Do you ever have doubts about the effectiveness of the Law of Attraction?
I'm not against the Law of Attraction. It's a great way to draw people's attention to the subtle ways in which events seem to align with us when we are sure of what we want. More importantly, it provides a good excuse to practice faith.
Example 1
Recently, a relative of mine told me that she had a job offer she really wanted to take, but it was a 9-month teaching position paying about 1/4 less than her current job. I told her, "If you really want it, there's probably a way to do it. So the question is not "Should I do it?" but "How can I do it? She knew that there were plenty of temporary part-time jobs that matched her skills. So she took the job out of conviction and a month later her new employer offered her a summer teaching position that allowed her to make up for the lost salary. One could say that she attracted the result she wanted. It could also be said that she assessed the situation realistically. Both explanations accurately describe her outcome.
The problem with the Law of Attraction is that it tends to confuse people. And no matter how you explain it, confusion prevents people from getting what they want. Most people who grew up in the 20th century were taught that hard work, strategy, education, research, expert advice and goal setting would help them get what they want. Then they hear that the Law of Attraction says that all they have to do is think about what they want and they will get it. Does that mean they can get rid of the hard work, strategy, education, research, expert advice and goal setting? No. All these things include thinking about what you want, so keep doing them if they work for you.
Example 2
Several months ago I was thinking that maybe it was time to find a new coach. I'm lucky enough to have some of the best coaches in the world as friends, who coach me when necessary, but I thought maybe it was time to find someone who was a spiritual teacher, whose background was different from mine (so they could surprise me from time to time) and who perhaps had a coaching school, so they could relate to some of the challenges I was working on; all of which would be good. A week or two later, one of these coach friends phoned me out of the blue and offered to coach me. When this kind of thing happens, I've learned to just say "Yes".
Sometimes things seem to happen magically, but that doesn't mean that all we have to do is set our intentions. As the wise man says, "The road to hell is paved with intentions". It turns out that he thought of me as an assistant when he saw one of my posts on LinkedIn. Was it the law of attraction or a good social media strategy that brought him to me? Yes.
Example 3
The other day I met an acquaintance at the post office. She told me how she had broken her toe slipping in the toilet. She told me that she had broken another toe on the same foot so many times that it was crooked and that she had considered having a doctor break it to straighten it out. In other words, she had considered breaking a toe, and then she broke one. Be careful what you think about! Was it the law of attraction or a freak accident? Whatever story you tell, she always has a broken toe.
It is difficult to prove causality. Scientists tend to point out correlations and avoid making up stories about causality. When we observe events, such as thinking about something and then experiencing what we thought about, we observe a correlation. But humans are story machines and we love stories about causality. Correlation is confusing.
Choose the stories that work for you. And let your coaching clients do the same. Confusing them with the Law of Attraction can prevent them from getting what they want, even if it works for you.
I'm here to say that the Law of Attraction is nothing more than faith, or maybe it's just correlated with faith. But faith is huge. At the other end of the scale is doubt. All healthy humans have both.
Imagine faith and doubt connected by a line. Faith moves us forward and doubt moves us backward. However, doubt often holds hidden wisdom, so explore it rather than trying to eliminate it.
Confusion, on the other hand, erases the line. Doubt carries wisdom and connects to faith. Confusion is full of missed connections and blurred vision, much like the words in the image above.
Whether you have faith in science, Jesus Christ, your job, the law of attraction or all of the above, this faith will help you move forward. Find out what lies behind your doubts and clear your confusion if you can (by creating clarity) and you will be pulled forward with less effort. This is not a guarantee of results, but rather a correlation with success.