Is The Law Of Attraction Truth Or Lie?


The Law Of Attraction - Truth or Lie? Graphic of a woman with dreams of her visualised future pouring out of her head.

SETTING THE SCENE - The Law of Attraction

The subject of the law of attraction has been done to death over the past 15 years. So much has been written and said, so much has been claimed, and yet there is still considerable confusion about whether this stuff really works or not.


The basis of the law of attraction is that "like attracts like"

This is expanded in "The Secret" and it is stated with certainty that:

  • Your thoughts are magnetic and thus have power to attract situations, people and events into your life.
  • Positive thoughts attract wealth, health, and love.
  • You have caused all the joy, happiness and fulfillment in your life by your positive thoughts.
  • Negative thoughts attract poverty, sickness, and loneliness.
  • You have caused all sickness, misery and unhappiness in your life by your negative thoughts.
  • How you think creates your reality.
  • You are 100% responsible for your life.


The cosmic vending machine

The way this is usually sold is that if you think enough of the right thoughts, with sufficient intensity, you can manifest whatever it is that you want and the "Universe" will deliver it into your life.

In this model the "Universe" is seen as a cosmic vending machine.

Many of us have at some or other stage in our lives [often at times of desperation] bought into this and given it a go.


Does it work?

Sometimes it works and more often it doesn't.

When it doesn't, we tend to react in one of two ways, we either throw our copy of "The Secret" in the bin, grind out teeth and soldier on in varying degrees of solitary desperation or, we decide that we are missing something and buy another book or take another course.

Please don't think I am sneering or disparaging these behaviours. I have done both! I have experienced amazing success and positive outcomes in my attempts to manifest things and abject, soul destroying failure.

On the plus side, I have experienced financial success, amazing relationships, health and healing and on the negative side I have experienced soul crushing set backs and seemingly irresolvable long term defeats.


Why I am writing this article?

I have thought about tacking the subject of the law of attraction for a long time and I have avoided it partly because I felt that the whole subject had become a cliche and mainly because I didn't feel I had anything useful to say.

So why did I change my mind?

Two things caused me to change my mind:

  1. I recently completed a series of articles on Thinking Skills and decided to apply First Principles Thinking to this subject and see where it led us.
  2. Because I now want to share the insights [based on experience] that I have gained over the past 20-30 years and to do so in a structured way, in the hope that it might prove useful to you as you read this, and that you can learn from my mistakes and not waste as much time and go round in as many circles as I have!

Evaluating the law of attraction

We are now going to take a look at some of the key aspects of the law of attraction:


  1. Causation or Correlation - Does A + B = C?
  2. Evidence Basis - Fact vs Faith
  3. Domains of Influence - "Here" or "Out There"
  4. Do Thoughts Have Magnetic Resonance and Attract?
  5. Being vs Doing
  6. The Conflicted Mind

Redefining the law of attraction

After we have evaluated the law of attraction, we are going to look for a balanced approach based on solid foundations which we can use for practical application of the law of attraction that I will redefine as

The Law Of Response And Outcome




1. CAUSATION OR CORRELATION - The Law Of Attraction

Causation can be defined as action A causes outcome B.

Correlation is a relationship, thus action A relates to outcome B.

  • Correlation and causation are often confused because the human mind likes to find patterns even when they do not exist.
  • We can not assume causation just because we see an apparent connection or link between A and B, such as we see that B follows A or we see A and B simultaneously.
  • We can only show a causation when we know how it causes B and why it causes B. Following on from we must be able to show how it can be replicated under the same conditions, and is supported with empirical evidence and thus complies with scientific method.


What is claimed about the law of attraction?

In "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne says:

“Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head.”

“If you have any lack, if you are prey to poverty or disease, it is because you do not believe or do not understand the power that is yours.…”

“You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought. You are also inviting illness if you are listening to people talking about their illness. As you listen, you are giving all your thought and focus to illness, and when you give all of your thought to something, you are asking for it.”

