Law of Attraction: The Basics

"Peace comes into the heart like the morning sun spreading across the ocean. It is the ocean of compassion."
--Stephen Levine

Understanding the Law of Attraction will help you create what you want in your life with more ease and confidence.  Simply put, it says that when you give continued, focused attention to something, you attract the essence of that thing into your life.

You are sending out energy all the time.  Your thoughts and emotions are forms of energy.  Wherever your energy is focused most of the time will manifest in your life, sooner or later.

This explains what is called a “self-fulfilling prophecy.”  If someone is afraid of falling and breaking a leg, for example, and focuses on it often, and frequently imagines how it frightening and painful it would be, eventually he or she is likely to fall and break a leg.

But a self-fulfilling prophecy can work in a positive direction, as well.  If a person continually imagines being successful at something, takes action to promote success, and fantasizes about how wonderful success would feel, then sooner or later success will appear in that person’s life.

You are bringing the essence of whatever you give your attention to into your life, whether you create what you want intentionally or what you don’t want by default.  The law is neutral.  It works either way.

So, understanding this law, you can now consciously and intentionally decide what you want to bring into your life and begin to create it with your actions and your energetic vibration.  This is pretty exciting!

You create all the time, anyway, and now you get to have more fun with it.  How?  First, become clear about what you want to create.

Let’s say it’s a new job.  Write down what you want and everything associated with it.  For example, you may also want friendly co-workers, good pay, a beautiful work space, and a fair and helpful boss. 

Don’t forget good benefits and any other perk that would make this job ideal for you, perhaps onsite day care, an easy commute, or a generous vacation package.  Think of everything, and be thorough about it.  Write it all down.

Now write down the reasons you want that great job.  For example, you may include things like financial security, a sense of satisfaction at making a contribution to  society, enjoyment of doing something you love, pride in your work. Don't leave anything out.

Do not worry about how your creation is going to come about.  Focus on what it is you want and the reasons you want it, and let yourself feel happy and excited when you think about it.

The next step is to energize your creation.   Think about it often and imagine yourself in your perfect job.  Fantasize about how great it would be.  Picture yourself going to work every day in eager anticipation.  Imagine how it would feel to have this kind of job--mock it up-- and let yourself get into the feeling of it.  Create pleasant, positive feelings in your imagining and enjoy those feelings. 

Spend some focused time every day in your creation.  You don't even have to believe it's going to happen.  You can think, 'Gee, whouldn't it be great if...,' and then daydream about what you want.  The key is to feel good about it, even if it seems out of reach.  (It does have to be within the realm of physical possibility while you're on this planet.  Spending time trying to make yourself shorter than you are, for example, would be a waste of time!)

Now, the next part is very important.  Elevate you energy during the time you are not specifically thinking about your dream job.  Think about pleasant things, listen to inspiring or upbeat music, read positive literature, watch funny or uplifting tv or movies, spend with positive people.  And smile often. Laugh. Act silly.  Go for the feeling of happiness, contentment, peace, joy, etc..  (For more on this, see Law of Attraction: Raising Your Vibration)

Equally important is to avoid people and things that pull your energy down.  There isn't a law that mandates watching or listening to depressing news.  You have the right to just briefly scan the major headlines of the newspaper to see what’s going on without getting sucked into the negative vortex that the mass media offers. 

You aren't required to take in a movie you've heard is depressing just because it's highly recommended.  Take control of your own energy!  Avoid absorbing negative energies, because they lower your vibration and make it harder to realize your creation.  Avoid worrying about things you cannot control. 

Tell your friends (you can say it kindly) that you're trying to keep a positive outlook on life and you would ratther not focus on negative gossip or talk anymore.  This includes talk about how awful the government, your children, your spouse, your relatives, your job, your body, or the general state of the world is.  If they are offended, they will get over it.  Or, they may spend less time with you and more positive people will be attracted to you.

When you cannot avoid an interaction with a negative person or being in a negative situation, use the rose tool to create an energetic boundary between you and the negativity (See Boundaries: Owning Your Power).

Avoid giving giving attention to the kind of job you don’t want.  Instead, give lots of mental and emotional attention to what you do want.  Why?  Because of this Law of Attraction.  You’re going to draw to whatever you give enough attention to.  So, energize what you do want and de-energize what you don’t want by starving it of attention.

You do not have to be perfectly enlightened to realize your dream creation!  Your energy just needs to be elevated more than it is down.  The kind of energy you emit the most is the one that will predominate in your creation.

So if you have areas that you need some professional help with in order to raise your energy, get that help.  There are also books, websites, workshops, seminars, webinars, radio shows, etc, that can help and inspire you.

You may have beliefs that block the flow of what you want to create.  Many of these beliefs may not even originate from your own experience but rather from your parents’ or other authority figures’ experience.  These beliefs can completely run areas of your life and interfere with your happiness.

Examples of such beliefs are:

I don’t deserve to get the things I want.
I’m not smart enough to succeed.
It’s virtuous to struggle.
Rich people are all cold and greedy.
I may be poor, but at least I’m humble.
Suffering is a special gift from God.
We are all victims.
I am powerless.
In my family, we all have money issues (or issues of weight, health, self-esteem,
      abundance, lack of success, etc), so I can’t help having those issues, too.
I’m not rich enough, capable enough, or educated enough, to be successful.
Someone else must make me happy.
I must fix others and be responsible for their happiness.
I’m too fat (or thin, tall, short, dark, light, have the wrong kind of nose or eye color
     or shoe size, etc) to have what I want.
It’s not good to think well of myself.
If I make a mistake, I should feel guilty.
If I don’t feel guilty, I will lead an immoral life.
I’m not okay.

These are only a few of the many irrational beliefs that people unquestioningly accept that have often simply been passed down from one generation to another.  These kinds of limiting beliefs can interfere with using the Law of Attraction to create the kind of life you want.  If you want to create success but you’re emitting an energy of “I don’t deserve success,” then that energy will override your conscious efforts.

There could also be some beliefs that may be realistic, such as, 'if lose weight, or become successful, my friends will reject me.'  It might be true that they would feel threatened by your newfound success, so that would be another issue to deal with.

So take whatever steps you need to  resolve your issues and dislodge any sabotaging beliefs.  Focus on what you want and not what you don’t want.  Come up with ways to raise your vibration.  And have fun in your creation process!