Korea asked me if I would be interested in joining an online network marketing company that he was a part of. It was certainly not something I would typically be interested in. Being a business person and striving to make tons of money had always felt unnatural to me. Additionally, this offer raised all the red flags of a scam. However, I trusted my friend and more importantly, I was tired of working uninspiring odd jobs, making just enough money to scrape by. I needed a change desperately. I knew money couldn’t buy happiness, but it could allow me to do more of things I wanted to. The biggest appeal was the freedom of time. If there was any possibility that I could only work a couple of hours a day, work on my own schedule, and make enough money to live comfortably, I wanted to hear more. So despite my skepticism, I decided to join the company. With a low start up cost I had nothing to lose.

Upon joining, I immediately started delving into the training. I had absolutely no experience with marketing so I needed to learn everything I could. The first thing I read was a short list of daily activities that were described as essential to success. Two of these steps were listening to and reading books about personal development every day. In all my time reading about spirituality I had specifically avoided such material. I saw the areas of self-help and personal development as of a “lesser level” than what I considered the deeper teachings of spirituality. However, I became curious about it since almost all the people involved in this company seemed to talk about the law of attraction.

Before this time, I had heard about The Secret, but never really given it much attention. However, the fact that many of the top earners in the company always seemed to be talking about the law of attraction encouraged me to give it a second look. While looking The Secret up on Amazon I saw a review which said “For better reading try the books by the Hicks, especially Ask and It Is Given.” So, I skipped The Secret and went for that book instead. As I began reading I was shocked. I had never heard the law of attraction described in this way. I learned that it wasn’t really about manifesting your desires. That was part of it, but the true goal was to align oneself with the Source. By doing so, life would naturally began to manifest what was most important without any additional effort on your own part. I learned that my life was a reflection of this alignment or misalignment and that everything good in my life depended on it.

In a way, I had actually already discovered this already. I knew from experience that the less I struggled the more life would be friendly to me, for the only thing struggle leads to is pain and confusion. I started to see that my ideas of spirituality were too limiting and they needed to expand to include all aspects of life. I saw that there was nothing wrong with living a life of abundance and that more for me was not less for you. I also saw all the ways I had sabotaged my success through fear under the disguise of moral and spiritual high ground.

Through of all of this I have become excited to use this business as a way to challenge myself to grow and break down all my self imposed limitations. I kind of see it as a testing ground for the law of attraction. It’s easy to become an armchair philosopher with all of this stuff, but I want to put it into practice and figure there’s no better testing ground than my own financial circumstances. In doing so, I have been amazed at all the hidden self doubt, fear, and uncertainty that has been arising. It’s never been so clear how prone I am to thinking negative and how those thoughts attract similar experiences. I never realized how deep the feeling of mistrust was within me. But not anymore. I can no longer succumb to these negative feelings of fear and doubt. I know that they are what prevent me from living the life that I was meant to live. I’m tired of playing small in life. I am on a mission to live life, in all its aspects, to the fullest.

If you are interested in what I’m doing (my law of attraction testing ground!), I can give you some info if you enter your email address at empowernetwork.com. You can also listen to this audio clip to get a sense of the type of people the company attracts.

Max

Contributor: The “law of attraction science guy” Greg Kuhn, author of Why Quantum Physicists Do Not Fail, Why Quantum Physicists Don’t Get Fat and more. The first of a series of three posts by Kuhn, this story is excerpted from Do Not Fail, an awesome and potentially life-changing read.

“I used to be obsessed with becoming wealthy, yet financial abundance was always frustratingly absent from my material reality.  Most of my adult life, any time I acquired more money, it always disappeared quickly, seemingly slipping through my fingers without ever allowing me to use it in the ways I wanted to.

Finally, in 1999, I found a business idea I thought was foolproof and, after talking it over with my wife, decided to sink everything into it.  I already knew that I created my material reality through my expectations, so I naïvely thought that all I had to do was take a big leap and simply think nothing but positive thoughts about the business.

I thought, “This is it. This is the big break I’ve been seeking, and I need to show my faith in my personal power to manifest abundance by going ‘all in’ with no reservations.  I know how to create my own reality. All I need to do is take this big action and I’ll finally become wealthy.”  I did not yet understand how vital it was to truly change my beliefs on a deep and lasting level (as if you’ve read my book you now know to do), so my decision was unwittingly foolish (so much for foolproof, huh?) and almost cost me everything.

So I made it my job to constantly and continually shower myself with positive affirmations and statements about my business’s success.  I spoke about my business only in positive ways, I meditated about my business with positive feelings and intent, and I read lots of uplifting books to inspire my thoughts and keep them 100 percent positive. So when everything came crashing down on me and my family a few years later, and all my previous resources and assets were transformed into crushing debts and obligations, I was beyond devastated.  I could not conceive how these paradigms had “failed” me after I had legitimately put so much effort into nothing but positivity.

