Briefly, the “Law of Attraction” states that like attracts like. To give an example, I believe, given the economic climate of today, many would relate to the following statement:
If we think: “I need more money” that is a negative thought, therefore the chances of getting more money are japordized by our faulty, negative thinking. We would be much better off if we restated our thought in a positive way, such as: ” I will make more money, my future is filled with money, happiness, good health, etc”. No matter how bad a situation, the thoughts of the individual must be positive at all times. The principle of positive visualization is well known and used in performance sports. Visualizing your every move prior to competition, visualizing you as the winner, it does work!
How about in our every day lives which are influenced by factors outside our control? What if it’s not working, in spite of my effort to think positive? Well, that’s my fault, because even if I think positive and make positive statements, and I do, my subconscious must not be cooperating! According to “The Law of Attraction” the subconscious must be positive as well if we want it to work. Otherwise one’s desperate efforts to “attract health and wellbeing” will not work! This concept alone puts me out of luck and sends me on a guilt trip!
At the time I started writing this blog, I wasn’t aware of the huge controversy concerning the proven results of “The Law of Attraction”. Common sense told me there must be a controversy, as the simplicity of the principle must have stirred questionings in the minds of many intelligent writers, reporters and people who in spite of trying hard to succeed don’t.
Personally, I decided to write about this subject because times and again I felt confused and guilty about the many adversities and trials I experienced throughout my life, and the outcomes. Am I the creator of my own misfortunes? Is my subconscious undermining my efforts to be happy?
Even now, as I write this blog, I try to find the positive in the fact that I fell on a broken sidewalk and had to cancel my trip to see my daughter, and am confined to a bed with a fractured ankle, alone for the Holidays. Why did this happen? Did my subconscious make me fall? What is the meaning of what happened? Did I want to be confined to my bed, in pain in a place where I don’t know anyone and spend the Holidays alone? That subconscious mind of mine again, playing tricks on me!
I decided that perhaps this was God’s message that I should write. I have no more excuses, I cannot move, but I can write! That’s how this blog is being born!
In my previous entry I wrote about the history of “luck” and “fortune”. The research was easy, it had a logical evolution from Greek mythology to the present.
I tried to follow a similar pattern and researched “The Law of Attraction”. I found most of my information on Wikipedia, a source generally frowned upon by the Academic community, at least in the school where I am still a graduate student of psychology (a course away from earning my Master’s, once I finish my internship).
In researching the “Law of Attraction” and its roots, my sources directed me to Socrates as quoting a Thracian physician as saying:” You ought not to attempt… to cure the body without the soul…” To me, this statement is along the same belief expressed by another ancient philosopher, Seneca (? 4 B.C.-AD 65) who believed in moderation and who first nailed the phrase “Healthy mind, healthy body”. As Seneca did, I too, believe wholeheartedly in moderation, in the connection between mind, body and spirit, in a healthy mind in a healthy body. I hold a certification in hypnosis and for ten years I had a wholistic business, Rodica’s Natural Therapies, at a time when “natural” “alternative”, “complementary medicine”, all principles connected to the new age movement, where not accepted by the main stream America. However, from believing in the connection between our souls, minds, and bodies to believing we can change the outcome of our lives by the power of our mind alone disregarding all other circumstances… it’s a long way.
I continued my research to determine how from “a healthy mind in a healthy body” some people arrived to the conclusion that we can change our lives by the power of our minds alone, no matter the circumstances, and we are completely responsible, and therefore to be blamed if our lives do not turn right.
According to my source, the phrase “Law of Attraction” was first used in the 19th Century” by New Thought writers. This is a spiritual movement which focuses on metaphysical beliefs. The movement included religious denominations, writers, philosophers and individuals who shared the belief in the absolute results of positive thinking. To sum it up: “All sickness originates in the mind and the right thinking has healing effects.”
While I am in total agreement that a positive attitude is essential to healing, my personal experiences showed me that we are only in control of our attitudes but not in control of other circumstances life throws at us. We are not in control of where we are born, whether we are born sick or healthy, to rich or poor parents or in rich or poor countries… we are not in control of floods, earthquakes… yes, we are in control of wars but we seem to not understand our responsibilities in the general fight between Good and Evil.
What makes it very challenging to write about luck, destiny and also the effects of positive thinking in our lives, is the fact that I, personally, believe in parts of each, but above all I believe in moderation and common sense.
How did these controvertial elements, “luck”, “destiny” and “the Law of Attraction” and my continuous efforts to think and act in a positive way in spite of adversity, manifest in my life?
What happened after my soul, after all the struggles to be allowed to be born, manifested at last in Communist Romania of 1950’s and was housed in the body of a little, sickly girl whose parents wished her a boy?
The Nude Truth by Rodica Mihalis 