Since you have decided to click on this post, chances are, you are already practicing the law of attraction, or having a keen interest in it. You may even have read the book The Secret by Rhonda Bynes. If you haven't, I'll quickly explain what the book is about.
Although the concept of manifesting our own reality isn't at all something new, the book The Secret ,has managed to turn it into an overnight craze. For the first time, a book that reveals the secret that humans are capable of creating the kind of reality that we want, using the Law of Attraction, has gone public in a very big way.
Suddenly, people from every walk of life, are talking and learning about the ways to making this possible. I was one of them.
I read it when it first came out in 2006. Unfortunately like many others, the book didn't take me very far. Although I did fully subscribe to the idea that we are capable of doing what it claimed we could by using the power of our minds, the thought that we have to remain positive and optimistic was just too foreign to me.
I was at the time, in a very difficult stage of life. In fact, I was downright miserable and hated myself, and the world was to blame for it. So I put away the book, claiming it wasn't "right" for me.
A lot has changed since then. The biggest change came from the path of self discovery that I embarked on since I started my study under a spiritual guru in 2013. Although it has been an ongoing process, it is amazing what one might discover about oneself with little effort and time.
The Law of Attraction is about understanding energy, vibration and frequency
Many Law of Attraction gurus stress that in order for us to manifest the kind of life that we want, we'll need to maintain a high vibrational state of being. That is, unless your goal is to live a miserable life.
The reason behind this is simple. It's all to do with the emotions associated with the desired outcome.
Emotions are energy that vibrates within our body. Positive emotions, such as joy, happiness, love, compassion are of high frequency emotions. Whereas negative emotions, such as anger, blame, guilt, shame, fear are all of lower frequency. And because like attracts like, you attract what you 'feel'.
If you feel happy, grateful, peace, love, joy and so on, you will attract circumstances in your life that brings about the same emotions to you. But, if you are constantly complaining about how difficult life is and how unfortunate you are, you will attract situations that will bring about more of the same feelings.
Easy enough to understand right?
So you may say that you are already practicing this. Being positive, showing gratitude, meditate daily and sending love and light to everyone. But why aren't you seeing the kind of positive changes in your life that the Law of Attraction promises?
We'll look at two reasons.
Why are others achieving their goals while I am not?
1. It's not about what you want, it's about how you feel
Most law of attraction practitioners make the mistake of focusing on the end result of their goal. For instance, a new car, a well paying job, a happy marriage. They spend a good amount of their time visualizing on these and saying the necessary affirmations.
Is this wrong? No, it is what you're supposed to do. Where attention goes, energy flows, after all. The problem is not in their focus, but the lack of attention towards the feelings that are associated with the goal. To much mind, not enough heart.
You may want that big promotion at work. You intently and diligently tell yourself that you will get the job while imagining sitting in that comfortable chair with your own personal assistant at your disposal. This is the mistake.
Instead of focusing on manifesting the outcome (which may lead to the feeling of frustration, desperation and despair, the longer one waits for it to materialize), focus on the feeling that the desired outcome would bring you.
So take that job promotion for instance. Imagine the kind of life it can give you and your family if it becomes yours. You'd be able to send your children to a better school, or take your parents on a dream holiday. You can afford a house in a gated community where you no longer need to worry about your family's safety.
Focus on the feelings that you will experience when having all of these things, not on the things themselves.
Feel these feelings of gratitude, bless, and joy while maintaining a natural positive outlook about life in general. Remember, you don't just vibrate when you want something, but you are constantly vibrating. So always be aware of your emotions.
And this brings us to reason number 2.
2. What you think you feel vs. what you really feel
As said, we don't only vibrate when we want a new car or to land that dream job. In fact, we vibrate continuously, even when we sleep. And because we are constantly vibrating, we are constantly creating!
That's right. Every single moment of our lives, we are manifesting our reality. Every single moment of our reality, has been created by us - whether we are conscious of it, or not.
The Law of Attraction practitioners are taught several techniques in order to manifest their goals. Vision boards, affirmation, visualization, practicing gratitude, surrender, non attachment to outcomes, are all part of the LOA manifestation tool kit. This is merely the conscious mind trying to do all the manifestation work and hopes to vibrate accordingly.
