Does the Law of Attraction Work?

The Law of Attraction has been gaining popularity in the self-improvement community. You might not have heard about it before, and if you did, you might not believe that it works.

But, yes, the Law of Attraction is real. It’s working right now as you read this article.

What is the Law of Attraction?

The Law of Attraction is based on a simple principle: your thoughts create your world.

Everything is made from energy — quantum physics tells us so. Your thoughts are energy as well, but the quality of the thought determines the type of energy it has.

There are positive and negative thoughts, so there’s positive and negative energy. The positive thoughts include compliments to yourself and other people, as well as behaviors, desires, and promises. Think of these thoughts as yellow.

The negative thoughts are when you chastise the appearance, intelligence, behavior, personality, or quality of yourself or other people. When you think about something horrendous, such as harming someone, it has a certain mass to it. It physically burdens you, which impacts your energy. Think of negative thoughts as black.

The use of color helps you visualize the type of energy you have. What color would you say your mind is? Is it dark yellow? Nearly black? The more of one type of thought you introduce, the stronger that color will be.

Therefore, thinking negative thoughts means you have a blacker color to your mind, and your energy can be thought of as black and repulsive as well. The sludge-like interior to your mind doesn’t welcome positive gifts from the universe, so you turn off the universe from giving you gifts and reinforce your darkness.

But positive, yellow thoughts take on brighter energy that draws more positive things to it like moths to a flame. The universe gravitates towards you, and with it’s closer attention, it might be more inclined to give you what you desire. The quality of your thoughts attracted manifestations, and so your desire came true.

That, dear friend, is the Law of Attraction. And it applies to anyone who can think. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, male or female, black, white, or any other color. As long as you have the right thoughts and get your energy as bright as possible, you can achieve your dreams.

Now, let’s dive into how the experts say the Law of Attraction works.

How Does the Law of Attraction Work?

Esther Hicks has a special gift — she can communicate with numerous spirits whom she collectively calls Abraham. To make things easier, the spirit Esther speaks through is called Abraham Hicks. Esther and Abraham grew to be one of the most prolific and influential teachers of the Law of Attraction, even writing a book detailing exactly how the process works.

According to the book, the central truth behind the Law of Attraction is “That which is like unto itself is drawn,” which is a fancy way of saying, “Like attracts like.” For example, happy people talk about what makes them happy, which, in turn, increases their happiness. Sad people think about sad things, which leads to further sadness.

According to the Hickses, nothing just appears into your life, you attract it all. Although, we’d like to be fair and say that you can’t attract everything in your life, such as natural disasters or trauma when you’re young. However, your thoughts have a profound effect on the quality of your life.

Let’s say you’re a writer, but no publication is picking up your pieces. You continue writing, continue submitting, but nothing goes your way. The Law of Attraction asks you to look into yourself and see how your internal state affects the external outcomes you’d like to receive.

Perhaps you’re jealous of another writer’s skill and success. Maybe you’re in a horrible relationship in which the person you’re dating doesn’t treat you nicely, filling you with negative thoughts about yourself. You use writing to cope with your emotions, but these precise emotions that fuel your writing are the ones that hinder your work from going anywhere.

So you must change your thoughts, and from there watch the energy cascade through your life. You must say, “I want this.” You cannot say, “I don’t want that to happen,” as merely giving attention to the thing you do not want to happen bolsters its probability of happening. To quote the Hickses, “In this attraction-based universe, there is no such thing as exclusion.”

The attention you give to something, such as your writing, has energy. We know from physics that energy occurs in the form of waves, which can be vibrational or seen in frequencies. The more attention you give to something, the higher the vibration you give it.

Your vibration has its language. It says, “This is what I want! Give this to me!” The more attention you give it, the louder that message becomes and the more likely the universe will be to give that thing to you.

As you might have guessed, manifestations do not occur instantaneously. They happen over many days when the universe brings that thing to which you’ve given attention to you as if through a Rube Goldberg machine.

