Law of attraction

[Halli2020]

Do you believe in the law of attraction? The more you think of something, the more you attract? I do absolutely. For example before I got my flat I used to imagine deeply what the interior would be like, how I would decorate it and so on with no limitations and low and behold a few weeks later I found my flat that was exactly how I wanted it! I have also done a few money mantras in the past that have worked. Obviously not to get large sums of money but a few things I have gotten, for example getting letters to say I’m in credit with certain companies and being able to reclaim it back in difficult times. Let me know your thoughts.

I think it works for some people, some of the time, and it doesn't work for others - and not because they're not trying hard enough.

For every time you imagine something that ends up happening, there are a thousand times where it doesn't.

It works yes but its not just saying i wish or imagining its a lot more work than that.

For every time you imagine something that ends up happening, there are a thousand times where it doesn't.

Exactly. Classic confirmation bias. You remember the odd times it happens, but forget the millions of times it doesn't.

When you phone someone, they might say "how spooky, I was just thinking about you." No one ever says "why the hell are you calling, you couldn't be further from my mind".

I certainly know people who use it and seem happy. But I also know that the subject can be extremely triggering for people who have undergone trauma or loss.

Thinking that you want to win the lotto will not make you win the lotto. But it might make you buy a ticket, thus you could win the lotto.

It's not the thought that influences things, it's how those thoughts make you act. Actions have consequences, good and bad (you win the lotto, or you waste your money on a losing ticket).

Oprah believes in law of attraction. Do your own research op.

Well if Oprah believes it, it must be true...

Yes. It has worked many times in my life. It’s actually quite freaky how often it worked

How does it it work then? What force is actually acting to make it happen? Gravity is a measurable, observable force. I could just as easily say wishing something wouldn’t happen makes it happen (people worrying about getting ill makes it happen, or losing a job etc) and you couldn’t prove or disprove it.

Strange in this day and age of science people still have similar beliefs to ancient peoples who worshipped various gods because they couldn’t work out why it sometimes rained and sometimes didn’t.

I see it like this- we know that CBT works by changing our thought patterns and that in turn changes our feelings and behaviours. Brains have neuroplasticity so positive thoughts actually change the chemistry of your brain. Positive thinking creates more neural networks which fire off more positive thoughts. Same with negative thoughts.
When you are thinking positively, and can visualise success you are far more likely to take opportunities, notice ways to improve, take courageous risks, etc. When you are thinking negatively you won’t bother because you think it will be pointless and your behaviour will follow suit. I’ve seen this happen over and over again and it’s why our thoughts are so powerful.

It’s like when you’re at a party and someone across the room mentions your name- your ears instantly prick up in a way they wouldn’t if they were talking about a subject you were not interested in. Your attention is selective. When you visualise and think positively your brain looks for ways to make it happen, it notices and pays attention to potential opportunities and takes action. You are therefore more likely to have success than when you think negatively. Not to mention that your body language when positive gives others a million unconscious clues that make them more receptive to you etc. It affects your entire demeanour.

That’s more of a scientific/logical explanation. From a more woo woo point of view, I’m not sure. I do feel that we all give off different vibrations. As in, you know when someone is an “emotional vampire” as you feel instantly drained after interacting with them. Equally there are people who just make you feel so good and motivated after spending even a short time with them. I think there is definitely something going on there from a spiritual/ supernatural point of view.
That’s how I see it anyway. Others will of course see it differently.

Oprah believes in law of attraction.

Wow, I never realised there was such irrefutable evidence in it's favour.

No, of course not! When it "works" it's mostly confirmation bias - or, depending on what the outcome actually is - maybe the positive attitude of the person involved.

The Law of Attraction really bothers me, though, due to its implications for when things don't pan out. IMO, from a theoretical perspective, it borders on victim blaming.

I mean, surely if "manifesting" or just basically wanting something enough makes it happen for you, it's kind of your own fault that you didn't quite "want" not to be broke and stuck with an abusive partner, didn't wish quite hard enough for your child to be healthy, etc.

That's ugly enough in itself. But it's also a very small step from there to the notion that people somehow "choose" their adverse circumstances in order to "learn a karmic lesson", etc. Because, yes, the people in the Rwandan genocide somehow needed to experience unmitigated horror to grow on a spiritual level. Or, as I call this: cynical, misanthropic bullshit sold as "light and love".

I've met enough people who took that last step to be utterly repelled by the whole line of thinking that got them there. It's awful.

