In a previous post, I described my personal take on spirituality in a general way. I emphasized the importance of seeing all of life as a spiritual practice, rather than simply believing a certain set of ideas. But ideas can be important, too, and so can dogma. They can help guide you on your path.
That’s why today I’m going to list for you some of the major spiritual practices I’ve discovered and committed to over the past few months. Here they are:
1. Say affirmations frequently.
2. Pray for ten minutes every morning.
3. Read books on spirituality.
4. Journal negative thoughts and counter each with positive ones.
5. Attend church and cultivate friendships with spiritual people.
6. Send healing, loving energy to others.
7. Respect people no matter where they are at in their journey and how evolved they are.
8. Be open to new friendships and new experiences at all times.
9. Do not distract yourself with computer games and television when not with others. Use the time alone for intellectual or spiritual growth or reflection, etc.
10. Meditate. Imagine your spiritual guide (in my case, my baby Jane). Talk to her, either silently or out loud.
11. Allow yourself to experience all emotions fully, especially sympathy and compassion.
12. Make friendships a priority. Seek was to communicate acceptance, love, peace and joy to others.
13. Sing.
14. Each and every day, make the decision to listen to your inner guidance and intuition. Regularly check in with it, asking what is best to do next. Practice following the voice until it becomes a deeply ingrained habit.
15. Let your sadness be a path to more spiritual awareness and more compassion for others.
16. Every soul is holy. Honor each one you come into contact with.
17. Do not be offended by others. Respect their journeys. Show them more love than they expect.
18. Focus on good feelings, not bad ones. Be a light-focused, positive person.
So. These are the spiritual practices I’ve outlined for myself so far. I call them dogma, but they aren’t rigid rules like that word implies. I don’t think I could ever be that way about religion again.
Earlier this year, my husband and I began considering hiring a housekeeper. We didn’t need help often–just once a month or so to help with those tasks I tend to put off for too long. (At the time, I wasn’t making a lot of money, and since my husband is the one working outside the home, I’ve committed to the cooking and most of the other chores.)
After discussing it, we decided that when I started making enough money to justify the expense, we would find someone.
A few months later, a few awesome coincidences happened that allowed me to make some money. I started contributing more finances to the family, and so, I decided it was time. I emailed a friend for a recommendation, and then I made the call.
The first afternoon that I came home to an entirely clean place that wasn’t cleaned by me, I laughed out loud.
About a month later, I reread my affirmations journal and saw this statement: “We have a housekeeper.”
Guest contributor: Jack Canfield of jackcanfield.com. As the beloved originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Jack Canfield fostered the emergence ofinspirational anthologies as a genre–and then watched it growinto a billion-dollar market. Here, Mr. Canfield shares his personal law of attraction success story.
Many years back, I was a high school teacher in a school in a low-income area. While there, I found that most of my students were not very motivated to learn. I knew they were smart by the way that they interacted with me, but they did not show any motivation to learn in the classroom–and I wanted to do something about it.
And that’s, really where it all began . . .
To help my students, I started seriously researching ways to motivate them to fulfill their potential. In one of the classes that I attended, the teacher asserted that we only use ten percent of our brain’s potential. Upon hearing this, I became fascinated with the question of how could we learn to use the other 90 percent and how I could convince my students to want to use theirs as well.
During this time, one of the people I ran into was a man named W. Clement Stone. He was a self-made multi-millionaire living in Chicago and he had discovered how to motivate people from any background to pursue their dreams and believe they could do and accomplish anything. I studied with him for two years and then broke out on my own to begin teaching what I had learned.
Since then, Stone and I have successfully turned around prisoners, gotten people off of welfare, and taken school dropouts and helped them to complete school and go on to college. We have helped businesses be more successful, entrepreneurs achieve their dreams, and individuals to build their self-esteem and become peak performers in all areas of business and life.
But I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
See, I was not always a positive thinker. While being mentored by Stone, I learned how to become this way, to focus on becoming this way–and it was not a quick process.
It took about two years.
During this time, I read positive books, listened to positive music, listened to positive audio training programs, and surrounded myself with positive people. And it has made all the difference in my life.
At one point, I set a goal for myself to make $100,000 per year. At the time, I had no idea that something like that was even possible. However, Stone said to me, “Right now, you make $8000 a year and you don’t believe you can do this; however, if you’ll use affirmations and visualizations and affirm that you’re happily and joyfully earning, investing and spending $100,000 a year, you can achieve this.”
Not quite believing in myself yet, I believed him instead. I started using his techniques faithfully; after all, he was worth $600 million dollars, so I figured he knew what he was talking about!
