The Law of Attraction - Some Basics

There has been a great deal of attention given to the Law of Attraction. The release of the book and subsequent movie The Secret, as well as movies such as What the Bleep Do We Know? have helped spur the interest in this seemingly metaphysical idea with a scientific basis. The basic principal is that everything is always attracting everything else. It's the basis of gravity, why our planet stays together, why the moon spins around us and why we spin around the sun. On a more personal level, the Law of Attraction is used to explain why we have certain situations in our lives. We think about them. What you hold true in your mind will come true in your life. You can attract the very situations that you desire just by thinking about them.

This is a stunning idea. But it is often misinterpreted and misapplied, leading to disappointment and abandoning the system altogether. Many people, upon first learning about the Law of Attraction, believe that all they have to do is think about something and it will come true. They think that if they want something good in their life that if they just keep thinking about it, it will happen. They often expect immediate results, and expect that they won't have to do anything else to get it. But that's not quite how it works.

1. Every thought that you hold in your mind has the potential to draw people, things or situations into your life.

This means the good thoughts can draw things to your life. But so can the bad ones. Our thoughts about ourselves become self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think that you are clumsy, you will be clumsy. This then reinforces the thought that you are clumsy, locking you into a vicious cycle. It gets worse when our thoughts are contradictory of one another. If you really want that raise, but don't think you'll get it, which do you think is going to happen?

2. There is a difference between affirmations and denials. The Universe turns denials into affirmations.

"I am thin" is an affirmation. It's a simple statement that's meaning is very evident. If you held this thought in your mind strongly enough, and were able to remove all contrary thoughts from your mind, your life would begin to change in a way to bring about this result. "I am not fat" is a denial. Again, it's a simple statement that's meaning is very evident. But in this case you will get the very thing that you deny. The problem is that the emphasis in these statements is not on the "am" or the "am not," it's on the "I... thin" and the "I... fat." Looked at that way, these two statements, with similar initial purpose, will achieve drastically different results.

3. Affirmations can be positive or negative.

"I am thin" is, for most people, a positive affirmation. It affirms something that they want. However, affirmations can also be negative. The statement "I am clumsy," is one example of a negative affirmation, something that most people wouldn't want to be true of themselves. Yet, a great number of the thoughts we hold in our minds are negative affirmations. How many times a day does your mental tape recorder play such statements as "I am stupid," or "I am lazy?" These are negative affirmations, but because they are affirmations, they will begin to hold true in your life.

4. Disappointment reinforces negativity.

Have you ever been disappointed in your life? Wanted something so much that you could almost touch it, only to realize that you would never have it? We all have. The difference between those who successfully apply the Law of Attraction to their lives, and those who don't, is that those who do actively decide to not be disappointed, to never give up, to never reach the point where they admit they won't get what they want. They never let the disappointment seep into their minds and become negative affirmations. Remember, the Universe responds to affirmations, so if you affirm "Nothing goes my way," then it will be true.

5. Things take time.

When we don't get exactly what we want, when we want it, we let that disappointment creep in. But we forget that things take time, the Universe takes time. The situations that you are experiencing in your life right now are the result of years of thought-forms taking shape. It's going to take a bit of time to truly change your thinking and begin building new thoughts and bringing new situations into your life. Be patient with yourself, and with the Universe.

These are just some basic, introductory ideas to the Law of Attraction. If you begin to implement them, you will begin to see some changes in your life, though it may take some time. Be patient, continue to use positive affirmations, and learn more about the Law of Attraction.