There are things I “believe.” There are things I “suspect.” And then there are things that I “know.” I want to tell you one of those right now:

We are creatures of habit, and in a very real way, our habits dictate what our life will be.

The act of changing your life is nothing more than changing your habits. So how do you do that? Easy. One step at at a time.

The WORST way to try to change any habit is to struggle. The BEST way is to make a plan to begin very gradually adding something NEW into your life–and be consistent. It’s not enough to just want to get rid of some aspect of your personality, an old habit like limiting beliefs for example; you must also add a NEW habit to takes it’s place.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Trying to eliminate something from your life only works well when you replace it with something else. So adding a new habit is the most powerful thing you can do to overcome an old one. It is a pro-active step, and it puts YOU in charge of your life and your future.

For example, if you have limiting beliefs about money and your ability to create wealth, you can change this by making a plan, and starting some new habits like repeating pro-wealth affirmations and writing a gratitude list daily.

If you do this for 3-4 weeks, it will become a new habit; a habit you can expand on. Then those negative beliefs (just habits) will begin to have some serious competition. After a while, you can add more new habits, like visualizing yourself living the life you want every day–and then twice a day, three times, four times…

You can start as small as you like. As long as you Do NOT QUIT and you keep slowly expanding, you WILL get there. In a few months your mental habits will be very different from what they are today, and you will attract very different (and better) results.

The law if attraction is a simple idea: what you think about matters and has an impact on your life. You can change what you think about by gradually developing new thought habits that replace the old ones. When you begin to fill up your days with positive actions and thoughts, soon there will be no room left on there for the negative, the unwanted, and the un-useful.

Start today, start now. Add one new positive habit this week. And then another next week, etc. Before you know it, things begin to snowball into a major life change and you’re attracting more and more of the life you want. The life you deserve.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jon

PS: If you need some help and motivation to break out of a rut, check out Getting Unstuck. That’s exactly what it is for.

Have you visited the AttractAnything Youtube channel lately? No? Why not? What’s the hold up? You’re missing out! =)

I’ve uploaded several new Law of Attraction coaching videos on our Youtube channel over the last few weeks, and there are more on the way.

Check out the Official AttractAnything channel on YouTube and watch all the videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/attractanything

Peace, abundance and prosperity!
Jon

AttractAnything.com

Why does the law of attraction not seem to work for some people? This is a topic that’s been covered many times before, but I want to look at it from a different angle. I sometimes get e-mails from people who have been trying to use the law of attraction to improve some aspect of their life, but without much success.

In almost all of these cases the person has some sort of emotional block about what they are trying to attract — whether it’s money, a new relationship, job, car, whatever. And the truth is we all have blocks in certain areas — most of us have baggage from our past, and if we don’t “air it out” and deal with it, it can poison our emotions and state of mind, causing us to attract unwanted things into our lives.

Here’s an example: my friend CG sent me an e-mail telling me about his experiences using the law of attraction to gain financial security, improving his income and his standard of living. But he also mentioned he had been trying to use the exact same techniques to attract a better relationship with his family, but he hadn’t been very successful in this area — yet.

This isn’t really surprising because many of us have baggage and “issues” relating to our families. Sometimes it is sibling rivalry;  sometimes it’s as simple as not feeling appreciated by family members, or having them treat you as if you were still 10 years old! To make matters even worse, these kinds of blocks are usually buried deep in our subconscious, making them difficult to understand and deal with.

I also have blocks in certain areas that I have become aware of over the years — and perhaps I have blocks in other areas I am not even aware of (haha). Here’s my rule of thumb for dealing with these kind of deep-seated issues that are causing you to attract things you don’t want:

If you can’t get over it, learn to accept it.

Sometimes we have baggage that we’re just not ready to let go of on a deeper level and it becomes like a sore spot in our life. Now ask yourself, what do you do if you have a sore spot on your body? Obviously, you see a doctor and get it fixed if you can. But if it won’t heal completely and it becomes a chronic problem, the best advice is simply don’t mess with it, and don’t focus on it.

