One of my readers recently introduced me to the documentary, The Secret.  I had heard of the movie before, but had not pursued it.  I have been studying the Law of Attraction off and on for a good 15 years now and was already a believer.  In fact, Shazlan happened onto my website after doing a search on the Secret and the Law of Attraction.

The movie is very powerful and does a good job of explaining the Law of Attraction and how it works – for the most part.  Many of us “old-timers,” however, have become concerned about a possible misconception among “newbies” that all one has to do to attract whatever they want into their life experience is to sit around all day visualizing it.

In my post, The Secret to Achieving Your Dreams, I talk about the importance of taking action on your goals and dreams.  I spend a little bit of time discussing “listening for guidance.”  Today, I’d like to discuss that in more detail and explain how it works for me.

All teachers of the Law of Attraction, (LoA), tell us that we need to spend some time, preferably daily, visualizing the end result of what we want.  In addition, we need to put as much feeling behind our visualizations as possible.  In the documentary, a young man is portrayed visualizing his dream of a new sports car. They do not portray him working, nor do they portray him actually getting the sports car.   While visualization is a very important step in the process, it’s not the only step you have to take.    A lot of people have the misconception that the LoA simply means attracting “stuff” to you – material possessions.  Maybe a few think they can attract perfect health or better relationships, but the LoA actually, more repeatedly, attracts to you the means by which you can acquire these things.  You have to be open to receiving the inspired thoughts, and willing to do the work.  Let me give you some personal examples.

I spend several minutes every morning visualizing that my goals and dreams have manifested.  I’m living in a new house, driving a different car, my home office is larger and has a beautiful view, etc.  I spend anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes doing this visualization process.  Some days, I have to perform other processes in order to feel connected to my higher self, and I’ll explain those more in another post.  But once I’m connected, I start to get “instincts.”  Little nudges of things to do.  Some people would call it “divine intervention,” it’s really just an inspired thought.  The difference between an inspired thought and a regular thought, is the feeling that’s attached to the inspired thought.  You just get a feeling that you need to do something.  But then here’s what happens in my brain.

I get an inspired thought and sometimes it seems too simple to be real.  Like, “get on the treadmill.”  My logical mind says, “you have too much to do right now and besides, this can’t be an inspired thought – you just know that one of your goals is to increase your stamina – that’s why you think this is an inspired thought, but it’s not.  You need to get into the shower and get started with your day.”  So I fight the inspired thought, I don’t get on the treadmill, and with almost every step, all day long, I’m fighting what God, Source, or the universe, (take your pick) is trying to tell me to do.  I end up having a fitful day, very unsuccessful.

However, on days when I choose to listen, my days are glorious.  For example, I have the inspired thought, “get on the treadmill.”  Now, I might still fight the feeling and have the same resistant thought listed above.  But knowing, based on my feeling, that it’s an inspired thought and I want to be obedient, I get on the treadmill.  Not only do I start to feel energized from the workout, but I also start to get ideas on what to do for the rest of my day.  I come off the treadmill feeling empowered.  Then, I’m told, “Okay, now get in the shower.”  So I obey and while I’m in the shower, I get inspired and write my entire blog post for the day.  When I get out, my fingers fly on the keyboard and I have my post written and posted in an hour or so.  Then I realize that it’s only 9 AM, and I have the most important work for the day completed already – the rest of the day is mine to spend as I please.  I go about doing all the other little things that come along with my work and have a great day doing so.  In the middle of the day, I get good news about how a problem I thought I had has been resolved.  Toward the end of the day, I receive a phone call about booking a speech for a particular group I’ve been visualizing.  The pay is perfect, I’m free on the requested date, everything just falls into place.  I end up with a positive, successful day.

Now, the key here is easy to miss.  Because I followed my “divine guidance,” I feel as if I hadn’t worked at all.  Everything about my day was virtually effortless.  If you asked me if I’d worked hard today, I’d probably tell you that I had hardly worked.  And it would be true, even though I had accomplished a lot more in that day than the day where I’d worked so hard and accomplished nothing.

The old adage, “Work smart, not hard,” comes from the Pareto principle, (the 80/20 rule), and means that we need to concentrate on what’s important.  However, if you follow the LoA, working smart would be doing what you feel inspired to do.  I believe most people reject this theory because they are afraid that they’re so lazy, they will end up doing nothing.  They think thoughts like, “If I waited for an inspired thought, I’d end up with nothing.  That’s how lazy people think.”  But that’s completely not true.  Truly lazy people do nothing – literally.  They don’t work hard, they don’t work smart, and they certainly don’t follow their inspired thoughts, if they have them.  People who worry about this often become workaholics, busying themselves with tasks because working makes them feel important.  It also gives them a good excuse for failing, “Well, it’s not like I didn’t try.  I work all the time, I just can’t get ahead.”  You can’t get ahead because you’re not in alignment with your true desires.  Your actions say that you simply want to work – all the time – being busy, accomplishing nothing.  You ignore your inspired thoughts because you don’t have time for them – you’re too busy doing other things.  Guess what?  That’s why you have what you have and as long as you continue in this direction, that’s all you will ever have.

What I want you to get out of this post is that you need to listen to your inspirations and act on them as soon as you get them, even if it means putting some other task off.  Schedules are great, but if they’re not inspired, you will miss opportunities. If it’s okay to wait before acting, your inner voice will tell you that when it gives you the inspired thought.  Sometimes I do get instructions for tomorrow.  It’s as if my subconscious has worked out a strategic plan and is sharing it with me a little at a time.  There have been days when I was making out my schedule for the next day and felt that my “guides” were instructing me on what to do.  That’s a very good feeling.

One analogy from The Secret that I love is that you can get from New York to Los Angeles driving in the dark by seeing only the 200 feet or so in front of you that your headlights show.  If you have faith in your directions, and believe that you will get there, you’re happy just seeing that 200 feet. Many of us won’t start a new life project unless we can see the finish line before we start.  We want guarantees.  How many things that are worth having are that close in front of you?  It’s like the difference between sprinting and running a marathon.  While there are rewards for being fast, most runners get their greatest high from going the distance.

The absolute best part about the LoA, is that if you get off course, there’s an automatic “GPS” system ready to get you back on track – all you have to do is ask.  Each day, we start from where we are and continue on our journey.  Sometimes you can only see 200 feet in front of you, and sometimes you end up on a long straight stretch where you can see for miles.  Sometimes you encounter fog along the way, but eventually the fog lifts and your path becomes clear again.  Your only job is to 1) Ask, 2) Believe, and 3) Receive by acting on what you’re given.

Your Assignment

Start today spending your free time visualizing what you want.  Put as much feeling as you can into it and believe that you can have it.  Then, start listening to your inner voice when it tells you to do something.  Don’t doubt it, don’t argue with it, just do it.  You’ll see the “why” behind it later, when you’re reaping your reward!

Posted under Education, Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation