Law of Attraction | Personal Development

Archive for December, 2009

I often hear that for the law of attraction to work, you should believe that you already have what you are trying to attract. Does that mean that you should do something reckless like buying a bunch of things that you can’t afford because you believe that you will get a lot of wealth anyway.

If someone would be tempted to believe in the law of attraction, he could certainly buy into the notion that since he will become rich, he might as well enjoy his riches now by dipping into questionable credit opportunities or carelessly overspending.

However, my personal belief is that the law of attraction is a new age conceptualization which is outside the boundaries of science, including psychology.

The law of attraction simply states that events happen because of the energies we give out. This happens regardless if we do it intentionally or not.

If this is so, we must emit only the positive energies so we can attract only the good, right?

Unfortunately, this is the mistake some people make. Just because the law of attraction states that the good that we give out is also reciprocated by another good thing, we have no assurance that everything that will come back to us will be just good.

Why is this so? If we look at the definition of the law of attraction, it talks about the arbitrary nature of things that happen to us. These occur because of the energies that we unintentionally give out.
Consequently, we have no control over situations and events that arrive at our doorsteps. In the same way, we cannot tie a rope around the negative or positive energies that are released.

Because we believe only on the obvious, we raise hell whenever something negative comes, thinking that we have become victims of other people’s negative wishes. A lot of us are quick to point the blame at other people for our fates, not realizing that, if the law of attraction is considered, what happens to us is caused by what we give out.

For instance, we tell somebody that we are going to help him clean out his garage this Sunday. Because we said so, we ultimately expect that that other person will also offer to help clean out our garage the following Sunday. However, we become surprised when this does not happen. We get frustrated and say that there is no truth to the law of attraction. This is our folly. We have unfounded interpretation about the law of attraction.

The problem lies not in the ‘faulty’ definition of the law of attraction but on our faulty interpretation of the entire concept. If we truly want to live good lives, we can stop relying on the law of attraction and just learn to simply live good lives.

Should something negative come, then we should accept this as part of normal living and not a consequence of energies. The mistake that people make in living is in the erroneous concepts we carry. Why don’t we just let go of misinterpreted concepts and just continue living and coping with fate?

We are all huge magnets of various events – good or bad. All the law of attraction can do is to tell us that there exist positive and negative energies. It is by no means a method of preventing ill events from coming into our lives. As the popular song goes, we only get what we give (whether deliberately or unintentionally!).

Moni Arora
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/misconceptions-about-the-law-of-attraction-103392.html

At least not the way it is being taught by the thousands of people on “The Secret” bandwagon. To me a law is measurable, repeatable and predictable.

Let me explain. If I think about having a million dollars in the bank, will it happen just by my focusing on it? I do not think so.

If I dream about a date with Pamela Anderson, I can make it happen. Not likely. Even with the examples above, does the Law of Attraction make sense?

Sure.

Sometimes.

It can help you get clear. It can help you focus. It starts the process of moving towards what you want and moving you away from what you do not want.

So why does it not work for everyone, all the time.

Good question. If I knew I would be teaching that and making millions.

But let me tell you what I know about the Law of Attraction from my personal experience. Many people spend all day thing about what they want. This is good. But they do not think through what it takes to reach their wants; it never makes it to a goal. They never take action.

Let assume the goal is to make a million dollars. You need to ask yourself “How can I make a million dollars?”

You need to understand what you can provide to others that would inspire them to buy from you. “How much do I need to sell and at what price?”

I think it was Zig Ziglar who said “find out what people want and give it to them.”

So what do people want that you can provide?

How do you know they will buy from me? How do you know it has value? What is that value?

You need to do my research and determine what people want. You need to determine what you can provide. You need to determine what you am going to give up too achieve your goal.

If you are not getting the desired results, what are you going to give up so you can replace this nonproductive behavior with a more productive behavior? Einstein was correct when he said “insanity is doing the same things over again and expecting different results.” What insane behavior are you keeping? What do you need to change to achieve you goal.

What steps are you doing to take? Will you give up two hours of television a day and use this time to do research, learn a new skill or create plan?

What education do you need? What people do you need to meet? What skills do you need to develop?

