How to Best Use the Law of Attraction

[triplelight]

A synopsis of my latest post.

I'm an African American spiritual teacher with over 25 years of experience. I believe in the law of attraction but feel that The Secret has done a poor job of explaining how it should best be utilized. It is not enough to create lists of things that you want to attract into your life because the truth of the matter is that very few of us know at the conscious level what is best for us. All we have to do is look at our own lives and the history of humanity to realize that this is true.

If we look back at our own lives, I am certain that most of us would say that the best things that have happened to us are not the things that we have consciously chosen for our lives. On the flipside, we can all point to lovers, spouses, jobs and career paths that we were certain were right for us that in retrospect, turned out disastrously.

When a law of nature or of the universe is discovered, it appears that it is human nature for us to go crazy with our enthusiasm and pride and rush forward without thinking of the consequences. When we learned how to split the atom, we enthusiastically stockpiled enough nuclear weapons to blow ourselves up. As we learned how to harness the power of carbon-based fuels and to build engines, we launched into an industrial revolution that has damaged the environmental balance of the planet.

What do I recommend? Let me ask you this: When you became aware of the law of gravity, did you set about figuring out ways to use it to your advantage? Did you start doing affirmations and visualizations to make it work better for you? I doubt it. But it did imbue you with a subtle confidence that changed your understanding of the physical world and your relationship to it.

The law of attraction should imbue us with a life transforming confidence.

The Law of Attraction should give us the confidence that our soul's intention for us will manifest. Knowing this, instead of creating wish lists of everything that will satisfy our ego’s desire, instead of doing affirmations and staying positive around the clock – we only need to do one thing: Devote ourselves to getting to know and love ourselves at the soul level. If we do this, then the law of attraction will help us to manifest an authentic life that harmonizes with whom we really are and our soul’s intention for us.

Read the full post here.

[Acting Like Godot]

Excellent stuff, Triplelight.

[Mags]

Wonderful blog post, thank you!

[Lil Chris]

I enjoyed it as well...

[Lola]

Originally Posted by triplelight

...the truth of the matter is that very few of us know at the conscious level what is best for us.

Thanks for this. It clearly articulates something that's been swirling around my brain but that had not yet managed to form itself into a coherent thought.

Regardless of the amount of reading, examining and practicing I've done to try to fully comprehend and master the law of attraction, I've continued to intuitively feel there was something that I was missing. Something I wasn't getting. Some piece of the puzzle that, as it had been presented to me, didn't fit just right.

My personal history bears this statement out. I've chosen many situations in my life that, at their onset, I believed almost fanatically to be the absolute best thing for me. And several times, I've been astoundingly wrong. Likewise, when my focus is on my soul purpose, on following my true path, what's best is delivered without fail and without me having to work very hard for it, i.e., without a lot of conscious effort to monitor my thoughts and emotions, focus on desired outcomes, micro-manage my internal and external world, etc.

I'd also point out that what's best for us isn't always the same as what feels best.

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by Lola

I'd also point out that what's best for us isn't always the same as what feels best.

A wiser statement has rarely been made.

This should be engraved in stone.

[triplelight]

Thank you all. Glad you enjoyed it. It is nice to receive positive feedback.

[Jennihul]

I have a problem with the concept that we often don't know what is best for us. Sorry. If we don't, then who does?

The fact is, there is no "best" for you. There is only what is best for you at that moment. With the knowledge you currently possess. With the circumstances you are currently in. Because in the next moment, life is different. Only we can make that choice from moment to moment.

The number one tenet of life is that if you decide you have achieved the pinnacle of success or health or life, or found what is "best," you are done. The only thing left is death. You have to get past the concept that when you achieve or receive A B or C, life will then be perfect. It will only be "perfect" in that moment. You can save yourself much disappointment if you incorporate that into your beliefs.

There is no pinnacle. There is no best. Because you will, in the next moment, or the next, or the next, find something else to learn, to experience, to make a mistake at or to royally screw up or to discover. Your soul is eternal. Your quest is therefore eternal. What seems monumentally important to you, the conscious being, doesn't even register as a blip on your soul's radar. What works one year may be totally trumped the next year. So have fun with your desires but don't grasp onto them so hard, as if they were the only piece of flotsam on an open terrifying sea, that you crush them with your enthusiasm. Certainly don't berate yourself for choices that didn't work as planned. There are no mistakes, on an infinite level and that is where your soul resides.

