Concepts such as visualization and affirmations were popular long before the term "law of attraction" became mainstream, and long before the success of movies like The Secret. The reason for that is because those methods work. However, like any success method, you have to do it right in order to get the results. Link to Full Story
This week's Link Love edition runs the gamut from being a kid all the way up through being the future you, and includes many ideals and systems for maximizing the entire journey! Link to Full Story
This week's self improvement and law of attraction information runs the gamut from productivity to happiness to visualization to wake up calls. Check it out! Link to Full Story
Insert Your Mental Reprogramming System of Choice Here: Affirmations, Visualization, Hypnosis, Meditation, Self-talk, Brain-wave Synchronization, and on and on the list goes…
There are so many ways to reprogram your mind these days that I'm beginning to wonder if we're all just running around in a brain-wash induced state of self-imposed denial.
OUCH! That came out a bit more harshly than I had intended! However, in truth, there is a slight grain of irritation here, because, much like the Law of Attraction, there is so much confusion about how to use some of these tools that their meaning is starting to get lost in the shuffle. This post is my attempt at setting the record straight on one of the most popular systems: Affirmations.
To cut right to the heart of the matter, the question on the table is "Do affirmations work"? The answer to the question is "Yes, if your affirmations really work". Confused yet? Allow me to clear the fog a bit.
As Karen Lynch points out in her post "Words," the end result that you are after with an affirmation is a feeling. That's it. That's all you get.
You can't manifest a new house or a new car with affirmations. You can't bring forth a huge pile of money with affirmations. You can't conjure up a rewarding career, nor magically create a loving and loyal romantic interest.
Affirmations, do not do any of those things. In fact, affirmations don't "do" anything - not in the 3-dimensional world anyway. The job of an affirmation is not to conjure up the things that we want to have in our lives, but rather to conjure up the feeling that having those things will create in our lives.
Then, once you have that feeling, you Law of Attraction junkies will recognize that the feeling will then create the vibrations which will speed the house, the car, the job, the money, the mate - whatever - directly to you at a rate that is proportionate to your level of allowing and belief.
However, for those of you who aren't so sure about the whole LOA thing, don't despair! You can use affirmations just as effectively to generate feelings of happiness and success.
You see, by feeling what it will be like to attain your goal, what you are doing is building something.
Oh yes, Grasshopper, you are building something truly wonderful. You are building something as large as the tallest building, as far-reaching as the infinite dreamscape, and as real to you as anything ever possibly could be.
You are building Belief.
By constantly creating the feeling of having something that is not (yet) physically in your life, you are creating a new belief system from scratch. This belief system will allow you to "know" what it is like to have the things that you desire because - in your mind - you already have them.
By continually reaffirming the feeling of having the things that you want, you will find ways to bring those things into your 3-dimensional existence. This may be through a burst of inspiration, a sustained motivation to take action, or it may happen by you actually coming across the method needed to bring you what you want.
So, the question of whether or not affirmations actually work, and if so, how to create affirmations that really work for you, is answered simply by asking yourself the following question:
"What can I tell myself that will create the feeling of having {insert the thing that you are affirming for here}?"
Here are a few examples from my own life, and I use them to reaffirm whenever something actually happens, so that the feeling that the thing generates is clear and present in that moment in time:
"Money comes to me easily and frequently." - Stolen from 'The Secret', I say this every single time I get money in any amount. Since I "work" on the Internet, I receive revenue from many different sources, and every time I get a check or a deposit into my PayPal account, I say this affirmation - no matter what the sum of money is.
"I am so grateful for…" - Gratitude is one the keys to success, and I practice it all day, everyday. From saying "I am so grateful that I don't have to get out of bed yet" to saying "I am so grateful that today was a good day with my family," not a day goes by that I don't actually say some rendition of a gratitude affirmation several times throughout the day.
"Since I live …" - One of my primary life goals is to own a house on the beach in St. Augustine, FL. I live in northeast Florida already, so anytime anything "beach-like" crosses my mind - even in a visualization - I reaffirm it. "Since I live on the beach, I can spend my upcoming day off there." "Since I live on the beach, I can run along the shore as the sun is rising." "Since I live on the beach, I can hear the surf from my window as I am working in my home office".
These are just examples, and are obviously specific to my lifestyle, but that is also why they work! If I ran around all day affirming things that had nothing to do with me, or that were so far out of my belief system that it would not be possible for me to take my affirmations seriously, then those affirmations wouldn't do me much good.
If you try to affirm "wild and crazy" success into your life with off the wall affirmations, the only feeling that you will be creating is one of disbelief, and that will get you nowhere.
So, if you want affirmations that really work, think of affirmations that work for you. Once you have done that, it is just a matter of repeating them as often as you want to feel that feeling of success!
Random great posts from the past:
This is Volume 5 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series.
This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!
1) Steve Olson - The Truth About Oprah Winfrey - The Secret - and Poverty - If you read nothing else on this page, read this post! Steve lays it down like it really is, and I got up and gave him a mental standing ovation after reading this post, which clearly came from the heart!
2) Creating Passionate Users - Too many companies are like bad marriages - Whether you own a business, or just want to keep your relationships on the right track, this is a down-to-earth must read.