What we are talking about here is ACCEPTANCE. We have to improve what we can, and learn to accept those things we cannot change. Now, to some people this sounds like simply giving up. They believe that if they accept their baggage or emotional issues, then these things will be with them forever and their situation will never improve. But fortunately, that is usually not the case.

Many times, accepting an aspect of ourself we don’t like actually begins the healing process. We have to make peace with who we are: the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you’ve tried to change a situation unsuccessfully for any length of time, it is time to upgrade your strategy — STOP trying to change it and learn to accept and even appreciate it as a part of your overall personality. Ironically, doing this often improves the problem substantially. There’s an old Buddhist saying that explains this phenomenon:

“If you focus on something too intensely, your energy will push it away.”

Some people struggle and try so hard to attract something into their life that their energy ends up pushing it away. That is why practicing the law of attraction as a philosophy should always be done with an easy-going spirit and a joyful heart. Take it seriously, but NOT so seriously that it becomes work or a chore. It should be a fun and positive experience.

If it seems like hard work, you’re doing something wrong!

So here’s my best advice: make having fun and enjoying yourself a top priority in your life, no matter what! When you are in a positive, happy state of mind, your vibration immediately changes and you begin attracting very different circumstances. So do everything you can to feel as good as possible as often as possible. And don’t forget to share those good feelings with others (this just magnifies the effect).

Remember, the law of attraction is not brain surgery — keep it light, easy and joyful and you’ll get MUCH further in attracting the life you really want!

A lot of people want to know how to attract love with the law of attraction. Relationships enrich our lives in hundreds of ways, so it just makes sense that law of attraction followers would want to use these timeless principles to create a better love life.

With that in mind, let’s look at four important points for attracting love into your life — from a law of attraction perspective.

1. You Get What You Give

It may sound like a cliché, or the lyrics to an old Beatles song, but it’s true nevertheless: the more you give love, the more you get love. From a law of attraction point of view, we understand that “like attracts like;” and by the same token, “love attracts love.”

The more you express, notice and appreciate love in your life, the more love will be attracted to you. So the most obvious first step to attract love into your life is to make a conscious effort to be more loving and to give more love to those around you.

2. Already “Have” the Love You Desire

I know I say this a lot, but it really applies here: the law of attraction does not give us what we “want.” It gives us MORE of what we already “have.” This means that in order to attract love you need to “feel’ as if you already have love in your life. It’s the old “fake it ’til you make it” routine, and it absolutely works.

Another old proverb that sums this up is, “The hungry don’t get fed.” In other words, being desperate for love will not attract it into your life (desperation is NEVER attractive). But thinking, feeling and acting “as if” you already have love in your life WILL attract more love. It’s the same principle used to attract wealth, health, joy, and success. “Program” your mind to feel as if you already have what you desire, and then take the extra step of being grateful for it.

3. What You “Study” is What You Get

To attract love you need to focus on love — and often. Make it part of your daily routine to notice and appreciate love and loving relationships (without feeling envious of them). A great exercise is to take a little time every day (maybe while driving) to list things, people, situations and feelings that you love. This will train your mind to notice the beauty and abundance of the great people, places and things around you and feel love and appreciation for them. As this becomes a habit, love will be attracted to you–you won’t have to search desperately to find it.

4. A Fearful Mind Doesn’t Attract love

Keep in mind that the opposite of love is fear. Whenever you are feeling fearful, you are “disconnected” from the abundance of love just waiting to flood into your life.

Love is fearless, simple and joyous. Whenever you’re feeling fearful, complicated or unhappy, you are NOT attracting love at that point. Just take a deep breath, and re-align yourself with the vast abundance of love all around you. Make a “things I love” list and then a gratitude list, and then make a few more! Laugh outloud, smile with your whole body, show appreciation for the love you already have in your life–and then sit back confidently and watch even more love show up in your life…

Everyone who has studied the law of attraction is aware of the importance of keeping a positive state of mind.

One of the most basic concepts of the law of attraction is that your state of mind has a “magnetic” property to it (for lack of a better word), and that you attract people, circumstances, and abundance (or lack) according to your your dominant mindset. If your mindset is primarily positive, and you focus on abundance, prosperity, good health, and other positive things, the law of attraction says you will tend to attract positive circumstances. But on the other hand, if your mindset is primarily one of lack and limitation, you will tend to attract these unwanted things as well.