Fueled by the need to clean up the financial mess I’d created, I began the actual process you’ve learned of reforming my neural pathways of habitual thought concerning money.  My commitment to tell better stories about money, using uplifting words, started right where I was.  To that end, my stories about money were initially along the lines of “Although I currently believe that financial abundance is bad and beyond my grasp, I also believe that, over time and with practice, I can change those beliefs by telling better stories about money.  And, as I change my beliefs about money, I also believe that I can experience an eventual change in my material reality.”

By the time I’d been telling better stories about money for about eight months, I was not only experiencing more money in my material reality, but I was also inspired to tell even better stories that were completely believable such as, “Although the money I’m currently experiencing in my physical reality is not as great as my ultimate desires, I know that my beliefs are continuing to grow and I know that my ultimate destination is to experience the money I’ve dreamt of.”

Within a year and a half of this process, I had truly realized my financial desires experiencing more money than I ever had.  By then, the stories I told myself were akin to “I know that financial abundance is mine. I embody and expect financial abundance. Wealth is who I am.  Money loves me, and I love it in return.” These stories had become my beliefs and I had not only materialized enough money and resources to clear away over $800,000 in debt, but I was also watching my checking and saving accounts swell.

Today, years later, I almost always experience a happy abundance of financial freedom. Having been faced with looming bankruptcy and foreclosures in 2003, I now live with my large, happy family in a wonderfully located, expansive, beautiful home, own another gorgeous home in a highly desirable neighborhood, live relatively debt-free, and enjoy a lifestyle with my family that affords us almost everything we desire (including the ability to fulfill our commitment to helping others). Does this mean that I have more money than I know what to do with (including helping family, friends, and charity)?  Does it mean that I never encounter a frustrating or unexpected bill or debt?  Not at all. But, because of my new beliefs, I no longer experience any temporary lack of money as some link in a maddeningly unbreakable chain of absence.  I am truly able to see such temporary circumstances as opportunities to both reexamine my beliefs about money and continue to grow my beliefs by telling better stories.  I have more money in my life today than I have ever experienced, and I expect (and know) that my financial abundance will only continue to grow.

To the God in YOU,

Greg Kuhn

Read the rest of this series at Spiritual Practice Success Stories.

Contributor: Steve Beisheim, an experienced life coach whose blog follows his adventures in creation and using the law of attraction. Steve’s blog is located at SteveBeisheim.com.

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and a sleep disorder that made my life a living hell. I couldn’t function very well; I had severe emotional problems and extremely poor communication skills, and my social life didn’t really exist. Doctors told me that my condition was chronic and that I would need to take extremely expensive medicine just so I could scrape by. However, I found a counselor who told me that it was possible that I could heal. This revelation opened the floodgates for me into the world of alternative medicine, holistic energy therapy and dietary changes.

Granted, I was extremely angry when I first found out about the law of attraction; initially, I wasn’t willing to take responsibility and felt victimized by my circumstances. Eventually, though, my physical and emotional pain and suffering gave me the willingness to make slow shifts in my mindset. Pretty soon I was drawn to shift my diet away from grains and I attracted a therapist who performed a particular type of therapy for people who have experienced childhood trauma (almost everyone does). I never viewed myself as a victim of childhood trauma per se, although I had a very rough childhood.

Although  I was terrified to try this energy work, I did so anyway and had several deep emotional releases just sitting on the couch. I cried a lot within seconds of using the technique and soon found I possessed a dramatically different attitude. After this, my life rapidly began changing for the better. My body immediately began healing itself and I felt a sense of peace and connectedness throughout each day. I never knew life could be so good, but once I corrected some of my thoughts the information and tools I needed came right to me. Now, I take what I know and help apply it to my wellness and my life coaching clients so they can also learn how to heal their bodies and lives.

Steve Beisheim

New law of attraction book by Debbianne DeRose

Contributor: Debbianne DeRose. DeRose is the author of the new primer for single gals, How I Met the Man of My Dreams: a Guide to MANifesting Yours, as well as the humorous memoir What I Did On My Midlife Crisis Vacation. Stop by Debbianne.com for thought-provoking, giggle-inducing angles on life. You can also view a cute book trailer on Youtube here.

I’d been single for a really long time. And although I knew what I was looking for in a relationship, I didn’t actually believe there was a man alive who could measure up. As it turns out, though, belief is not necessary—as long as you stop actively disbelieving. It also turns out that being picky is an asset, not a detriment as is commonly assumed.