Also, I have a very high comfort level with the belief that every choice I make is a learning process and will teach me something valuable that I can use later on my path. Since assimilating this idea, I can look back on my life and almost begin believing in destiny. In retrospect, it's so obvious that my errors, trials, sadnesses, decisions and triumphs have truly brought me exactly what I am today and, even more importantly, prepared me for where I intend to go next. It's beautiful and perfect.

Don't be so hard on yourself. All that expectation cancels what the law of attraction can do for you. When the gurus and the Buddhas say "detach yourself from the outcome" they mean it. Anything that makes you feel badly will be taking away from your fountain of prosperity. Strive to feel good. About everything. There is always a gem to be found even in the muddiest or most horrible circumstances.

The Secret has helped many people discover a totally new concept in the way they approach life. Therefore, it is as valuable as the bible or any self-help book we have on our shelves. The problem with The Secret is not it's content, it's the expectation of the people that watch it. For some reason, which I still after a year of listening to doubters, cannot fathom, there are people that expect it to be the end-all, be-all of millennia's-worth of spiritual knowledge, all conveniently wrapped in a 1.5 hour DVD for $20 bucks.

It's a brochure for the law of attraction. No more. No less. It did it's job perfectly and enjoyably.

So you watch it and then decide: does this concept intrigue me? Yes? Ok... then start the quest.

Jennifer

[Remez Sasson]

I agree with you completely, with what you say on detachment. Lack of detachment, and agree it is not so easy to be detached about something you deem important, causes stress and brings anxiety and fears, all of which work against the law of attraction. We all know the story about the person who planted a seed, and every few minutes turned the ground to see if it was growing.

What is it that most people desire? If you analyze your desires and goals, and reach the “root level” you will find that what you really want is a sense of happiness and security. Everything that you desire to accomplish or do is actually motivated by the desire to gain happiness and security, be it money, a house, a car, a new job, love or losing weight.

Under happiness and security you can position, inner peace, harmony, love, health and a state free of stress, anxieties and fears.

Too often, people devote a lot of time and effort getting something that in the end does not bring them the happiness or security they anticipate. Ask yourself what would bring you a sense of happiness and security? Look at each goal, and think earnestly and sincerely, if it would bring the coveted happiness and security you desire. If it does not, why not find some other, better goal?

The law of attraction works, but reading a book or watching a movie or video will not make it work. You need to have a strong desire, and be willing to do mentally and physically whatever it requires to get it. You need to keep an open mind to opportunities, new ideas and intuition.

You also need to be certain on a conscious and subconscious levels that attaining your goal is really important and useful, and would bring more happiness and security into your life, on the inner and material levels. Doubts and uncertainty about your goals can neutralize your efforts.

[yamayama]

I've made lots of decisions that turned out badly in the end but at the time they were the best decisions I could make and they were perfect for who I was and what I needed at the time. I don't regret them. Even my worst decisions taught me something and made me a better person.

It is true that it's human nature to discover something new and run around willy nilly and test it out and you mention bombs and such but I'd like to mention that with all the striving and running with the ball we have pulled ourselves out of the dark ages and made life better for everyone. True we haven't gotten it right yet, but eventually we will.


Sometimes we don't know what's best for us, but learning is the best part. If we blindly trust our inner selves or God or something that our physical selves aren't fully aware of then how will we learn what's right. How can we take responsibility for our actions when we are just sitting around waiting to be guided.

I'm not saying that guidance is bad but free will is better. I'd rather make a mistake and learn from it than to never trip and fall.

[Uplift]

I like a lot of what you say. For me, its about, kind of stop worrying and complicating everything. Be yourself. Trust yourself. Once I really wanted to totally change my basketball shooting style. Were the thousands of shots that felt awkward, and missed, for months on end, mistakes? Nah, they taught me heaps, and resulted in my unstoppable dream shot. At any time in that period, I could have looked at them as frustrating mistakes, and become doubting, fearfull and embarrassed through criticism of coaches and other players, and could have lost faith in myself. When I get a strong urge, a powerfull feeling, I know and trust where it comes from. And there's a big picture. That's the secret to me.

[BlueCrane]

Thank you, triplelight - I have just read both parts of your original posts on your blog and I am deeply impressed.

You answer so many of my questions and clarify so much of my doubt about how it all works by going to the core of things - a core that I can feel more than I can put a finger on.

Just thank you.

