Tag Archives: Success Stories

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.

Contributor: Joe Vitale, an enthusiastic believer in the law of attraction who appeared in the movie “The Secret.”

I have not always been well-off. Like many others, I have tasted “rock bottom” and lived to tell the tale . . .

I want you to imagine yourself in my shoes, not with the wealth and abundance I have today, but as the homeless man I was in the late ’70’s, wandering around Dallas, Texas, living dollar to dollar in constant desperation. Do you think you have it bad? Do you think your struggles are unbeatable? I had it worse . . .

Oh yes, I wanted to be more, and I tried. But I didn’t have a lick of confidence in my future. I could almost taste the wealth, and that delicious freedom money can provide, but like many, I kept struggling.

And I kept failing.

See, like many others, I carried this three-headed horse with me that was stealing wealth at each turn. Three heads, three thieves of wealth, and nothing but struggle and failure to show for it.

What are they? Lack of feeling deserving, lack of self-respect, and secret hatred.

I secretly believed I didn’t deserve wealth. I didn’t respect myself enough to put in 100%. And, as a result, I hated money and the problems that came with it.

The result was failure after failure, let-down after let-down, and a hopelessness that brought me to my knees. The Three-Headed Wealth Thief was controlling my life. And for a long time, I had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

So . . . How did I go from broke and homeless to living a life full of luxuries and joys?

It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t the typical “secret step-by-step recipe.” It wasn’t any of the crap that people try to shove down your throat.

Simply said, it was the mindset. It was the wealth mindset!

Opportunities to strike it rich are all around us. They are almost as plentiful as the air we breathe. But all of it means NOTHING if you don’t have the wealth mindset that empowers you to transform an opportunity into a concrete reality.

The wealth mindset is the gas in the sports car! The wealth mindset is the foundation to the house! Does it seem as sexy as “How to make $3,826,495 In The Stock Market In 4 days”? It’s definitely not as flashy. But what all those millionaires out there aren’t telling you is that the wealth mindset is the “gatekeeper” that stands between you and success. It is what makes any of those crazy money-making opportunities remotely possible. Why?

When you command the wealth mindset, you’ll see opportunity at every corner, simply waiting for you to grab it. You’ll find creating wealth as effortless as tying your shoes. You’ll have a sharp mind capable of knowing what to do and when to do it. The wealth mindset becomes the heart that pumps constant life into every project and opportunity you take on.

When you command the wealth mindset, plagues like self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt will be mere memories of the past. You’re not shy, you’re bold. You’re not afraid of failure, you take it all on. You don’t stand in your own way, you move forward with ease.

That’s it. That’s the secret. Get in this frame of mind, and you can achieve anything.

Just like I did . . . eventually.

Blessings to you as you grow,

Joe

Contributor: Joe Vitale, a high-energy law of attraction author, entrepreneur and personal coach who appears in the movie “The Secret.”

I have not always been well-off. Like many others, I have tasted “rock bottom” and lived to tell the tale . . .

I want you to imagine yourself in my shoes, not with the wealth and abundance I have today, but as the homeless man I was in the late ’70’s, wandering around Dallas, Texas, living dollar to dollar in constant desperation. Do you think you have it bad? Do you think your struggles are unbeatable? I had it worse . . .

Oh yes, I wanted to be more, and I tried. But I didn’t have a lick of confidence in my future. I could almost taste the wealth, and that delicious freedom money can provide, but like many, I kept struggling.

And I kept failing.

See, like many others, I carried this three-headed horse with me that was stealing wealth at each turn. Three heads, three thieves of wealth, and nothing but struggle and failure to show for it.

What are they? Lack of feeling deserving, lack of self-respect, and secret hatred.

I secretly believed I didn’t deserve wealth. I didn’t respect myself enough to put in 100%. And, as a result, I hated money and the problems that came with it.

The result was failure after failure, let-down after let-down, and a hopelessness that brought me to my knees. The Three-Headed Wealth Thief was controlling my life. And for a long time, I had absolutely no idea how to fix it.