I’d been studying a lot of Abraham Hicks and other metaphysical teachers for about a year before the big MANifestation, and was earnestly applying what I learned to my inner emotional life. As I released resistance by consciously choosing positive thoughts over negative ones, I became increasingly joyful—like never before in my life. That kind of personal vibration-raising is the key to success with the law of attraction, and there are many tools and tricks to facilitate the process.

A few weeks before meeting the man of my dreams, I experienced the crucial “letting go” moment. The scales had finally tipped, and a critical mass of resistance had been released, allowing my pleasing MANifestation to materialize.

He and I met at the Monroe Institute (and it’s an interesting story involving an out-of-body experience), having followed our individual blisses to a week-long residential meditation program there. I went for the consciousness exploration and received a “Monromance” as a bonus gift!

We were strongly magnetized to each other, and it all felt very natural—as if we’d already known each other (and perhaps we had …). I was lovestruck and twitterpated, to say the least, because not only did he like me as much as I liked him, he also embodied everything I’ve ever longed for in a man—including the qualities I’d thought were too picayune. You see, the Universe knows no such limits and issues no judgment. It is standing by, eager to deliver the goods once we stop insisting upon those limitations.

It’s been a year now, and our love affair continues to bloom. Hindsight has brought me the gift of clarity–about the inner workings of the mind, the reasons we stumble, and the pitfalls specific to women wanting to be hooked up. So I wrote about it all for the single sisterhood, with humor and tough love, to help shorten, lighten and enliven that road trip to the MANifestival.

If you have a strong desire for a relationship, or anything else for that matter, that means it’s definitely within your reach, so please don’t interpret those stumbling blocks as an indication that you cannot have what you want. This self-improvement work can be challenging, but it’s well worth the effort, and far easier once you have all the information. You can do this! Women are tough—we birth babies and stuff, remember?

Debianne DeRose

Contributor: How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body by David Hamilton

In How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body, scientist and law of attraction practitioner David Hamilton shares the story of Ruth, whose belief in the law of attraction has helped her eliminate more than one health problem in recent years.

The first health problem: a moleskin tag that had appeared underneath one of her eyes. After learning in a workshop about what Hamilton calls Quantum Field Healing, she decided to visualize the outcome she desired: new skin growing underneath the mole, replacing it little by little until finally, it fell off. The problem? Moles, Ruth had been told, don’t remove themselves in this way. Still, Ruth continued using her visualization technique.

Several months passed. Then one day, as Ruth was taking a shower, something surprising happened: Ruth’s mole did, in fact, fall off. Ruth saw the law of attraction at work.

And it made a believer out of her.

Ruth continued to use Hamilton’s techniques, healing herself in other ways as well. One day, for instance, she dropped a candle on the floor and burned herself.

“I decided to use what David Hamilton had just taught us, and instantly, the pain was gone,” Ruth said. “The next morning there was no trace of the burn.”

This photo courtesy colinlogan of Flickr.com

Contributor: Jesse of powerfulintentions.org

The week before Halloween 2012, the love of my life and my best friend left me for unknown reasons. Looking back on that time, I’m glad that it happened, because it led me to discover something awesome, namely: the law of attraction.

For about a decade prior to this traumatic event, my life had been feeling pretty dark and out of control. My relationships–not just my romantic relationship but my friendships as well–were unsatisfying. Then, when my girlfriend left me, I finally hit rock bottom. However, after this happened, through a chain of extremely strange and unexpected events, I stumbled onto the film “The Secret” and the book that followed it. And since the very moment of this discovery, my life changed–and not just a little.

My life changed almost completely.

The day I watched the movie, I dove into my study and application of the law of attraction wholeheartedly. Today, due only to a simple change in my feelings and thoughts, I am truly happy with my life. Here are just some of the changes that have occurred since that day:

• I attracted more money.
• I attracted a ticket to a law of attraction seminar that I didn’t even know about. Then I attracted a chance meeting with the speaker, who is a law of attraction coach!
• I reconnected with old friends and met new friends, all whom live by the law of attraction. (Before this time, I hadn’t even realized that these old friends knew about it.)
• I attracted a new girlfriend.

On New Years’ Eve, I had been planning on staying home alone, but my best friend twisted my arm to go out … and I’m so glad I did. That night, an attractive woman walked up to me and struck up a conversation. We began talking just as if we were long lost friends.

We’ve been inseparable ever since.

On our first date, I asked the woman if she had ever heard of the law of attraction. To this, she smiled and replied, “I learned about it a few months ago and have been living by it ever since.”

Before I started living by the law of attraction–that is to say, before I became aware that I was living by it, and started doing so purposefully–these kinds of chance encounters never happened to me; now, they happen all the time.

I know, with every fiber in me, that my knowledge and practice of the law of attraction have brought all of these wonderful new things into my life.