[I have heard other teachers of the law of attraction making similar claims and statements.]

The direct inference of these statements is that  people are only poor because of their poor thoughts. People are only sick because of their thoughts of illness.

Let's apply these statements to some real life examples:

  • A Singaporean couple who own and a run bar/restaurant see their life savings evaporate and face financial ruin because of the circuit breaker [covid lockdown] restrictions. 
  • The cause of their financial nightmare is  not the result of their holding thoughts of poverty or the law of attraction.
  • A young widowed mother of two in the slums of Manilla who can not work, because of the extended lock down in that region of the Philippines, is sick with worry about how she is going to be able to continue feeding her children as the promised Government aid never materialises and charity supplies are intermittent. She is terrified of going outside and seeking help as the streets are policed by paramilitaries operating a shoot to kill policy under the martial law imposed by President Duterte. 
  • Her poverty and hunger and fear for her and her children's lives are not the result of her thoughts or the law of attraction.
  • A middle-aged father in the US has been laid off as a direct economic effect of covid restrictions. He is in mounting debt and is worrying himself crazy about how he is going to be able to continue to fund his sick wife's medical treatment. 
  • His financial problems and his wife's sickness are not the result of his thoughts or the law of attraction.

Now let me share some of my own experiences:

  • When my son was a baby [30 years ago] he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. This diagnosis was confirmed by 4 independent and unconnected health professionals, thus there was no miss-diagnosis. Some Christian friends suggested that they visited us and together we pray for my son's healing. We did this. Nothing magical or mysterious happened, a few prayers were prayed asking God to heal my son. That's all. 6 month's later he started showing signs of recovery and the medical specialists were astonished. 12 months later he was walking and doing all the physical things a child of that age does. 
  • My son clearly was healed and it was a miraculous outcome. I say miraculous in the sense that it was supra-normal. There would certainly seem to be a correlation between the prayers and his healing. But was there a causation? Was this the law of attraction at work? I don't think so. For that to be the case my friends and I would have to be able to replicate that outcome with any seriously ill baby we prayed for. Truth is many, many people pray for healing and never experience it, many people are not prayed over and experience healing.
  • When I was 18 years old I was hitch hiking home from college for Xmas. I had a massive suitcase that was very heavy. My last lift dropped me off on a road with very little passing traffic, and it was only  local traffic. I stood there for ages trying to catch a lift. I saw there was a railway/train station nearby, but I had only 10 pence/cents so buying a ticket was out of the question. In desperation I thought to myself: "I need a miracle here". So I said a prayer to a God I didn't believe in and asked for that miracle. About 10 minutes later a man walked up the road towards me and stopped and asked me where I was going. I told him and explained I was broke and my case was too heavy and I couldn't walk any distance to find another road. "Follow me" he said, I followed him to the station and he bought me a ticket home. Turned out he was making the same journey to my home town.
  • So was that a co-incidence? Or was that kind stranger appearing and buying me a ticket home an answer to a prayer/request for help/ an intention to manifest? There definitely seemed to be a correlation but can we say it was a causation? That is impossible to say without a replication of a similar situation in a similar set of circumstances by any number of other people

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Are the claims made about the law of attraction true? Or is it a lie?

The claim made, by many of the teachers of the law of attraction, that there is a direct causal link between your thoughts and the circumstances of your life is not true.

Frankly, it is preposterous and insulting to millions of people who are suffering sickness, poverty, violence and restrictions, through no fault of their own, in circumstances that are imposed on them!

It is a lie because it is a partial truth masquerading as an absolute truth.

It's a partial truth because we can prove from observation and scientific studies that "like does attract like" in social interactions in the physical world that we live in.

But it is a total lie based on pseudo-science to state, as a law, that your thoughts create everything that happens to you in terms of your health, wealth and the circumstances of your life. There is no scientific evidence to support this claim.



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Is there ANY correlation between your thoughts and the circumstances of your life?

