Quote:
Originally Posted by cdn2wheeler  But an honest interpretation of my own personal experience tends to support the idea (and it's mentioned in this thread somewhere, I just can't find it at the moment) of hit-counting; that is, you count the times when it seems like it's working and discount the times that it doesn't seem like it's working. |
Let me say a little about the hit-counting issue.
Firstly, it seems to me that most people lack the curiosity / energy to make any serious attempt to counting of hits
or misses. It is inevitable therefore that any conclusions they draw from their own counting will be tentative or suspect.
However, if you make a sustained effort to count properly (both the hits & misses), you will have a much better experiment. Definitely not perfect, but much better.
Although I had already been using LOA (rather haphazardly) for a while earlier, I really started my own counting exercise on 27 Nov 2006
Acting Like Godot: The Great Experiment Acting Like Godot: Methodology For the Great Experiment
As you see from the above, I originally conceived of a one-year long experiment. But at the end of that initial one year, I decided to continue for another year. Contrary to what my posts in this forum may suggest, I continue to have some doubts & reservations as to the ultimate nature of LOA:
Creation & Other Adventures: Doubt Be Vanquished
I would like to share some tips with people who may be interested in doing their own hit counting.
Firstly, you should generally record your IM exercises soon after they are done - so that you do not know yet whether they are going to be hits
or misses. This will avoid the kind of subconscious bias where you end up recording only your hits.
Example:
Creation & Other Adventures: Lunchtime Manifestations
At the time when I recorded the above, I would not know whether any of these would eventually turn out to be a hit or a miss.
When you record your IM exercises, make a few quick notes of the kind of LOA technique you used (visualisation? writing? affirmations? meditation? self-hypnosis?), and how the experience felt to you (especially any unusual sensations / feelings / perceptions etc). Over time you may learn from such records.
An interesting example:
Acting Like Godot: Exam Day
(here I experienced the sensation of being "blocked" from asking for what I wanted, even though I knew exactly what I wanted. Later, for certain reasons, I learned that even if I did get the thing I wanted, I would never be able to know for sure that I had got it (click link for details). Looking back now, I suspect that this could be the reason for the "blocked" feeling).
Obviously, do record your misses as well as your hits. Here is my biggest miss of 2007 - I had intended to win all three prizes in a writing competition but was disqualified from even participating:
Acting Like Godot: Disappointed
For some kinds of intentions, it is easy to decide whether you had scored a hit or a miss. For example, intentions which can be described in specific numerical terms:
Acting Like Godot: Money Matters Acting Like Godot: New Heights
For some other kinds of intentions which can't be described so precisely (because they are more qualititative than quantitative in nature), you need to make a subjective judgment as to whether it was a hit or miss:
Creation & Other Adventures: One More Little Success, Before 2007 Closes
Don't be afraid to make that kind of subjective judgment, because in the end it's your own life, and your own experiment, and you're doing it to test LOA for yourself, not anyone else. Besides, if a subjective judgment needs to be made of your own intention/result, there is no better person than yourself to be that judge.
Another tip - it is useful to periodically summarise the overall state of your life (eg family, career, finances, health, hobbies etc) at a given point in time, if you're setting intentions that cover all areas of your life. It really simplifies the tracking process. Example:
Acting Like Godot: Quick Notes
A practical tip - if you like doing IM exercises of the writing sort (ie you write out all your goals; or write a description of your perfect life etc); this actually make the tracking process very easy. Just date the piece pf paper and file it away:
Acting Like Godot: Here We Go