We bought a new mattress a year and a half ago. It was a memory foam mattress we put on top of a sealed wood platform that Tim build.
Here But Hidden
We loved the mattress at first. Then it began to sag. It broke down within a few months. We called Costco and they said they’d come and get it (you gotta love Costco), and we ordered a different mattress to replace the one that didn’t hold up.
The day the pick-up company was supposed to show up, we took the mattress off the platform to move it to the garage. I was shocked to discover that under my side of the mattress, a huge wet spot was mildewing on the mattress and on the platform. Tim’s side was fine.
The reason for the spot isn’t really important—but if you’re curious, I was having major night sweats during those months, and memory foam mattresses generate more body heat. We think I basically sweated through the mattress.
For all that time, I’d been sleeping on a big, mildewed water stain. It was less than 10 inches from me, and I couldn’t see it. It was right there, but if you’d have asked me if I slept on a mildewed wet spot, I would have confidently told you I did not.
You Can’t See The Energy
All physical manifestations—experiences and things—exist in energy form before they take physical form. We can’t see that energy.
Just like we can’t see the radio waves that bring us our FM stations or the waves that bring us TV and cell phone service, the energy that creates our world is there but not visible. It’s no less real just because we can’t see it. Radio waves are real all the way from the station to our stereos even though they don’t seem to be real to us until the music hits our ears.
Every single thing you want begins to form on an energetic plane the moment you conceive of it. All you have to do is allow it.
It might be just inches from you, so close you could touch it if you knew it was there. But then you start asking why what you want isn’t here. You feel like the character, Anya, from the Buffy the Vampire TV series when she says, “I’m trying to be patient, but it’s taking too long.”
The second you ask that question … BOOM. Your creation, which could be seconds from taking physical form, retreats back into energy. Here but hidden.
That big wet spot has been a big deal in my life. Every time I’m tempted to say, “Where is my …….?” I remember that spot. I remember that what I want is RIGHT HERE. I already have it. I’m sleeping on it. I’m living with it. It’s here.
For those of you who care—I don’t have a wet spot under my mattress anymore (I checked). The new mattress (different brand) has been great, and I’ve discovered a cool herbal supplement that has left me night-sweat-free. And that was a creation that was in my reality on the nonphysical level far before it landed in my physical experience.
I know the law of attraction is one of the energetic laws that bring order to the universe. I don’t believe it. I know it.
Even though I know it, however, I have doubts.
These doubts aren’t about the existence of the law of attraction. They’re about my understanding of how to think and feel in a way that makes the law of attraction a positive force in my life instead of a negative one.
The basics of law of attraction’s impact on us are simple:
1. Think thoughts that match up vibrationally with what you desire.
2. The better a thought feels to you, the better it matches up with things you want.
Simple … but at least for me, it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever attempted to learn how to do. (more…)
Given Tim’s knowing that he’s a lottery winner, I tend to have an “attract a lottery win” radar. The other day, I stumbled across an Abraham-Hicks video about aligning with a lottery win.
In the video, a woman tells Abraham that she wants to win a lottery. Abraham asks the woman why. She says she wants to be rich (obviously), but she also wants “proof” that the law of attraction is working in her life, proof that she can attract what she wants on purpose.
Abraham pointed out that whenever you are seeking proof of something, you are inherently vibrating in a place of doubt on the subject. When I heard this, I thought, to quote Scooby Do, “Rut ro.”
I started The Secret Is Wags? as an experiment. I wanted to see if finding reasons to feel good would change my current circumstances, which sucked big time at the beginning of the year and are still not anything to bark about.
I was looking for proof of what Abraham-Hicks and others teach about the law of attraction. I was looking for evidence that the law of attraction truly exists. I even had “A Law of Attraction Experiment” as a subhead of the blog title, and I had a “Law of Attraction Evidence” page.
Again, “Rut ro.”