Does the law of attraction work?

Yes, I think it does provided…

You clearly define the outcome you want. You set a date on when it will happen. You understand the value you provide to achieve you desired outcome. You take action.

You are emotionally invested in the outcome.

I once hear the term used called “inspired action.” I think it was James Ray who first introduced me into that term.

I think inspired action is critical to any kind of meaningful achievement, especially if you are using the Law of Attraction.

If you are not inspired (emotionally invested in the outcome) you will not take action.

If you decide to take action, you will not stick to you course of action when thing get difficult unless you are inspired.

You will not learn the skills necessary or surround yourself with the right people without inspired action. You will not get out of your comfort zone to take action unless you are inspired.

So how do you answer all these questions? It is easy to discuss them in an article but how do you answer them.

I can only tell you what worked for me. I do not know if this will work for you but I found the answer in a question. Not just any question, but in a very powerful way the question is asked.

If we ask the question “How can I,” the mind has a tendency to focus on one specific outcome. It tries to answer the question how. If we ask this question: “how the chicken can cross the road?” the mind will stop when we answer it. The chicken can cross the road by walking across.

If we change the question to “in what ways can the chicken cross the road?” we are now open to different possibilities. The chicken can cross the road by walking, flying, running, hitching a ride, etc. This type of question allows the mind to be open for possibility. You start to see things in an entirely different light.

Ask yourself this question and have a pencil and paper ready to record the different answers. This question is most effective in a group. I have seen some powerful answers to some difficult questions materialize.

I have successfully (occasionally) used the Law of Attraction. When I analyze why it worked for me, I determined two very important things. The first is the way I asked the question. It is not how, but in what ways. The second aspect that is critical for me is a strong emotion attachment to a specific outcome. Let me give you an example.

Several years ago I lost my job. Shortly after I lost my job my wife was in a traffic accident. Her 10 year old van was destroyed. She was not hurt. Since I was not working I was really worried about spending money on another vehicle even though I knew we needed two vehicles. I did have insurance but the pay-out was too low to replace the car. I was looking at a significant cash outlay to replace this vehicle.

I knew I needed to do something but I was so afraid to act. So afraid I got myself tied up in a knot. After a week of no sleep and lots of anxiety, I decide I needed to do something. I had a few requirements: it has to be newer so I was not being nickled and dimed on repairs and it had to be safe (since my wife would drive it.)

Finally I started looking for a good used car. I went to a car dealer and looked at used cars. I settled on a Ford Taurus. The price was $8500. I thought I was ready to buy. At the last minute I chickened out and left the dealership without making a purchase. On my drive home I knew I needed to trust myself and since I believed in the universal Law of Attraction, I needed to trust that as well. I actually told myself if I really believed this I needed to buy this car and trust everything would work itself out. After all, if I took out a long enough note my payment would be fairly low.

About an hour later, I called the sales representative and told him I would be up to sign the papers. Before I went back to the card dealership, I met some people for lunch. It was then I received the surprise of my life. One person at the table gave me a car. Yes, they gave it to me. It was even a Ford Taurus. Her husband had recently died and she wanted a car that was not so big.

I do not suggest you take this course of action.

Why?

Because I have not been able to implement the Law of Attraction in a measurable, predictable and repeatable fashion.

I think the reason that car manifested was because I had a very strong emotion about addressing this problem, I took action, I did my research and I was very clear on the outcome I wanted. I took action.

I want to spend a minute on why you should not do this.

I spent days worrying about where I was going to get the money. I did not sleep for a week prior to making my decision. I asked myself “in what ways could I” before I settled on the course of action I took. I got my wife involved in the decision and told her my thought process. I did want her to think I had a stack of money somewhere. We were in this together and if she did not agree I was not going to do it.

Needless to say it worked out for me in that situation. I must say there are other situations where it did not work out. It is not fool proof: at least not for me, not yet anyway.

To me a law is measurable, repeatable, and predictable. I think there is some merit in what is known as the Law of Attraction but because it is something I have not been a implement in a measurable, repeatable and predictable way I do not think I would call it a law.