Personal and observational experience, and scientific research shows that there can be correlation in the area of how you respond to experiences.

Contrary to what the proponents of the law of attraction tell you, there is more to this than vision boards, positive thoughts and a largely passive approach. This is a multi-dimensional and holistic approach that takes time, effort and application.

There are a number of factors that can establish a correlation between how your thoughts determine your responses and the
outcomes you experience.

Here are some of the main factors:

  • Vision aligned with life purpose
  • How to think
  • How to stop thinking
  • Maintaining focus
  • When and how to act 
  • Dropping the how
  • When not to act
  • Going with the flow
  • Positive expectation
  • Gratitude
  • Adding value
  • Accepting the gestation period
  • Persistence and consistence

The combined effect of these main factors, and the causation of  the outcomes they create will, in my experience, strengthen the correlation between your intentions and the results that, over time, will manifest in your life.





2. EVIDENCE BASIS - The Law Of Attraction

Fact vs Faith / Science vs Belief

Fact vs Faith / Science vs Belief

What we are looking for here are the scientifically proven facts that support the law of attraction rather than the beliefs that are stated as facts by the law of attraction teachers.

To return to the basic premise of the law of attraction which can be summarised as:

“Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head... If you have any lack, if you are prey to poverty or disease, it is because you do not believe or do not understand the power that is yours.…You cannot 'catch' anything unless you think you can, and thinking you can is inviting it to you with your thought..."

As we established above, in considering correlation and causality,  there is no scientific basis for this belief and therefore it is  false.

That wouldn't matter if it was just a harmless piece of non-sense, but it isn't harmless. At a minimum it is used as the basis to support a large self-help industry generating billions of dollars a year selling material to help people to turn this false belief into a reality.

In any other context than the self-help industry "the law of attraction money making machine" would be regarded as a fraudulent misrepresentation.

In the worst scenario it may cause many people to feel that there is something seriously wrong with them that needs fixing.

If there IS scientific evidence and you would like to send me the full verifiable details I would be happy to print that information here.


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The nature and structure of beliefs

The structure of a belief, has three-parts  that can be presented as:

Cause –> Effect –> Meaning

So, if THIS causes ...

Then, the effect is...

And THAT means...

So to take a simple example: I am feeling miserable and unhappy [cause] I have a few beers [effect] and it makes me happy [meaning].

So, we are back to causation and correlation and since we have no scientifically verifiable proof that your thoughts cause and create your whole life experience:

What is stated in the law of attraction is a belief.

In my view:

  • A belief should be discarded or upgraded when it is proven to have no evidence basis and therefore is shown to be false.
  • The beliefs espoused in the law of attraction are false and should be discarded or upgraded.




3. DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE - The Law Of Attraction

There are 2 distinct domains of influence: the Inner Domain and the Outer Domain


There are 2 distinct domains of influence: the Inner Domain and the Outer Domain


[1] INNER DOMAIN -> Response = Outcome

The inner domain is your influence "here", in the everyday material world, via your reaction or RESPONSE to what you experience, and the outcomes that are the causal result of that response.

[Put simply, how you respond to an event affects your experience of that event and the outcome that follows from that.]

The activity within this domain is provable.

It can be replicated and thus we can have certainty that if we respond and behave in certain ways we will get a predictable outcome.


[2] OUTER DOMAIN -> Creation = Outcome

The outer domain is your influence via your pro-action or INTENTION "out there", in the unseen realm of possibility, supported by the main factors that lead to an outcome that is either  [1] a causal result of that intention, or [2] a correlational result of that intention.

[Put simply, you set an intention to manifest something and the overall effect of your response to events causes/creates the outcome you seek, or at least is connected to the outcome you seek.]

The activity within this domain is hard to prove.

You can certainly have greater control over your thoughts and feelings, have a clear focus, a sense of life purpose, take timely and appropriate actions etc.