Knowing Doesn’t Need Proof
The minute I heard what Abraham said about proof, I KNEW the truth of it. I FELT it at a vibrational level. If you’re looking for proof, you are a vibrational match to the lack of that for which you’re looking for proof. It must be so. Because if you have something or you know it to be true, you don’t seek proof of it.
I immediately thought about things I know about my life. I know, for instance, that my husband, Tim, loves me.
I never go looking for proof of his love. Why would I? I know his love. I know it through his actions, yes. But I know it at a deeper, more profound level. His love is a part of me. It’s as real to me as my own breath.
If I did go looking for proof, would I find it?
Sometimes, yes, I would. The proof is in his “Good Morning, Beautiful,” in his “I love you”s, in his kisses, in his willingness to do things for me, in his unwavering belief in me … I could go on, but you see what I mean.
But does he do these things all the time? Of course not. He’s a busy guy. Even though we both work at home, hours and hours and go by without any “evidence” that he loves me. If you happened to peek into our home for a chunk of the afternoon, you might conclude he didn’t give two hoots about me. He’s in his office; I’m in my work space. He comes out to use the bathroom and may or may not wave at me. We eat lunch at different times. We don’t interact much at all during the day. Where’s the proof of his love?
If I was frantically looking for it, I wouldn’t see much of it. If I didn’t see it, I’d start thinking he didn’t love me. If I started thinking he didn’t love me, my perception would then skew his subsequent actions, and I’d begin finding proof that he doesn’t love me. I’d see every hour that he says nothing to me as glaring evidence of his complete lack of regard for me.
Proof of the law of attraction, evidence of it, can be challenging to spot. It’s tricky because manifestation isn’t instantaneous. What’s showing up in your life today is a result of how you were vibrating in the past.
I used to be baffled by how I could get up feeling absolutely fantastic and have something truly nasty happen that day. Where’s that like-attracts-like-vibrations thing, I’d demand. How could I possibly have attracted this crud when I was feeling so wonderful?
Do you see? It’s the same thing as concluding that Tim doesn’t love me because he ignores me in the afternoons.
Proof of the law of attraction is obscured by our limited perceptions. We’re like gnats on a TV screen. We see only a bunch of dots because we can’t see the whole screen.
The universe or God orchestrates, by law of attraction, all the pieces that fall into place to bring things into our lives. Think about an orchestra for a second. If you were to listen to each separate instrument, each separate part, you wouldn’t be all that impressed with the sound. I used to sing in a choral group Tim directed. I’m a tenor, so I sang a harmony part. When I sang my part by itself, it often sounded pretty odd, but when the tenor part combined with the other four parts in the group, it was great.
This is the problem with looking for proof of law of attraction working in our lives. We can never hear the whole orchestra or choir at once. We get bits and pieces, and those often don’t look like much.
No Longer Seeking Proof
So the experiment is over. No more looking for evidence or proof.
You’ll notice that the “?” is missing from the blog header. And you’ll notice a new subhead, Law of Attraction Awareness. I’ve also changed the header of the page links on the sidebar, and I have changed the About Wags page. I’ve changed Law of Attraction Evidence to Law of Attraction Results as well. I’m not going back to change the titles of old posts that mention law of attraction evidence, but I no longer think of the experiences I talk about in those posts as evidence. I think of them as results.
And why do I still take note of results?
Well, when you’re learning a new skill, like staying in awareness of the law of attraction, it can be encouraging to see the results of your actions. It’s kind of like a new exercise program. When you start walking more or lifting weights, you don’t look for proof that the exercise is building up your endurance or muscles. You KNOW it will. But you do look for the results because the results make it easier to keep up the walking or weight lifting.
As I say on the new About Wags page, the law of attraction isn’t some mechanism that we have to learn how to use properly. We don’t have to believe in it. We don’t activate it or power it up. It’s a law, like gravity.
You don’t take courses in how to use gravity. People aren’t raking in money coaching others in how to use gravity to stay alive.
Gravity is simply a law for which you have an awareness. You developed that awareness thanks to the caring people who didn’t let you toddle off the edge of cliffs when you were little and thanks to your many experiences with finding your butt on the floor when you lost your balance.
