“Do you still believe in the Law of Attraction?” the question rang out from a thoughtful member of the documentary festival audience.
The Law of Attraction was hoisted onto mainstream consciousness by the 2006 success of the DVD and book production The Secret. The basic tenet of the Law of Attraction is like attracts like. If like attracts like, then positive thoughts attract positive results and negative thoughts attract negative results.
There I was, ten years later, on a Q&A panel at Mountainfilm, standing beside one of the people featured in The Secret after watching a very different film, Enlighten Us – The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray. Enlighten Us examines the events and conditions surrounding the deaths of three of my peers when we were at a spiritual and personal growth retreat in October 2009.
Do I still believe in the Law of Attraction? What a question.
There was a time when my answer would have been a firm and angry, “No.” But that answer had been coloured by grief and a rejection of all things spiritual in the wake of the deaths of three of my peers. How could I continue to believe in the Law of Attraction when the journey it had initiated had led to the most disastrous of results?
Like attracts like
Most people readily identify with the principle that like attracts like, reflecting on the status of their relationships and results. In The Secret, proponents of the Law of Attraction took it further, stating that thoughts are things that have an energetic resonance for other similar things, including results.
The reason I resonated with this way of thinking was the implication that I could change my results if I changed the way I thought. My thoughts, like yours, were not always all sunshine and unicorns. I knew there was room for improvement.
When I explored well beyond The Secret, I learned that the Law of Attraction isn’t about passivity, nor is it the only Law of the Universe. Unfortunately, many people expect their thoughts to auto-magically translate into riches. A quick Google search will reveal articles with comment after comment of people looking for a quick get-rich scheme.
The Law of Attraction is not the same as magical thinking
Although it may seem magical at times, applying Law of Attraction should not be confused with magical thinking. Magical thinking is endearing in children under the age of seven. It’s disturbing and unhealthy in adults. Shifting your results by shifting the quality of your thoughts is an extraordinary feeling and experience, especially when it’s new.
However, there is a risk of people becoming stuck at this stage and it’s no wonder they have difficulty creating sustainable results. The flip side of living with the Law of Attraction is that it takes a lot of effort. Although effort is required, it doesn’t mean it has to be hard. Much of the effort involves inner work, a challenge most people are content to avoid.
The only way out (or up) is to go inwards
Underlying the Law of Attraction is a cornerstone principle that many people overlook. In every area of your life – including your business – your results are a reflection of you. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. If you’re not happy with your results, or would like to expand your results to new heights, the only way out – or up – is in.
This doesn’t mean that you drop what you’re doing and head for the mountains, or an ashram, into the desert, or to your couch to figure things out. You certainly can, and I have, but I have found that the best way to move your results forward is to play the personal growth game within the various environments of your real life: your health and self care, relationships, business, finances, and always your state of conscious awareness.
Refining your results based on your relationship with your Self and how you relate to the world is a rewarding process. Life becomes an opportunity to look inwards and move forward at every turn. The more adept you become, the more likely you are to show up as a receptive, but discerning participant in your own life.
You have a 2-way relationship with your environment
Walking the path initiated by the Law of Attraction will also lead to an examination of your outer world. Your outer world, or environment, is a reflection of you, but the inverse is also true:
You become a reflection of your environment.
You have a 2-way relationship with your environment. Your inner world of thoughts, beliefs and conditioning is always being influenced by everything and everyone around you, including the thoughts of and about others that you allow to seep into your consciousness.
When there is a consistent disconnect between how you consciously intend to show up in the world and your results, something important is missing. You are out of alignment.
Living in Alignment
Living in alignment is a more arduous and substantial pursuit than the more simplistic “if I think good things, good things will happen” approach to life. Attraction is the catalyst. Alignment is the longer, more sustainable game.
Living in alignment challenges you to consistently show up in harmony with your desires and your values. Being in a state of alignment means making courageous changes to line up your thoughts, feelings, and actions with where you are going and who you want to be; not staying stuck in a story or tied in a codependent relationship with the past.
Living in alignment feels good. It’s the best kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. If you want to explore the idea of living in alignment more, click here to listen to my podcast episode Want to Create Winning Results? Live in Alignment with Feeling Good
Do I still believe in the Law of Attraction? You bet I do. It opened the door for me to start living more consciously. But there is much more to it than that.