[Honeywith4bees]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

I have a problem with the concept that we often don't know what is best for us. Sorry. If we don't, then who does?
Jennifer

How many threads have been on this forum from people who want to continue to persue relationships that are not working? So many times we trick ourselves into believing that our gut is telling us to pursue something that isn't really beneficial to us. I have also made a great deal of bad choices that in the end provided me with great insight, but I bet I could of learned the same lessons in a much less painful way.
I haven't seen the movie "The Secret", but I was under the impression that when we try to manifest something, we allow for the "or something better" to come as well. Personally, I find that the things that I have journalled about in the past, almost always come to fruition, and probably because by writing them and dreaming them, I am also taking action on achieving them.

Nice post triplelight. Thanks!

[Jennihul]

You could live in a much less painful way, if you were those people, by not making dysfunctional decisions and choices. Yet they do. It's less about the actual choices and their being best or not and more about growing past your dysfunctions and attaining closer and closer communion with a higher self.

But if you give up your power to make those decisions and the potential mistakes or triumphs that come with them, to whom I have still not figured out, then you lose out on the best part of life: growth.

ANY path can be THE path. But until you take the first step onto that path, you will never know if it's right or wrong.

Are you saying not to take any steps for fear they may be wrong?

I agree with triplelight's comments about the law of attraction being more about the soul than about getting "stuff" but I wholeheartedly resist any path that requires that I sit under the Bodhi tree and wait for life to get "just right" before I am somehow magically complete.

Experience (as in the verb.) It's the only way to live.


Jennifer

[dorothy hanna]

Triplelight? Whose this "WE", you keep referring to in your article. "I" did not make any bombs. "WE", this, then "WE", that.

"I" am glad "I" do not live in, what is referred to as, "the dark ages". I know that "I" am affected by many decisions, and ideas put in place by others collectively, and individually, from days gone by, on some level, but since learning the secret, "I" now realize that "I" am not nearly as affected as "I" once thought "I" was. "I", am free to utilize and interact with the law of attraction to bring about "my" reality, here and now, without being affected by "some" who may think"I" should be focusing on something, other than what "I" am focusing on, right now, or in a different manner than "I" do now.

In "MY" life, no matter my screw ups, along the way, "I" have been the "one" who learned the most from them. "I" have learned much. "I" wouldn't change a thing. "I" know, should "I" be feeling any frustration in my life, (which "I" no longer do, since learning the secret) "I" would know that "I" brought these feelings of frustration to myself, and what "OTHERS", may or may not be doing, according to the way "I" think it should be done, has nothing to do with "me". "I" would just go about changing the way "I" have been thinking, and doing, and the situation changes.

Gravity? Gravity is "my" friend.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by triplelight

A synopsis of my latest post.

I'm an African American spiritual teacher with over 25 years of experience. I believe in the law of attraction but feel that The Secret has done a poor job of explaining how it should best be utilized. It is not enough to create lists of things that you want to attract into your life because the truth of the matter is that very few of us know at the conscious level what is best for us. All we have to do is look at our own lives and the history of humanity to realize that this is true.

If we look back at our own lives, I am certain that most of us would say that the best things that have happened to us are not the things that we have consciously chosen for our lives. On the flipside, we can all point to lovers, spouses, jobs and career paths that we were certain were right for us that in retrospect, turned out disastrously.

When a law of nature or of the universe is discovered, it appears that it is human nature for us to go crazy with our enthusiasm and pride and rush forward without thinking of the consequences. When we learned how to split the atom, we enthusiastically stockpiled enough nuclear weapons to blow ourselves up. As we learned how to harness the power of carbon-based fuels and to build engines, we launched into an industrial revolution that has damaged the environmental balance of the planet.

What do I recommend? Let me ask you this: When you became aware of the law of gravity, did you set about figuring out ways to use it to your advantage? Did you start doing affirmations and visualizations to make it work better for you? I doubt it. But it did imbue you with a subtle confidence that changed your understanding of the physical world and your relationship to it.

The law of attraction should imbue us with a life transforming confidence.

The Law of Attraction should give us the confidence that our soul's intention for us will manifest. Knowing this, instead of creating wish lists of everything that will satisfy our ego’s desire, instead of doing affirmations and staying positive around the clock – we only need to do one thing: Devote ourselves to getting to know and love ourselves at the soul level. If we do this, then the law of attraction will help us to manifest an authentic life that harmonizes with whom we really are and our soul’s intention for us.

Read the full post here.

I read your post and I read what you wrote here. I cannot help but to see continuous contradiction in your writing, and a lot of fear. If you truly understand Law of Attraction you should realized that people are ALREADY using it RIGHT NOW. It's not like LoA got turned on the minute The Secret became popular.