Attraction—the coming together of like vibrations—just IS. It is, whether you believe in it or not. But, just as a lack of awareness of gravity can get you in trouble, a lack of awareness of the law of attraction can get you in some nice messes in your life.
Most of us have learned to interact with our world from a perspective of action, struggle, and compliant. We’ve learned to fight and push against. Learning to live in a different way, a way that keeps an awareness of the law of attraction at the forefront of our thoughts, is something that takes some effort.
We simply aren’t used to thinking our way to what we want. We need help to keep working at finding feel good thoughts when doing so isn’t yet intuitive. That’s why I write this blog. I need constant reminders to stay aware of the law of attraction. I need encouragement, in the form of noticing results, to help me keep reaching for better feeling thoughts. I need new ideas for finding good-feeling thoughts. Since I’m a writer, the way I take a journey like this one is with words. I put the words on a blog because I intend for my journey to be of help to your journey toward second-nature-law-of-attraction awareness.
I’m not a law of attraction coach or “expert.” I’m just a woman standing in a place of great contrast, a woman determined to think her way to a better place. I’m simply a woman on a journey, and I’m happy to have you come along with me.
Just keep in mind that this journey isn’t one that seeks proof. It’s not a journey to gather evidence. It’s a journey of knowing. It’s a journey of awareness. It’s a journey of universal law and how to remain always cognizant of that law so we deliberately choose thoughts that are in vibrational alignment with the reality we desire.
I love comments and welcome yours. To leave a comment, click on the “comments” link (it will say “No comments or “1 comment” or more) at the end of the tags in “Posted in” at the end of this post.
Last week, Tim and I finished updating the Novel Writing Made Easy System, my e-book/audio package. We finished our “product test”—asking for feedback, I’d sent the updates to people who had bought the original version of the package. The great testimonials I received in response went onto the sales page.
Although we’re still working on Facebook pages and I have many promotional articles to write, the bulk of the project is complete.
And yesterday, I felt lousy.
Say what?
Why did I feel bad when I could have been exulting over a job well done?
Two things happened:
One of the writing groups I belong to on LinkedIn sent its weekly update of postings. I’ve yet to post in any of the LinkedIn groups because I only finished semi-completing my profile last week, but I glanced at others’ posts. One of the posts was a writer’s complaint that she’s set up Facebook Fan Pages but has received few fans. How can she get people to notice her, she asked.
Instantaneously, I felt my energy plummet. I became tense.
I’m aware enough of my emotional guidance system that I knew I’d just had a thought that didn’t align with my nonphysical being, and I knew what the thought was: “This writer is right—it’s SO difficult to get people to notice you. As usual, I’m one tiny whisper in a sea of screaming voices. What made me thing my information would be noticed any more than anyone else’s?”
Not the most empowering thought, I know. No wonder my nonphysical self didn’t agree with it.
Of course, the law of attraction was, as always, on duty. So even though I was aware of the negativity of my thought, I’d chewed on it long enough for the law of attraction to do its work.
Law of attraction brought me the second thing that set off my lousy mood. I checked our Pay Pal and Clickbank accounts, and in the three days the sales page has been up, we’ve had no sales.
Yes, I know. Three days isn’t a long time. But this is a sales page that has been up, in its previous form, for years. We usually get a sale every other day or so at least. I decided this was a bad omen.
And of course as soon as I decided that, my emotional guidance system went off again. I felt even worse. This time, I was close to tears.
I started hooking into my old failure story: I finish a project, and it doesn’t bring me the results I want.
No wonder that by the end of the day, I felt awful. Instead of staying on the road of triumph in my completed project, I had set off down the road of doubt.
Doubt Is A Hardy Seed
In her book, One Day My Soul Just Opened Up, Author Iyanla Vanzant, writes:
“Doubt is bred in the mental state of attachment or emotional investment in the outcome. When we have a fixed idea of how things should be and how we want them to look, we become doubtful that we will get what we want.”
