The Law of Attraction
The Law of Attraction book, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, is wonderful stuff. It can change my day around in a minute. Thinking negative thoughts creates a negative existence, with more negativity on its way. So many years' worth of journals detailing anguish about symptoms and how bad I felt ensured more of the same for me. Reading The Law of Attraction was the beginning of the end of that type of thinking. Knowing that I have the power to create what I want is life-changing. For example, I live at the beach now. Do you know how many times - on freezing, slushy days in frigid subway stations where my hands were so cold they had trouble gripping the pen to write in my journal...or in meetings at work where higher-ups talked about strategic planning and stewardship of resources - that I'd envision the beach, because I love the beach? I saw myself in a bikini, bare- and hot-skinned, rolling around on the sand just for the feel of it. And now here I am, co-owner of a fantastic house just two blocks from the ocean, working from home. I believe that what you focus on, you get. So today, I focus on the bounty that I have (she says as she takes the thermometer out of her mouth to add that temperature to the thyroid graph she's compiling - I never said I was perfect at my Law of Attraction practice...progress not perfection...)
Here's how Abraham describes how it works. I find that reading it immediately calms me.
A major metaphor that Abraham uses is a fast flowing river that represents the flow of the universe or source. We are all floating on this stream, but the majority of people are fighting against the current. They do not like what is occurring in their lives so they swim upstream instead of simply floating down it. Most of humanity is obsessed with getting upstream. The problem with going against the current is that you will be tired out and beaten up by the fast flowing water. Not going with the flow is at the heart of every negative emotion you feel. When one stops fighting the current and lets the force turn them around and push them downstream, they will feel relief.
Anytime you speak of what you do not want, what hurts you, what you are unhappy with, you are attempting to go upstream. You are stifling your ability to simply float down river towards the manifestation of your desires. In the same way that focusing on what you want brings it to you, focusing on what you do not want also brings undesired things to you. The Law of Attraction works in both directions very well. We have been trained all of our lives to acknowledge what is wrong which is why it is so difficult to let go and float down stream.
Additionally the law of attraction brings us thoughts that are similar to the thoughts that we are putting out into the universe. When you complain about something have you not noticed that even more negative, complaining thoughts come soon after? The same applies when you focus on the positive: more realizations of the good in your life come to you.
A great bit of knowledge that you can take from this metaphor is that it does not matter where you are in the river. You have no reason to wish you were further up or downstream because you are constantly flowing towards your desires (unless you are fighting against the current). Therefore discontent should not be in your emotional vocabulary. Discontent is another form of trying to swim upstream. Trust in the flow and do not concern yourself with your position within the river.
In my article on maintaining an Attitude of Allowing, I describe how my life has changed in countless ways since living life this way, to the best of my ability. I know it can work for you too.