Soon, my shift occurred and sure enough, about halfway through the year I started having $100,000 ideas and began putting those ideas into action. By the end of the year I didn’t make $100,000–I made $92,325. More importantly, though, I now believed that everything he had said was true; it was possible to actually achieve these kinds of goals.
After that, I set a goal to make a million dollars. I created a new visualization of happily depositing my million dollar book royalty check (I knew it was going to be through writing that I made this money). Sure enough, within a few years I got my first check for $1,000,000.
It is now clear to me that no matter what our circumstances, we always have the power to make better choices for ourselves–choices that lead us to the achievement of what we really want in life.
So, there are lots of reasons faith works, I think. One of them is what I call The Echo.
Spiritual people often ascribe almost magical powers to words. Affirmations, they say, can and do affect major change, every day. And I agree with them. Here’s why.
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and one of you says something a little shocking and, whether it’s true or not, it sort of creates an “echo” in everyone’s ears for the next few minutes–or longer? Maybe they said, “I love the feeling of a sunburn on my skin”–something harmless but a little strange like that–but for some reason, you can’t get it out of your head, and no matter what anyone says after that, the conversation inevitably returns to this idea?
Well, this kind of thing happens to me all the time, and so I came up for a name for it. I call it “The Echo.”
Sometimes, The Echo is positive. Someone said they loved your hair, for instance. Other times, though, it is negative. Someone said they hated the way a certain friend of theirs always scratched their nose in a way that looked like they were picking it.
And the next time you see that person, what are you going to be thinking about? “Oh, this is the chick that picks her nose.”
The Echo is a powerful thing, I think, because it can change the mood of a conversation or even an entire room.
This, by the way, is the reason names are so important. Everybody who works at a company identifies unconsciously with the name of the company, so if it is a good one–creative, insightful, successful-sounding–they will have more confidence in the company and work harder to do their part. (Maybe that’s one reason the folks at Zappos love it so much.)
Next time you’re at a party, listen for The Echo. You’ll hear it.
In my late twenties, I was alone–a lot. After graduating from college, I continued to work part-time as a waitress for several years while I attempted to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I had virtually no friends and when not at the restaurant I was either taking long walks alone, watching television, surfing the internet or reading.
And I loved it.
This is the thing: I had a job that paid me enough to get by on little work. I had all my time to myself. I owned my own house (my favorite thing in the world!). I had enough food to eat every day, and I didn’t have to worry about what anyone thought of me or wanted me to do; I was independent, and I was strong.
Sure, I was lonely. Very lonely.
But I was grateful–so very grateful, and genuinely so–for my life.
And that’s what I would tell people every chance I got. I’d enthusiastically say what I would now consider an affirmation–and a very, very powerful one. It was:
“I am blessed. I have everything I need.”
Today, I have my dream job (truly, my dream job). I have a husband that is perfect for me. I have more money by a long shot. And I have a baby on the way.
Today, I not only have everything I need–I have everything I’ve ever really wanted, but never really known that I could have.
But you know something? I truly believe that if I hadn’t been so grateful for my life the way it was back then, I wouldn’t have any of this now. If I hadn’t said inwardly to myself on an almost daily basis how much I appreciated not going hungry and living in a beautiful home and being born a citizen of a wealthy nation, I would not be sitting in this comfortable office chair (a workaholic’s favorite spot!) today. By focusing on the negative, I would have failed to believe that better things would eventually come to me . . . And I would, then, have failed to make the choices and take the risks that, eventually, brought them here.
Guest contributor: Law of attraction fan Akshay Laxman, who follows this blog from India. Akshay invites you to share your law of attraction success stories on his Facebook wall here, and to check out his website at www.akshaylaxman.com.
Hi, I am Akshay from India, a successful magician by profession who has a magical story to tell about the law of attraction.
It all started back when I was in the sixth grade. At that time, I had a keen interest in performing magic. However, my fellow schoolmates, teachers, relatives and others didn’t think I could do it. They were constantly poking fun of my dreams. As the years passed by, the jokes continued–different people, but same response.
However: I knew better.
Even from that young age, I always had a very strong idea in my mind that I would travel the world–yes, travel internationally–totally supported by my magic.
And so, because of my faith and belief, that is exactly what happened.
When I was in the second year of my Bachelor’s Degree program, I got a phone call from a cruise line based in the U.S.A. They wanted to hire me for eight months to entertain audiences in the U.S.A. and Mexico! I was twenty at the time, and just starting out, and I couldn’t believe it.
Because I wanted to complete my major before leaving India, I waited for a year before accepting their offer. Then, just three weeks after my degree was in hand, I was on the flight from India to the U.S.A.