So . . . How did I go from broke and homeless to living a life full of luxuries and joys?

It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t the typical “secret step-by-step recipe.” It wasn’t any of the crap that people try to shove down your throat.

Simply said, it was the mindset. It was the wealth mindset!

Opportunities to strike it rich are all around us. They are almost as plentiful as the air we breathe. But all of it means NOTHING if you don’t have the wealth mindset that empowers you to transform an opportunity into a concrete reality.

The wealth mindset is the gas in the sports car! The wealth mindset is the foundation to the house! Does it seem as sexy as “How to make $3,826,495 In The Stock Market In 4 days”? It’s definitely not as flashy. But what all those millionaires out there aren’t telling you is that the wealth mindset is the “gatekeeper” that stands between you and success. It is what makes any of those crazy money-making opportunities remotely possible. Why?

When you command the wealth mindset, you’ll see opportunity at every corner, simply waiting for you to grab it. You’ll find creating wealth as effortless as tying your shoes. You’ll have a sharp mind capable of knowing what to do and when to do it. The wealth mindset becomes the heart that pumps constant life into every project and opportunity you take on.

When you command the wealth mindset, plagues like self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt will be mere memories of the past. You’re not shy, you’re bold. You’re not afraid of failure, you take it all on. You don’t stand in your own way, you move forward with ease.

That’s it. That’s the secret. Get in this frame of mind, and you can achieve anything.

Joe Vitale

Guest contributor: Law of attraction believer Patti. You can read about some of the events leading up to this story here.

One of my life dreams was to own a home at my favorite vacation destination. I simply “put it out there” and stayed out of my own way. I didn’t focus on how it would happen, although there were times when I thought, “I have to find a better paying job,” or “I’m not saving enough!” But I quickly dismissed those ideas and reaffirmed that I was a happy beach house owner! My husband and I made frequent trips to the beach so we could attend open houses. I also put it on my vision board!

One day, my husband came home from work and announced that his company was being acquired. The new company was buying everyone’s stock options which translated into a huge windfall for us! We didn’t even know what stock options were!

This was just one of my dreams that came true by allowing the law of attraction to work in positive ways in my life. To me, this proves that if you let the universe handle the details, you can reach your dreams in a way you might never have imagined. I am now the proud and happy owner of a beach condo!

I enjoy so many of the little things in life now that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy before believing in this powerful law: A quiet walk on the beach or down a tree-lined path, the way the sun feels on my face, the sound of my kids laughing, or the kind smile of a stranger. I can stop in any moment, become present, and find some far-off sound or some sensation and connect with it. So many of those little things give me chills now and I always quietly give thanks for the feedback. Even being able to share this with you and countless others bring tears of joy to my eyes.

Patti

Contributor: Anonymous

Recently, I went on a little trip without my husband. He had to work, and I wanted to see my family, so off I went. I was only away for two days, but when I got back, I liked what I saw: He was so, so happy to see me.

“I love you so much. I missed you,” he told me over and over again.

Always a nice thing to hear. But what made this experience interesting is that two days prior, while I was at the beach with my family, I used the law of attraction and an affirmation to make that moment happen.

See, before I left, my husband was acting–well, he was acting a little cranky. He didn’t like whatever it was he was doing at work that day. He was unhappy that I was leaving. And he was just a little out of sorts. It was just the normal kind of stuff, and yet it upset me a lot. So, when I was away, I said this affirmation:

“My husband is loving and attentive.”

I didn’t think much more about it after that, knowing that my husband’s usual demeanor would return at the right time. As it turned out, the right time was pretty much right away.

Contributor: Anonymous

I have always had pretty good skin. As long as I eat right (no sugar for me), I don’t get acne or oily areas on my face. So when the other month this suddenly changed, I had no idea why it was happening.

My first plan was to wash my face more often and watch what I ate more closely. But until I decided to say an affirmation, there was no change.