Gratefully,

Jesse

Contributor: Choosing Easy World: A Guide to Opting Out of Struggle and Strife and Living in the Amazing Realm Where Everything is Easy by law of attraction advocate Julia Rogers Hamrick

In Choosing Easy World, the author, Julia Rogers Hamrick, tells of a time she was writing and was really “in the flow” of things when she remembered she’d run out of fruit. She considered stopping her writing and running to the store since she wanted to have some berries on hand for breakfast the next morning; however, she was trying to practice the principle of letting her desires come to her rather than stressing herself out chasing what she thought she needed. She didn’t feel inspired to leave the house and interrupt her writing, so she chose to let the Universe take care of the fruit shortage and just let it go in peace. Here, Julia’s favorite affirmation came in handy.

“I live in the easy world,” Julia reminded herself. “Where everything is easy.”

That evening, when her husband arrived home, he told Julia he had a surprise for her. Julia wondered what it could be and went to meet him. As soon as she saw him, she knew that someone “up there” was looking out for her: there was her husband with “his arms full of fruit”!

The message, Julia says, is clear: choose not to live in anxiety, but to follow your inspiration and let what you need come to you without struggle.

Contributor: This law of attraction success story is excerpted from a book by Linda Proctor, wife of law of attraction expert Bob Proctor. You can download a free copy of Earn It and Enjoy It at www.lindaproctor.com.

Three years into my sales career in the insurance industry, I found myself at a Bob Proctor Seminar. I was earning $25,000 a year and needing to earn much more. I was struggling and frustrated. Let me put the numbers into perspective for you…  I would cold call 200 people a week and would generally secure ten appointments. Once every three weeks I would make a sale. Not great percentages … I knew it and my managers knew it. When I shared these statistics with Bob, I clearly remember that all he did was smile and said, “Linda, I work with a different strategy. I make one call and sell 200 people.”

But I’m getting ahead of myself … let’s go back to the seminar. Bob stood in the front of the room and asked us if we could see ourselves earning $100,000 a year. The only thoughts running through my mind were that I could see myself spending it, but with my track record, I was having a lot of difficulty seeing myself earning it.

Then came our first personal encounter. Bob took the time to sit down with me. He was the first person who asked me what I really wanted–how I really wanted to be living. I quickly learned from him that if you are ever going to get a person to dramatically improve their results, you must find out what they want. From that point on you never talk about their results, you talk to them about what they want. Assure them that you can help them get what they want. It’s WANTS that motivate people, that inspire them to reach a little higher and run a little faster … sell a little more. He told me that he could show me how to achieve that lifestyle and asked me to commit to doing two things. He asked me if I would:

1. Commit to being in front of a prospect every morning by 9 a.m.

2. Ask everyone I speak with to purchase $100,000 of life insurance.

I made the commitment to Bob that I would do these two things, and in turn, he would hold me accountable. (I not only wanted to win, I wanted to impress him). Then I thought about the commitment I had made and I suddenly became very nervous. I could feel panic setting in.  I had been in sales for over three years, I knew how to do these things. The problem? I wasn’t doing them. In fact, in the three years I had been in the business, I can’t ever remember having an appointment before 9 a.m. Bob explained that if a person’s  compensation is on commission and they are not in front of a prospect, they are unemployed. It doesn’t matter how busy the salesperson is doing other THINGS related to the job, they must get in front of prospects. I rationalized that these two items seemed too simple to make a profound difference in my results, although I did believe they would make an impact. I  believed that to make a big difference in my results, I had to make a big difference in the activity.  How wrong I was. Small changes can make a big difference. A little over a year later I was earning close to $500,000!

The 9 a.m. call and the $100,000 sale idea was the first step in a series of lessons that Bob taught me. I have outlined all the lessons in this book, and for close to 30 years, these lessons have kept me at the top of my profession. These same lessons will reward you exactly the same way. Bob and I went on to become husband and wife. In the mid ‘80s, at Bob’s encouragement, I started my own financial services company and did very well. However, that company, and the responsibility that came with it, was very demanding of my time. I wanted freedom … time freedom. I already enjoyed money freedom. Therefore, I sold the business. Again, Bob said, if you know what you want, write it on a sheet of paper and ask yourself how to get it. I wrote that I wanted to have my own business with no limit on income. I did not want to have any employees nor did I want to have an office. I wanted to be able to operate my business from anywhere in the world … to have the freedom to come and go as I pleased. Bob looked at it and smiled. Again he said, “You are going to have to change your paradigms because right now you are hardwired to work the way you have always been working. You are going to have to look in an unconventional place for something that is unconventional. But understand this: if you are able to think it, you can most certainly do it.”  And I have been in that business for the past twelve years. If a business like that sounds appealing to you, I can help you get it. And now I can honestly tell you that if you can tell me what you want, I can show you how to get it. I have learned how to transfer the information that Bob gave me to others and I have helped a lot of people earn a lot of money. I would enjoy helping you!