3) The Positivity Blog - One Easy Way to Remember Someone´s Name - For many people, their brain deals in images better than in words, and this simple lifehack is a great way to take advantage of that fact.
4) Practical Personal Development - Becoming An Outstanding Person | Silence - Week 2 of 12 - Turns out that the phrase "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" has real merit, and Alex brings it home in a short, but informative manner.
5) Seth Godin - Where do you park? - Once again with Seth, this is geared more towards businesses, but I very much see how his concept of which type of attitude to have can apply to every single situation that we find ourselves in. Also, it's a quick read.
6) Live the Power - Lucky - Karen cranks out some SERIOUS wisdom about just who is holding your lucky charm.
7) Shards of Consciousness - What will I do later? - Excellent observations about exactly which timeframe you should be focusing on to achieve success. Care to take a guess before you read the post? Also, be sure to catch the "snifty" name!
8) Success from the Nest - Distractions Speak Louder Than Words - This is great stuff that I have been telling people for a long time. Be prepared to work and focus, but be just as prepared NOT to!
9) Successful and Outstanding Bloggers - Time to Spend and to Save - Liz does a great job of capturing a beautiful concept in a short amount of time. Be sure to catch the last line right before her signature…
10) Live the Power - Lessons in Visualization - I know that we already heard from Karen at Live the Power, but this post of hers was too good to pass up. She clearly shows the power of visualization when considering it as a path to your future, not a chore to be done today. If you visualize - and you should - read this post!
Okay, that's it for this week, and once again, my extreme gratitude to our authors. I am both inspired by their works, and grateful for their presence!
If you saw some of the teachers from the movie ‘The Secret’ on the Oprah Winfrey show, or if you’ve seen the movie, then you will be familiar with terms like “visualization” and “affirmation”.
The question is: “Do they really work?”
Let’s start with defining just what these two terms mean, and then we’ll delve into whether or not they are worth your time.
When you visualize, you are going through the mental process of seeing in your mind whatever it is that you want to achieve.
For some people that will be successful weight loss, for others it will be massive financial success, some people want fulfilling relationships, others are after career satisfaction. Everyone has their own agenda when it comes to attaining their goals, and the key to visualizing that success is to create the success in your head first, and then the “real world” will follow.
There are different schools of thinking about the proper way to visualize. Some people think that visualization should include every possible detail, while others believe that it is the feeling that you will have once you have attained success that you should focus on.
However, in both cases, having a clear mental picture of the “scene” that you are visualizing is paramount to your success, because one thing is certain:
If you can’t see it in your head, you definitely will never see it in your life!
Affirmations work along the same lines as visualization, only with affirmations, you are giving yourself words rather than pictures.
For example, if you were going to visualize owning a brand new car, you would visualize the actual car that you want. If you were going to practice affirmation in order to attain that new car, you could use the following time-tested affirmation formula:
In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, it is my intention to own a black 2007 Mercedes, or something even better.”
What’s with all of the extra words, you ask? The short version of the explanation is that you need to affirm getting what you want, but not getting it in such a way that it causes negativity in your life.
If getting a black 2007 Mercedes happens, but in return you have to work 18-hour days for 2 years straight, your spouse leaves you, and the dealer runs over your dog when they deliver the car, then it probably wouldn’t be worth the price, right?
Also, a big tip of the hat to Dr. Joe Vitale for the addition of the phrase “or something even better.” That part of the affirmation is critical because the Universe will always deliver the things that you want. However, by adding “or something even better,” you leave the door open for the powers that be to bring you something that would make you even happier than what you originally asked for.
Sounds great, but does it all work?
Here is where you come into the equation, dear reader. In response to the question of if it all works, I ask:
“Do you THINK it works?”
Because that is the ONLY thing that matters when it comes to visualizations and affirmations - your level of belief. You can visualize success and read or say your affirmations all day, every day, but if you don’t believe that you are actually going to get what you are visualizing and affirming for, then you won’t get it!
The Universe (God, Holy Guardian Angel, Buddha, whatever YOU call it) does not actually “see” your visualizations, or “hear” your affirmations. The thing that will always and only be acted upon is the feeling that you express whenever you visualize and affirm.
If your feeling is one of doubt, fear, or uncertainty, then you will promptly be delivered more things to be doubtful, fearful, and uncertain about.
However if your feeling is one of success, confidence, and happiness as a result of believing that you are going to get what you are visualizing or affirming for, then the Universe will bring that thing to you in order to ensure your continued feelings of success, confidence and happiness.
Does it sound like a bunch of mystical mojo that has no basis in scientific fact, and therefore cannot possibly work? If that’s what it sounds like to you, then don’t bother making the attempt.
However, for those of you who are ready to truly embrace the fact that you are are a universally powerful being who can literally have anything that you want in life by attracting your desires to you, then I invite you to visualize and affirm to your heart’s content!
p.s. - For those of you ready to believe in your universal power, be sure to get your “princess wave” ready. We’ll need to use it as we drive our brand new cars past the group of people who think it’s mystical mojo!