Then, I wrote this sentence in my journal: “My skin is totally clear.”

I didn’t repeat it over and over. I didn’t put a picture of an airbrushed supermodel on a vision board.

I just went on with life.

The next day, I saw an improvement in my skin, and by the end of the week, I was back to my old acne-free self.

Guest contributor: Law of attraction believer Marioska

One day a few years ago, some old school friends asked me to go out with them, because they knew I needed to get my mind off my relationship problems. My boyfriend was nice, but I wasn’t in love with him, and I didn’t know what to do about it. So when given the opportunity to have fun with my friends, I said yes.

We had dinner, chatted and laughed, and later we went out to a park. The boyfriend of one of my friends and his friends were there, too, so my friend went to chat with them. When she came back, she said to me, “Hey, one of those guys says that he wants to meet you!”

“That would be a bit difficult,” I said, though I have to admit, I was disappointed.

After that, we decided to go to the pub to dance. When we were on our way, my friend stopped me in the middle of the street and said, “Okay, I have to tell you something. This guy said you are really beautiful, and he feels that you’re special. Please, he’s a very sensitive person and if you don’t talk to him, just once, he’ll feel really sad … I know you may be hurting the other guy, but you don’t feel the same for him, and you know that this one attracts you.”

Those words made me feel that I had to take this chance … and I did. I talked to him, and we had a really good time.

After that, he began calling me often. I broke up with my boyfriend and we started dating instead. Every time I saw him, I felt that I had found the perfect man and that he had everything I wanted.

Everything went right until at some point I made a major mistake: I began to think that he would leave me. I become a really sad person, dependent on him for my happiness. So, guess what happened next? That’s right: He left me.

Everything happened exactly the way I’d imagined.

I was depressed, hurt, and I felt I had to do something about it. I took my copy of The Secret and read it over and over again many times. I started to apply the concepts in it, but I felt that it wasn’t enough; I couldn’t just believe in something—I had to actually detach myself from the outcome! After that, I really started to see results.

In the few years since becoming detached from this guy, I’ve attracted him back three or four times, but just for a while. Each time he came to me, he disappeared again. Why? Because I felt I needed him … and that’s just not true!

Finally, I figured this out and recently, I attracted him once more. He began to phone me every day, and at first, I didn’t answer, or I waited a while before calling him back. Worried about my behavior, he continued to call. After a while, we began to see each other again, and as the days went by, he began to say things like “Do you imagine yourself with another guy when you’re forty? Because I can’t imagine myself without you,” or “When we buy our house …” Comments like these confused me a lot, so the other day I decided to ask him what kind of relationship we have … And that’s when he told me that he loves me!

We’re taking things slowly, but now, I believe that he’s the right one for me and that our relationship will work as it is meant to.

Marioska

Photo courtesy abbyladybug of Flickr.com

Guest contributor: Law of attraction advocate Ila

I am on such an amazing journey! Here’s just one way the law of attraction has helped me lately.

Recently, I joined a book club. Of course, as these things normally work, I needed to purchase the book we were reading so that I’d be able to actively participate in the upcoming discussion next month.

So, on Friday night, I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase the aforementioned book. I inquired and was ushered in the direction of my desire. Gleefully, I scooped up my tome, and started reading. After deciding this was a selection going to be a great read, I glanced at the price tag.

Yikes!

As I’m currently between jobs, I have to be very careful with my discretionary spending. But the store was closing and I needed to bring my selection to the counter. So, I politely asked the cashier if there were any “in-store discounts” on that book. To my surprise, the cashier just looked at the book and asked if I could wait a minute.

“Absolutely,” I said, practically drunk with the thought of getting a discount.

Now I should mention that before asking her about this, I had secretly said the following affirmation to myself: “I would like to get this book for $5.00.” So when my cashier returned and asked if I’d like to have my book in hardback instead for $4.98, I was absolutely amazed! Apparently, there was a huge clearance that day and it just so happened that my book was one of the books that were reduced. How cool was that!