Now it is two years later, and I am twenty-two years old. I completed my international trip, having performed over 153 shows internationally. I also renovated my house in India and am now planning to take things to the next level with my career.
Sometimes, I still bump into some of the colleagues who used to ridicule me, and I notice that there are those among them who are still searching for jobs. Enough said about that, I guess!
Every one of us has something that we really want in this life. Well, for the last several weeks, I’ve been getting what I want pretty easily. And I believe it’s because I’ve started a new routine every day: listening to positive affirmation quotes.
Take my business, for example. Currently, I’m launching my second business and my goal is to spread the word and get merchant sign-ups. Trust me, cold calling and selling anything is never easy.
So, I made a plan. Here’s what it was: 1. Create a video, and 2. Launch it to the public.
I wrote these goals on May 23, outlining exactly what I needed to do to launch my business.
Now, this might look very simple, but a lot of thought went into these two goals. Using a technique used by the U.S. military, I decided that I needed to start not with the first steps–the things I would do to accomplish my goals–but with the last steps instead.
I had to start at the end.
So, I stepped back and asked myself this question: Right before I achieve my end goal, what will I need to do? Then, I stepped back again and asked myself the same question over and over again until I reached the starting point again.
Now, here’s where positive thinking and my subconscious mind come into play. I put a sticky note on my phone screen (this is why I love my android phone so much) that reminds me every day of the next step I need to take, along with the date by which I needed to take it.
The note reads: “Get at least one merchant by 6/15/2012.” Every day, I see this note because it’s on my phone screen. I cannot avoid this message.
The result? I got my first merchant sign-up on June 13, two days before my goal. And by the 15th, I had two sign-ups.
Here’s the thing: I’m not a diligent person by any means. It’s hard for me to achieve what I want. But, using this method, even I accomplished a goal that I thought was going to be really hard. So, here are my thoughts on how to get what you want in life:
You must know where you want to go, what you want to achieve; you must have a clear end goal.
After determining your end goal, you must take one step back, then repeat this process until you get to the beginning so that you are aware of and able to plan every step.
You must give yourself plenty of time to meet the goals so that you don’t get discouraged.
You must visualize your current step or goal every day–literally. You need to see actual text or something else that says what your goal is. This will tell your subconscious mind that this task is important to you, which will then tell your brain to be aware of ways in which you can achieve it.
You must believe that you’ll achieve your goal. Listen to positive affirmation recordings or see my pinterest board with Positive Quotes.
Seriously, the law of attraction works! I don’t care what anyone else says; I’ve been experiencing it firsthand.
Guest contributor: Sarah Joyce Bryant. Sarah is the amazing mother of an child with Asperger’s Syndrome. To read her blog, visit motheringaspergers.wordpress.com.
So, people of faith: Here’s absolute proof that this thing we call law of attraction really works: I got my car back today!
Here’s the whole story: Several months back, my car–the only one that I have–was totaled in a car accident. Ever since then, my son Cody has been saying affirmations every day that it would come back to us.
Was this strange in itself? Well, kind of. I mean, I have taught him to say affirmations daily–frequently, even, all throughout the day. But how often is it that a car that doesn’t work anymore is one that you end up with again?
Anyway, one afternoon not long ago, Cody told me that he’d had a dream. In it, our Nissan had come back to us.
Well, two and a half hours later, it happened. The guy that I sold the wrecked car to for $300 called and told me that he’d decided to fix it instead of junking it. He offered to sell it back to me for $1850! I was able to borrow the money from a friend while I wait for my fundraiser to end, and now I have a car that’s in good shape for a total of only $1550!
Isn’t that AMAZING?
What’s even better is that the guy fixed several things on the car, too, that I had been unable to afford to fix–a serious bonus!
This photo is courtesy attilanemeth of of Flickr.com
Guest contributor: Ila, an enthusiastic deliberate creator and law of attraction believer
My name is Ila, and I am a strong believer in frequencies, positive thinking and the like, so the law of attraction is right up my alley. Here is just one of my stories.
In 2008, I purchased a 1999 VW beetle that I simply adored. The problem was this: it didn’t reciprocate the feeling! It was a second- or third-hand vehicle, and I was assured that mechanically it would work.
Well, that was so far from the truth it was laughable.
Loving this car as much as I did, I tried everything I knew and poured tons of money into getting it to work. I tried and tried to make a car run smoothly that had never gotten the proper attention and care that it needed.
Then finally one day, reality set in. I broke my long love affair with my beloved beetle, and decided I would pour no more money into it. After that, about two months ago, while driving with a friend, I remarked, “I’m going to purchase a car, and I am not going to spend more than $2000.00 for it.”