Linda Proctor

Contributor: Frederick, who writes a humorous law of attraction blog at encwor.blogspot.com. Enjoy this story about his dog, Mimi.

I have a cute little dog named Mimi. She’s usually very good about pooping outside, but occasionally . . . not. It had been several weeks since she pooped on the hallway carpet upstairs where our bedrooms are. And so, yesterday morning as I came out of the bedroom into the hallway, I sorta “thoughtlessly” thought, “The carpet is poop-free! Mimi hasn’t pooped on it for weeks! It’s about that time that she will poop on it again!”

Well, that night I went up to go to bed and there on the floor was my law of attraction gift from her: a brand new glistening pile of poop.

We could call that a coincidence, but I won’t because it’s the third time that I had that particular “thoughtless” thought . . . and it is the third time she’s delivered her “gift” to me shortly after it left my mind.

Frederick

Contributor: Bethany, who shares a funny law of attraction story that many of us can relate to a little.

Sometimes, the less resistance we hold, the faster what we desire comes . . . This is my true story of the FREE CAKE!

So: Week one, I go to the outdoor markets on a Saturday. I feel thirsty, and I try–try–to manifest a drink. I picture the drink in my hand; I even feel it there. I feel the cool glass bottle against my palm and fingertips, and I imagine with all my might the delicious cold drink in my mouth and throat.

And then I stop, and look around, and whaddya know: No drink appears in my hand. Darn!

Week two: Off to the outdoor markets again, again on a Saturday. This time, feeling hungry instead of thirsty, I try so hard to manifest free food. But free food at the markets? How would that happen?! All the stall holders charge for their food! However, I want to PROVE to myself that it is possible to manifest free food . . . that I am a MANIFESTING MAGICIAN! So, I try so hard that I imagine even the joy and surprise of receiving the free food. But then, I look in my hands and–you guessed it!–no free food has appeared! NONE!

Ahem. Darn again.

Then, week three: I go shopping again. This time, I am not thinking about free food or drinks at all. I am out with Mum on a Saturday, focusing on buying a barbeque and some outdoor furniture for her. We are in the city, not at the markets. Then, afterwards, she offers to drop me off at the markets. I say yes. She drops me off and I walk over.

And the first thing I see when I get there?

THE MARKET IS CELEBRATING ITS 40-YEAR ANNIVERSARY . . . WITH FREE CAKE, JUICE AND HOT DRINKS FOR EVERYONE.

I got my food, sat down in a beanbag and began munching away, when suddenly, it dawned on me: Ah-ha!! It was when I learned to let go of the desire that it finally came.

And that’s my story of the free cake! The end.

Bethany

Contributor: “Cosmic,” a member of the online forum poweroflawofattraction.com.

Here’s my story of getting a new car:

Recently, I decided that I would love to have a car. So, I started doing affirmations, visualizing, imagining driving it off the lot, and all those other wonderful things we do. I even decided on the personalized license plate I would get!

Then, I remembered what the book The Secret says: that I should act like I already had or would soon get what I wanted. So, I decided that I would test drive a car.

On a Tuesday, bringing along my dad, I did just that. We found a car that I liked and took it for a spin. As we drove, I had no thought in my mind as to how I would end up getting the car–I just imagined having it and how good it would feel.

I just enjoyed the ride.

Later that day, out of the blue my dad tells me that he and my stepmother have decided to buy me a car! And this was, I swear, with no prompting from me at all!

The next day, my dad and I went car shopping again and took another test drive, and the day after that, he called and told me that the car we’d seen the day before was paid for and we’d pick it up on Saturday.

Funny . .  This should feel really profound, but it really felt, as Abraham said, like just the next logical step in my life . . .

xx,

Cosmic

Contributor: Law of attraction believer Tiffany

Whenever I become doubtful of my abilities to manifest what I want in my life through positive thoughts, I remember that I did this and I feel a little better about it all …

It was late April of my senior year of high school–over a year ago now. I was at the tail end, but still very much in, a deep clinical depression. My confidence, my lust for life, my courage–it all faltered uncharacteristically as I succumbed to the contrast surrounding me.

This was the cause: I wanted deeply to go to college in New York City. I’d gotten into both of my dream schools and my one “safety” as well. I’d become convinced the safety school was rinky-dink and a burden. In my mind, it was the worst possible option.

Because of the cost, though, my parents had very different ideas. Due to the conflict between us, I had stopped sleeping at night and would fret about which school to go to until I finally passed out.

One day, I came home particularly upset. I had recently endured a lecture from my father about what I should do, and it really got me down. I’d cried myself to sleep every night that week. I went through school as a zombie, wishing it would just solve itself.

