In Harmony With Abundance

The other day I was going through some old photos including pictures of me in my early 20s, and what shocked me was the realisation of how good  I  looked, how slim I was and how happy I seemed to appear and in fact remember feeling! Yet I also remember feeling fat and ugly, and the belief that if I achieved a, b or c then I would be happier or more content or something! But the reality is that all we have is now. I can’t go back to those years and just enjoy it, and I realise that I cannot go on putting my life on hold as it will be better somehow next week, month or year. Now is all I have, it doesn’t really get better than now, if I want to do it then now is the right time!

I have been a little distracted of late which is why I have not been dealing with this blog. Again it does demonstrate that trying to incorporate the Law of Attraction is not as easy as some would suggest and the advice ‘remember to remember’ is indeed apt!

This blog was started largely with the idea of looking at the Law of Attraction, however, my reading has taken me towards the direction of mindfulness or in other words living in the moment. There are connections to the Law of attraction but ultimately mindfulness does not have an aim of gaining wealth or anything material but is more about happiness and well being. In fact many of the practices used in mindfulness can help to keep depression and ‘black dog’ days at bay.

Starting this journey has taught me a lot, despite the claims of many of the writers on the law of attraction, it is not easy using the L of A and I realise that they would say it is because I have said it is not easy that it is so! I think for them this is a catch all answer that allows them an easy answer out of a difficult question but otherwise does not help anyone. Many negative and unproductive patterns of thoughts have embedded themselves deeply in my mind and even when I am ‘being very abundant’ or positive, there is an underlying belief that undermines all that I am trying to achieve. Overturning this is where the initial attention actually lies and I think is the key to making things change succesfully. This is also connected to self esteem and confidence, belief in yourself is vitally important as without it, again negative thoughts about your ability to use the Law of Attraction will start to hijack all your efforts leaving you frustrated and more disillushioned by the claims of The Secret and other books. A top tennis star related this, ‘Even if I am 135 in the world, I think I am the best as if I don’t think I am the best how can I be the best?’.  This is so very true and I need to strive for that level of belief in myself. So although I will continue working with the Law of Attraction, I also need to give myself love and attention – improve my self esteem whether through internal praise or meditation, and delighting in my favourite pastimes on my own or with the people I love. Hopefully, by doing this I can learn to truly love myself completely and also forgive myself for the mistakes I make. This in turn will also help me to be less judgemental on others. I realise that it is human nature to look at others and there are times when people do need a helpful nudge but the majority of it is not of any real value. Just look at celebrity gossip and fashion magazines, we are actively encouraged to tear people apart with vicious comments on their lives, relationships and appearance which although I admit can be fun, I don’t think is helpful or healthy. So, I plan to be more open and laid back about the choices of others which in turn will mean more inner peace (now I sound like Master Sifu from Kung Fu Panda!).

Using the law of attraction is an effective way to change your life, but only if you are doing it correctly. If it just isn’t working for you, it is possible that you are making the common mistake of focusing on lack. For the law to work you need to focus on abundance, here are some tips that I have picked up from my reading:

Tip #1 Change Your focus

Focus on what your desired income and not your current situation. So, for example, if you want more money think about how great it is to be wealthy, to always have enough money to take that holiday, go out for that meal, pay those bills easily. Feel how wonderful it is to be wealthy rather than focusing on (and hence attracting) how you currently don’t have enough. If you focus on how Let’s take an example, and since most people could do with more money, we’ll choose an increased income as your desired outcome. The first thing to do is to ask yourself why you want more money.

Tip#2 Change Your Habitual Response

Watch your reactions to events. For instance, when you receive a large bill, choose to happily pay the bill rather than worry about what it means to your bank balance. It helps if you focus on how you enjoyed or benefited from the services you paid for, ie, electricity bill means you get to see in the dark, access the internet, play video games, watch tv, run your washing machine, listen to the radio and many other fun and satisfying activities. such as a large credit card bill, is usually to worry that you can’t pay it and to think that you never have enough money for your bills. Choose to be grateful rather than complain. Remember rain means the flowers are being watered!