There are some great ideas and some great teacher doing some great things but go into this with your eyes wide open. If you embrace this The Law of Attraction, go into it with your eyes wide open. Even if it does not work for you, it will help you create clarity of purpose, inspired action and a well thought out plan.

There are no shortcuts.

Ronald Finklestein
http://www.articlesbase.com/coaching-articles/the-law-of-attraction-it-does-not-work-125488.html

Hypnosis has a strong reputation for being an excellent tool for changing habits. It is also a popular stage show activity that results in some facinating displays of mental manipulation. Many psychologists will also use hypnosis as a means for treating mental dysfunction. And success coaches will use hypnosis for aiding in personal development. But hypnosis can be used for even greater purposes than these, including spiritual development.

The process of hypnosis is relatively easy, which is surprising to most, considering the power that is associated with this phenomenon. In short, the process is one of distracting the conscious mind long enough to implant alternate suggestions to the inner mind. Many people think that hypnosis is a process of putting the conscious mind asleep, but this is a common misconception of hypnosis. Hypnosis is not sleep, but rather a form of tightly focused concentration.

Many spiritual traditions use meditation as a vehicle for development. Meditation too, is a process of focusing the mind, but usually at a lower level of intensity. This lower level of intensity makes meditation easier for the individual to attain and control. Once the mind is focused to the degree common in hypnosis, the ability to direct the course of activity is usually lost. This is one of the major difficulties in trying to use hypnosis by yourself. To reach a deep level, you have to have an outside source of direction.

But there are relatively simple methods of overcoming this difficulty.

Having another person direct you through the process is a common method. This is the way many of us view hypnosis – as a process of one person leading another through a series of steps. If this person is trustworthy, and has a solid grounding in psychology and the spiritual beliefs you hold, then this is the best option, as any variation that comes up during the process of hypnosis can be dealt with effectively.

If your purpose of using hypnosis were to stop smoking, lose weight, control procrastination, or a host of many other common goals, then you would be able to use one of the many pre-recorded hypnotic tapes that are being sold on the market. Unfortunately, there aren’t many hypnotic recordings for spiritual development, and the ones that do exist are somewhat expensive (the ecomonics of supply and demand in action).

It is possible to create your own hypnotic recordings, and by doing this you also end up with a hypnotic session that is custom tailored to your exact goals. Using a recording device, such as a tape recorder, mini-disc recorder, or MP3 device, you can record a series of steps that you intend to follow while in the hypnotic state. This way, you can create your own hypnotic program that will help you acheive the exact results you want.

But what do you record to create a hypnotic session for spiritual development? Beyond the basics of directing yourself to relax your physical body, focus your mind through a series of steps to attain the level of focus required, and the ending sequence of coming back to normal consciousness, the progression of the working session can follow a number of different formats.

Spiritual growth and development takes many forms depending on the culture in which you live. The content of the hypnotic session depends greatly on the belief system of the person undertaking it. If you believe that spiritual growth takes place when you live according to a prescribed set of rules without deviation, then you would use hypnosis to instill a ‘natural’ tendency to live according to those rules. This is the same as the habit control usage of hypnosis applied to those habits seen as being spiritual. Your recording will be a series of statements such as “You enjoy…” and “You will always…”.

If you believe that spiritual development takes place when you are able to make a strong connection to a higher power, then you would use hypnosis to find and control the inner mechanisms responsible for making that connection. (Incidentally, this is my belief regarding spiritual development.) In this format, hypnosis becomes a ‘practice session’ for learning how to make that connection better and stronger. Your recording will generally be a guided daydream in which you take the actions which lead to the stronger connection.

And if you believe that spiritual growth and development happens as you become more like the Supreme Being, then you would use hypnosis to create whatever internal changes that need to happen to bring yourself closer to that state. This format of hypnosis is a combination of the other two formats.

Alan Tutt
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/hypnosis-and-spiritual-development-95206.html

The warning label reads: Past performance is not an indication of future results. Your principal investment may loose value at any time. Yet, the need for growth encourages investors to look beyond the risks of any given investment due to our projected needs for retirement income, education funding, and other saving goals.