It’s bullshit for the hard of thinking.

I think there is a great deal of rationale in the idea though.
If we adopt a mindset of being sucessful then that tends to happen.
If we see ourselves as failing at everything we do, accepting that debt will follow us everywhere then we can get stuck in that scenario.

People who succeed have learned to believe in their abilities, have confidence when tackling new projects , going for interviews etc, with the mindset of a successful outcome.
Whether you can adopt this mindset through adjusting your attitude, or a mantra makes no difference.
Money attracts money, because we are open to the idea.
Similarly those who feel they are doomed to fail will be reluctant to try anything because they have come to see themseves in this way.

So we without even going near "woo" ideas it makes perfect sense to me.

Money attracts money, because we are open to the idea.

That's not why, IMO. Money attracts money because money boils down to "I can't be arsed with this shit unless you make it worth my while".

I could go into the theory of this - but instead, let me give you my personal history: I was born and raised in a pretty typical MC family and have followed a pretty typical path for someone like me: school, university, graduate trainee scheme corporate career, executive promotion.

I had jobs throughout my time at between middle school and graduation from uni. They were in customer service and none of them came with special perks.

Then I got hired as a graduate trainee by a flashy corporation. Suddenly, I found myself with an expense account corporate credit card, discounts on random crap and an employee stock scheme.

Then I was promoted to executive level. And suddenly I was being offered life insurance at a discount, business class flights, personal doctors, speaking slots at various events, random bloody people offering me silly amounts of money to take part in surveys, a free car, my flat being paid in full by my employer and private health insurance. Plus a whole bunch of other crap that I don't really care about.

And I'm not even particularly rich. I'm being paid an industry standard compensation + bonus package for someone in a highly paid industry at a senior level of seniority. I'm objectively speaking wealthy. I'm also light years removed from CEOs with base salaries in the 2-digit million range pa. In other words: I'm rich - but not obscenely so!

Money attracts money because, if you're already rich, people assume they have to bribe you into doing stuff that benefits them.

Nothing about this is about wishing for it or some other woo type stuff. People simply assume that you won't have time for them if you're already loaded unless they pay you.

The best method for getting stuff for free, in my own experience, is not actually needing stuff for free. Nothing spiritual about it, it's simply cold, hard capitalism.

I agree with Brexpat. The so-called law of attraction comes uncomfortably close to the prosperity gospel for me - you can make good things happen, so if they don’t, it’s your fault. If bad things happen to you - well, what does that say about you?

Having said that, I’ve noticed that quite often if I want/need something but don’t want to pay much, it appears in Lidl or a charity shop before long ... but I assume that’s because I’m looking out for it.

It's a load of nonsense and confirmation bias.

I expect people who have terminal illnesses spend a lot of time wanting to get better. And homeless people spend a lot of time thinking about how they'd love to have a nice place to live. Do you think it works for them too, OP?

... and for what it's worth: despite being a beneficiary of this particular system, I'm deeply concerned about it from a moral POV:

So, when I was a lowly bar keep aged 20, I'd worry about my safety when getting back home from work late at night. Nobody else did, though, so if I wanted to mitigate my risk it was all on my own pocket.

When I was a senior exec. aged 36, they thought it was too much to ask for me to sort my own shit out and of course I would be taken home not in a taxi but by a personal driver - not at 2am but at 2pm - and all I had to to was to let my PA know and send her the receipt in order tlfor it to be charged to my expense account.

...

Long story short: yes, money attracts money. But there's nothing remotely woo about it. It's simply capitalism.

It's also fundamentally wrong! Go ahead and have a wild guess at which point in my own biography I would have been better placed to pay for my own bloody black cab!?

No it's a load of crap.

sometimes you're "in the zone" other times you're not. you have to try to find the sweet spot.

I've been reading neville Goddard over the last few years and trying it out myself and I have to say at times I've been blown away by things that have happened.
I know it's not everyone's thing, but it works great for me. Have a look at neville's work and YouTube podcasts though as things like The Secret make it sound a lot of nonsense.

I don't really believe. It's so contradictory. They say you create your own reality and can attract what you want in life, but if you don't get what you want they will tell you well it wasn't meant to be or the universe didn't think that was right for you etc. So in other words you can't always attract what you want.
I followed a few Facebook pages relating to it out of interested for a while and some of the contradictions and garbage people spoke of was amazing. I can't believe anyone truly believes in that after reading the exchanges.

Yes I believe in the law of attraction.