Law of Attraction

First I wanted to say thank you to all of my family that sent such warm, wonderful (and some very funny) comments regarding my last blog via email.  While it was not a hard blog to write it was a difficult one to post.  I am grateful it was well received.

In that blog I said I would talk about a new book I am reading but I need to put that on hold for a few blogs and back up a bit.  Some time ago I wrote a blog on reading. I have started to do more reading again and what I am finding is how it wakes up my mind in a way nothing else does.  I can almost feel the brain cells activating them selves and hear them saying ahhh, finally some stimulation coming our way.  And the great thing about trying to make changes and reading is one thing seems to just logically lead to the next thing and the next thing.  Even if I am reading fiction, I find a common thread with what is going on in my life.

So I was at work one day doing a group on my own spin of cognitive therapy which will be a subject of yet another blog.  But for now just know that it was a successful group and the patients were interested in what I had to say.  After the group one of the women went to her room and brought out the book  "The Secret". She thought I might find it interesting.  I paged through the book and decided I needed to give it a closer look and down loaded it from Amazon.  The book it turns out is about the Law of Attraction.  Something I had heard about from a couple of different sources but not something I understood.

In a nut shell this is what I now understand and try to practice:  1) What you think about is what you attract.   2) You can ask for what ever you want because there is plenty for everyone.    What I noticed as I read the book was how closely it reflected the religion I was brought up with, with some very important differences that made me feel a little uncomfortable.  Yet I know that even some pretty conservative Christians believe in and practice The Law of Attraction. After doing the briefest of research on the internet I discovered that there is a more "religious" or Christian view of The Law of Attraction and a secular view.

Some Christians point to the Bible as being full of the law of attraction and feel this is where the concept originated.  "Ask and you shall receive."  Is this not what praying is all about?  And yet the key difference between when I was young and praying to God for what I wanted and now being able to ask the universe for what I want is 1) I don't have to feel guilty about what I ask for and there is no bargaining involved (Please God let me pass this test and I promise I will study harder)  2) The Universe does not seem to judge 3) While the universe does appreciate gratitude, it doesn't need to be worshiped and adored. 4) You don't have to defer to the Universe's "will" though I do think that there are basic laws of the universe and when you go against those laws you begin to have difficulties.  But the Universe kind of lets you figure that out on your own.

I am not trying to judge anyone's religion or beliefs.  I am just expressing my own.  While the law of attraction makes sense to me, religion does not.  But that old religious upbringing keeps nagging at the back of my head, "maybe you are just being selfish and you are taking all the good parts but leaving all the hard parts behind."  Maybe.  And maybe God and the Universe are one in the same and that it is simply man and religion that is all screwed up.

What I like most about the Law of Attraction is the focus on abundance and gratitude.  I believe if the world could just adopt those two concepts we would be far better off.  I thought I had blogged about gratitude but I can't find it so perhaps that will be another entry.

There are critics to the law of attraction.  "It is just all positive thinking.  And people think they can just get what they want magically."  By the way Rhonda Byrn's (author of The Secret) follow up book is called "Magic".  I haven't read it.  And I read a great blog (very funny) making fun of the book  http://www.slate.com/articles/life/human_guinea_pig/2007/05/ive_got_the_secret.html.  I am giving you the link to prove I have a sense of humor.  And there are parts of of the book I don't agree with.  But negative thinking never got anyone anywhere.  That I know.  And maybe things don't happen magically, but once we figure out what it is we want and ask for it, our own brains begin to work for solutions.

I have asked the Universe for certain things.  To lose 50 pounds in 6 months.  To be debt free in 6 months and finally to have a million dollars in my bank account. (I did not put a time limit on that.)  The weight thing is not working so well yet but I still have 4 months to go. I am getting some insights into the problem.   The debt is close to being resolved and now I have to work really hard to make it happen.  I have 3 months left.  And the asking for the million dollars has led me to another book that will be the subject of my next blog.

Change.  It will happen.  I know it.