The Law of Attraction

For an active law or principle, and one which we all have experience, the law of attraction is frequently overlooked as a practical vehicle to aid in the fulfillment of desire. When I speak of the Law of Attraction, I am not limiting the discussion to the attraction found in relationships. While the Law of Attraction plays a key role in determining who we attract into our lives, there is vast application for anything that we desire. Physical and emotional health, wealth, career, creative inspiration, family, friends and intimate relationships are all examples of wishes affected by the Law of Attraction.

When I want to jump from the fence to the ground, I don’t spend much time wondering what will happen when I make the leap. I’m confident gravity will help me get the job done. If I’m swimming and duck under the surface, I am not worried if buoyancy will work so I can get back to the surface when I need a breath of air. Unlike gravity and buoyancy, however, the law of attraction patiently waits for our acceptance and understanding to make the best use of this extraordinary fact of life.

When I talk about comparing our beliefs in these laws, some point out that we have an abundance of experience with gravity. We have watched apples at the moment the stem weakens enough to disconnect from its branch and fall to the ground. We have also held objects underwater and know which ones will come bobbing to the surface. We have proof about gravity and buoyancy and therefore we believe. When it comes to attraction, however, we do not treat this law with the same kind of trust and belief that allows us to fully utilize the benefits. Understanding attraction as a law, and the nuances of that law, will help us when it comes to practical applications.
Understanding Forces we cannot See
Without a lot of explanation, we all get the idea of the law of attraction at work in the physical realm, If I see something on the floor that I want to hold, my desire, packaged as an intention, (I want or intend to pick it up), sends electrical impulses from the brain to various control centers in my body that tell my knees to bend, my arms to move, my hands to grasp. I do not plan my actions or their order. I count on them. As I bend over to pick up a ball, let’s say, and see it in my hands as I stand upright, I do not review the process to ensure the outcome. There are a multitude of things that have to happen in a precise order to produce the intended result and I fully expect that through intention alone, the appropriate sequence of events will follow to fulfill my desire. This same power of intention we faithfully use within the body works outside the body and beyond the realm of the physical.

How many times have you answered a phone call from an old friend and began the conversation by saying, “I’ve been thinking about you so much this week!” Given some thought, we all have a pile of examples about how the power of intention works outside the body. The harmonious connection between our intentions and our experience is the Law of Attraction. Our thoughts, in effect, are what give order to our reality. As one great teacher said with eloquence, … what you sow, you will reap. This message has been repeated many times, in many forms through the ages, and we have all begun to understand that what we put out there, we can expect to see in return. Karma, is much better understood now, than even 10 years ago.

When I think about the Law of Attraction, I picture myself sitting peacefully in a rowboat resting in the middle of a pristine alpine lake. The surface is motionless and I drop a small rock into the calm water that produces a ripple that becomes concentric circles moving away from me, in the middle, and towards the shore. While I may not be able to physically see the entire journey of the ripples, I know the energy continues to the shore and then returns to me in the center. Even though I cannot see the energy causing the ripples, or their motion as they dissipate, I know that it is there. So it is with every intention I drop, like the stone into the water, sending a ripple across our universe and in perfect time, returning back to me. As we continue to discuss the law of attraction, I am going to reference Dyer and Chopra’s thoughts and add my own as we look together at how to make practical use of the power of intention and the law of attraction.

In Wayne Dyer’s, Manifest Your Destiny, he tells us of Albert Einstein watching the movement of a compass needle as it changed directions. What unseen force caused the movement? St. Paul is quoted as saying, “Things which are seen are not made of things which do appear.” The energy that silently moves the needle of a compass, a ripple to shore or desire to person, is something we cannot see. We can, however, see the results of the Law of Attraction and so, something with form, (our reality), follows something without form, (our thoughts).

In many ways, Dyers work on the Law of Attraction in Manifest Your Destiny is the perfect compliment to Chopra’s thoughts in Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. Interestingly, Chopra recently described Dyer to me as his, “spiritual brother,” and as we reflect on the work of both, we will see why. Both books were written in the mid 1990’s and speak to each other like two musicians that play together so well that, even with clearly distinctive styles, the result is melodic perfection. Spiritual brotherhood is an apt description of what binds the work of these two incredible men.

Chopra observes that, “whenever a desire comes true, the mechanics have certain similarities for every person.” When I first read about these similarities, it occurred to me that if these observations were common to the process of a desire coming true, it would be a good idea for me to see if I were using them. I discovered that, more times than not, I was either altering things or working in a parallel universe. Seems I was leaving out something all together or changing it beyond recognition. I’ve divided my thoughts on the Law of Attraction using the six similarities Chopra pointed out. You can find the complete text of the similarities on pages 107-108 of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. The headings below are either direct quotes or condensed statements of what you will find in his work. The similarities are:
1) A certain outcome is intended
2) The intention is specific and definite
3) Pay no attention to the details of the physiological process involved
4) Expect the result
5) Self-referring feedback will increase your confidence
6) In the end, you are certain about what happened
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