Then, after a good, long cry, I straightened my cardigan and proclaimed to the universe (and my two dogs) that I was done with this problem.

“I can’t do this anymore. Fix it. F–ing fix this. ‘Cause I can’t do this anymore, and I honestly don’t even care.”

Feeling resolved, I walked over to the kitchen to grab a drink and replenish the tears I’d recently shed. As I passed the counter, I noticed a school stamp on one of the letters I’d casually retrieved from the mailbox earlier in the afternoon. I sipped my drink and plucked it from the pile.

The letter was addressed to me in what looked like a child’s handwriting. It was completely random, and oddly familiar. I ripped the envelope open and read the letter. The date at the top said January 24th, 2006. The letter began “Dear Me…” In a flash of memory, I realized I was receiving my time-capsule letter from myself in my 7th grade creative writing class. The teacher, as promised, sent the letters out five years after their inception, when we were seniors in high school instead of children in middle school.

In the letter, I rave and rant about how I loved my sister’s college (the safety school) and how I believed it would be simply perfect for me.

Time stood still as I slumped to the floor with tears of joy and relief. Months of anguish cured with a simple forgotten note.

I’ve just finished my first year at the “safety” college and I must say, I was right!! I love nearly everything about the school–the people are wildly interesting and I’ve made amazing friendships, the classes are compelling, challenging, and SO educational, the atmosphere is everything I could ask for, and my grades are STELLAR. I went to amazing parties, maintained an incredible GPA, and connected sincerely with people I’d previously only imagined.

I remember the days when I abhorred the idea of going here. Now? I couldn’t picture myself anywhere else. Everything about this school fits me to a T. It’s absolute perfection. I’m enjoying my summer off, working a great job, and I look forward with a heart full of love and passion toward my next semester there as a sophomore.

Tiffany

Contributor: Ashley

My first introduction to the law of attraction was through the movie The Secret. After watching it, I said to myself, “If this is real, show me by sending me a check in the mail.” It was just a matter-of-fact statement; there was no emotion attached to it and no other thought about it.

So guess what happened: The next day I opened up the mailbox and found an envelope from the IRS with a check in it for … drum roll, please! … just under $12,000.

That’s right: I had overpaid our taxes.

Needless to say, I was blown away.

Ashley

Contributor: Law of attraction practitioner Nancy, a teacher of meditation and visualization and a creative services provider. Find her at www.barry-jansson.com.

I have an adult son with Asperger’s Syndrome. When he was a freshman in high school, he struggled with math. So, as a believer in affirmations and positive thinking, I wrote out what I call my “AffirmingSpirit Affirmation Cards.” I wrote “I am an excellent math student!” and propped it up near my son’s clock so he would see it often.

At first, my son argued with me that this was just NOT true, and it wouldn’t work. His conscious mind had trouble with saying something he didn’t think had already been manifested in the world that is apparent to us. When I explained to him how the subconscious mind works, he rolled his eyes.

Here’s the thing, though: By the end of that year, his teacher was reporting that he was excelling in math! Apparently, my belief in him was enough for us both.

Nancy

Guest contributor: Dartist

Earlier this year I put my property up for sale. Since I was so attached to it for so long, I put the thought out into the universe that I wanted someone special to buy this beautiful place–someone that would see the efforts that have gone into making it a comfortable home with the many personal touches that were so meaningful to me.

Many couples made the journey to the top of this country road to take a look. Keeping the home and yard in order was a huge effort. Anyone who has put a home up for sale will understand as it has to be ready for viewing with little notice at times and can become wearing.

I kept writing my affirmations and asking for a buyer. Then one night I read a book about the law of attraction. It said that asking over and over lessens the impact and weakens my request as it shows that I am putting up blocks that slow down bringing what I want into my life. Instead, I had to truly believe and then just let go of my fears.

So, that’s what I did. I stopped repeating my request over and over, trusting that the right buyer would appear. I also rented a storage unit and started moving items into it as if my place had already sold. I made firm plans to leave on a certain date and prepared accordingly.

A few weeks ago, my realtor had an open house and one young couple in particular was really taken by this home and property. They asked to meet with me and look at the property again and I happily complied. The husband walked the grounds with me as I pointed out what things about it were special to me and also how much I had enjoyed living here because of it’s beauty and history. I explained how all of the surrounding properties were once a part of this farm and how acres were sold over time to other families. We walked for a long time and I was open and he commented later to the realtor that he was impressed that I had so much knowledge about this piece of land.