The harder you work, and the more attention you give something, the faster that machine works, especially if you compound the Hicks’ teaching with Napoleon Hill

Hill wrote the popular work Think and Grow Rich in 1937. It describes the Law of Attraction and manifestations also as a method in which likes attract likes, but Hill’s method involves aligning your emotions and thoughts with what you want, not just your attention and energy.

Hill describes the most important focus to be on your desires. Mostly, have a desire. You wouldn’t believe how many people get tripped up at this first step. We’re talking about the people who drift through life aimlessly, passively, not knowing what they want and thus not having anything to put their precious attention on.

You must have a desire, according to Hill, then have faith in the Law of Attraction. When you believe that your thoughts determine what you see in your life, you then have the proper foundation to work hard and persist until the manifestations come true.

The term “Law of Attraction” can be seen in many different ways. It can be a prayer, of sorts, that keeps you hopeful until the thing you were praying for comes true. Or it can be the system of motivation that keeps you working towards your goals until you achieve them.

Both can be determined through the definition of “manifestation.” However you decide to interpret them, the Law of Attraction can help you transform your life and give you all the abundance you’ve ever wanted.

But you have to learn how to use it right, first.

What Makes the Law of Attraction Work in Your Favor?

Use Devices to Keep Yourself Focused

Get creative and tailor your focus devices toward what you find works for you the best. For example, you can print out your desired outcome and tape the image on your doors, walls, office, make it your laptop background, etc. Constantly seeing your outcome reminds you what to work for.

Many people opt to use a dream board to keep them focused. A dream board is a large, physical piece of board in which you attach images that remind you of your dreams.

If you want to be a famous movie star, for example, you’d attach images of a camera, shrunken posters of famous movies you like with actors you admire, an Oscar, credits in which you photoshop your name into them, and more.

Dream boards help you visualize success, and it has worked for celebrities. Ellen DeGeneres had a dream board where she imagined herself on the cover of Oprah magazine — and the dream came true.

You can also tack up motivating quotes oriented towards the Law of Attraction. Napoleon Hill has dozens of them, such as:

“The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat,” — Napoleon Hill via Goodreads.

Keep the fire burning. You don’t want to watch the flames go out due to lack of attention. Simple devices like these can keep you pushing toward your goal and give you the results you want.

Practice Gratefulness Regularly

Stop reading this article for a second, grab a piece of paper, and write down five things you’re grateful for. Do it right now. We’ll wait.

All done? Good. Writing down what you’re grateful for pauses you for a second and forces you to look back on your life. Such reflection reminds you of the wealth you have, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem. For example, perhaps you don’t have a cold today, or maybe you saw a sunflower on the way to work.

There’s a reason research from Harvard shows that the American holiday of Thanksgiving raises people’s moods. Reminding yourself of the abundance you’ve already been given stills you, makes you look around and look as if you’ve just opened your eyes.

When you can count the blessings you’ve received, it not only lifts your spirits but motivates you to obtain more. Be creative and generous in the lists you create. The more you write, the happier and more humble you’ll become. You’re rich, and you didn’t even know it.

Meditate and Practice Mindfulness

Research shows that meditation reduces blood pressure, anxiety, pain, and a variety of other ailments. The practice is so simple that anyone can do it — just sit still and focus on your breath.

While simple, in theory, meditation is one of the hardest activities you can do. The brain doesn’t want to focus on meditation. It wants to be distracted and avoid introspection.

But by pushing yourself to be uncomfortable, you improve your focus and mindfulness, which can then carry into your daily life. The focus keeps you involved in your work, and meditation means you can acknowledge when you’re letting negative thoughts slip through the cracks and dye your brain.

Mediate daily and reap the benefits. It’s not only a great habit that lots of successful people employ, but it can keep you on track with the Law of Attraction.