The Self Improvement industry is booming. What started with the likes of Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and Earl Nightingale has morphed into one of the biggest and most densely populated industries in the world today.
You can’t read a newspaper, watch TV, listen to the radio, or surf the Internet without seeing or hearing about people who are trying to make their lives better.
Self improvement products are available in all shapes and sizes, people are flocking to personal development seminars by the thousands, and even the pseudo-amateur Blogging population has taken up the Self Improvement gauntlet.
So why isn’t our world a utopia full of enlightened individuals who weigh less, have more money, enjoy incredible business success, and partake in decades long picture-perfect romances?
I’ll tell you why, and considering my own positive outlook and teachings that I bring to the world, please understand that this is an observation of fact, not an opinion:
Yes, they are learning about it. Yes, they are talking about it. Yes, they are spending plenty of their time and their money on the concepts. However, there is one absolutely mission-critical thing that is still missing, and that thing can be summed up in one simple word:
Consistency.
Everyone is jumping on the self improvement bandwagon, and there is room for all. People who want to lose weight, get rich, build successful careers, find true love - the list goes on and on. The masses are flocking, but one concept is standing a head and shoulders above the rest, and that is a serious lack of consistency.
Think about it. The methods for how to lose weight and be healthy have been known for decades. The power of positive thinking, visualization, and even affirmations have long since been proven to be effective. The methods for making at least a decent living - if not an opulent one - are no mystery to anyone who takes the time to learn them. Even relationship success can be had by anyone who cares to make a consistent effort with that goal in mind.
So why is that even though the answers are clearly available, people still fail to follow through on their self improvement efforts?
For a lot of people, it is nothing more mysterious than falling victim to their own self-limiting beliefs. No matter how much someone truly wants to succeed at any given endeavor, they are so used to not having what they want, that they will unconsciously sabotage their own efforts to achieve success.
Here is the real kicker, though: All of the methods that we know - and have known for decades - WILL work if you only consistently put them into practice.
Even if you don’t have a lot of faith in the beginning, by simply going “by the numbers” and consistently applying the success principles that are freely available to all who want to learn them, success is not only possible, but it is a guarantee.
Between the readership of this Blog, and my own newsletter distribution list, there are quite a few people who have access to the knowledge about self improvement that I write about in my articles, products, and blog posts.
I have decided to start leveraging that reach (Yay - I got to use a corporate term!) in order to start turning the tide in the favor of those who truly want to start making positive changes in their lives.
If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve put together, simply click on over to the Self Improvement 30-Day Challenge that I am sponsoring. See if you’re up to the challenge of realizing how much progress you can make if you will truly commit yourself - even if only for 30 short days.
Do you need my help in order to start improving your life? Absolutely not! You have that power inside of you at this very moment.
However, if you want some assistance, check out the program, and feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.
Whether you check out my program or not, I do implore you to take the message of this post to heart:
Your “knowledge” about self improvement won’t do you any good unless you use it - over and over and over again. You know, consistently!
Despite that massive amount of “buzz” around the Law of Attraction lately, there is still one area where a lot of people haven’t fully embraced the conscious creation possibilities, and that is in the business arena.
If there was a free way to increase your level of business success - and your bottom line - by consciously creating that success by using the Law of Attraction, don’t you think that would be worth your time to look into?
If you answered Yes to that question and you are still reading, then the next question is, of course, with regard to how to do that.
The beautiful answer to that question is that the solution is not only simple and free, but it’s fun, too!
All you have to do in order to achieve business success using the Law of Attraction is to decide what result it is that will make you happy.
Please note that I did not say to think about profit and loss statements, wage/earning comparisons, or any similar corporate drivel that is normally used to measure success.
Are those types of tools useful? Sure they are, and I am not saying that you shouldn’t use them as a part of your business plan. However, those are ways that you measure success, not ways that you create it. That’s a difference worth committing to memory.
In order to consciously create business success, the only thing that you need to do is visualize the way that you want to feel once you have achieved whatever it is that you consider to be success.
If success for your business means having more clients, then visualize interacting with those clients and how wonderfully successful you will feel during those interactions.
If business success means selling more products, then mentally put yourself in the emotional state of what it feels like whenever you realize that your product sales are up. Visualize that moment in time frequently throughout each day.
If a measure of your business success is moving to a bigger office, or hiring more employees, then picture those scenes in your head.
Plug in as many details as you can, and remember that you aren’t just “looking” at the scene in your head, but you are feeling what it will be like during that moment. Emotions are the fuel that power the Law of Attraction, not the mental pictures.
Don’t forget that you are not to focus on the journey - ONLY the destination! Also, kick the “I don’t have time to visualize” routine. Visualization does not require religious robes, incense, and a swami. Just think about the success that you want, picture yourself in that successful moment, and feel how great it feels to be there.
I frequently visualize without even leaving my desk. Waiting for a slow web page to load, killing time while waiting for my overworked computer to catch up with itself, sitting on hold when on the telephone - whenever.
Or, if visualization isn’t your thing, then plug those same details into affirmations, and take those same opportunities to say your affirmations in your head, or, out loud would be even better.
Bottom Line: The secret to business success using the Law of Attraction is to attract the way you want to feel when you are successful. Focus only on that, and it will come directly to you. Every time.
