Understanding the Law of Attraction and How to Make it Work For You

Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the past umpteen years, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the Law of Attraction.

So when you hear the words Law of Attraction, what’s the first thing that pops into your head? It’s woo woo. It’s a load of rubbish, or I tried it, and it doesn’t work?

For me, they’re just a bunch of words attempting to describe the cohesion between the energy field around us and the energy vibration within. But, of course, you could use a myriad of other words to describe these same universal principles. And that’s all the Law of Attraction is – a fundamental universal law or principle.

As Shakespeare said:

“A rose by any other name is still a rose.”

The same process is required regardless of the words used to describe it. You are activating energy in order to function in a different way.

The thing of it is, in this universe of ours, all is law. In other words, all is cause and effect. Planets follow the same pattern because of laws. Think of gravity. It follows a never changing pattern and the same is true for speed of sound – seven hundred and sixty miles per hour (unless through water).

Everything in this universe is governed by laws, except of course us!

Humanity and the things that happen to us must be the one exception in the universe that isn’t governed by law. So the things that happen to us are purely luck, good or bad breaks, or fate. Right?

Not so fast.

We are subject to the same cause-and-effect laws that govern the whole universe. And the law we currently call the law of attraction, is the most important law of all in our world, one that can transcend the limitations of the past and quite literally create a new future. 

It’s time to forgo the notion that you’re only living in a world filled with objects. I know it looks that way, and it’s not always easy to see it differently, but the truth is that we’re living in a world filled with consciousness or energy. The thoughts we repeat and the feelings we have daily become the programs and patterns we live by, and our life mirrors those energetic patterns in our reality as the conditions and events we experience, the things we have, and the people we are.

Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, once said:

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”  

The good news is you don’t have to ‘learn’ how to use this law; it’s happening with or without your awareness or understanding. But you can learn how to determine the kinds of experiences in your world deliberately, and once you do, the world begins to make more sense. A whole new sense of purpose opens up, and you discover that the past no longer needs to be the prologue to your future.

We are not doomed to repeat the mistakes or experiences of our past. Instead, by practicing new principles, choosing new thoughts, choosing new responses, and choosing new feelings, we can align our desires with our thoughts, feelings, and actions and have new experiences.

I understand that this idea defies our senses. But let’s face it, some things do defy our definitions. For example, I’ve never seen the earth move, but I see the sun in different places in the sky. And this law of attraction, or creation or manifesting, call it what you will; while I can’t see it in action, I can see and experience the results in the same way. 

It would take a book to write about all the nuances I’ve learned over the years relating to applying the principles of this law, so here are two things I did towards harnessing it, two things that are relatively easy to do, and one thing that I repeatedly did that definitely didn’t work! 

Overcoming ourselves

I was never really clear about the image I held of myself, but I know it was there. I also knew it was based on past experiences of success and failure, of humiliation and victory.

These ideas of myself became my truth, and I never questioned them, and they led to sometimes beneficial and sometimes awful cycles of experiences in my world.

This is one area where I couldn’t afford to be lacking. I could see the reflection of my image of myself in my life experiences, and a lot of times, I was not too fond of it, so I needed to find out how to use the law of attraction to make changes.

Fortunately for you and me, if we’re not happy with the results we’re getting, we can overcome who we have decided we are should we choose to.

It means directing energy and focus to seeing ourselves in a new way. However, don’t try to change the outer results first and expect the change to stick. Changing our external results without first changing the inner cause is akin to trying to change the reflection of our face in a mirror.

Funny how we think if we change a result, it will stick. But as I quickly learned, it won’t because it can’t. Our self-image is set on autopilot to keep us on course to experience the things we believe about ourselves. I know this can be rotten, but it’s also fantastic to discover.

I was amazed at how deciding to change how I viewed myself and what I said to myself about myself could create such profound changes in my life experiences.

And it all begins with a new philosophy.

Most of us are so busy living life, good or bad, that we don’t take the time to pause and appreciate ourselves.

So instead, become more aware of who you are and appreciate everything you do daily. Once you stop doubting your ability to create a better future and believe that there is no one else in the world quite like you, that you are the only one who can do the unique things you do, watch your choices change, your actions change, and your results improve.  

How do you do this? First, you repeatedly remind yourself how unique you are. Then, you stop and appreciate something you’ve done each day. Finally, you speak kind things to yourself and remember that you truly are unique in this world. There’s not one single solitary person in the world that is exactly like you. Isn’t that amazing?

Forget the how’s, why’s, and wherefores

Only choosing to be or to have something that you already know how to get means no progress happens. If you choose something you have no idea how to get but then focus on how or why it might happen, then no progress is made.

In my twenties, I bought my first home. Everyone told me it was impossible. On paper, I confess, it looked impossible – but so what? At this point in my life, I had never heard of the law of attraction or manifesting or creating a life you desire. All I was aware of was that I wanted a particular home I had seen. And despite all the seeming odds that kept piling up against me, it happened. To this day, I have no recollection of the physical machinations that made this possible. 

What  I can tell you is what I did. And it involved more inner work than outer actions.

I desired to have it. I imagined myself living in it; I felt grateful that I lived there. It was an ideal location, and I loved the garden! What can I say? Gardens and flowers are my things.

I visited this picture in my mind regularly. Without knowing it, I was using the law of attraction. Today I understand why it worked. Imagination is one of the creative powers that gets you from where you are to where you want to be, from who you are to who you want to be.

Practice making pictures in your mind of how you want your day to be, how you want a situation to turn out, and how you’d feel if this were your reality right now.

So let’s just put the how’s, why’s, and wherefores to one side for a couple of reasons. One, it’s none of our business how things happen. That’s a job best left to a source greater than us. And two, oftentimes, things arrive in entirely different packages than we might have thought. So we might miss out on the bounty laid before us if we’re fixated on it coming in a particular way.

I learned this the long, hard way!

Negative self-fulfilling prophecy syndrome

It’s easy to create negative self-fulfilling prophecies that harm more than help. I know this for a fact because I’ve done it more often than I care to remember. Unfortunately, it’s an easy habit to fall into, and it seems to come naturally to us all.

Remember, it makes no difference to your mind if your thoughts are constructive or destructive. But it makes a profound difference to you and your life.

Our past experiences are like a pot on a stove that’s never turned off. They simmer away, unnoticed and ignored, and we find ourselves frequently experiencing the same thing over and over, without connecting the dots. How does that happen? It’s the negative self-fulfilling prophecy syndrome.

For example, imagine for a moment that you’ve had a challenge sleeping in the past. You’ve had many miserable nights trying to sleep and dragging yourself through the next day, not having been refreshed by a good night’s sleep. Pretty soon, you’ll start telling yourself, and possibly others, I have a problem sleeping, or I don’t sleep well.

And so it continues, and before too long, these words and thoughts eventually become your beliefs.

We become confined by the limits of our own beliefs. So we perpetuate and imbue ourselves with a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. So we get the evidence to support that prophecy because we have another night of poor sleep, and we feel crappy, and that energy continues to be translated into tomorrow and the next month and even years.

How do I know this? Because that was one of my negative self-fulfilling prophecies. And even today, I have to watch that this old belief doesn’t come back into my life to haunt me because, like most of us, I sometimes forget to pay attention to what’s going on under the hood!

You can apply this to anything repeatedly happening in your life, whether in connection with relationships, health, money, or self-worth.

That’s the big problem with the law of attraction, it works in every and any direction. It’s up to you, though, how to use it, or even if you want to use it. You can try a different way of being in the world or not. It’s your reality.

“Remember when life’s path is steep to keep your mind even.” Horace – 65 BC-8 BC – Poet