But we have no way of saying with certainty that these intentions have correlation with or causation of the outcomes in the outer domain.



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Psychological distortions and cognitive biases

There are many psychological distortions and effects that will occur which can cause us to draw inferences and conclusions that are incorrect.

For example:

[1] The Placebo and Noceba effects: The Power of Expectation

These effects are drawn from medical science and are about the power of expectation about the outcome of a medical treatment and the power of that expectation in causing the actual outcome.

Placebo effects are where a patient is given an inert substance of no medical benefit and yet, it has been proven in multiple tests, between 30% and up to 60% of patients' conditions improve because they believe they have been given a medicine to make them better.

Noceba effects are the reverse where patients suffer the expected side effects of a medicine, or their condition worsens, when they have been given an inert substance.

Both of these effects can be applied and observed in non-medical settings.

[2] Confirmation Bias

It is sobering to realise just how many ways there are in which we can deceive ourselves into seeing a correlation or causation where there is none. To illustrate the point, here is a quick overview of cognitive biases and the psychology of human misjudgment

Confirmation Bias "... is our tendency to cherry-pick information that confirms our existing beliefs or ideas...This cognitive bias is most pronounced in the case of ingrained, ideological, or emotionally charged views.

Failing to interpret information in an unbiased way can lead to serious misjudgments. By understanding this, we can learn to identify it in ourselves and others. We can be cautious of data that seems to immediately support our views."





4. RESONANCE - The Law Of Attraction

Do our thoughts have magnetic resonance and attract events, situations and outcomes into our lives?


Do our thoughts have magnetic resonance and attract events, situations and outcomes into our lives?

Inner Domain [Response/'here' = Outcome]

In the inner domain of reaction/response and outcome, there is a causal link between your thoughts and feelings and how they shape your responses to events which affects the outcomes we experience. Science supports this.

But there is no scientific evidence that thoughts have resonance.

What happens is based on cause and effect, between response and outcome, not resonance.


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Outer Domain [Creation/'out there' = Outcome]

Do our thoughts affect "out there" in the realm of possibility and create things and bring them into out lives?

We live in a universe that is based on energy, or to reframe that, we live in an energetic universe. This a scientifically verifiable certainty.

However, whilst current scientific understanding may support the idea of a participatory universe, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that we do live in a participatory universe.

So from a scientific perspective there is no evidence that our thoughts have any effect on "stuff out there" or that "stuff out there" responds to our thoughts or is anyway participative.

The scientific claims made by teachers of the law of attraction on the magnetic resonance of thoughts are based on pseudo-science and as such are meaningless.


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My personal view: "Is there an interaction/participation between our consciousness and the outcomes we experience?"

Short answer is: "Yes, in the dimension of consciousness."

The more considered answer is that my personal view regarding creation "out there", in the realm of possibility and leading to an outcome, is that I have a belief [aka a working hypothesis] that we do live in a participatory universe and that it does interact with us.

I have outlined my experiences that have created and shaped this belief in The Red Pill.

  • My belief is that the basis of that interaction is our energy state and not our thoughts.  [The foundation of our thoughts are the energetic or emotional states associated with those thoughts.]
  • I believe that interaction and participation takes place in consciousness - in simple terms universal consciousness that is inside us and "out there" - what is sometimes described as "the ground of all being"  or "God" in the Christian faith tradition, or "emptiness" within the Buddhist framing or just "consciousness" in scientific framing.
  • My belief is that the portal to that universal consciousness is our "higher self" or "higher consciousness" or "spiritual self".
  • My belief is that consciousness operates in a higher realm than the material realm of ego, objects, subjects and time.
  • My belief is that the material realm is subordinate to the higher realm of consciousness.
  • My belief is based on gnosis - that is a knowledge based on my personal experience and participation with consciousness.

It is my belief, based on direct personal experience over 20+ years that your life purpose has a major bearing on the nature of this interaction:

"Even though you may not be consciously aware of it, your life purpose exerts a tremendous influence over what happens or doesn’t happen in your life, in your personal life, your relationships and in your business and wealth creation efforts."