If you are reading this post, then there is a good chance that you have spent a fair amount of time reading about self improvement, positive thinking, conscious creation, or other lifestyle-enhancing concepts. Big props to you for having soaked up all of that information, but do you think there might be a chance that some things are starting to slip through the cracks?
Most people believe that we remember everything that we are ever exposed to, and I would have to say that I agree with that.
Considering the small percentage of the potential of the human mind that we use, I would even say that we’ve got WAY more storage space than we probably need. At least during this stage of our evolution.
Either way, whether your mental hard drive is bursting at the seams, or if you feel that you are intellectually running on empty, when it comes to self improvement, it is very easy to start thinking that there is so much information out there, you’re not sure which end is up!
Positive Thinking. The Law of Attraction. Goal Setting. Conscious Creation. Brain Wave Therapy. Meditation. The Power of Intention. EFT. Ho’oponopono. Subliminal Messaging. Photo Reading. Lucid Dreaming. Energy Healing. Hypnotherapy. Visualization. Affirmations.
The list goes on and on and on. How do you choose a discipline that is going to work for you when everyone claims that their system is the best one?
Simple - you don’t.
You are about to be given the one very simple, no degree required, no purchased needed, no holds barred answer to the Self Improvement Question:
Want whatever it is that you want, and don’t stop wanting it until whatever it is comes into your life.
Whew! That was a hard one, wasn’t it? Years of experimentation, millions of dollars worth of research, thousands of books, programs, and seminars, and the simple answer is that all you have to do is really want whatever it is that you want.
It doesn’t matter what “it” is. Weight loss. Financial success. Career satisfaction. Wonderful relationships.
Everything that you could ever want in your life will come into your life by the simple act of you constantly thinking about it. And I do mean constantly!
If I called you up in the middle of the night and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”
If I came to your place of business and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”
If I walked into your bathroom while you were taking a shower in the morning, handed you a cup of coffee and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”
If I gave you a fresh stalk of broccoli to cut up and put into the salad that you were making for dinner and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”
I could go on and on with examples just like those above, but by now you should get the picture. You have to have what Napoleon Hill called a “white hot” desire to have whatever it is that you want.
That desire should set your very soul ablaze, and you should spend your life on a constant and never-ending quest to put out that fire.
Your very existence should be powered by the unending pursuit of your desire, to the point where you will burn your ships and run wildly into battle screaming “GIVE ME MY DREAMS, OR GIVE ME DEATH!”
That is when you will finally understand. That is when it will “click” for you. That is when you will draw your desires into your life just as surely as you were born, and just as surely as you will one day pass from this physical existence.
When you truly embrace your desires with such a passion and a ferocity that no obstacle will stop you, no circumstance will slow you down, nothing on this earth can sway you from your destiny - THAT is when you will cause yourself to run headlong into your destiny at breakneck speed.
You can cite whatever self improvement “system” that you want for this process. Conscious creation, the Law of Attraction, even just old fashioned good luck.
It is not necessary for you to know how your dreams are brought to you. All you have to know is that if you truly want them, then focus on them as if your very life depended on it, and do not let that laser-focus waver for even a moment.
What will happen then? How will your dreams magically manifest?
Doors will open for you. Opportunities for success will fall into your lap. Necessary people will come into your life. Circumstances will appear, disappear, or change in your favor. By the force of your own WILL, your world will rearrange in such a way as to give you everything that you wish for.
This system is absolutely 100% guaranteed to work. It works for every person, in every circumstance, regardless of who they are or what it is that they want.
Don’t believe me? Then try it for 30 days. Spend the next 30 days thinking of nothing but the thing that you desire more than anything else in all the world. You can use visualizations, affirmations, day-dreaming, subliminal programming, goal setting, etc. Choose the system or systems that work for you, or don’t choose any at all.
Just think about what you want all day, every single day, for 30 days. Not for 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, a couple more minutes over there. All day. Every day. Picture your life in your head as if you have already achieved whatever it is that you want.
Be careful, though! When you do this properly, you will find yourself dangerously closer to success than you have ever been in your entire life. When that happens, don’t get scared and run away. Just spend some quality time patting yourself on the back, and keep right on doing it the next month.
Before you know it, you will run out of dreams and you will have to now make some even bigger and better ones. How cool will THAT be??
You make the efforts that you make towards self development because you want your life to improve in some manner, right?
As you learn more and more about the power of conscious creation, you also learn that you are the one who is solely responsible for the life that you lead - regardless of how good or bad you perceive that life to be.
It is likely that you are familiar with concepts such as positive thinking, visualization, affirmations, and the like. Each of those concepts has a place in your conscious creation efforts if those concepts have value to you.
However, the common mistake that a lot of people make is that they believe everything that they say or do is the “end all, be all” of their self development efforts. They believe that whenever something doesn’t go the way they expected it to, that their time was wasted, and that their self development efforts simply aren’t working.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
In fact, quite the opposite is true. Tony over at the Success from the Nest blog1 points out a very important fact - that if you don’t take action whenever you are inspired to do so, that you may very well miss that opportunity, and also that the longer you wait to take that action, the harder it will become to actually do so.