That's only the first half of the formula.
The second half of the formula is the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind doesn't only regulate our bodily function, but it also stores our past programming, habits, values and belief system. Because of these important roles that it has, it is the one who truly determines our vibration. Therefore, it is the true master manifester!
The problem with human is this: We don't really know who we are. We think we do, and in some parts, we may even be correct. But without a deeper introspection, a large part of us remains hidden to us. This is why understanding what lies in our subconscious mind becomes so crucial.
Understanding the sub-conscious mind and limiting beliefs
A friend of mine who has a great passion for baking, has always dreamed of owning a café. For many years, she has practiced some of the LOA teachings - affirmations, visualization, she even plays ambient music in her office and decorates it to look like a café. She feels genuine excitement every time she walks into a cozy new café or fantasizing about her own.
Although she has done everything by the book, she has yet to manifest her dream.
These things that she's doing, and feelings she's feeling, are just conscious efforts. This isn't the problem. The real problem usually lies in the subconscious.
You see, for the first 12 years of her life, she lived lavishly, with her father co-owning a successful construction business with a partner. Unfortunately for her and family, the partner cheated her father and left him with a huge amount of debt and a failed business.
This happened so suddenly and unexpectedly that no one was prepared for what was to become of them.
Although they eventually moved out of poverty and lived a more humbled lifestyle, the years of struggle due to the experience of the father's failed business left her traumatized.
These scars left behind by painful experiences don't truly go away, even when they are long forgotten.
Nothing escapes the subconscious mind, and nothing is forgotten by it. Every single detail of our experience throughout our lives, whether we are aware of them or not, is captured by and stored in the subconscious mind.
Some of the impressions made unto the subconscious mind can form our habits, values, attitude and belief system. These beliefs and values that were formed within our subconscious mind may however, pose ramifications later on in our lives, especially if they were based on experiences that happened during childhood - when our mental capacity and judgement are still limited.
For instance, a child who has been told repeated by her teacher that she wasn't smart enough, may eventually believe that it is true. Or a woman who has been through several failed relationships may start to believe that she is undeserving of love.
These limiting beliefs which we hold to be true inhibit us in one way or another. Limiting beliefs are destructive because they hinder us from achieving our truest potential.
How these limiting beliefs affect our manifestation efforts and our reality
The beliefs held in our subconscious mind determine our deep and true emotions, and they are the ones that dictate our vibration. And because we create our reality based on our vibration, we could be creating an undesirable reality due to these limiting beliefs that we unknowingly hold.
Therefore it is crucial that we take the time to understand what truly goes on within our subconscious mind.
In the case of my baker friend, after several short shadow work sessions, we were able to discover that she indeed possesses fear of starting a business of her own due to her childhood experience. Having witnessed her dad's failure, and experienced a life full of struggle as a result, left her with a deeply rooted trauma.
Even if by chance she gets the opportunity to start her own business, it is likely to suffer the same fate as her father's as this is the belief that she already holds to be true.
Michael Bernard Beckwith said it best when he said, "You cannot have what you're not willing to become vibrationally. When you do get it, you'll lose it."
How many times have we unexpectedly ended up with some extra money at the end of the month, only to have our car breaking down and needing repair, or a family member has gotten into trouble and needing to borrow some cash?
This is because we are so used to not having any extra money that this has become our belief. Our subconscious mind has accepted this belief and will make sure that this is the condition that we face every single month. And by chance that we do stumble on some extra cash, the subconscious will be sure to manifest situations that will require us to part with this money.
Know yourself
Your law of attraction efforts can still work as long as there are no contradicting beliefs hidden in your subconscious mind towards the circumstances that you are trying to manifest.
But when you find that your efforts are not bringing the result you desire, or life in general has been one negative experience after another, perhaps it is time to carry out some deep inner work to identify areas that may require healing.
One of the modalities that is extremely useful for self introspection is shadow working.
There are plenty of sources on the internet that provide information about it and even suggest methods that one can easily apply. As a shadow work practitioner myself, I hope to cover this topic extensively in this blog in the near future.
Thank you for reading. God bless.
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