What you ought to know about the law of attraction

Everyone wants to live the life they want. Includes you and me. I get it. However, the reality doesn't always come as we wish, right? The law of attraction tells us that we can attract the life we want when we raise our vibration. It said that attract likes attract. But is that really the case?

I sometimes wonder how the law of attraction works in the unfortunate person. The poor people, the person with cancer, or the depressed people. Before now, I suffer from depression and I can definitely tell that it's not something I want. Does that mean I attract depression? Do the poor people attract poverty? I think the law of attraction is irrelevant in these cases. Even more, it can place the unfortunate people as the ones who are responsible for their condition. And this can be unfair to them. However, no one wants to be born cancerous, live in poverty, or suffer from depression, right?

Epictetus, the great Stoic philosopher's once said:

Some things are in our control and some are not.

The unfortunates people are not in control of their inborn condition. The family we are born into, the genetics, or the circumstances we live in are not something we have full control over. However, there's always something that we can control. Which are, our actions, thoughts, or attitude. So, when we want to manifest, affirm, or attract the kind of life we want, it's best to focus on the things we have control over. Manifest Ryan Holiday to become my writing coach is utterly impossible for me. Because focusing on the object of desires, even the person of desires will not work (I don't even have a chance to know him). After all, those things are not within our control. Manifestation will work if we focus on what step we can do to pursue our goals, to live the life we want. Which is, to focus on things we have control over.

Sure, we can affirm ourselves for the positive thoughts and beliefs to change our perspective and mindset. In fact, we do have the capability to change our thoughts. The psychology said so. For example, we can try cognitive-behavioral therapy to challenge our negative beliefs and change them to more positive ones.

Your self-defeating negative thoughts make you feel miserable. Your painful emotions in turn convince you that your distorted, pessimistic thoughts are actually valid. Similarly, self-defeating thoughts and actions reinforce each other in a circular manner.

David Burns, M.D. – Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

On another note, he also mentioned that what we are feeling is based on what we are thinking.

When you can change the way you THINK, you can change the way you FEEL.

David Burns, M.D. – Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

He then elaborates that we are capable to change our thoughts, no matter if we are children, parent, student, even if you are depressed or suffer from anxiety. Some people can be so certain about their depressive state, and I was one of them. Yes, it's hard to change our thoughts when we are depressed. But, that means that we can be so certain about our positive state, too, right? There are always two sides to a coin. When we affirm ourselves with positive thoughts, we have a chance to change our mindset and stop feeling miserable.

I also like to practice affirmation meditation one or twice a week and I definitely feel a quick boost of confidence and positivity about my life. However, keep in mind that affirmations are the tools that mostly play on our mindset. It doesn't necessarily attract money. The most important thing we need to do to attain something is to do it. We need to do the work, which is not as fun as the affirmations. But we can affirm ourselves that we can do the work, the work we do is worth it, or we are eager to do the work we need to do to achieve our goals.

In the end, manifestation will work best with goal settings and productivity. The law of attraction or manifestation enhances our experience to set our goal. Because let's face it, some goals are not desirable or even suck. Who really wants to deliver a monthly report to their manager? However, there is a difference when we change the goals to desirable sentences. A sentence like "I want to attract money by getting a promotion which includes delivering the monthly report on time", somehow the goal becomes more attractive. In that case, manifestation boost one's willingness to be productive.

Final words!

To sum up, these are the key points that you ought to know about the law of attraction:

• The unfortunates don't attract their unfortunate condition. It's not something they have full control over. They are the one that needs help to change their lives to live the life they want.
• However, when we are facing an unfortunate condition, know that we have every chance to change our life. There's always a possibility to improve our lives.
• To manifest something, focus on the things we have control over. Which is, our actions, our thoughts, or our attitudes. Not the object of desire.
• Positive affirmation can help us to change our perspective and this can help to reach our goals.
• Manifestation will work best with proper goal setting.

We should also focus on the action, not only about the affirmation or the law attraction. By focusing on our actions, we create a possibility to manifest what we desire. Because we have a choice to change our life, even we are in an unfortunate condition or facing a challenge. As Brianna Wiest said it in her book:

Marcus Aurelius sums this up well: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Simply, running into a “problem” forces you to take action to resolve it. That action will inevitably lead you to think differently, behave differently, and choose differently. The “problem” becomes a catalyst for you to actualize the life you always wanted. It pushes you from your comfort zone, that’s all.

Brianna Wiest – 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think