By Emily

The Law of Attraction is a controversial topic, but we believe useful concept for getting to know your universe. It has gotten a lot of attention in the last year or so thanks to The Secret. We have not seen The Secret yet, though we hope to do a review on it soon.

The Law of Attraction

"What you think about, you bring about" is the most concise explanation I've found regarding the Law of Attraction. Essentially, by keeping something in your mind you will attract it into your life. Negative thoughts bring about more negativity. If you keep thinking about not wanting to be late to work, you'll be late.

According to Wikipedia there are four necessary steps to manifesting using the Law of Attraction:

1. Know what one desires and ask the universe for it. (The "universe" is mentioned broadly, stating that it can be anything from God to an unknown source of energy.)
2. Focus one's thought upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.
3. Feel and behave as if the object of one's desire is already acquired.
4. Be open to receiving it.
   

In addition to these steps, other sources I've found have stressed detachment from the outcome and truly believing in your ability to create.

How the Law of Attraction Works

There are various ideas on how the law of attraction works. The main theories are as follows:

Scientific - The vibrations we hold in our mind attract like vibrations in the universe. The Law of Attraction is just as scientific and immutable as the Law of Gravity. This is the primary explanation given in The Secret.

Spiritual - We are all part of a higher consciousness and have come to Earth in this form to be creators. The Law of Attraction is our primary means for creation. This is a summary of the Abraham-Hicks view.

Subjective Reality - The world each of us sees is an illusion. Just like when we dream, we are creating everything we see and in a sense we "are" everyone we meet. Just as you can learn to control your dreams through lucid dreaming, you can learn to control your waking reality through the Law of Attraction. I found this explanation on Steve Pavlina's blog.

Controversy

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Law of Attraction, especially since The Secret has become so popular. There are two main objections raised. First, this is complete nonsense and isn't true at all. This criticism generally comes from grouchy skeptics who Second, this may not be complete nonsense, but it has been turned into a get-rich-quick scheme which is really only working for the authors of the books. We think there is some truth to this second criticism.

It is possible to manifest things into your life. We think you do it all the time, whether you know it or not. Our problem with the so-called "Law of Attraction" is that it is much more complicated than it is presented to be by many popular programs. The question is not so much whether you can manifest something, but whether or not manifesting it will bring you happiness.

How often have we met the "perfect" mate only to realize a few weeks (months, years) later that the type of person we thought we wanted, and got, was actually all wrong for us? Or the job we've always wanted turns out to be much different than we'd expected? It seems that we don't know ourselves as well as we'd like to think. Just because we want something doesn't mean it is going to make us happy, sometimes it can do the opposite!

Conclusion

The Law of Attraction is a helpful tool to add to your personal and spiritual growth toolbox. When used in conjunction with other techniques like meditation, mindfulness, and other growth practices, it can be very useful. The best lesson we've taken away from the Law of Attraction is that you can manifest what you want, so choose wisely. I find myself manifesting all sorts of things and then wishing I hadn't. This experience tells me I should learn to slow down. Desires come and go. I know I have the power to create any life I want. The first and most important step is to figure out what kind of life that is.