When using the Law of Attraction to consciously create your life, Inspired Action is exactly what you are looking for! By focusing on your goals via the aforementioned visualizations, affirmations, positive thinking, etc., inspired action is the “reward” that you get. It is the Universe telling you that NOW - not later - is the time to take action towards your goals.
However, just because you are inspired to take action, that does not necessarily mean that the action you take will lead you directly to your goal, which is where most people falter.
Whenever they take their inspired action, they assume that the action was put in place for the sole purpose of leading them directly to their goal. Yes, the action is meant to lead you towards your goal, however, that does not rule out the fact that you may have to work through other avenues of approach during that process.
It is often the case that the Universe will take you to places where you will learn things that are critical for you to know in order for you to attain whatever you are trying to manifest.
For example, my primary goal is to achieve time and financial freedom via the products, services, and free information that I post in various places on the Internet. Although I have a lot of knowledge about search engine optimization, web development, social bookmarking, etc., I had never previously attempted to actually make a full-time living primarily over the Internet.
As I have focused on my goals and aspirations, I have been led to some incredibly powerful resources that have taught me more about providing value to others, while also monetizing the process.
Although my primary goal is to achieve time and financial freedom by helping others, I have been led to resources that consumed a lot of my time doing what are affectionately known as “non-income producing activities,” also known as “getting the proper education.”
Just last night I had blocked off several hours to blog here on the Today is that Day site, as well as to comment on blogs owned by other people in the self improvement arena. However, starting with one stray link that took me to an article about creating catchy headlines, the next thing I knew I had burned through my entire block of time, and in fact had used more time than I had originally allotted.
Here is the thing, though. The education that I received by following links such as all of those listed below in the CopyBlogger2 footnotes, I now have knowledge that will literally serve me for the rest of my life, and will drastically improve my chances of achieving massive success with my online endeavors.
So, even though my primary goal is time and financial freedom, I burned through more time than I had allotted, and I certainly didn’t get paid a dime for the hours that I spent reading through those articles.
However, I listened when I was inspired to read through that information, and now I am not only armed with a wealth of information that I didn’t have before, but my confidence in my ability to achieve my goals is higher than ever.
So, as you go through the efforts of achieving your dreams, and you don’t meet with immediate success, do not give up!
If you are properly focused on what you want to achieve, there will be a very real reason behind every action that you are inspired to take.
Do yourself a favor and listen to your intuition by taking that action!
Footnotes:
2 - CopyBlogger Links:
7 More Sure-Fire Headline Templates That Work
As you go through your life, you are on a general quest to better yourself, right? I’m not necessarily talking about becoming “enlightened” or trying to become a world leader (although props to you if those are your goals), but rather I am referring to the simple concept of wanting your life to become everything that you dream it can be.
I know that I have personally never met anyone who felt that their life was complete and that they didn’t really have anything else that they wanted to be, do, or have.
So, unless you are one of those people (if they even exist), then you are trying to get something done. Maybe it is to make more money, perhaps you are wanting to excel in personal relationships, maybe you just want to catalog the many different species of dust bunnies in your house. Whatever your goal is, then that is your goal, and you are working towards it.
That being said, see if you agree with the sentiment of the following statement:
“In order to accomplish my goals, I have a clear plan of action that will take me from where I am now to where I want to be, and I will not stray from my path no matter what!”
True or False: That statement is the correct way to accomplish your goals, and that type of commitment should be commended.
What?!?
We’ve all been told for years, including right here on this blog, about the importance of making a commitment to our goals, and then sticking to that commitment over the long-term in order to see those goals turn into reality.
However, it isn’t the “commitment” part of the above statement that is incorrect, but rather the “I will not stray from my path no matter what” part.
You see, it is our human propensity towards needing to be able to see the entire journey before we even take the first step that tends to keep most people well inside a “safety zone” that resides far from the happiness, freedom, or accomplishment that they long for.
As Bob Proctor says in the movie, ‘The Secret‘, most people who have ever accomplished anything didn’t know how they were going to do it. Bob does not talk very much about that concept in the movie, although the message that he is sending is very clear:
Despite the fact that having a plan of action is a good thing, in almost every case, things happen along the way that you could not possibly have foreseen.
In fact, as you pat yourself on the back for sticking to your plan and attaining a goal that you have accomplished in your life, take a moment to think back on the journey. How often did your plan get modified - if even slightly - based on your evaluation of any given set of facts that were in front of you? Would the word “often” even cover it, or would we need to bump that up to something more powerful like every single day?
The point that I am making is that by only sticking to one direct path - and by refusing to get off of that path - you will be losing the benefit of one of the most powerful concepts behind the Law of Attraction and conscious creation, and that concept is called INSPIRED ACTION.
Inspired action happens whenever you focus on a very specific goal - money, relationships, dust bunnies - and the Universe taps you on the shoulder to get your attention, and then points you in a particular direction.
You are basically being told “Go over there, and you will find a way to catalog dust bunnies!”
The problem with inspired action is that most people don’t understand it. They look in the direction that they are being inspired to go in, they don’t directly see whatever their goal is, so they shrug off the inspired action, and keep right on going with their original plan of action.