Doubt works like this: We focus on something we desire. At first, we may do so with joyful intent, and in that joyful intent, we take inspired action. We have enthusiasm for the doing. This is where I’ve been for the last month or so. I’ve been in a state of exhilarated focus on my project.
At some point, though, most of us start to evaluate our progress. I definitely do this. We look for some specific evidence we think signifies that we’re on the right track. We believe that if we see this evidence, it means it’s all going to work out the way we want it to. If we don’t see this evidence (as I haven’t in the last couple days), we begin to doubt the result. “The moment a seed of doubt becomes imbedded in our thoughts,” Vanzant says, “we can become so preoccupied with fixing what has apparently gone wrong that our thoughts shift from the desired outcome.”
In other words, we begin thinking about the lack of what we want. And good old law of attraction keeps on doing its work: As Abraham-Hicks says,
“The thought that you think, you think, which attracts to it; so you think it some more, which attracts to it; so you think it some more. In other words, when you have an expectation, you’ve got a dominant thought going on, and Law of Attraction is going to deliver that to you again, and again and again. And you say ‘The reason that I believe this, is because it is true.’ And we say, the reason that you believe it, is because you’ve practiced the thought. All that a belief is, is a thought that you keep practicing.”
Obviously, continuing to feel lousy isn’t helping me attract anything good, so I set about to shift my thought. Doubt wasn’t a seed I wanted to nurture. I needed to plant a different one.
Enjoyment Is A Beautiful Seed
My shift away from doubt was weak at the beginning. I tried a few thought replacements that didn’t make me feel much better. Finally, though, I reminded myself that it wasn’t up to me to control how anything unfolded. I need to get my attention off what is and put it back on the result I’ve already created in my successful identity.
As soon as I had that thought, the image of a sand mandala popped into my head. Several years ago, I wrote a newspaper column about sand mandalas, but I haven’t thought about them since. As soon as I thought of them, though, I knew why law of attraction had brought me the thought in response to my tentative mental shift.
Sand mandalas are a Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Patient, gifted monks work with colored sand to create colorful, intricate patterns. The monks apply sand granules using tubes, funnels and scrapers until the desire pattern is created. Most sand mandalas take several weeks to build.
Once they’re completed, sand mandalas are ritualistically destroyed. The destruction symbolizes the Buddhist recognition of the transitory nature of material things.
Sand mandalas are a beautiful example of the way to cultivate a different seed, the seed of enjoyment.
Obviously, when monks create sand mandalas, they’re not doing it for an end result. They’re doing it for the process, the satisfaction of the task at hand.
As soon as I thought of sand mandalas, I knew what I must do. I must bring my focus back from any result I want to what’s in front of me now. I can’t let myself think about where I’m going or what obstacles might be between me and where I want to be. I have to be here now where I want to go.
The way to do that is to keep moving, in focused enjoyment.
In the movie, Finding Nemo, Nemo’s dad, Marlin, is discouraged because his search for his son isn’t going the way he wants it to. His new friend, Dory, gives him a pep talk. Her pep talk may seem simplistic, but it sweetly and humorously captures the perfect way to trade doubt seeds for enjoyment seeds:
Unless we want to create dingy, dark, miserable things in our lives, we can’t put our focus on what seems to be going wrong with our efforts. We must keep our attention on what feels good now.
It’s the enjoyment of the process, the positive aspects of what’s in front of us, that allows us to “keep swimming” in a sea of abundance and happiness, that sea where we must remain so law of attraction will bring us abundant and happy experiences.
I love comments and welcome yours. To leave a comment, click on the “comments” link (it will say “No comments or “1 comment” or more) at the end of the tags in “Posted in” at the end of this post.
Making feeling good my #1 priority has changed my life! I now have a new site, Up From Splat. Come visit me at Up From Splat and get ongoing inspiration, encouragement, and resources to help you align with all your desires!!
Last week, I wrote about what to do if what you want isn’t here yet. Today, I want you to think about this question: What if it IS here and you just can’t see it?