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Typical manifesting is me-centred. I want more money, better relationships better health - these are ego-driven goals.

There is nothing wrong with that, it is entirely natural, but as you engage with the spiritual dimension your priorities change and you start to ask:  "What does life want from me?"

What you will find is that if you are willing to let go of what you think your dreams are, and ask that question, then your higher self will help you to understand your life purpose - your mission and gifts - and will show you [for want of a better expression] your soul dreams.

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It is my belief that there is correlation between consciousness and outcomes because:

  • It can be observed in the lives of those who experience this.
  • It can be communicated and repeated.
  • There is much empirical anecdotal evidence to support this belief.

But, science has not proven it so, we can not state that it is causal.

Please don't take my word for any of this - test it for yourself!





5. DOING vs BEING - The Law Of Attraction

The idea of just "putting it out there" and waiting for the cosmic vending machine to deliver your manifestation is non-sense.

Doing his thing by being himself

The need to take action

The law of attraction teaching does not emphasize the importance of doing. The teachings as presented in "The Secret" focus mainly on the "being" aspect. But, taking action is critical.

The reality is that most of the personal development trainers who have enjoyed big success have all taken a lot of action, worked very hard, faced and overcome a lot of setbacks.

The idea of just "putting it out there" and waiting for the cosmic vending machine to deliver your manifestation is non-sense.

Of course there are times and situations when we form an intention and the outcome we are seeking materializes quickly and easily, BUT that is the exception rather the  rule.

There are few short cuts in life. We are all suffer, we all experience set backs and disasters, and we learn from these experiences.

Personal development and spiritual growth is tough, often painful, confusing and a lonely and confusing journey. To grow we often have to experience deaths of aspects of ourselves and either let things go or see them taken from us by what at the time appears to be a cruel fate.

As I am writing these words - I received a promotional email:

"Hi Stephen, 

Yesterday I sent you a free audio introduction to my Effortless Success course. I hope you had a chance to listen to it. If you did, then I bet you're ready to take the next step toward applying the Law of Attraction in your life..."

This email was sent by a famous personal development trainer for whom I have great respect, nevertheless I fundamentally disagree with his reference to "effortless success".

There is no such thing as effortless success.

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Focus your action on developing skills

I wasted the first 25 years of my life living in the past and the second 25 years living in the future - always planning and setting goals and targets and trying to figure out how to achieve them.

After much trial and error I finally discovered:

  • Set the "direction of travel" - have a vision and a goal, plan what you can, take what immediate action you can,  then drop the "How I am going to get there?"
  • Balance activity with non-activity - "doing without doing" - proceed on a "do-be-do-be-do" basis.
  • Focus action on developing skills -  needed to make the journey a success. These are:
  • "How to" skills - in how to:

             # Think effectively

             # Not think - via mindfulness practice

             # Manage your emotions - especially your responses to events

             # Engage with consciousness

  • Use these skills to:

            # Recognise and act on opportunities as they emerge

            # Cope with the disappointments and setbacks along the way

It is these skills that build the correlation between your responses and your outcomes.


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When do I take direct action to make things happen?

Take direct action by acting on inner prompts and intuitions as they arise.

Use the "do-be-do-be-do" approach and check-in regularly with yourself and see if you feel an inner prompting or intuition to do something - and when you do:

  • Act on it to very the best of your ability.
  • Don't think about it or worry about the outcome. Just do it





6. THE CONFLICTED MIND - The Law Of Attraction

It is a very good thing that the principles of magnetic attractions via our  thoughts doesn't work as claimed, because we are full of so much "junk thought".

Lonerwolf

It is a very good thing that the law of attraction doesn't work as claimed, because the mind that has not been trained to stop thinking is full of so much "junk thought".

In the Buddhist tradition the "normal" untrained mind is referred to as the "monkey mind" jumping incessantly from one subject to another.