Then, when they get to the end of the road that they had mapped out for themselves, but don’t quite find the pot at the end of the rainbow they had expected, they suddenly remember that one time when they had the hunch to go in a different direction, but chose to ignore it.
By then, it is too late. Inspired action depends very much on timing. When the Universe says to do something, you should do it. Do you remember that old series of E.F. Hutton commercials that were on in the 1970’s/80’s? The tag line was “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen!”
Well, that is YOUR job in the creative process - to listen. By staying focused consistently on your goals, by visualizing frequently what your success looks like, and by believing that you deserve whatever it is that you are trying to attain, the Universe WILL tap you on the shoulder and tell you how to get what you want.
However, if you shrug off that tap because it doesn’t make any sense, or because you can’t logically understand how taking that action could get you to your goal, then you will miss the proverbial boat.
The real irony to that fact is that had you taken action when you were inspired to do so, even though it didn’t seem logical at the time, it would have resolved into being based very much on logic and science once all of the pieces were in place.
Over at The Fast Lane1, you can check out both a real-life story by Napoleon Hill that illustrates this concept, as well as a fictional story that also drives the point home. The take away fact from both of the stories is that a certain end result was desired, and the path to get that end result was shown, but not necessarily from the direction that it had been expected.
Brad Isaac over at Achieve-IT2 has put together a very effective tool for getting the “creative juices” flowing in order to call upon the power of Inspired Action, and I highly recommend that you check it out. I have done similar exercises myself, and as of the date of this writing - January 22, 2007 - I was blindsided with my most recent inspired action less than 2 hours ago, and I wasn’t even thinking about the goal at the time!
And finally, Elyse at Choosing Prosperity3 has a post that includes definitions from Abraham-Hicks that illustrate the difference between motivation and inspired action. It is a critical difference, and one that many people frequently don’t recognize.
In closing, please know that inspired action is usually pretty obvious. Everyone has random thoughts, ideas, or musings about their lives and their goals, and that is more of a background noise that is simply part of who we are. Listen to it and enjoy it because it makes up your level of uniqueness.
However, inspired action that comes as a result of consistent focus and visualization is usually much more direct, and will normally come at you when you least expect it.
It is actually a pleasant surprise, though, because when it happens, you will realize that you have just been handed a key that will unlock the doorways into the future that you want.
Do yourself a favor and use it.
Footnotes:
1 - The Fast Lane
2 - Achieve-IT
What did you focus on today?
No, what did you REALLY focus on today?
Does your answer to that question sound something like “I thought about work” or “I focused on the project I was working on” or “I had my hands full taking care of my family?”
Or maybe you would say something like “I didn’t have time to focus on anything. My day was just hectic! I can’t even remember most of what happened because it was such a blur.”
If your answer was similar to either of the 2 paragraphs that you just read, consider these details from what *I* focused on today. These aren’t just random musings, but the actual thoughts that I focused on several times today.
I thought about visiting my kids who live in Seattle (I live in Florida) and we went shopping at this huge mall that they have there. We spent large sums of money on food, clothes, toys, and at least one trip to the local Starbucks for a round of very unhealthy drinks. We also took a ferry ride, and ate at our favorite restaurant on the coast of Whidbey Island.
I also thought for quite awhile about standing on the back porch of my beach house in St. Augustine, on the east coast of Florida. I watched the kids play in the sand and we also hung out in the shade of the porch and listened to the ocean. I kicked back in the hammock for awhile with a very over-priced PDA and answered a few emails and read through some of my favorite blogs.
I also spent some time visiting my family who live in upstate New York. I had a blast playing in the snow, and then laughed when I got back to Florida and put my winter jacket back in the long-term storage closet.
I took a relaxing train ride to visit some friends in Texas. During the trip I alternated back and forth between working on my laptop, handling some minor business tasks on the PDA, and then I spent the rest of the time sleeping, reading, or just staring out the window enjoying the scenery.
I went to Daytona Beach and stayed at a favorite hotel right there on the coast. Not because it was the most expensive or the least expensive hotel, but because it was the one that I wanted to stay at.
I also visited one of my friends who lives in Key West, Florida, and stayed on for awhile to enjoy the summer weather, even though it is January-cold everywhere else.
I spent a huge amount of time driving around in my favorite Mustang, which happens to be brand-new, and is now parked in my driveway next to my SUV, my motorcycle, and the trailer that has my boat on it.
None of these things actually happened today. In fact, most of them have never happened at all, at least not with the amount of free time and cash to spend that I had while I was thinking about them today.
What those last few paragraphs describe is my “dream life.” It is the life that I will lead (sooner, rather than later, thank you very much) once I have attracted everything into my life that I want to attract.
I don’t know how I am going to get the time and the money to do all of that stuff, but I do know that it is going to happen, because it is my Intention.
Sure, I have some business ideas and other financial concepts that may or may not power the lifestyle that I described. However, being an avid user of the Law of Attraction, I know three things that are critical to the process of attracting the life that I want:
1) I know that in order for me to get what I want, I must state very clearly my Intention to get those things.
