LOA Basics: Appreciating is Not Settling

One of the basic teachings of the Law of Attraction (LOA) is that it’s important to have an appreciation for what you have. Sometimes people misinterpret this to mean that they’re settling for less. Therefore, it’s important to understand that appreciating what you have in your life now doesn’t restrict what you’ll have in the future.

It’s certainly understandable to feel like you’re settling if you believe that by expressing appreciation for your current life, you’re attracting more of the exact same circumstances in the future.

Fortunately, that’s not how the Law of Attraction works.

The confusion arises partly because the LOA works on energy and vibrations.

These are things that you can’t see and because of that, they can be a bit more challenging to explain and grasp.

Imagine a cowboy wants to rope a cow. He sets his eyes on his target, picks up his rope, and lassos the animal. Of course, the cowboy has had lots of time to practice roping, and he’s had his share of misses. Yet with practice, his skill grows and it’s easier for him to consistently throw out his rope and get what he wants.

In a way, the Law of Attraction is like the rope. With practice, your skills at applying the LOA improve and you get what you want more consistently and easily. Unlike the rope, the Universe will deliver your quarry to you. You don’t have to pull the rope in to get it. Your job is merely to throw the rope where you want it.

The cowboy appreciates where he is before he ever picks up his rope. He may or may not be conscious of it in that precise moment, but on a regular basis, he expresses gratitude for his current situation.

He’s grateful for his horse and expresses that in both words and by caring for the steed. He’s grateful for good boots and a saddle that make getting his job done easier. The cowboy is even grateful for the weather, both rain and sunshine, knowing that both are needed for the grass to grow. The grass that feeds those cows he’ll one day lasso.

Your life in this very moment is a result of your thoughts, feelings, and actions you’ve taken in the past. You might even say it’s a result of the hours you practice with your “rope,” and the times you neglected your practice.

When you’re resentful of where you are today, you’re therefore trying to change the past. This is something that you can’t do. You can only change what you do right now. It’s precisely your current thoughts, feelings, and actions that will give you results in the future, whether your bid is successful or you come up empty.

When you express your appreciation for anything in your life, you’re raising your vibration or your rope. Just like the cowboy, you can’t get what you want without taking that first step. Appreciating his rope, horse, and saddle don’t preclude the cowboy from getting the cow; they enable it. It doesn’t mean he can’t get a faster horse or better saddle either -- his appreciation allows for more opportunities for things and experiences he will appreciate.

Think about what you have in your life right now to be thankful for. Speak words of appreciation for them. Show your gratitude with your deeds. Be grateful for what you have, aim for what you want, and be open to more opportunities in the future. The only settling you will find is the dust.

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Physical Well-Being and the Law of Attraction

“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” - Mary Lou Retton

Research has discovered the power of positive thought. The power of the Universal Law of Attraction so aptly summarized in the quote by Olympics Gold Medal Winner Mary Lou Retton, is a true aid to managing stress and optimizing your physical well being . 

It should come as no surprise that positive thoughts can help us get and stay healthy.

Empirical research has found that there are many positive health benefits associated with positive thinking and optimistic attitudes.

The Mayo Clinic found that positive thinking is linked to a wide range of health benefits including:

• Better psychological health 
• Increased sense of well-being 
• Lower depressions rates
• Reduced stress
• Longer life span
• Better stress management and coping skills
• Lower risks of cardiovascular disease-related death
• Increased resistance to the common cold

In a study of 1,550 older adults, the results showed that positive thinking also reduced frailty in the geriatric population.

How can you help yourself to think positive thoughts?  One of the first steps to take is to learn to pay attention to your own self-talk. When you do this, do you encourage and find the things you like best about yourself? Or are you self-sabotaging and focusing on everything you dislike about yourself?  Begin intentionally focusing on good things, good words and good feelings about who you are.

Affirmations can be a useful tool to begin shifting your focus from negative thoughts and self-talk to positive thoughts and self-talk. Write several positive statements about yourself or about your life. Keep it simple. Maybe you love your hair or you love your ability to help other people.  Once you begin looking for positive things about yourself, you will start to discover more and more things you like.

Keep an affirmations journal where you can write down your positive thoughts.  If you are having difficulty coming up with something positive to say to yourself, read through your journal and reflect on all the positive things you have already written and focus on one of those entries for the day.

