January 18, 2007
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The “Law of Attraction” has become a trendy buzz-phrase among self-help gurus, metaphysics teachers and those who sit at their feet, these days. Now, I’m not knocking it, and you can certainly sign me up as one of those who has believed in “meaningful synchronicities” and “getting what we ask for” for much longer than it has been hip to do so.
However, I feel that a lot of good folks miss the point. Or rather, they make a mess of figuring out what it is they ask for, by their actions.
It’s clear enough to most folks that one of the basic tenets of everything from “Daily Affirmations” to the Law of Attraction is that you must ask for what you WANT, rather than focus on telling the world what you DON’T want. On some level it might be helpful to define what we want in terms of what we don’t want… after all, we do learn a lot through our negative experiences. However, ultimately our subconscious/unconscious (which is where all this stuff gets tossed into the cauldron to brew) only registers the actual “concepts” we put into words, not their “context.” Thus, when we say something like “I don’t want to date someone with an anger problem,” or “I don’t want to work for a smoker,” the only concepts our subconscious picks up on are “date anger problem” and “work smoker.” So phrasing is very important.
Where people “lose it,” is when we get into the area of specificity.
Much of the time we intuitively (and impulsively?) know what we want, yet many people don’t really think the implications of “What I Want” through to its ultimate destination. I am not sure I’d go so far as to say that everything has a “price,” but I do think a lot of generally positive things we want in our lives come with a certain load of “baggage” we never contemplate, when we make our wishes known. Maybe someone wants a swank late-model car, but ends up all surprised that their “tree hugger” friends suddenly turn a cold shoulder. Many choices involve “internal conflicts” that we aren’t always aware of while in “the heat of the moment of choice.” It’s difficult to (for example) both live a “green” and sustainable life, AND have all the trimmings and conveniences of the upscale corporate yuppie lifestyle you have grown used to. Or want to live with someone who’s a quiet introvert AND expect them to be the assertive one who goes out and brings all the excitement into the relationship.
There’s an interesting tension there, I suppose– in the sense that “wishing” is seldom logical, yet a certain measure of “logical action” is required to turn wishes into reality.
And, of course, we have to figure out what it is we really want– which, for many people, involves taking a closer look at personal truth than they are prepared to do.
Comments (12)
You know what they say, “if wishes were fishes, there would be none left to eat.”
And then where the hell would we get our omega 5? HUH?
As for personal truth, some things remain solid. Like who we love, and why. Some things are in constant flux. Like who we love, and why.
Oh the paradox. Oh the irony.
Interesting tension indeed. Must be why my heart aches.
Phrasing is very, very important. Removing negative and rephrasing things positively has been helpful to me.
believing we are worthy of what we want to attract is important too….
Good points. Enthusiasm can be a very dangerous thing.
I’ve always had to be careful with what I verbalize. When I said I wanted someone to make my food and bring it to me, I wasn’t thinking that it would happen by being hospitalized. But that’s what happened shortly after my making that statement. The double edged sword….law of attraction is.
There is a very important part of Law of Attraction that many people do not know or do not know how to use. It’s about the word “want.” (Can you see where I’m going?) If you put out want: I want a new job; I want a peaceful coexistence…then, oftentimes, you get exactly that: WANT. An important part of the process is creating a sense of being, having, doing, since, in reality, THAT is what you really want.
Since this is something I do (and am doing), I am very careful about not only saying but also thinking the appropriate things.
And, yes, more often than not, people don’t really know what they want and are surprised when what they get is EXACTLY the sum of their thoughts, words and emotional needs.
It can get tricky.
I love you…GFW
Yay! You back! ^_^
Hear, hear to saying what you want, or even need, as specifically as possible
Often when I am “wishing” to use the term….I close my eyes and summon up the FEELING that I want to have. I imagine , and therefore AM, that feeling, for a few moments. Then I put it to the Gods that Be that I’d like MORE of that feeling….and of course, it is known between myself and Spirit what my intent is. (for example, that only if it is in the highest plan of myself and any others involved, that I am coming from and am interested only in forces working from love, etc)
I cover all the bases that way, I feel. Works for me, anyhow.
Until/unless I put up roadblocks while it manifests LOL!
that’s like, when you talk to a kid…they only hear that last bit…so you should not say “Don’t do blah blah blah” because they only focus on the blah blah….If you see what I mean
t
the law of attraction can be confusing at first, but i think with enough practice, is a valuable tool. in my opinion, i think a positive outcome from the law of attraction could be less poverty and more effective distribution of wealth. We think there are a bunch of rich assholes that hog all the money and rule the world but they wouldn’t if we didn’t think it was possible for them to do so, so i believe if we can reimagine the distribution of wealth, and realize we don’t all want the same thing that someone out there in the annals of corporate marketing and advertising want us to believe—then we will see there is plenty for everyone. i think it’s the poverty consciousness that keeps the world in the state it is in, and hopefully the law of attraction helps to evolve that. and even if everyone doesn’t get it, the smart ones that do are doing the moving and shaking to transform the current collective way of thinking anyway. even if the world sees itself as “poor”, one can still be and feel “rich”, don’t you think? k
I also agree, with the thought that we are attracted to things, people and places that we feel worthy of being with or at… If I feel unworthy then I am going to be around people and exhibt behaviour that reinforces that belief… Gawd I wish I could have seen this when I was younger, but again thats part of growing up and old … ‘Til The Next
I think the universe is probably like cogs and wheels. If you throw in too many wrenches you might actually screw up a good thing… at least temporarily.
The biggest flaw with the Law of Attraction that I find has to do with disease and violence. I think enough people DO practice peace or desries to be healed… so why arnt they healing? How many families wish to see their loved ones return from war… and yet it may not happen for some soilders die.
If the Law of Attraction is so profound why dont people stop ageing… or dying all together?
Again, greater things are at work than just our minds, I do believe.