The Law of Attraction Re-Visited

Nuggets For The Noggin

The Law of Attraction Re-Visited

By Jim "Gymbeaux" Brown, December 5, 2011

What does the Law of Attraction really mean?  That you tend to have come into your life more of what you think about most.

If you continually discuss illness, you tend to have more illness come into your life either through you or near you as in family and friends.

If you continually discuss financial problems, you tend to continue to have financial problems and maybe even go deeper into debt.

In sales, if you continually discuss how unreasonable your customers are, they not only become more unreasonable you find more just like them; or you don’t find any customers at all primarily because you have also become unreasonable.

In golf, (had to bring that in) if you think about the lake, the bunker, the trees, the out-of-bounds, three putts, etc, you will definitely find more of them and more often than you want.  Think about long straight drives, high soft shots into the green and sinking putts and that is exactly what you will receive.  Certainly not every time but the more you think about what you want, the less you will receive what you do not want.

MORE IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION:  People and situations come and go in your life; they have in mine; oftentimes we are totally unaware of when they come and go.  Example:  You see and like a certain type of car, there are not many on the roads and you want one.  You buy one and then as if by magic that same type and maybe even the same color as your car seems to suddenly appear everywhere you go.  Were they there before or did you just not notice them or as said, “they suddenly appeared.”  Actually they were there all along, you simply were unaware.

This same principle applies to people passing through your life.  Someone once said that we should have the attitude that we can learn from everyone we come in contact with; both good and bad.  In fact it was suggested that you imagine the letters WCILFTP tattooed on their foreheads; What Can I Learn From This Person?

If that were the case, how might your life be different?  The same is true from the books you read, the CDs/DVDs you listen/watch and unfortunately the television you watch.  WHAT CAN YOU LEARN BY DOING SO?

In a recent class on goal setting the instructor asked that everyone write down what they don’t want.  I just sat there.  She then asked me why I wasn’t writing.  I told her that I cannot think of “stuff” I don’t want since I focus on what I do want, really.  Why would you ever want to concentrate on what you don’t want?  I discovered that was the point of her exercise as she then instructed the class to throw away their lists.  That such thoughts are meaningless and can be very destructive.

When you become someone who is constantly aware of your surroundings you discover all sorts of wonderful and oftentimes life-changing (hate that phrase as it is so over used) events, people, situations, books, CDs, DVDs, training classes, etc.

Exercise:  Read this and then try it.  Close your eyes.  Clear your mind of all the “stuff” you are thinking about, really, clear your mind.  Imagine that there are only three people left on Earth you being one of them.  Your survival will depend on two of you working together.  One person is positive, energetic, honest, has integrity, is learning based, and goal oriented.  The other constantly whines, looks for disasters, lies, cheats, looks for the gloom and doom, and has no direction.  You have the ability to choose to be with one over the other.  GOOD QUESTION:  Who would you choose?  EVEN BETTER QUESTION:  Who would the other two choose?  Hmmmmmm?

This exercise is similar to the Native American story about the elder tribal chief telling the little boy the story about another little boy who had two wolves inside of him, one vicious, one peaceful.  When the little boy asked which one survived, the chief said the one he fed the most. 

The Law of Attraction in real life.  About seven years ago I came in contact with a book entitled “What’s The Big Secret” by Michael Dunn.  It was so powerful that I read it several times.  When I had the opportunity to add toys or candy to less fortunate children’s Christmas bags, I instead put a copy of the book in the bags and addressed a note to the children’s parents or guardians that read:  “We can give a fish to a hungry person or we can teach a hungry person how to fish.  This book will teach anyone who reads it how to fish.  Merry Christmas.  Santa”

I do not know what happened as a result of those books; I like to think at least one person read it and at least one child is better off today than he or she might otherwise be. 

Now for the “rest of the story.”  About two weeks ago something caused me to pull “What’s The BIG Secret” from the book shelf and gave it to someone to read.  Prior to Hurricane Katrina I had become friends with Michael Dunn and he and a group of local residents would regularly meet to discuss what I have later come to realize was something Wallace Wattles wrote in 1910 in “The Science of Getting Rich.”  Wattles repeatedly referred to “thinking in a certain way.”  That is what the group focused on, thinking in a certain way as described in “What’s The BIG Secret.”  Sadly Katrina brought an end to those meetings and we lost touch with each other.  Then only days after removing the book from the shelf, I received a call from someone I did not know asking for a personal referral in regards to Michael Dunn the author who she was considering as a personal coach.  A coincidence?  Then a week later I receive a call from Michael Dunn who I had not spoken with in some time (years) asking to “just” meet with me which we did.  Another coincidence or The Law of Attraction at work?

Michael and I talked for well over an hour; no agenda, just talked.  Looking back, we both spoke but I think I was doing more listening because what Michael was saying was causing me to think.  Not superficially think; the conversation caused me to really think – deeply.  During the conversation Michael suddenly began painting a picture of something I had just said in passing.  The picture was vivid, it was HUGE, and it was what I should have been doing for the past several years and for one reason or another had not.  It was an amazing experience.

This is important, at least to me.  After about 90 minutes of conversation, I was no longer the person I was just 90 short minutes prior to our meeting.  I would say that is life-changing.

There are life-changing events around us at all times if we just pay attention to what is around us.  This year I suffered a mild heart attack, in fact I didn’t know I was having one but it resulted in open heart surgery.  Shortly thereafter I lost a teammate and personal confident to a heart attack.  More recently I lost a teammate and friend who felt a change was needed and made it.  And then I met with Michael Dunn. 

All of those events were on my life’s path but as they occurred, the path literally branched out in two directions (the vicious wolf, the peaceful wolf).  We each have that choice every day of our lives.  Unfortunately most of us do not realize (1) there is a fork in the road and then (2) we do not even realize which fork we had subconsciously chosen until we are far down the road.  We simply do not pay attention.  

In three out of the four instances above I chose to be positive and move on and did.  For the fourth situation, meeting with Michael Dunn, the jury is still out.  It is hard to imagine something being more important than suffering a heart attack; I can assure you that meeting Michael Dunn was or could be that important.  As I said, the jury is still out.

What jury verdict are you waiting for?  I believe we are put on this planet to make a difference.  What kind of difference are you making?  Are you sure?  How do you know?  Upon whose lives have you made a positive difference?  Upon whose lives have you made a negative difference?  When might you have put money over common sense?  When have you put revenge over understanding and forgiveness?   An easy way to answer these questions is to answer this question:

Do you brighten a room when you enter or when you leave?

I’m just saying……

If you need help on your attitude and who doesn’t, read Jeffrey Gitomer’s “The LittleGold Book of YES!Attitude”; more than once and sooner rather than later.  Ben Franklin was a great man still he recognized that his worse problem was his own attitude and the way people perceived him; not good.  He spent the next year and the rest of his life working on his beliefs one belief or character trait a week for 13 weeks and then repeated the process every quarter.  (For You-Know-Who, there are 13 weeks in a quarter.)  The result, Ben Franklin became a “new man” and the people around him recognized it and responded accordingly.  It is The Law of Attraction at work!  It can and will work for you.  Read “What’s The BIG Secret?”