Upon hearing this proclamation, my cynical friend simply said, “Good luck with that!” But, much to her surprise and mine as well, as soon as the words left my lips, I looked to my left and saw a Chevy sedan sitting on a parking lot for sale for $1900.00!
The next day, I went to the used car lot and put a deposit on the car, and two days later I drove away with my used but very dependable car–at the price I wanted.
Guest contributor: Law of attraction believer Kristen of kristensjourney.org
One year ago, I was sleeping in the living room of a friend’s cramped, one-bedroom apartment. These were my life circumstances at the time:
I had just been through an emotionally devastating break up;
I was trying to “catch up” on bills and fix my credit report; and
I was planning a visit to see my children in Pennsylvania, all while stressing over how and when I would be able to afford living on my own again, when things would start to look up in my life, and how I could be with my kids again.
Obviously, things had been better.
Although things seemed to be such a wreck in my life, though, I was grateful to my friend Krista for taking me in and helping me out in my time of need.
During this time (May of 2011), while working a contract assignment at a medical device company in Boulder, Colorado, I met my friend Carrie. She and I connected right away, and we never ran out of things to talk about. We spent almost every break together talking about spirituality, metaphysics, and pretty much everything else under the sun.
One day in June, while we were on break, she told me about a movie called The Secret. At that time, I knew of the law of attraction, but I really didn’t know that much about it or how it worked. I actually owned the book The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks, but I had only read part of it.
Since then, I have seen all kinds of miracles taking place in my life. I have struggled with chronic depression from the age of thirteen, and since my awakening to the law of attraction, this depression has greatly diminished. I have started to see the world in a different light; for instance, I am more grateful for small things now, like being able to sit on the balcony and read a book on a sunny day, or for getting a parking spot right in front of the store, or for being able to buy small things for myself that were not in my budget previously–the list goes on and on.
Here’s just one of the other ways the law of attraction helped me: In September, a bit of a housing crisis arose. Krista was in the process of buying a home and had expected to close on the house before her lease expired. Then she learned that she would not be able to move until the end of October (at the absolute earliest), due to delays with the bank, paperwork, etc. She had already used one extension on her lease, and was not granted another, and so, our move-out date was set for October 15th.
On learning this, Krista was extremely upset. She began to panic. I felt bad for her being so stressed out, especially since of course the becoming homeless was a possibility, yet, unlike her, I wasn’t shaken by the difficulty; I just knew that everything would work out for Krista, and for myself as well.
At that time, I was still on contract with the company in Boulder, and I knew that my contract would be complete at the end of December, yet I firmly believed I would be able to line up another job before the contract would end and I would be able to support myself.
Krista started to look at sublets while I began my search for a new apartment. I looked at two wonderful apartments, each having things I was specifically looking for, but I ran into some issues with the rental offices since I was in the midst of repairing my credit. I had called at least a dozen other complexes, but they didn’t have anything available when I needed it. I even looked at one unit that I was very interested in, but I had to check out another property that same afternoon, so I did not leave a deposit. It was rented to a couple within an hour of my viewing. Time was running out.
So, one evening, to help me deal with the situation, I went home and put together a digital vision board, which became my new desktop wallpaper. While I was hunting for images to add to this collage, I thought of what I wanted in an apartment. First and foremost on the list: a wood-burning fireplace. So I did an image search on Google for apartments with wood-burning fireplaces. One image popped up that really caught my attention, and I thought to myself, “That’s perfect!” I took the image of the living room with the fireplace and added it to my vision board.
A few days later, while I was continuing my apartment search online in the southwest part of Denver, I brought up a property that I had not yet contacted. I began to look routinely look through the photos of the exterior, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom … and then I saw the living room. I actually felt myself gasp. It was the same picture I had added to my vision board! I immediately called the property manager and inquired about availability, and told him what I was looking for. He informed me that they did, indeed, have a one-bedroom unit with a fireplace available. I couldn’t believe it! I went to view it the next day, fell in love with it, and gave him the deposit. On October 15, 2011, I moved into that apartment. Meanwhile, Krista found a short-term sublet, and moved into her new home at the end of October.
On a side note: I was able to manifest the perfect sofa and several other items of furniture for my apartment. When I say, “perfect,” I mean I knew EXACTLY the style, color, price range, etc., and that is just what I got!
Fast-forward to December: My contract in Boulder was due to end on the 30th of that month. A bit of concern rose within me regarding the situation, and yet, somehow I still “knew” I’d find a new job … and I did. A technical recruiter contacted me about a contract-to-hire position South of Denver. The pay was excellent, it was an industry I was interested in, and the commute was less than half the mileage of my 42-mile drive to Boulder. I interviewed on Friday, December 16th. My first day on the job was Tuesday, December 20th. There was almost no time wasted, and I had my new job in place before Christmas! What a wonderful present that was!