A familiar scenario may even transpire as we attempt to meet our goals and exceed the threat of inflation. An investor watches financial reports on television and reads several articles on the current market environment. Optimism overwhelms the common sense of the investor as he buys an investment with the little extra cash he has in his checking account. It increases almost immediately. To the investor, the economy looks good and so does his portfolio. Therefore, he decides additional capital should be placed with the advancing position and places more savings into it; this time at a higher cost. He ponders the idea of luck for a moment, but enjoys telling his friends of the success.

He now has a short term history of success and focuses solely upon his past results. The haunting words, past performance is not an indication of future results, come to mind infrequently. He is now investing in past tense and ignores risk of principal.

Good news continues to drive the price of his position higher and he may even take a third and larger position in it. Without warning, there is a sell off in the market place and the price of his position drops dramatically. He recalls the more profitable times and hopes for a rebound. The rebound never occurs and he now has an unrealized loss in his portfolio. Without an exit strategy, he holds onto the hope that the position will resume an upward trend. Before long, he refuses to open his statements and may even fabricate stories of great wealth before the crash to his friends.

His loss grows greater. Controlled by panic and the idea of never fulfilling his dreams and goals, he becomes impatient and sells it all. For a short while he is content, because the market continues to loose value and he feels he made the right decision. Later, he reads reports on the struggling economy. It is at that moment, he recalls the generalized statement: movements in security prices often precede changes in our economy.

Dwelling upon his failure, he fears taking any position in similar investments. Like others before him, he realizes investors will always need the market more than the market needs them. Several weeks pass and he catches a blurb on television. The investment he sold for a loss proved to have strong fundamentals and its price is poised to reach an all time high. If he decides to invest in it again, he would do so at higher price, thus subscribing to the whipsaw effect of the position. This is a dangerous proposition for his savings because he would be chasing trends. He would be investing in past tense.

Where did the investor go wrong and what can you do to prevent a similar experience with your savings?

Several aspects of the situation proved wrong. First, every investor must have a legitimate approach to saving. The game plan for one investor may be simple. For example, the stated investment policy may read concisely. Such as, an aggressive five-year savings plan for a fishing boat. Others may find a more detailed policy in order. The statement may be: a conservative ten-year plan to save for retirement while simultaneously drawing $1500 of monthly income for the private education of my three children. Vague investment goals such as to make money are best avoided.

Once the game plan has been formatted, your investment strategy should become clear and you will begin to realize right from wrong. You will better understand the investments that belong in your asset allocation and the ones that may contradict your goals.

Another mistake made by the investor centers around his information sources. The media, from television news programs to printed periodicals, provide a simple means to learn broad saving strategies and they may be educational on several levels. They may also entertain while reporting on important events. However, one should realize the news is viewed by millions. Thus, a single viewer is not receiving unique information and it may not be applicable for his/her given circumstances.

Ask yourself this question: Who cuts your meat?

Remember your childhood when one of your parents cut the meat on your dinner plate. Your mother or father provided reliable and safe assistance. They knew exactly what you needed. Now, as an adult, that same philosophy translates into other parts of your life. Your spouse knows the best gift for your birthday, your accountant knows the most appropriate deductions for your tax return, and your financial planner or advisor knows the goals of your portfolio. Speak with your financial professional about your situation. An understanding of your risk tolerances, goals, and time horizons will guide you toward the proper set up of your accounts. Additionally, planners and advisors review volumes of information. Ask for his/her favorite source of information for your particular circumstances. This will help eliminate the frothy excess of literature available on the internet and in the book stores.

Arguably, the most detrimental mistake of our hypothetical investor is when he dwells upon the what could have been. This mind-set is important to overcome and will inevitably lead toward regret and frustration. Measuring past performance, reviewing historical trends, and learning from adverse market conditions assist us in developing the most suitable approach to saving. However, when an investor constantly recounts past deficiencies as an indication of what will undeniably occur in the future, he/she will find a portfolio without direction. Remember, past performance is not an indication of future results, it is just a testimonial. In creating a greater net worth for you and your family, aligning positive perspectives with specific investment policy statements will help achieve your anticipated goals.

Kemberly Wardlaw
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/past-tense-pitfalls-54016.html