This week I’m talking about getting what you want.
Making money, making yourself happy, making others happy – whatever it is, everything you need to get you there is already in your possession.
It’s in the mind.
The Secret
The Law Of Attraction is a concept that was said to be first recorded in the early 1800’s and was popularised in text and theory by New Age thinkers at the turn of the 20th century.
The term was first used in a book by William Walker Atikinson published in 1906 called Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World, but the most notorious theory at that time was written by Napoleon Hill and commissioned by Andrew Carnegie – and is the book I’m currently reading – Think And Grow Rich.
Not long after the book was published in 1938, we began battling through life in our warring world and so, it seems, we too began battling with our warring minds and the excitement over the Law Of Attraction’s discovery was lost in the gunfire.
Despite a brief revival in the seventies and then again in the nineties, the New Age thinkers appeared to go pretty quiet for quite some time and it wasn’t until in 2006, when Ronda Byrne released a film called The Secret, that the idea came to life again.
Negative Thoughts
It’s a theory that is simple to explain, complex to understand and can only be truly witnessed through direct experience.
Thoughts become words and words become actions.
Positive thoughts create a positive reality and negative thoughts create a negative reality. We give out goodness to the world, we get goodness in return. We give out badness, badness comes back to bite us. And it all starts with one single thought.
We tend not to realise any of this is happening until we give it our attention or look back on it with hindsight. And if you don’t believe me, try it for yourself…
The first part of the experiment won’t be very pleasant. Spend an entire day intentionally focused on negative thoughts, negative words and negative actions.
Wake yourself up at ungodly hour with a deafening alarm and let the first words that leave your lips be mutterings of despair. Let your gloomy thoughts swallow you up as you swirl around tank of self pity.
Focus on everything that’s wrong with the world and watch the seeds of negativity sprout as misery takes over your mind like Japanese knotweed.
You might spill your coffee or get stuck in traffic and be late for work. You’ll feel tense and angry and anxious and you’ll feel those thoughts in sensations that ripple through your body.
From the outside looking in you’ll appear grey and lifeless.
People will steer clear of your negativity. You might receive rude remarks or impoliteness; maybe you’ll be short changed or sneered at or maybe somebody will forget to hold the door open for you. Everything will seem to go wrong.
Nobody will magnetise towards you and you won’t light up a room.
Positive Thoughts
Then, spend an entire day intentionally focused on positive thoughts, positive words and positive actions.
Smile when you wake up. Maybe make time for meditation, sip your coffee mindfully or at least give yourself a few minutes to really enjoy your breakfast.
Every time something negative pops into your head, acknowledge it, observe it and let it go. And throughout the day, choose your words carefully – and your actions too. Be kind and compassionate to others, put their needs and wants above your own. Be patient.
Don’t let the slow driver in front of you make you swear and wave your arms around with rage. Don’t let the dawdler blocking the entrance to the escalators make you mutter profanities under your breath.
Don’t let anybody or anything create clouds in the vast pureness of your mind – and be wary that the person most capable of doing that is you.
Pay attention to it all; the thoughts in your mind, the sensations in your body, your body language, your posture and the expressions forming naturally on your face.
Notice how the world around you reacts.
People will open doors and say a cheery hello, they’ll make time for small talk and go out of their way to help. Your smile will become their smile and they’ll be magnetised towards you.
You’ll light up a room.