Wonderful things have taken place in many areas of my life since becoming aware of my thoughts and feelings, and I am ever so grateful for every little thing that has manifested! This is an ongoing journey and learning experience that I am so glad to have shared with you.
When my husband and I started trying to have a baby a few years back, we didn’t exactly have a hard time. Within three months, I was pregnant. However, that one didn’t last long, so soon after that, we started trying again. Though at the time I didn’t know anything about the law of attraction–the idea that one’s thoughts can actually create their reality–now that I look back on it, I think it had something to do with what happened next.
Here’s what happened: One morning, I woke up and (as I used to do religiously) stepped on the scale. Lo, and behold! The weight loss I’d expected from a recent diet had not occurred; I had, in fact, gained a little. As this was around the third month after the second pregnancy attempt, I made a very quick inference: It took this long to get pregnant last time, I thought. And this is the average amount of time it takes a fertile couple to conceive.
Conclusion: I must be pregnant!
Later that day, I made the announcement to my husband. “Honey,” I said, “The scale was up today! I think it might have happened!”
Of course, being a wise and judicious gentleman, my husband didn’t believe me. But three weeks later, after missing my period, I took a test–and it showed the slightest hint of the pregnancy hormone–so slight that my husband still didn’t believe I had conceived.
“I told you!” I said two weeks later when I took it again and again, it was positive. “I told you over a month ago!”
When I went to the doctor a little while later, though, and after I got my ultrasound, she had a different opinion.
“The dates don’t line up with your missed period,” she said, “and the ultrasound confirms that the pregnancy happened two weeks later than you originally thought.”
Then, when the baby was born two weeks after the later due date, I knew it was true. I hadn’t been pregnant when I’d first, based on scant and unreliable evidence, thought. Instead, the pregnancy had occurred a week or two after I already believed I’d conceived.
I admit it: I am stuck in a rut. Fortunately for me, it’s a pretty good rut, I think. Here’s what it is: Whenever I am advising others on life issues, one question that I invariably ask is, “Have you made a list?” (My co-creator has heard this so often that if I don’t bring it up, he will!)
So what is so great about making lists? Well, here’s my explanation.
I have mentioned in some of my blog posts the major upheaval that I experienced in the past few years. Seeing the end of a marriage while going through a career change was challenging, but it was the perfect thing to spur the growth that I needed. At the beginning of this upheaval, I started the practice that has become my rut: the practice of making lists. By lists, I do not mean shopping or to-do lists—I mean taking time to focus on where I am and where I want to be and to codify this in writing.
My first try at a “life list” was my description of what my life would be like once I had finished the long tunnel of change that I had found myself in. Unfortunately, I didn’t save the list, but I do remember that on it were my having a good job (check!), attending school (check!) and having a strong support network (double check!). I had actually forgotten about this list for a long time and when I rediscovered it, all but one of the items on the list had come to fruition!
In the time between creating this first list and the rediscovery of the same, I had done a lot of reading on the law of attraction and have found a few things to be true.
First, the law of attraction is a universal law that, like gravity, is in effect despite our awareness. When we spend time thinking about something, we create a vibration in the universe that attracts that which we are thinking of. Thus, my spending the time to focus on what I wanted from my life, I sent out the vibration into the universe that made it so–even without my being aware of it happening.
Second, the making of list is actually an exercise in sharpening your intention and defining or clarifying your ideal. Does this mean that the list cannot be changed once done? Certainly not! You may make a list, for example, that includes having a certain type of car, but then you discover that the car does not suit you. After that, you simply make the change and the universe will keep up with you.
Finally, creating good feeling emotions around a list actually adds power to it.
Here’s an example of these points: On August 18, 2011, I sat down while on my lunch break and created a list of traits that I wanted my future co-creator (life partner) to have. Some samples from this list:
On a spiritual path that is similar to mine or will allow and support mine;
Someone who reads; and
Someone who will allow for and create space for me to be who I am and who will be who they truly are as well.
These are just a few of the items on my list. Some of the items were “deep” and others superficial, but all were equally important.
Once this list was done, I took a few moments at lunch each day to focus on what I’d written and (more importantly) the way that I would feel having this co-creator in my life. Then, on September 17, 2011, less than a month later, I had my first date with my co-creator. Of the 21 items on my list, he is all but one (someone who reads–while my co-creator does not read books, he does read magazines and other sources and is more than able to engage in meaningful conversation, which was my intent).