Finally, we came into the kitchen where I spent time chatting to his wife. We hit it off right away and I learned that she and I were born in the same hospital in a neighboring state, and that one of my high school classmates was her uncle. The main part of my home is a log structure dating from around 1860 that was built from chestnut and other hardwoods cut and milled up on this ridge where I have lived. This was exactly what this couple had dreamed of finding and I offered to show them my daughter’s home built in the same time period so that they could see the exposed old logs and learn the process of restoration if they decided to buy.

Monday, I signed a sales agreement with them conditional on their selling their home and doing the usual inspections. I know that they are the right couple. I know that they appreciate the history here and that is something that is very important to me if I’m going to feel right about passing this place on. They are so excited about living here and I am content to allow them the time they need to sell their own home as I want them to live here and build a life on this land that is so peaceful.

I am a firm believer in the law of attraction and anyone wishing to enrich their own lives will find it very helpful to read about it more.

Peace,

Dartist

Guest contributor: Maria, a member of the online law of attraction forum www.powerlawofattraction.com.

Towards the end of November 2011, my mom, older brother and I were in a serious car accident. We were all critically injured and for quite a while the doctors were battling to save our lives. They performed major surgeries on all three of us. Both my mom and I were kept in a comatose state artificially in order to keep us stable. From what I have been told, my brother suffered major blood loss which was affecting his internal organs and on January 24, 2012, he passed away. My mom had been awake briefly but slipped back into a coma upon being told of my brother’s death. Without coming back out of her coma, she died on February 7, 2012.

I am the sole survivor from that accident and since my mom’s death my dad has only left my side when being directly ordered to do so by his own dad. I know he is doing all he can to be strong for me right now as I am far from being well yet, and I can’t imagine the pain he is feeling. He confided to me shortly after the accident that he was in severe emotional pain, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing me as well, and that he was willing to do anything in his power to save me. He kissed my forehead and squeezed my hand and I smiled back and told him I know and that I love him.

Physically, my state following the accident was this: Though my ribs, lungs and heart all healed well when I was in a coma, I still had blurry vision from the swelling of my brain after the head injuries and surgeries, and no ability to walk. However, even at that time I knew that as long as I kept believing that I would walk again, envisioning myself walking, etc., it would happen. At the start of this journey I told my dad that I have decided to be walking again within six months, and he smiled and said “Of course you will, my child.”

Well, as it turned out, I was right–and so was he.

For the past few months, I have been working really hard, and I am happy to report that I am now walking again. I am not completely without support yet, but I am on my feet and moving at a near-“normal” rate of speed with canes. It’s such hard work and painful at times, but I am stubborn and will keep fighting until I, hopefully, walk without canes. Doctors say I’ll most likely be needing at least one for the rest of life because my right knee doesn’t bend completely and so doesn’t provide enough support for caneless walking. I don’t mind, though; I am alive, I am up and I am walking, which means I am still (somewhat) independent of others’ help for everyday things.

It was such a relief the day I could finally get out of bed again on my own. Before the accident I never thought of such matters; they appeared so small that they didn’t even exist in my thought processes. But now? Wow. What a feeling to be able to get out of bed on my own, get dressed on my own, eat on my own, etc, etc.

I am learning to cope with the loss of my mama and brother; I am going through the grieving process. So far I’ve denied that they were dead by simply telling myself they were just “out of town”, I’ve been angry with them for dying and leaving us behind, I’ve even been angry with God for taking them asking him why, and I’ve cried millions of tears of sadness. I think of them everyday; everyday there are little things that remind me of them  but I am beginning to replace tears with smiles when I think of them, and I know they are in a good place and I believe I will see them again in another life. I tell myself that they were done here with whatever task they were sent here to do, and that comforts me.

Maria

Photo courtesy “rrrrrd” of Flickr.com

Guest contributor: Evan Griffith of NotesforCreators.com. Evan’s blog “shares insights on the connected creative life” and is one of my personal favorites.

It was not more than a month ago that my wife Ann and I sat in our home, looking at our old, worn furniture and contemplating what would stay and what would go. We’ve been here for almost a year, though it seems like only minutes ago that we finally relaxed into it–there was that much rehab going on.

So there we were, staring at some wheezingly old couches that didn’t fit the new home.

Ann had been looking on Craigslist for suitable replacements until I put the kabosh on the enterprise. In our current comeback mode the only ideal price was zero, and she hadn’t been able to find people advertising that low, or even in the region of that low.

Nevertheless, we had quite a list of needs:

1. New sofas or a sectional for the living room,

2. A daybed for my office so it could double as a guest room (and a nifty meditation-visualization-ooom-chack-a-lacka-boom spot),

3. A chest of drawers for one of our children,

4. A couch for the kids’ play area, and, if we were to really have our dream wish list,

5. A couple extra lounge chairs to put outside for guests.

Putting it out there

“We’ll just have to put it out there that what we need will somehow come for free,” I suggested to Ann after contemplating this formidable list.