Do Random Acts of Kindness

When you’re standing in line for coffee, offer to pay for the person behind you. Drop some quarters into a stranger’s parking meter. Give a smile and talk to the homeless people on the street. Random acts of kindness make you feel good, and they put out more positive energy into the world.

Since you’re associated with that energy, you’re stacking up good Karma points in your favor and adding more mileage with the Law of Attraction. Practice kindness frequently and make it your mission to help other people. The goodwill might turn back onto you.

Find Your Intention Point

We all have things we want but know we shouldn’t have. When I don’t eat for a while, I want approximately three large pizzas to satiate my hunger, but I know I can’t eat all that pizza in one sitting, so they slices would most likely go to waste.

The same is true for your less tangible desires. You might want to be a full-time painter, but you also know you need to support yourself somehow. You might want a high-quality job that pays the bills and provides security for your family, but the highest paying jobs might feel like they’re sucking out your soul.

The intention point is the sweet spot between your heart and mind. This point allows you to logically work toward what you love while the passion behind that desire motivates you to keep moving forward.

You’re not sludging through just the mind’s wants, and you’re not floundering under the heart’s irrational cravings. The balance provides sustainable and enjoyable methods to achieve your dreams and manifests your preferred reality.

Spread Positivity Wherever You Go

Smile authentically at the restaurant host when you first greet them. Compliment your coworker’s work ethic and results. Genuinely listen to your friend when they explain their problems to you, and offer empathy in return.

The possibility for positivity is endless. When you live with positivity at the forefront, your create a positive feedback loop (pun intended) in which your behaviors improve your thoughts, which improve your behaviors, which improve your thoughts, and so forth until your whole energy has changed for the better. The universe will notice your actions.

Let Go of the Past

In the sixth-grade, I lacked confidence. As a result, I needed validation and attention to feel good about myself. However, the attention I got wasn’t always positive — I would be mean to people to get a reaction out of them, which made me feel seen and validated.

It was unhealthy, and I genuinely hurt a lot of people. But I grew up and matured, and wouldn’t even think of saying the things I said to people I did when I was young. However, I still remember what I did when I was young, and it embarrasses and shames me every time.

The thing about my memory, especially the memory of events more than a decade ago, is that most people forget what someone else has done. They only remember what they did. So when I relive my sixth-grade self, I am most likely the only one trudging up that past event. Everyone else has forgotten and is cringing at their bad behavior — not mine.

Therefore, I must let go of the past too. There’s no reason to feel ashamed over someone I no longer am. I’ve used my past self to educate my current self, and so I should lay my past self to rest to keep those needless harmful emotions at bay.

It’s much easier said than done, but you should do the same. If you don’t like who you once were, learn from your past self, then move on. There’s no use dwelling over what happened if it had minor impacts on other people.

It should be mentioned that major grievances, such as egregiously harming someone’s body or mental health, requires more healing and time. But minor embarrassments like what I described should have no power over you.

Forgive and forget your past selves for the mistakes they made. You can only focus on your current and future you now, so you should make sure they’re the best people possible.

What Hinders Manifesting Abundance?

You Still Have Negative Influences in Your Life

You might not realize it, but you could still be introducing negative energy into your life, even if you’ve done your best to eradicate it.

It may even be something as minor as watching a cable news network and coming across stories that infuriate you. It could be listening to a friend complain about their coworker and bash that person for their flawed behaviors. It could be striving to think better thoughts about your body, for example, but thinking harmful thoughts about other people to make yourself feel better.

Whatever the causes are, you need to nip all avenues of negativity in the bud. Stop up those streams by noticing where the leaks are.

Cognizance and mindfulness will be your best tools in finding and stopping where the negative influences in your life are. At its core, mindfulness is about an observation of your surroundings and occasionally critiquing them.

For example, the next time your friend crassly gossips about their coworker, notice that your friend brought the energy of the room down. This decrease in energy pulls from your energy reserves, thus bringing down your frequency as well.