Then there is the self talk - usually in the form of self criticism.

And of course the ever present worrying...

At time of writing in October 2020 there is the continuing effect of coronavirus which is destroying lives, health and jobs and causing the suspension of the most basic civil liberties - all feeding our anxieties and neuroses...

I have addressed this subject and offered some constructive coping strategies for dealing with negative thoughts. In a followup article I outlined a simple model of the 3 levels to the mind and following on from that a basic understanding of working with the different selves.

In summary there is the unconscious mind, the conscious mind and the mind of higher consciousness. Most of our uncontrolled thoughts come from our unconscious mind. Our conscious mind is not capable of retaining a fixed focus for any length of time. Many of us do not recognise our higher conscious mind or, if we do, do not know how to access it and work with it.

The key to developing a good working relationship with your mind is to have tools, techniques and resources that work with all levels of your mind.

The objective is to have them all working together, moving you in the same direction, and at the same time!


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So why doesn't the law of attraction work?

[I have created my vision board, envisaged my success, thought positive thoughts and practiced my affirmations...]

Short and most fundamental answer is -  because the different levels of your mind are in conflict and working against each other.


Kory Basaraba on behalf of Stuart Lichtman creator of "Cybernetic Transposition"


Cybernetic Transposition directly addresses one of the core reasons why the law of attraction teachings in "The Secret" and all of the rest of the related teachings do not work for many people.

This process makes "the Secret" and all similar material look like Mickey Mouse in comparison!








THE LAW OF RESPONSE AND OUTCOME

The Law of Attraction Redefined


The Law Of Response And Outcome.

Ben thought he could walk on water!


Lessons from a Labrador

Ben's experiences of response and outcome.

Ben had led a sheltered a life. In fact for the first few years of his life, with his previous owner, he spent most of his time in doors. Once a day he was allowed out and he ran wild on a small piece of land adjacent to the owner's house.

Ben had no sense of place or space, and led a life lacking in training and discipline. His experience of life reflected his upbringing - limited!

Ben's owner was ill equipped to care for a lively Labrador puppy and eventually allowed him to be rehoused with a new owner [my son] who had understanding and experience of caring for a dog.

Ben was so excited at his new found freedom and all the exciting possibilities that were now opening up for him.

In fact he was so excited that he rushed frantically and with great enthusiasm into every new situation with limited understanding of the consequences and outcomes of his responses.

The picture above shows Ben seeing water in a lake for the first time. With typical Ben enthusiasm he thought it would be fun to walk on the water...

Ben had to learn a whole new set of skills to keep him safe, to develop a basic understanding of how things in his life worked, and to make a fundamental connection between response and outcome.

His learning of these new skills didn't happen over night, it took Ben's new owner 6-12 months to train him.

2 questions for you:



    [1] Have you made that fundamental connection between response and outcome?

    [2] Have you learned the skills that will improve and enhance your ability to respond to events in the most creative and resourceful ways?








Law Of Attraction - Evaluation Key Points

Before we introduce and consider the law of response and outcome, let's review the key points of our evaluation of the law of attraction.

Let's be very clear about what does not work and why before we move to a practical, experience based approach that does work.


TRUTH OR LIE?

  • The law of attraction is a lie because it is a partial truth masquerading as an absolute truth.

CAUSATION & CORRELATION

  • There is no scientific evidence to support the claim made by teachers of the law of attraction that there is a direct causal link between your thoughts and the circumstances and events you create.
  • There are a number of factors  that can establish a correlation between how your thoughts determine your responses and the outcomes you experience.

EVIDENCE BASIS

  • The law of attraction is a belief presented as a fact, and in the absence of any scientific basis for this belief it is not a fact and it is therefore false.

DOMAINS OF INFLUENCE

  • There is a provable causal connection in the inner domain of your influence "here", in the everyday material world, that how you respond to an event affects your experience of that event and the outcome that follows from that.
  • We have no way of saying with certainty that intentions placed in the outer domain - "out there" in the realms of possibility - have correlation with or causation of the outcomes.