In his book The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho says it perfectly: “…When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” When someone is looking for a house, the real estate agent will often have them make a list of things that they are looking for. The agent may even ask the client to prioritize this list to identify the “must have’s” and the “nice to have’s.” Seems completely reasonable, doesn’t it? It is simply a way of defining the desired end result.
The same concepts are at work when we sit and make a list of how we want our lives to be; what we choose is up to us alone, and will help us determine what is most important in our lives.
Guest contributor: Bill Lowell of www.practicalmanifestations.blogspot.com.Here, he shares the story of how his wife set an intention and it came to be … even though she doesn’t typically deliberately practice the law of attraction.
After dating the wrong guys for several years, most of which did not get past a first date with her, my wife made a list of the qualities she wanted her future husband to have–and the ones she wanted him not to have, too. It was a suggestion by a friend.
About a week later, I contacted her.
Surprisingly, I had every one of the qualities she wrote down–and none of the bad ones.
I found her profile on the Yahoo dating site (which no longer exists, by the way!). You might be thinking that this sounds a bit strange, but actually, we had a history together already. We were friends in college but had lost touch about ten years prior. While in college we were both in relationships with other individuals, but those relationships quickly came to an end and we each had been looking all over for ten years for exactly the person we should have dated the first time we met!
Despite the long time we spent apart, I believe that there was a reason our lives played out the way they did. Sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.
This was certainly the case with my wife and I. While we were alone and dating other people, we both learned what it takes to have a good relationship. We learned to respect our partner.
And we learned the incredible value of true love.
A lot of people think the law of attraction is a lot of B.S., and I think it’s true that a lot of B.S. can be found in this area (though no more than in any other area, really!). However, along with the nonsense, there is truth in it just as truth can be found in every science and in every religion. To me, the law of attraction simply means that if your heart is full of love, love will grow in your environment. It is a different way of saying that people will treat you as you treat them … so you’d do better to treat them well.
Just like having a business plan, having goals clear in your mind will make your path to them clearer, and that is exactly what happened with my wife and I.
I wish you success in all of your loving intentions and I thank you for hearing my story.
Like the beating of a heart, the law of attraction is ever so present and constantly working. Epiphanies and “a-ha” moments exploded left and right in my mind like fireworks when I discovered this simple yet powerful law. Looking back in my life, I see it spattered all over the story of my life like an intricate Jackson Pollock painting. Let me share with you a bright streak of paint that was guided by the law of attraction.
It was a warm summer back when I was thirteen years old. School had just let out and it was a lazy summer morning as usual. The young inhabitants of my parent’s home moved slowly about in the absence of a ticking schedule.
Suddenly, the phone broke the calm of the morning and I shuffled to receive the call. It was my good friend Tiffany. She asked me if I wanted to meet her at the school track to jog and talk. I said, “Sure!” With a light shirt, cotton shorts, and my favorite tennis shoes, I was out the door.
Tiffany and I jogged on our middle school track. Afterwards, we sat down on the cement and started talking with the sun warming our backs. Any average girl would probably have taken the opportunity of such personal time to start talking about boys, but oddly, boys were not a focus on my mind back then; being the school-driven and innocent girl I was, I hadn’t put too much thought into the opposite sex.
My friend Tiffany, however was not shy on the topic. Immediately upon sitting, she dove into a conversation of that nature. She asked me if I liked anyone. Caught off guard, I bashfully said “No.” She then went on to ask me what kind of guy I wanted to marry.
“What kind of a guy?” I repeated. I sat there silent for a second. What kind of a guy did I want?
I thought about it for a bit longer and answered the first answer that came to my mind. “A guy that doesn’t cuss,” I said.
Tiffany laughed, thinking this answer was quite amusing. She told me that it was a silly requirement because all guys cussed, but I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled.
Later that evening, I laid on the sofa with my legs crossed and arms folded. As I did this, I pondered the thoughts that transpired with Tiffany earlier that morning. What kind of a guy did I eventually want to marry? Thinking that it would be fun dream up a personalized Prince Charming, I let my imagination flow freely.
At that moment, I decided that I wanted to marry a man with an exceptional personality. He would share similar values and be very into family. My dream man would be romantic, artistic, and know how to play an instrument. He would also be taller than me (which isn’t too hard because I am short) and know more than one language. And of course my husband would hopefully not cuss.
Afterwards, I thought about what ethnicity I preferred my future husband to be. I decided that it would not matter as long as he had the golden personality that I was envisioning. As I laid there carefree that summer night, I remember my last thoughts before I got up from that sofa. I remember thinking that it would be very cool and interesting if my husband were a mixture of many cultures.