The whole point of the movie is to show people that they need to grab responsibility for their thoughts and what they allow themselves to focus on, for it is exactly that which will manifest in their lives. When we focus on WAR, we create WAR, when we focus on FEAR we create more FEAR. When we focus on PEACE we create more peace.

The Secret was not a perfect DVD. Nothing is. However, by focusing on the negative sides of the DVD and the Law of Attraction, you are creating more of the very thing that you are complaining about.

Look at this statement from your article:

"Arrogance
Who are these people in The Secret? To hear them speak, one imagines that they all know how to walk on water! One guy imagines checks coming in the mail and they do! Cancer is cured! They are all rich and happy because they know The Secret! I understand that the DVD could have been edited in such a way that made each of them look like arrogant, perfect bores but please - give us a break."

Let me offer a different way of look at "these people". Why not see them as human beings, expressing themselves the best way they know how. Are they perfect? No. Neither are you. Neither am I. Maybe they are arrogant, maybe they are not. Either way, the only way to react is to send them forgiveness. Why do they need to give you a break? Give yourself a break. They do not force you to watch the DVD. They are just expressing themselves. What's wrong with being rich? Does God want us all to suffer in poverty?


You say: "I’m not trying to put any of them down, but collectively, they do come off as arrogant." Uhm. Ok, you just put them down.

You say: "I know that this may sound negative, but ..." Whenever you encounter yourself saying or writing this statement, just stop. Why? Because whatever it is that you are going to write after the BUT will just attract more of whatever is after the BUT. Negativity attracts more negativity.

In any case, much like the people in "The Secret", you are just expressing yourself and for that I applaud you. Best of luck to you!

[cylon]

Originally Posted by impaul99

You say: "I know that this may sound negative, but ..." Whenever you encounter yourself saying or writing this statement, just stop. Why? Because whatever it is that you are going to write after the BUT will just attract more of whatever is after the BUT. Negativity attracts more negativity.

This is true. And challenging to do.

[drkirby]

Thank you for your contribution.

Here are my observations, and I do not intend any harm... but I couldn't help myself but feel, and see that your post is filled with fear-based emotions and wanted to input my 2 cents.

In the post you criticize.. and criticize... and then preach a dogmatic doctrine from the mountain roof-tops...

I am not criticizing, this is a simple observation from my perspective. I am not saying that it is bad to do so, or that it is good. All of this is subjective and will differ based on each person's personal perspective. This is a given, so I'm not going to indulge in this.

What I am saying is this:

A message of unconditional love, can never be delivered in the delivery of criticism.

This is because criticism sees failure, it sees fault, it sees something it does not like, because that is the function of the ego-based self, to make it self bigger through criticism. To control, to exert manipulation, criticism can be useful.

Love on the other hand, inspires, uplifts and encourages through praise. As a result encourages people to greater heights, moves peoples hearts to do greater and greater things, and is never delivered in a format where it is disguised in criticism, because criticism is never born out of love... it is born out of fear.

Because love does not know judgement. How can love criticize?

Only the ego-based self which is based on fear, on lack, on not having enough for ME, on wanting to be right, on wanting to feel important has the urge to do such things.

My point here is not to say that we should rid ourselves of our ego-selves and/or to pretend we don't have one. As spiritual entities living in physical bodies we all have an ego-based self inside us, which some have learned to tame more so than others, but it is essentially a part of the deal we have accepted when we came upon here... it's part of the contract in other words.

Also: The Secret has never claimed to be the be-all, end-all for the law of attraction, throwing spears at this beat-down subject does nothing but spread more hate.

The fact of the matter is that The Secret has succeeded in opening the hearts and minds of millions upon millions of people to the idea that we really do control, and manifest our destinies... all with but a movie.

For example if we put things in perspective here... most people do not realize that this single movie has probably touched more lives in one movie and through the media attention from Oprah and other big media outlets than ALL of Bob Proctors, Abraham-Hicks, and the other teachers of the law of attraction seminars, books, tapes that they have conducted/presented or sold COMBINED for over 50+ years?

There has never been a time in the history of our human civilization that the mass consciousness has accepted a message like this one on a such a large scale. And instead of using this for cause of celebration, people are spending time criticizing and spreading more hate.. all in the name of love?

This is the lunacy of human behavior. We have been doing it since the beginning of time, and we continue to do so.

See, it is really our choice whether we choose to criticize or appreciate... in both cases we are right. It's the flip-sides of the same coin. Which are both truths.