RESONANCE

  • In the inner domain of reaction/response and outcome, there is no scientific evidence that thoughts have resonance. The scientific claims, made by teachers of the law of attraction, on the magnetic resonance of thoughts are based on pseudo-science and as such are meaningless. What happens is based on cause and effect not resonance.
  • In the outer domain, from a scientific perspective there is no evidence that our thoughts have any effect on "stuff out there" or that "stuff out there" responds to our thoughts or is in anyway participative.

DOING vs BEING

  • The idea of just "putting it out there" and waiting for the cosmic vending machine to deliver your manifestation is non-sense.
  • There is no such thing as effortless success. This is a verifiable based on the empirical evidence of the lives of many successful people - including many of the teachers of law  of attraction.
  • The focus of doing is to: [1] set the "direction of travel" - have a vision and a goal; and [2] to develop a range of "how to" skills -  needed to make the journey a success, specifically to recognise and act on opportunities as they emerge, and to cope with the disappointments and setbacks along the way.
  • It is these skills that build the correlation between your responses and your outcomes.
  • Balance activity with non-activity - "doing without doing" - proceed on a "do-be-do-be-do" basis.
  • Take direct action by acting on inner prompts and intuitions as they arise.

THE CONFLICTED MIND

  • One of many reasons why the law of attraction doesn't work and thoughts don't create things is because the different levels of your mind are in conflict and working against each other.
  • The "monkey mind" that has not been trained to stop thinking is full of so much "junk thought".
  • The key to developing a good working relationship with your mind is to have tools, techniques and resources that work with all levels of your mind.
  • The objective is to have them all working together, moving you in the same direction, and at the same time!






THE LAW OF RESPONSE AND OUTCOME




    The outcomes that you experience are determined by your responses to the events in your life.

    This can be expressed as: 

    Outcome = Event x Response

    The strength and quality of your response is determined by the skills and the experience you bring to it.

    The stronger your response - the better the outcome.




Key Skills

These key skills and the supporting skills that are listed below will improve and enhance your ability to respond to events in the most creative and resourceful ways.

In order of priority here are my recommendations for key skills to learn and apply. Each of the links shown will take to an article which contains clear steps, guidance and resources.


Can you stop thinking?

Can you:

  • Witness or observe (without narrative or analysis) the recurring or autonomic nature of your thoughts and feelings.
  • Watch how your very own inner "personal-map-of-reality" filters your interpretation of your experience.
  • See how you become immersed in and identified with your thoughts and feeling - and this dictates your responses.
  • Stop thinking –  turn your thoughts off - at will.
  • The practice of mindfulness is a powerful life skill, as it reduces stress and it dramatically enhances your capacity for adaptive and holistic thinking - necessary qualities in mastering the art of how to think effectively.


Do you know how to think?

  • Can you think critically - deliberately and systematically processing information so that you can make better decisions and generally understand things better?
  • Are you focused on how to think not what to think?
  • Do you have a strategic mindset that is focused on the most efficient thinking process to achieve a result?
  • Do you know how to apply the most appropriate cognitive processes to the task in hand?
  • Our brains process and organize information in a variety of ways. We have a wide range of thinking processes that are built into our brains; we use them all the time and automatically. But we don’t always use them efficiently.


What is your core desire?

  • Why are you here?
  • What is your life purpose?
  • What is your direction of travel?
  • Every life decision you take, every choice that you make will either take you one step close to or one step further away from your life purpose.
  • If you knew you were going to die tonight and you were given a few minutes to reflect before that happened, what would you say was the meaning of your life?


What is your point of focus?

  • Your point of focus is either helping you or hindering you.
  • It’s a binary choice.
  • Is your unconscious point of focus on what you don’t want?
  • Discovering what you really want and focusing on it saves you endless confusion and wasted energy.