Life went on as usual. I grew up and graduated. I married and had kids. Everything in my life seemed to happen normally through the natural course of time. Then came my discovery of the law of attraction. In learning about the law of attraction, I had one of the biggest shocks of my life.
On one particular evening when I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep, thoughts of how interesting the law of attraction is were swirling inside my mind. Just as I was about to turn off the lights, I looked at my husband one last time to see if he was already asleep; sure enough, he was. I smiled at him but then froze in silence as some unbelievable thoughts came to mind.
I realized that he was the same man I was envisioning when I was thirteen. I got chills as I mentally went down my Prince Charming checklist I had consciously forgotten about over the years.
We have four children together and he as extremely family-oriented. He is very romantic and stands six feet tall. He speaks English, French, and German. My husband can create artwork better than I can and he knows how to play the trumpet. My husband does not cuss and his ethnicity is mixed from almost every continent on the planet!
This and many other examples have convinced me that the law of attraction is working whether we realize it or not. Today I live completely aware and make the conscious decision to be selective in about what I think about. With knowledge on this remarkable law, I am now moving forward to create whatever I desire in life.
Many years ago, I was pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to find a small-time agent who believed in the law of attraction. Mind you, this was before The Secret or Jerry and Ester Hicks. Anyway, she introduced me to this powerful principle, and instructed me on how to “attract” the acing jobs I wanted. So, I picked the most popular television show at that time and declared: “I want to be on Dynasty.” Then, I made a second request: “I want to make enough money to be eligible for medical benefits through the Screen Actors Guild.”
First, I had an opportunity to meet the casting director for Dynasty. I actually got dressed in my most fabulously glamorous outfit and went to the meeting not really expecting anything to come of it. There is one thing I should mention here: At the time, Dynasty did not have any black actors on the show. So for me to even think I would get on the show was pretty far-fetched; however, I didn’t walk around thinking I would not get on the show. Instead, my only thought was that I wanted to be on the show.
Shortly after meeting the casting director, they contacted my agent to see if I was available for a small part on the show. A few days later, I was in a scene with Ali McGraw, Linda Evans and John Forsythe, and my day rate of pay tripled which made me eligible for medical benefits!
It was years later when I made the connection between what I asked for and what I manifested. I often wonder what would have happened if I had asked for more. But the trick with the law of attraction is to ask for what you believe you can receive. If your thoughts are not a “vibrational match” with your desire, you delay or even block the manifestation.
Despite my somewhat iffy results with my recent decision to put the Law of Attraction to the test, I just want to say that I do believe that faith works.
And I believe it works so, so well.
And that’s what I want to write about today.
So – what do I mean by “faith works”? Well, I mean a lot of things. First, I mean that when you change yourself internally, your external circumstances are bound to change, too, right along with your insides.
And there’s more. In this post, which is Part Two of a series called “Why Faith Works,” I’m going to talk about another reason faith “works,” namely, it changes your expectations.
When I’m feeling really happy, I’m not expecting negativity from others. Instead, I’m expecting that everything will be fine, and no one will treat me poorly no matter what kind of mood they happen to be in.
I think differently about them, which causes them to pick up on that–and makes them treat me better.
We’ve all witnessed this at some point. You’re in the line at the supermarket and everyone seems bored or hurried. You, though, are smiling and feeling fine. Suddenly, you find that you’ve attracted a few extra smiles to yourself–and they seem like grateful ones, too.
When I was depressed, I saw depressed people everywhere. Now that I’m happy, I see happy people everywhere. It’s kind of like how when I was single, I saw bad guys everywhere, whereas now that I’m married I see only great ones.
Guest contributor: Law of attraction fan Saurabh of India
Every year, there is a youth festival that’s held in Goa. All the young people participate in different events and competitions. These competitions include a short film competition. I have always wanted to make a short film, so I thought this would be a great way to start.
I was very excited about it. Up until the day of the competition and the awards day, I would frequently imagine the feeling that I would have if I won first prize. When doubt or fear came into my mind, I deliberately pushed it away.
I wrote my screenplay ready well in advance and made the other arrangements, too. Then, on the day of the competition, we were given two hours to shoot the film and 30 minutes to edit it. As I had my plan ready, I finished the shooting in about 70-75 minutes. I then edited it (with the help of professional editors which the organizing committee had provided). The film was ready!
The next morning, the day of the judging, I was confident enough. After some introductory events, the judges arrived on the stage to announce the result. I made my way to the first row.