Search online for affirmation or buy a book of affirmations. As you read them, notice which ones really feel good when you read them. Think about why they feel good. Do they fit you now or do they feel good because the affirmation is something you really want to be a part of your life in the future?

No matter what, affirmations can help you stay in a place of happiness. They may help you become healthy if you aren’t, or stay healthy because you will be lifting your mood. You will be allowing your body to heal and work optimally to protect you from disease.

The Universal Law of Attraction and Prayer

Prayer is associated with religious belief, but prayer is truly the response one makes in expressing the feeling of one’s deepest desires. Anyone can pray and it doesn’t matter if you attend church every day or you have never even taken a step inside one.

When one talks about faith, one speaks about faith not necessarily in religious terms, but as the degree or extent to which you believe in what you want right at that moment, and the belief that it is coming to you.

Prayer is also a form of meditation. Mantras are commonly used as a way to focus and meditate, and a mantra can certainly be a prayer as simple as “I pray for peace and love,” or “I want peace and love.” 

Prayer focuses one’s thoughts on the things one most wants. It is a conversation with a higher power and if you are not religious, that higher power is you, expanded. It is a conversation between your conscious mind, and your higher self, or that part of you containing all the wisdom. 

Prayer leads one to “oneness,” or unity with the universe.

When you become aware and pray or meditate with intention, you focus your feelings and thoughts on the things you are grateful for or want. You exponentially increase the power of those thoughts. Prayer generally encompasses basic principles of faith, gratitude and charity-giving, or thinking about others.

These are the foundational principles that nurture the proper mindset to attract the things you want into your life.  When you pray or when you meditate, you do so from a mindset of love. This helps you attract outcomes of love back to you. If you pray out of fear, anger, need, or frustration, you will attract back more of the same.

It is important to pray, or meditate in alignment with what you really want. Recognize what mindset your intentions are coming from and you will be able to manifest what you want successfully. Feelings and thoughts can be subconscious and automatic, or controlled and directed. The power of prayer depends on the faith of the individual.

When you believe strongly, the feelings you express in prayer are able to overcome obstacles.  It is the omnipotent knowing of faith that opens up the energy to creatively visualize what you want. Prayer also focuses on gratitude for what you have in the present as well as for the things that are to come.  This is the same principle you use to apply the law of attraction.

Prayer and faith are great gifts and tools. Those who have great faith regardless of what it’s placed in and believe in said faith, can use prayer as a powerful tool to harness the creative energy of the universe and create their own desired reality.

Love Thyself: The Universal Law of Attraction

The law of attraction is based on positive thoughts and intentions but it is difficult, if not impossible to find or manifest the things you really want if you do not love and respect yourself because negative emotion will be present.  Learning to accept yourself as you are and to be grateful for who you are the first steps towards taking control of your thoughts and finding the positives in everything.

 

How can we learn to love ourselves unconditionally?  The first step is to be grateful for who you are right now. 

Being grateful for who you are is the start to being able to accept your strengths and weaknesses and see them as part of the completely wonderful, lovable person you are. 

The next step is to recognize that happiness does not come from anyone or anything outside of you because you know and accept that you are already a successful, happy person.  No one can take away your happiness or the love you have for yourself. This frees you from worry, doubt and fear because no matter what happens, at the end of each day you love yourself unconditionally. 

When you get to the point of being able to love yourself, your relationships will begin to transform. You will not need to be in a relationship to find love because you already have all you need within yourself. Instead, you will begin giving away love to people without needing or expecting anything in return. 

Conflicts will fade away because you have the confidence to not only accept yourself but to accept your partner and friends for who they are.  You begin to manifest the type of relationships you have always wanted.

When you love yourself, it is easier to find the positive in others and in situations. It will help you stay focused on the positive outcomes you want for your life and you will find gratitude easier to practice as well.  It will be easier to spend more time reflecting, meditating, and visualizing because you are already in a happy place. 

Consider doing nice things that you would do for others for yourself.  Treat yourself with the same love and respect you show to others.  Daily affirmations are another good way to remind yourself of everything you love about who you are and those things that you accept about yourself.  Learning to love yourself is the foundation for finding true happiness, joy and peace.