Well, whoa, did I receive some blowback for that statement! In Ann’s defense, she had been looking at what was available for weeks on end; I had not. And she hadn’t once seen free listed as a price. In fact, everything was $500 to $1,000 or more per piece, and none of it was even close to the quality we’d pictured in our minds.

After she cooled somewhat–in that slow way lava cools–I repeated that I was going to put it out there. She agreed, and we let it drop.

A decade ago we had a client offload two-year-old couches to us when they updated again, so later that day, I let a situation like that play out in my head.

Maybe it could happen again times five . . . I mean, five clients offloading various pieces of furniture might seem unlikely when it had only happened once in my lifetime(!) . . . . but hey, what else are daydreams for if not to dream the unlikely?

Meanwhile, Ann stopped looking at Craigslist incessantly and we went on with life.

Flash forward to today. Our home got a makeover last week, compliments of a friend of ours who was downsizing considerably. We were at breakfast one day when he asked if we could use any extra furniture. A couple hours later I was at Paul’s home, witnessing something extraordinary come through him.

Just for fun, let’s review the list:

1. New sofas or sectional for the living room.

Check! There was an exquisite sectional for the living room!

Note: Ours was 20-plus-years old, was previously owned, and had experienced much duress at the hands of kids and dogs. Paul’s sofa was 20-plus-years old too–but had been owned by a single, petless, meticulous man. It was so youthful in appearance it could have starred in a skin-cream ad.

2. A daybed for my office.

Check! There was a smart-looking sleeper sofa he had available. Now, the room looks like an office suite–and can double as a much-needed guest room!

3. A chest of drawers for one of our children.

Check! (Yep, can you believe it!?)

4. A couch for the kids’ play area.

Nope. Apparently this item is coming later. Insert smiley emoticon here, baby.

5. A couple extra lounge chairs outside for guests.

Check again, and not only this, but also an additional five-piece outdoor table set, too.

I imagine this is the partial checklist for a successful “putting it out there” experience:

• We’d been fantasizing about the possibilities, playfully (check),
• One of us desperately wanted it (check), and
• Another of us believed it could drop from the skies, manna-like (check).

So, why close off any possibilities, ever? History and your own experience prove that the seemingly impossible, the possibly unlikely, and the probably won’t happen happen all the time.

Just accept it! This playground in creation is mysteriously, inexplicably, freakishly beautiful.

Evan

Contributor: Anonymous

A few months ago, I was worried. A few of the members of my family were struggling financially, and I didn’t think there was anything I could do to help. One night around that time after visiting my hometown, I went to bed and said to myself, Instead of worrying about this anymore, why don’t I just say an affirmation? So, I did. This is what I said:

“My family is financially stable.”

Then I went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs to have breakfast with my mom.

“How are you guys doing?” I asked her as we ate. “I mean, financially? I’ve been a little worried about you.”

“You have?” she said. “Oh, don’t worry about us. We just had our monthly income go up. We’re doing much better now.”

She went on to explain that the family was now receiving about 20 percent more money every month due to a recent change in their financial planning.

Contributor: Anonymous

When someone unexpectedly outbid us on one home after another in a suddenly hot seller’s market, my husband and I just gave up looking. Looking back, it was a little weird how it happened: we took a look at a house that met many of our criteria. We liked it fine. On the way home we talked about whether or not to put in a bid.

“I’m just not that excited about it,” I said.

“Me, neither,” my husband said. “In fact, I’m pretty sick of this whole house-hunting thing.”

I laughed. What had begun as a fun bonding experience while looking forward to the birth of our child (we started looking around the time I got pregnant) had in six months become a major bummer.

Or maybe the universe was simply telling us to take a break–that the timing wasn’t right–and that’s why both of us got sick of looking at the same time.

The good vibes just weren’t there anymore.

In any case, my husband and I told our agent not to put in a bid, even though it was a nice enough place. We also told her we wanted to take a break from doing walk-throughs. As eager as we were to get out of our highway-adjacent apartment, we gave up. I wasn’t worried about the matter, though–well, not too much, anyway. I decided that when it was the right time, everything would fall into place. We’d find a place to buy, or we’d find a nicer place to rent–and either way was okay with me.

Three months later, only two weeks before our son was born, our realtor contacted us about a house that seemed right up our alley. The location was great. The size and style was just what both of us had in mind. And it was affordable, as well.

“You should take a look as soon as possible,” she said.

So, that evening, we stopped by and looked it over.

And it was awesome.

It was in good condition. It was surrounded by trees. It was close to a lake.

It was somewhere I could see us living for a very long time.

“I love it,” I told my husband.

We made an offer the next day, and less than a month later, the papers were signed and the house became ours.