First, they announced the 3rd prize winner. It was not us. My friend looked at me with a questioning look. Next, they announced the 2nd prize winner, and again, it was not us. My friend looked at me with a “we have lost” look. I still had my ears towards the judges, though. Finally, they announced the 1st prize winners, and yes: it was US!!!! I jumped onto my feet and felt so, so, so, so happy!!!!!! One of my friends told me later that I’d had tears in my eyes!!!
Six or seven years ago, things weren’t quite right with my life. I was thirty–a good age to be. I was married. We had the two-income, two-car, white picket fence American dream thing going on. But I just wasn’t feeling my life … Rush hour traffic, a cubicle, short coffee breaks and one hour lunches, living for Friday night happy hours and cramming everything worthwhile into the weekends. Sure, I was successful … But was I happy?
Well, the answer to that was “no.”
So, I set out to make some changes. First, I started a gratitude journal … And it worked! It made me feel like the world was bigger than just my little day-to-day tasks. Then, from there, I decided to do more. I started reading Louise Hay and Abraham Hicks and I watched a movie based on the book The Secret.
Now, at first this New Age stuff sounds like wishful thinking or living in your own world of make-believe.For a while there, I just could not see how positive statements would work to change my current existence.
Then it began to sink in: This kind of thinking can lead to very specific and highly impactful shifts in your identity and core beliefs about yourself.
Here’s an example: Though I have always wanted to be a mother, I was pretty petrified at the thought of all that responsibility and unsure that I could live up to my end of the bargain. I had very deep-seated insecurities and a neediness that overpowered my natural ability to give everything I had to a baby. So, I worked on affirming and visualizing myself as a confident mother and soon, I decided that I AM A MOM!
And here’s the cool thing: For the first time, I felt it. I believed it. I hadn’t even become a mom yet but I knew I was one. I can only describe it as someone else telling me–my higher Self, or God–that it was true. My critical mind didn’t matter. I suddenly believed in myself!
After that, I took a pregnancy test … and it was positive.
Of course, I had anxieties while expecting (I still do and he’s now three!). But I don’t doubt to my core that I am a good mother.
This photo is courtesy of tedkerwin at Flickr.com/Photos
Guest contributor: Timothy Jacobs, www.tmjacobs.com. Timothy is an awesome freelance writer and author.
My friend Chris P. introduced me to the law of attraction about two years ago. I’ve since read the book The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks three times and try to apply it to my daily life – and it works, even when you’re not focused on it. Here’s my example:
About three weeks ago, for some unknown reason, I twas thinking about the three sports teams that I like: New York Giants, the Boston Bruins, and the New York Yankees. I began to recall that throughout my life (I’m 44) I’ve always had T-shirts, baseball caps, and jerseys of the Yankees and Bruins, but for some odd reason, I never had anything of the Giants. As strange as this seemed, I only briefly thought that maybe the next time I’m out and about, I’d buy a Giants baseball cap to wear when I watched them played.
After this thought passed and about three weeks had gone by, I received a phone call at work. It was a salesperson asking about supplies we use in the warehouse. The warehouse manager was on vacation, and me being the former warehouse manager, I fielded the call.
Toward the end of the call, the salesperson asked if I was a NASCAR fan, to which I replied “no.” She asked, “What sports do you watch?” I said, “I’ve been a Giants fan since childhood.” “Great,” she said. “What size shirt do you wear?” I told her I wore extra large. The she told that she was sending me a Giants shirt, jersey and baseball cap just for taking her call.
I put no effort into my thought of how I never had a Giants jersey, shirt or hat, but the law of attraction certainly worked. Right after that phone call, I called my friend Chris P. and told him what happened. That phone call only reaffirmed our belief in that fact that LOA works.
Guest contributor: Thumbelina, a believer in the law of attraction and a resident of India.
When I first started using the law of attraction, I had huge problems: My boyfriend dumped me for no good reason. My career path was so unclear that I was starting to worry I’d end up nowhere. And my family was upset with me constantly.
So, I turned to the law of attraction. For a while, each day I’d sit and wonder how the heck the law of attraction would work for me. Then, one day I realized something: I was missing a step. Instead of deciding what I wanted, then letting it happen, I was deciding what I wanted, then worrying about it all the time!
Shortly after realizing this, I started to relax more. After that, things started to happen very quickly and today I am so grateful because my entire book of dreams has almost come true …
I have my guy with me, completely stable on my terms …
I got into three top universities in the UK, and my parents are proud of me again. In fact, my family has never been more supportive in my life …
And in three months, I am leaving town for the biggest opportunity of my life: an internship in my country’s top ad agency!
For me, what made the difference was to just trust the universe and then … chill. You have nothing to lose and everything to win.