The better your response - the better the outcomes you will experience.

If you learn and apply these skills you will manifest the outcomes that you seek.



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You want to know "the secret"? Then here it is:

  • Your thoughts, feelings and reactions are within your command and your control, and will determine your responses to the events you experience.
  • You are 100% responsible for your responses to the events in your life and this in turn will shape, influence and create the outcomes that you seek and that are aligned with your life purpose and vision.




Resources


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Recommended Resources:

  • Are You Aligned With Reality? We tend to see that which aligns with what we believe, and to act upon that rather than acting on reality. Being aligned with reality starts with a clear and accurate understanding of the world. It means perceiving and understanding the world as it truly is, without distortion or delusion. This sounds simple but is hard to put into practice. Here is how to do it.
  • The Law Of Response and Outcome The basis of the law of response and outcome is that the outcomes that you experience are determined by your responses to the events in your life. The cumulative effect of these responses has a compounding effect. The strength and quality of your response is determined by the skills and the experience you bring to it. The stronger your response - the better the outcome.
  • Cybernetic Transposition is a unique, proven and science-based series of processes which when used and applied as set out in this system gets all levels of your mind working together and moving you in the same direction, at the same time, towards the realisation  - or manifestation - of your goals. This makes "the Secret" and all similar material look like Mickey Mouse in comparison!!
  • The Power Pause is a very simple but powerful technique developed and taught by John Harricharan.  It relieves stress and anxiety, helps you regain your balance and manifest your intentions. This is an excellent tool for managing your energy state, and it is about applying the positive energy of gratitude towards your future intentions.


Recommended Strategies:

  • How To Win Without Succeeding  - The personal development and self-help world is steeped in case studies and analysis of success. Numerous studies have been undertaken on successful people to understand what it was that they did to become so successful, how they did it and when they did it - and we are led to believe that we too can achieve comparable success if we replicate this. This focus on success is very odd given that success is the exception rather than the rule. This article takes a deeply practical and pragmatic look at how you can win by avoiding losing and provides extensive resources to help you do this.
  • The Long Game - describes an approach to any area of life that sacrifices short term gains for long-term wins. It is about having a long term goal and taking the necessary steps now to set yourself up for long term success. This article sets out 7 proven strategies, with resources, for playing the long game.
  • Delayed Gratification - The human brain did not evolve for a life of delayed gratification. How to apply the long game approach to your life and sacrifice short term gains for long-term wins with proven strategies and extensive resources.
  • The Challenges Of The Road Less Traveled - The first step to the long game and the acceptance of delayed gratification is the most difficult and negative. You have to be willing to suffer today in order to reap enormous rewards tomorrow. The long game is so hard to play because it involves taking a series of very small steps, that people rarely see,  persistently and consistently over a long period of time to reach an enormous and visible outcome. This article sets out the features of the road less traveled and the issues that you will face and concludes with extensive practical advice, based on my onw experience of how to deal with these issues.


Further Reading:

  • "Abraham Hicks" - Truth or Lie?  - Who or what is "Abraham"? Is Esther Hicks a deeply spiritual woman bringing truth and light, or is she a charlatan?
  • The Science Of Getting Rich  - Read the book from which Rhonda Byrne's created her Law Of Attraction business empire. Eliminate the smoke and mirrors, and all the "sizzle" and hype used to "sell the sausage", see what got left out, what got exaggerated  and read it all for yourself and ALL free.
  • Think And Grow Rich  - Another best selling book in the same genre and from the same period is this book by Napoleon Hill which follows on from Wallace Wattles work and is a more robust and practical look at the step to success. Most of the claims about how the book was written are not true, nor should we be too put off by the proven shady and criminal aspect of Napoleon Hill's business life. This is an interesting and stimulating read with a number of tried and tested success principles.
  • As A Man Thinketh  - Written by James Allen, a British writer, who is regarded as one of the pioneers of the personal development and self-help movement.









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