2) I must focus on the things that I want on a daily basis, and I must practice those visualizations as powerfully as possible, and always in the present tense.
3) I do not focus on “how” it is going to happen. “Reality” has programmed my subconscious far too efficiently for me to be able to envision the path that will take me from where I am now to the lifestyle described above.
You see, the problem that a lot of people have with their self improvement efforts or their dreams of success is that they try to come up with some “master plan” in order to make it all happen, and then they just focus on the drudgery of the multitude of “tasks” that their plan calls for.
Who wants to focus on tasks? That’s like getting up on a Saturday morning and saying “I can’t wait to clean out the garage today! In fact, I think I’ll scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush while I’m at it, and then I’ll go clean up my teenager’s bedroom just for good measure!”
Could you get excited about doing all of those things? Okay, maybe there are a few of you who could (freaks! 
), but most people have no desire - or ability - to get excited about the tasks that they have to do in order to accomplish something.
However, using the same examples from above, if someone were to tell you that by Saturday night all of those things would somehow get done without you doing them, you’d get pretty excited about that wouldn’t you??
That is the way that the Universe works whenever you use the Power of Intention to get what you want. Your job - as Mike Dooley1 puts it, is to “always and only focus on the end result!”
Your job is not to decide how something is going to get done. Your job is only to state the intention that you want it to be done.
Is that to say that the Universe will work some magic and you will never have to lift a finger to attain your goals? Maybe or maybe not, but there is no way to tell for sure.
The Universe will show you the doorways to your dreams via inspired thoughts, but you have to walk through those those doorways by taking inspired action.
By consistently and powerfully focusing on and visualizing the things that you want - from a parking space up through world peace - you set the Intention, and you will then attract whatever it is that you need in order for your Intention to become a reality.
Here’s the “rub,” though. You have to believe it. If you sit around saying to yourself that the notion of some “miraculous” force coming to show you the path to your dreams is a bunch of rubbish, then you’ll be 100% right.
Why? Because that is what you are focusing on!
Flip that around to say something more along the lines of the fact that your faith in the delivery of your dreams is only a matter of when - not if - they will arrive, and you will once again be 100% correct.
Always remember the golden rule about life in general - YOU are in charge. Whether you want to be in charge of your life, or whether you believe that you are does not matter. You are creating your life, and you are doing it with your Intentions.
Footnotes:
Mike Dooley - Thoughts become Things
The Law of Attraction - in essence - is simplicity at it’s finest. What you think about, you bring about. Very simple, very easy.
Or is it? Is it really just a matter of thinking good thoughts and then sitting back and waiting for what you thought about to come into your life?
Well, although sitting on your couch and waiting for the Key to the World to get delivered by the postal service is certainly not recommended, the basic concept of creating your life via your thoughts and feelings is very solid.
However, there are some sinkholes in the system that can - and will - trip you up if you are not ready for them, and needing things is one of the biggest.
The entire process of invoking the Law of Attraction involves matching your vibrational frequencies to the things that you want to attract into your life. When your vibrations are positive, then positive things will manifest, and the same thing applies to negative vibrations.
Contrary to popular belief, positive vibrations are NOT caused by what you think about. You can practice positive thinking all day long, but if you don’t match your feelings to what you are thinking about, you could very well manifest the opposite instead!
This effect happens when you want something, but the emotional feeling that you have about that thing is based in “lack”, rather than in abundance. Since money is the most common thing that people fail to manifest by stepping in this Law of Attraction sinkhole, I will use that as an example to illustrate the point.
Let’s say that you are trying to manifest a certain amount of money. For this example we will only use “normal” money that you want to bring into your life for things that you need to pay for. Although it is certainly possible to manifest large sums of wealth with the Law of Attraction, since great riches are something that we want - but that we don’t actually need - they won’t serve to illustrate this concept.
For now, we will focus on you just trying to bring in enough cash to cover your basic needs - a dependable car, enough money for rent, groceries, clothing, health needs, etc.
Since those are all things that we actually need, then we certainly feel strongly about having them. That is exactly when we start to put our foot into the sinkhole.
Whenever we need something - as opposed to wanting it - the vibration that we send out is one of desperation, which is certainly a negative feeling, and not very likely to bring about positive changes, aka more money in our pockets.
In addition to a baseline sense of desperation, we could also be sending out an entire host of negative vibrations; fear, doubt, worry, etc. Each of those negative feelings sends out a negative vibration and the Law of Attraction obediently brings us exactly what we FEEL about, not what we THINK about.
By having feelings of desperation, fear, doubt, or worry, the Law of Attraction will simply bring us more reasons to have those feelings!
One of the critical things that you must remember about the Law of Attraction is that it always delivers - every single time. If you don’t find a way to use it to manifest the things that you want, there is a pretty safe bet that you will be manifesting things that you don’t want.
All you have to do in order to get anything - and everything - that you want from the Law of Attraction is to FEEL GOOD! In the movie ‘The Secret‘, even though the audience has just spent 90 minutes learning the ins and outs of the Law of Attraction, Rhonda Byrne sums up the entire movie - and the entire Law - in one beautiful message that Nature helps her to deliver:
That moment in the movie actually invokes an emotional response from a lot of people who see it because it takes 2 simple words that everyone is already proficient at using to demonstrate the fact that we can all have whatever we want by doing something that we all know how to do!