Tip #3 Recognize Abundance

You may think there is very little abundance in your life, but if you look more closely you will always find something. You may have an abundance of friends, or perhaps an abundance of great books, or yummy recipes, or children and you definitely have an abundance of air to breathe every day.

When you recognize the abundance you do have and start to appreciate it, you will attract more abundance into your life.

The Power of your subconscious mind by Joseph Murphy has been recommended to me by many who have talked about its brilliance and legendary status within the self development field so I thought I would give it go. I think this is a great book to start with as it isn’t strictly a law of attraction book, a lot of the time it talks about the power of the subconscious mind to achieve things and I think this sits more comfortably with people of a more sceptical nature and who find it hard to ‘believe’ in the law of attraction. Murphy provides a lot of practical advice and affirmations in his to help you along. An example of one of his affirmations include:

‘My subconscious mind knows the answer. It is responding to me now. I give thanks because I know the infinite intelligence of my subconscious knows all things and is revealing the perfect answer to me now.”

As you can see, they are not exactly short and easy to remember affirmations like ‘I am wealth’ that previous authors have recommended. The language is dated although still very to the point, and the book is full of wise gems which have since been repeated by many of the modern Law of Attraction experts:

‘Think good, and good follows. Think evil, and evil follows. You are what you think all day long.’

‘You have the freedom to choose happiness. This may seem extraordinary simple, and it is….Begin now to choose happiness.’

Life is often about how you view it, for example, if you spill your drink, a negative person will see it as a sign (again) of how rubbish their lives are & dwell on it for some time afterwards, whereas a positive person will shrug and get another drink almost instantly forgetting about it. Regardless of what you think about ‘The secret’ or the Law of Attraction, surely choosing to live your life now with a spring in your step and in the moment has to be better than wishing your life away by always saying ‘I’ll do it next year’ or ‘I’ll be happy when I lose five pounds in weight and fit into that dress’? I think so anyway!

Again I think the main themes that ran through this book is to have faith in the power of your subconscious to provide and to be appreciate of everything including being happy for others who are successful and wealthy. Being critical or jealous leads to a state where you will not be able to manifest anything you desire.

I have ummed and aaahed about writing this especially as so many commentators of the Law of Attraction tell us that ‘thoughts become things’. I didn’t want to indulge negativity but at the same time I don’t want others to feel discouraged because they think they are the only ones that didn’t instantly achieve everything after learning ‘the secret‘.

Everything I have read and engaged with has inspired me including other people’s Law of Attraction blogs, and I do feel I am making progress. For example, instead of being in a panic about being late for things, I assume that I have plenty of time and will make it on time, this doesn’t mean I sit there drinking a tea when I should be making a move, it just means I don’t get all stressed and expect the worst! And generally I am on time or even early so it has worked for me! Also by believing that I eat healthy and have a steady weight, I have not gained any weight over these Easter holidays and honestly I have not done anything differently, now I just need to start thinking that I love exercise then I will also start to lose weight.

However, I have found it hard to ‘believe’ the the Law works on some other issues such as the creation of wealth or improving eyesight so I no longer need to wear glasses. I start in good faith then there is a small part of me that says ‘this is rubbish’ or ‘why would anyone want to buy this from you?’, and often this does discourage me and the resultant negative thoughts flood in. I am going to continue to do affirmations and more reading so that the Law of Attraction becomes as real to me as the Law of Gravity. I think this is a real hurdle you need to overcome in order to get things really going. I am very positive about the whole experience and believe that the little ‘anti’ voice will soon see sense and come on board! I have been very heartened by Esther and Hicks who do say that it takes practise for your vibrations and feelings to match, and hence, attract your desires. And also it has of course taken years for sayings like ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ to become a fixed belief so it will take some time to overcome that and believe instead that you are a money magnet!