Saying I was happy in that moment was an understatement. “Overjoyed” would be a more accurate word.

Ila

Contributor: Mollie Player and The Everything Law of Attraction Book by Meera Lester.

In The Everything Law of Attraction Book, Meera Lester shares a true law of attraction success story about Anna, an art teacher with a great desire to see Ireland, partly because she wanted to see the Book of Kells. Even though she was barely meaking ends meet, she decided to display an image of some of the pages of the book in her home.

One day, a few hours after Anna stared at the images once again, she found a travel brochure by accident. It told about a special weeklong exchange program for art teachers that included food and lodging.

It was the sign she needed to receive. Not long afterward, she went on her dream vacation–at very little cost to her.

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

Six or seven years ago, I was cleaning out my home office when I came across a folder of loose sheets, each one with this phrase (or a variation of it) hand written on it:

We are selling more than $20,000 a month.

This sentence was jotted down about 20 times per sheet. Each sheet represented one day of writing down this dream. It was from the first year or so that our art gallery was open, when such numbers were a hookah pipe dream.

You’ve likely heard this before, but I’ll say it again: If you write something down repeatedly, day after day, it is much more likely to come to pass. You train your brain to believe it is actually possible, then likely, then even a certainty. Your brain–and the whole wild world–find amazing ways to bring it about.

There are two astonishing things about this $20,000-a-month-in-sales declaration that I want to share with you.

The first one is: It came true!

By the time I re-read these note pages, we were so far beyond $20,000 a month in sales that to suddenly average that amount would have been catastrophic it would have been so low. Even after the 2008 stock market crash we posted better numbers than that.

When I came across the folder, I had long since forgotten about this exercise, which probably lasted no more than a few weeks to a month before I stopped doing it. I had forgotten about it even when we hit the $20,000-per-month-in-sales milestone a couple of years after doing the exercise.

And so here is the second thing I want to share with you about this declaration: I got what I said I wanted, but it wasn’t what I really wanted.

See, it wasn’t the $20,000 in sales per month that I really wanted. What I really wanted was healthy profits. By focusing on a secondary effect–the sales–instead of the actual desired effect–the profits–I attained what I was clear about quite quickly but didn’t attain (until later) what I wasn’t being clear about (healthy profits).

My lesson: Always, always focus on what you really want.

Oh, and one more thing: Have you written down your dream yet or what?

Evan

Guest contributor: Vanessa, who shares how she discovered the law of attraction.

A very big hello to all of you. This is the story of how I brought a great job and my dream man into my life. It may be a little lengthy, but the road to manifesting all this wasn’t a bed of roses. So please bear with me, and I hope my story will encourage you.

I grew up with very low self-esteem. I was placed in a private school that had me surrounded by beautiful kids with rich parents who could splurge on them constantly. I wasn’t one of these kids, though, and hence was frequently the outcast and bullied by the rest. It didn’t help that my parents were always critical of me and would put me down, thinking that this was the way to “spur on” and “motivate” their kid. Long story short, I became a young adult with serious self-image problems and a lack of good social skills. I couldn’t hold a conversation to save my life. I was afraid of speaking in groups and frequently felt that I was ugly and unattractive. The bullying I suffered when I was a little girl, the taunts and exclusion from social groups had me thinking that people can’t be bothered with what I have to say. I constantly felt I was stupid, dumb and never going to make it in life.

Fast forward to my watershed moment–the moment that changed my life forever. It happened on a trip to the Koh Samui island in Thailand. I was there for five days, and during that time I was free to be alone to explore my thoughts. Perhaps it was being away from the city that offered me the clarity I needed. In any case, while there I read a book on self-esteem and how positively manipulating your thoughts can impact your behavior and the response of the outside world to you. As I read, I started practicing thought awareness. Soon, I realized that indeed, people were changing their attitudes towards me as I thought of myself as a more confident young lady.

