The law of attraction seems easy enough, until you try to practice it.
Raising your vibe and the energy you put out into the universe feels easy enough. Just think happy thoughts, right? But if you are anything like me, you may have suffered a lifetime of fear and anxiety that is difficult to reverse.
Recently I wrote an article on Medium where I discussed the book I heard on Audible Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein. If you’ve never read or heard, go check that book out now! Basically, Gabrielle discusses how to attract your perfect life to you via the law of attraction. My purposes today are all about the energy surrounding you.
What is energy?
I used to listen to the director of my company about my energy and my thoughts and so on. But I never felt like I had the benefit of tons of time with her. That’s probably only because I thought that, therefore I never gave myself the time. And even more so because I let my own self-limiting beliefs and stories in my head stop me from trying. Stories about how she doesn’t really care about me get in the way of actually opening up to her.
We’ll get into stories more later but for now, understand that that is energy. Those thoughts turn into vibes that you’re sending out into the universe. Vibes that may be saying ‘get away from me’ or ‘I don’t trust anyone’. I’m from New Jersey, so those are par for the course, but for the purposes of my life they’re counterproductive.
Energy is all of those thoughts that turn into wavelengths of feelings and emotions that people intuitively pick up on. And so does the universe. Are you sending the right message?
The law of attraction is sending out the right vibes.
Positive vibes only folks! That’s the idea. It’s really a religious idea as well. I was born and raised Catholic. Sort of. While my parents had mostly shed much of the traditions of their childhoods, uncles and grandparents had mostly kept to them. But I’m also a history buff, nerd, and existentialist in general. So, studying these philosophies is my form of entertainment.
Concepts such as, ‘treat others as you would want to be treated’ and ‘love thy neighbor’ is no different than ‘positive vibes’ and all that “hippy” stuff. Catholicism teaches tolerance (that’s why I think they’re a tad stuffy). Buddhism teaches that all living things should be treated with respect. Judaism teaches to love everyone. Yet they can’t seem to get along.
Books are just books, and religions are just philosophies on life, love, and death. It’s when people start thinking they know more that trouble starts. Sending out the right vibes starts with admitting (and accepting) that you know nothing. The universe, God, Buddha, they know. They know all and it is only our duty to accept their wisdom as best we can understand it and glean the lesson from the triumph or the struggle.
Bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it?
Because, no, it’s not always fair. It wasn’t fair that my son had craniosynostosis. But maybe I needed to learn the real meaning behind the phrase ‘mama bear’. Those maternal instincts are no joke, my friends.
Maybe the lesson is still waiting to be learned. Or perhaps it served as many lessons for many people that I will never be able to understand. The law of attraction works best when you understand and embrace the concept that everything happens for a reason. The world keeps on spinning because millions of actions and reactions happen just so, to support life on earth. You are one of those beings supporting that energy.
There is much more to life than simply why your best friend suddenly ghosted you. Or why you met your husband. The law of attraction is to always keep the train moving forward toward your next best life. Except there will be tough times interspersed, like the butterfly in the cocoon.
The law of attraction as a placebo.
Whether you think it works or you think it doesn’t, you’re right. It’s not terribly encouraging, is it? But it’s a concept used by scientists, psychologists, and the like. In mice, in humans, even in plants, the placebo effect is proven to be a real concept that can be translated to nearly anything in life. If you believe it to be true, it is. You see things through the lens that you understand the world with.
In college, I was tasked with writing a paper all about the philosophers Kant and Sartre and their two ideologies. Whether or not there was free will (humans make their own choices) and predestination (you think you’re making choices but really they were already set in motion and you’re just following the plan). I argued that if you were born to hate vanilla ice cream, you can still choose to eat it. And you’d never know if that decision was your own free will or if it was already decided for you. So to heck with it, really.
“We are all just prisoners here, of our own device”
The Eagles, “Hotel California”
The song is about addiction, or so I’ve heard. But the concept applies. The concept applies to my life so much it’s tattooed on me. To me, it means that you may have been born with a certain set of circumstances, of thought patterns, of deformities and abnormalities. But that you are only a prisoner of your own device. You assign the power to things in your life.
The law of attraction means assigning power to you. Give yourself the power to overcome any adversity, the power to push past obstacles, and the power to dream bigger than you should because why not?
Did that sufficiently raise your energy?
The law of attraction is about redirecting negative thought patterns to positive ones. It’s about treating others with the same kindness, thoughtfulness, and forgiveness that you wish people gave to you. Loving yourself enough to go after what you really want in life.
Some things help raise your vibration. I recommend going outside when you can or having houseplants. Listening to daily affirmations or reading your horoscope. Reading books for self-development like Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein is also a great way. Other ways include (but are not limited to) working out, eating right, listening to music.
Do things that get your blood flowing with happiness and excitement and focus on that feeling. Let that feeling grow and flow into you and become a part of you! And when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
I hope that you found these tips helpful!
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