From this observation, you now have a choice to make. You could continue to hang around this friend and let them bring the energy down, you could talk to them about how you wish they would stop gossiping, or you could stop meeting up with this friend altogether.

Do what’s best for you. Communication might be your best bet, but if it takes cutting out this person from your life, so be it. Your success in the Law of Attraction and getting what you want out of life matters more than whatever avenues of negativity are entering your life.

Your Energy

Have you ever come across someone who, upon your first conversation with them, made you feel uneasy? It’s something you couldn’t place. They looked nice and presentable. Smiled widely, had good conversation skills, but something still seemed off with them. You couldn’t quite tell what it was.

That’s because that person’s energy is off. It’s hard to determine exactly why without getting to know that person more, but something in your animal brain tells you that you should not associate that person for safety reasons.

This instinct is why women are often told to trust their gut when they meet a man with bad energy — he might harm her. Gavin de Becker explains as much in his book The Gift of Fear.

However, the vibration you give off to people can go beyond violence. You could be a pacifist and never had hurt someone in your life, but the vibe you give to someone could still turn them off.

Why? They can tell you think negative thoughts about yourself and other people, and people want to surround themselves with positive energy, not negative ones. That’s why people will ignore you and choose to give their time and attention to more positivity-vibed people.

The more people you have in your corner, the more support you have when striving for your dreams. You have friends to lean back on when you lose motivation and feel like giving up. You have people cheering you on, boosting your positive energy, and propelling you toward the finish line.

A good vibe is crucial to attracting good things in life. Therefore, you have to work to diagnose the ailments in your mental space that could impede your potential positive energy.

You’re Expecting a Fix-All Solution to Your Problems

The Law of Attraction isn’t an algorithm. You can’t input positive thoughts and expect an immediate, guaranteed return.

You have to actually change your lifestyle to make it more conducive to the Law of Attraction’s effects. You can’t rely on the Law to do all the work for you, you have to exert as much energy as you can, both vibrationally and physically.

So stop thinking that all you have to do is change your thoughts and the rest will go smoothly. To the universe, actions speak louder than words.

Examples of Successful Manifestations?

Sarah Sprout was a mother living off welfare in Australia. She lived with her husband and children in a tiny house with no washers and no heating. Her $1,240 a month, and she was scrounging for coins in the couch cushions to pay for meals, gas, bills, and other expenses.

That is, until she learned about the Law of Attraction and turned her life around. Within eight years, she moved to a home in Las Vegas overlooking the strip. Her monthly payment on her house is above $6,000, and she can laugh about her rags to riches story with her husband over a $120 dinner bill.

Sprout describes her success as a result of the Law of Attraction. First and foremost, she changed her mindset, making sure to understand that everything happening in her life will eventually blow over. “Life is seasonal,” as she says on her website.

Next was the belief that anything is possible, and that she was worthy enough to manifest her desires. The third was the gratitude for everything she has been given. Such gratitude, she describes, is a magnet for miracles. And finally, she took everything day by day, making sure to be as positive and thankful for everyone until she manifested her dreams.

If Sprout can do it, so can you. The Law of Attraction works if you use it correctly. Make sure to follow Sprout’s advice, as well as the advice in this article.

Tips to Successfully Use the Law of Attraction

Some quick tips to help you stay on track in your manifestation progress:

  • Focus on one, maybe two, things you’d like to manifest. Manifesting on more items will just fracture your energy and ensure nothing actually comes true.
  • Live cleanly and ethically. If you acquire your food, clothes, and other items unethically, you fill your life with objects tainted with negative energy.
  • Stop lying. Unless in rare circumstances where deception ultimately is for the deceiver’s benefit, you should only tell the truth — even when it hurts you. Commitment to honesty makes you a more trustworthy person, and the universe likes trustworthy people.

Conclusion

The Law of Attraction works. It’s real, and it has been working since the beginning of human civilization. But you get out of it what you put in. Be sure to stay positive and kind towards other people, and the Law of Attraction will run its course.

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