When I returned from the trip, I was so intrigued by these ideas that I started researching it more, trying to discover how and why it worked. That was when I came across the principle of the law of attraction. Everything that was mentioned in The Secret was exactly what had happened to me. I thought I was ugly, and therefore I was repelling people with my “ugly vibe.” I had people laugh at my photos and told them I looked weird. But after three months of telling myself that I am pleasant-looking, the attention I got was different!

I soon started applying the law of attraction to other parts of my life as well. Within a month of my return, I imagined into reality a good and stable job with a nice and supportive boss, well-mannered and welcoming colleagues and a comfortable salary.

But best of all? Right before I started the new job, I thought to myself that if work is going to take up all my time, I may not be able to find the love of my life. So, I started manifesting the guy that I wanted: a tall, well-educated, polite man who has a decent and honest job, loves his parents and is forward-thinking in his career. Well, within two weeks after starting my new job . . . there he was!! He approached me at work and struck up a conversation. We soon started dating and he was everything I wanted him to be!

I hope that everyone who’s reading this will continue to incorporate the law of attraction into your lives because the results are amazing.

Vanessa

Guest contributor: Sneha, who sends this law of attraction success story from India.

I would like to share with you all some wonderful news about how I manifested an opportunity to visit the U.S. through work.

I have always been keen to go abroad for work–always. As soon as I started working (around five years ago), it was the first thing on my mind. Somehow, though, as time passed by, I programmed in my mind that others are better than me and that they would get these opportunities instead. Deep inside, though, I still hung on to my desire.

Then last year when I joined my current organization, hope started to build once more. This time I decided that I would get what I hoped for. After a few failed attempts, which taught me the importance of not letting negative thinking hinder me, another chance came my way. This time, I decided that no matter what, I would just stay calm. “Everything will fall into place on its own,” I told myself . . . and really, it did.

I started giving interviews for this opportunity and one by one, I cleared them. Then, just when I thought everything was fine, they introduced more rounds! But, remembering my previous lesson, I did not make myself sad. Instead, I just told myself, “Either I  make this opportunity, or I don’t.” Well, I did clear the final interview! I went on the trip to the U.S. and everything went well.

Three months back, I wrote an entry in my gratitude journal thanking my current company for a visa that I still didn’t have. Just a few weeks later those interviews were done and I had a business visa in my hand!

But the story doesn’t end there. After returning from the trip, which was just three weeks long, I said to myself, “Man! Should have been a bit longer!” And guess what: The next day my manager told me that the onshore team was asking him how soon I could come back to their office in the U.S. They also said that I would have to visit two cities this time!

Well, just wanted to share the good news with all of you. The law of attraction works.

Sneha

Photo is courtesy of Sarah_Ackerman at flickr.com/photos

Contributor: Angel, who sends this law of attraction success story to us from Hong Kong.

I have two good friends who were both looking for jobs recently. Both were desperate and worried because the job hunting process had been quite stressful and long. So, when they asked for my advice, I told both of them about the law of attraction. I suggested that they be positive and happy instead of worrying all the time.

Well, this is what happened: Friend A listened to me and decided to remain positive and happy. Friend B, however, didn’t listen to me, and to this day is still negative about her future. Yesterday, Friend A told me that she just got a job offer from a really good company and she has a few more interviews this week, so now she may actually have to choose between the different offers she’ll get. On the other hand, Friend B has still had no success.

I think this proves once again that the law of attraction works the best when you are being positive.

Angel

Update: Friend A got three job offers and ended up landing her dream job! Yay for the law of attraction!

Contributor: Anonymous

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 of inspirational anthologies as a genre–and then watched it grow into 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.

Jack Canfield

Contributor: Anonymous

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!

Akshay

Guest contributor: Law of attraction fan Imons2 at imons2.wordpress.com

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:

1. You must know where you want to go, what you want to achieve; you must have a clear end goal.
2. 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.
3. You must give yourself plenty of time to meet the goals so that you don’t get discouraged.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Imons2