So, how can we bring all of that back around to help us manifest things that we need? Simple: send out “feel good” vibrations via Creative Visualization.
Again, remember that the Law of Attraction is activated via our feelings, not via our thoughts. In order to feel good about something that you don’t actually have, you can access the absolutely unlimited power and depth of your own imagination to envision a landscape where you DO have everything that you need.
Here’s the trick, though. It’s called Creative Visualization for a reason - you need to actually paint a mental picture that is so real in every detail, that you actually feel the feelings of being there.
Take the actual circumstances of the scene that you are visualizing and map them out in every possible detail to make it as real as possible. Actually paint the picture by adding in the same “real life” details that you would have if you were actually living that moment:
As you put together this pseudo-real set of circumstances in your head, it is absolutely imperative that you view the scene in your head as if you are actually there. You are seeing the scene through you own eyes, not through the eyes of a casual observer.
Also, your visualization must take place in the NOW, not in the future. Even though you don’t actually have the money yet, in your visualization you do have the money. If you make the mistake of visualizing a scene at some point in the future, then it will always stay at that point in the future.
And finally, the most critical piece to this entire puzzle is that when you are visualizing your scene, you must feel good about the fact that you are there and that you have the money!
The feelings that you generate with your powerfully holographic visualization are the entire point of the exercise.
If you create a detailed visualization, but think the entire time that you really don’t believe that it will work, because you really don’t have the money, and your rent is really due, and your cupboards are really empty, and because…etc.
Do you think that type of thinking will generate the positive vibrations that you need in order to manifest positive things into your life? Of course not.
However, you can - and will - bring those positive things into your life when you put yourself in the middle of your visualization by painting a great picture. Build a happy moment in your mind and believe in your created scene so much that you actually start to feel the way you will feel when that moment arrives.
That, friends and neighbors, is when you are in the sweet spot! At that moment in time, you have the Law of Attraction tightly within your control, and you can use it to manifest every single thing in your visualization, and much, much more.
This system works, and it will work for YOU, as well. Remember, though - if you need it to work, then it won’t. The Law of Attraction will never bring you anything that you need - no matter how badly you need it. However, it will bring you what you want - every single time.
If you have a need, then turn it into a want, and it will show up for you!
One of the most powerful ways to bring the things that you want into your life is to use the amazing power of our imagination in order to visualize the success that we desire.
Some people call this "positive thinking", but truly effective visualization goes way beyond simply holding an image in your head. However, that being said, the easier that it is for you to hold an image in your head, the easier it will be for you to practice the other visualization techniques as well.
The gratitude filled folks over at Tabblo have come up with a very cool (and free) new way to bring together the images of your life into a format that works best for you, and that is very simple to share with other people.
A "tabblo" is basically a blank canvas that you can easily add images and/or text to using several different design templates that they offer, or you can manually create your own.
Think of a collage of pictures, only online, and completely customizable, and you'll start to grasp the idea. Also, all of the tabblo's can be printed in any number of different formats, even in a book!
To see what I'm talking about, click below to go to the tabblo that I created which I have entitled 'Shopping with the Law of Attraction':
Also, for another great example of the type of things that you can do with Tabblo - including the hilarious picture below - click the picture to be taken to this person's tabblo:
The possibilities are endless, and I want to encourage you to use these types of tools in order to make your visualizations effective!
I mean, if putting together an entire book of your desires and then putting it on your coffee table doesn't frequently remind you to deliberately create your life, I don't know what will.
Also, I have put together a Law of Attraction group there on the Tabblo site that you are welcome and encouraged to join.
The basic idea is that everyone who is using the power of visualization in order to manifest their desires can share visual concepts by keeping all of our tabblo's in one spot. By seeing how other people are visualizing, you make get inspired to manifest new or different things into your life, or you may just be inspired by someone else's pictures, text, or visualization concepts. If nothing else, you'll be entertained for a few minutes, so check it out!
When visualizing, practice the following concepts to make your visualizations powerful and effective!
1. Always feel as if what you are visualizing already exists for you. If you think "I am going to have this someday", then it will always be "someday away". Visualize in the NOW, and your goals will manifest in your life.
2. Never NEED the things that you are visualizing. If you are desperately needing the things that you are asking for, then all you are doing is sending out a "I wish I had this" vibration and all you will manifest is continuing to wish that you had it. Want the things that you are visualizing, Believe that you already have them, and Feel the joy that having those things brings to your life. The Universe will deliver!
3. Visualize as often as you like - the more you do it, the faster you'll get what you want. Also, take advantage of the time right before you go to sleep and right after you wake up to practice visualization. Your subconscious mind is most receptive to programming during those times, and you will get the most out of your efforts when you get your conscious AND your subconscious mind working together.
Okay, that's it, that's all. Now go out there and create the world that you want by finding ways to hold the images of that world in your head. Next thing you know, you'll be living in it.
Remember:
"Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!" - Mike Dooley and TUT 's Adventure Club
