You’ve probably heard of the law of attraction, which is highly praised by those who practice it and discarded as “mumbo jumbo” and “Woo Woo” by those who don’t.

Personally, I think a bit of both sides: it definitely works to some extent but not entirely as some people tend to think and believe.

What is the law of attraction?

If you haven’t heard of the law of attraction it is the notion or idea that what you think about will manifest in your life. You’ve probably heard things like:

• “Thoughts become things”
• “Be carfeul what you think / wish for”
• “If you knew the power of your thoughts you’d never think a negative thought again”

There are many other quotes like this but you get the idea…

Anyway, the basic gist of it is that where you are at and what you have achieved is a result of your previous thoughts and actions. And that you should take responsibility for your situation and stop being a victim.

So why do some people discard it and others believe in it almost religiously?

The law of attraction doesn’t work because…

For example the case of people getting life threatening diseases: “Why would I have attracted a life threatening disease into my life?” And of course this argument makes sense, no one in this world wants to be sick. Everyone wants to live a healthy happy life.
There is however the counter-argument that people are, unknowingly, attracting things into their lives that are bringing stress, which is the primer for many of today’s diseases.
There are also examples of people who have recovered from accidents where they could not have walked or talked anymore, just by believing that they would. [The miracle man] [Never ever give up]

Another argument is that people born in poverty and war are not in control of their destiny. This is a really valid argument as you cannot control where you were born. You can, however, control your outlook on life and change your circumstances (Stop being a victim).
Read also: Shit Happens to everyone

“Sitting in the sofa thinking about getting a million dollar, or thinking about winning the lottery won’t make that happen”.. Of course not! If you believe something like that you really have a limiting belief and won’t become successful in anything anytime soon. If you just think “It would be nice to have a million dollars” it won’t manifest. But if you actively think about it and visualize daily what it would feel like to have the money in your account, your brain and subconscious will start helping you to get ideas and see opportunities on how you can get that one million dollar in to your bank account.

Arguments for the law of attraction

There are many stories for the law of attraction by people who have lived in poverty and decided that they are going to change their situation. And by changing their mindsets and actively visualizing their goals have reached those goals.

One of the most compelling stories is by John Assaraf who was struggling with his business and decided to make a vision board, with his dream house, job, wife etc on it. Over the next years he moved a couple of times and after 5 year period when he opened on of the old moving boxes and looked at his board, he realized that he was actually living in the exact house that he had cut out and placed on his vision board 5 years back.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill

This quote is sworn by by so many successful people in the world who have read Napeoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (AMZN), Saying that it is what has changed the direction of their lives. In my opinion that quote is exactly what the law of attraction is about.

Negative thoughts bring negative results

If you think negative thoughts you will also manifest negative things. And if you are in the trap of thinking negative thoughts often (or don’t realize how often you are doing it), Try to do the 7 day positivity challenge, you’ll be surprised!

When utilizing the law of attraction to get something to manifest in your life, don’t think about what you don’t want, because the subconscious mind cannot process negatives. What this means is that when you think “I don’t want debt” your subconscious hears “I want debt” and if you think “I don’t want to be sick” your mind hears “I want to be sick”.

So change your mindset to always think about thing you want in your life rather than thinking about what you don’t want. The only time you should use the “I don’t want something” is when you are defining your goals: when you have found what you don’t want reframe it so that you want the opposite. e.g. “I don’t want to be sick” becomes “I want to be healthy” or better yet “I am healthy”

The law of attraction doesn’t work without you taking some action

This is a part where many people fail with the law of attraction: They think that just by thinking about something enough it will happen, without actively trying to reach their goals.

You can’t get fit by thinking about being in shape.

On the other hand if you think about something and visualize it enough, your thinking and actions will affect your behavior and you will start doing the things needed to reach your goals. This, however, still requires that you think of the things you want in the correct way and really feel it as if it was already a truth.

Why am I even writing about this?

I got introduced to the law of attraction a couple of years back when I watched a movie called The secret.

At the time many of the things they talked about seemed quite out there and didn’t make much sense, but back then I was also not so used to personal development and how powerful it can be to have the correct mindsets.

I decided to watch it again last night and realized that it makes much more sense now that I’ve read a bit more about personal development.

Several times in my life I’ve noticed how some things I’m in need of will just “magically appear” out of nowhere. Sometimes when I was running low on money I would all the sudden get a small grant for some school thing. When I applied to go studying abroad I had no doubt that I would be selected, although there was a high competition to go there, and surprise surprise I was selected =)

Of course these times could’ve also been dumb luck 😉

 

What’s your take on the law of attraction?