Ending on a positive – May is here and spring is definitely in the air so whilst the sun shines down on me, I will live my life in the moment, be inspired, and just be grateful for everything!

I have been listening to the audio version of the Secret book for the last week. I have never read the written book or seen the film version, I am waiting for the latter to arrive at some point, thank you LoveFilm! The secret is probably currently the most well known work about the Law of Attraction and as a result of the film’s stellar publicity, the concept of the Law of Attraction is far more of a well known although a lot of people are still very sceptical of its core ideas. Certainly in many of my circles if I mention The Secret, many eyes roll to the heavens! Anyway, back to the audio book, it is pretty long, lasting nearly 4 and half hours, and is narrated by Rhonda Byrne (the creator of the secret film) and also has contributions from a range of law of attraction gurus. I found it a really inspirational listen, Rhonda Byrne has a likeable voice, and her narration is broken up by gems of wisdom from the other contributors. Some of them like Lisa Nichols, I found particularly motivating as she has a real sense of joy in her voice, my favourite quote from her goes something like this “you expect debt, there’s debt, do yourself a favour, expect a cheque”. The variety of speakers helps illuminate all the concepts discussed in this book and their passion and beliefs for them really help you to understand and develop faith in the Law of attraction. There is again a large section dedicated to gratitude and I like the idea of waking up in the morning and having a gratitude routine where you thank the universe for the day to come, for your health, the legs you stand on and whatever else you like while you get ready. The subject of how Quantum Science validates the Law of Attraction is also discussed but not in any real depth, if you want to read more about Quantum Science, better to look at A Happy Pocket Full of Money by D. Gikandi which I have reviewed in an earlier post. There are ten chapters including ones on what the secret is, how to use the secret, using the secret to restore health, find love, money and lose weight. At the end of each section there is a summary of the points mentioned which is very helpful in embedding the ideas into your head. The production values of the book are very good with a good soundtrack that adds to the enjoyment of listening to this. Despite its length, I would say that other books go into more detail and depth about the Law of attraction so after reading/listening/watching The Secret, you will probably want to check out some other books. However, it is a very good starting point, I would recommend getting a version of it and is something that you can definitely dip into again and again. I especially like listening to it whilst I soak in a nice warm bubble bath, grateful for the chance to relax and reflect on my day!

As promised, here is another video gift from The Secret team, ‘The Secret to you’. I think this is a good one to remind yourself how wonderful it is to be alive and in fact how lucky we are to us! Enjoy this and let me know what you think about it, or alternatively, if you have a video clip you think is also inspirational share it on the forum or via a comment.

This is one of the visualisations gifted by The Secret website. It’s quite inspirational and pretty short so if you need a boost, its worth watching so take a look. Will post the others too.

This book was written in 1910 and came to my attention as one of the books quoted by Rhoda Byrne as inspiring her to create the film ‘The Secret’. It is a small publication, on my kindle there is less than 100 pages, and I imagine as a proper book, it is probably even less! I found it incredibly easy to read and very inspirational although some of the language and terms used are a bit dated but hey it is over 100 years old so I think we can let that go. I feel it is especially good for those only just starting to learn about the law of attraction or who want something quite concise. Wattles pretty much cuts out any waffling and gets straight to the point:

- Have the thought/vision using a creative mind, not a competitive mind. There is enough for all so never be in competition with others.
- Hold this vision, think of it often.
- Be in harmony by using gratitude, give blessings for all you have and the vision is coming to you.
- Have faith.
- Take action(but never hurry) whilst holding the vision.

He asks that we read his book often at the beginning to really allow his ideas to sink in and become habit. I really do like this book as it is very easy to dip in and out of when you have a spare moment and need a bit of a pick me up. I have been pretty much reading it for the last two weeks whenever I have time.

This is the link if you want a kindle copy, a bargain at 71p, hard copies are also available and there are a number of different versions so check out reviews before you buy.

Also if you are happy to read it on your computer, you can download it free from The Secret website, use this link:

http://thesecret.tv/ebooks.html#scienceof