In other words, the law of attraction is an honest broker — it does not judge your request; it simply gives you MORE of what you are already resonating. With this in mind, I want to address a question that I’ve received from many of my personal coaching clients: “Does this mean that we have to stay in a carefree, happy, Pollyanna-like state of mind 24/7 in order to attract good things?

My answer to this is simple: no.

We are ALL imperfect human beings, and it is not necessary (or even desirable) to hold yourself to a higher standard than that. Because we are fallible human beings, we don’t always live up to our best ideals. This is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, and people who stress too much about trying to attain perfection in their state of mind can often drive themselves a little “loopy” in the process. It’s important to recognize that you’re only human, and do your best to maintain a state of mind that will attract what you want in your life — but you must also balance this with an understanding and acceptance of your own fallible nature as a human being.

It’s okay not to be perfect at this stuff — it really is. The law of attraction is not a harsh, unforgiving “boss,” watching over your shoulder 24/7, and just waiting for an opportunity to bring you down. Here’s an example: because “like attracts like,” it is not a good idea to go through your life being angry. This will tend to attract ill will and angry circumstances into your experience — something I’m sure you do not want.

However… that does not mean that it is NEVER appropriate to be angry, and in certain situations I believe it can actually be useful. I had a coaching client last year (let’s call him “Jim”) who was feeling horribly depressed, and had lost all self-esteem because of a series of devastating rejections and betrayals in his life. Because he was a keen law of attraction follower, he tried his best to never get angry or upset about what had happened. Which seems like a reasonable thing to do because after all, he didn’t want to attract more angry circumstances and people into his life, did he?

But because he had “swallowed” his anger about these betrayals and rejections and refused to feel at any outrage, his state of mind became poisoned with self-pity, and his self esteem and confidence suffered, till at last he sank into a state of depression, with a distorted, negative self-image. All because he had refused to mentally “fight back” against the outrageous behavior he had been unfortunate enough to encounter.

His situation reminded me of an important concept I learned as a freshman psychology student at University: “anger is more useful than despair.”

While it is certainly true that anger is not an ideal state of mind to attract anything worthwhile into your life, it is EQUALLY true that anger is far more useful and productive to your state of mind than despair and depression. In fact, depression is actually anger turned inward (on the “self”), and it poisons the mindset in lots of ways, ruining otherwise healthy self-esteem. And depression is especially devastating — it is a feeling of hopelessness or victimization, and in my opinion, is the lowest emotional state a human being can resonate.

Anger on the other hand, while not ideal, is certainly a “higher” emotion than depression or hopelessness — much higher in fact. It is possible to accomplish a great deal in your life by acting out of anger, but you’ll get nowhere by acting out of hopelessness, depression or despair. In “Jim’s” case I encouraged him to go ahead and be outraged about the experiences he had dealt with and work through it. In fact, I counseled him to use that outrage and that anger as a catalyst to make big changes in his life, and to pursue things he had wanted in his life for years, but felt too “tore down” to take effective action.

I’m happy to report that “Jim” is doing a lot better these days. And yes, he did go through a stage of feeling quite angry. But it was a step up from the emotions of despair and depression that had lingered within him for so long; so in Jim’s case (and yours and mine), anger was definitely more useful than despair.

In time, of course, Jim moved beyond the anger, raising his vibration in a way that attracted better and better things into his life. But he was only able to get there by working through the anger, and not trying to deny it or “go around it.”

All of us who use the law of attraction want to keep a happy, positive, abundant and loving state of mind, because we know this will attract more of these positive things into our life. But we must never forget that we are all human beings, not computers! We are inperfect by nature, and that is absolutely OK. Keeping a positive state of mind, and using the law of attraction effectively is not a black-and-white issue. It’s about going after those better feelings, pursuing those thoughts of abundance, peace and happiness — and accepting our human fallibility when we sometimes don’t reach them. It is the effort that makes all the difference.

I received an email recently from “Joe” in the UK asking for a few Law of Attraction tips to help create wealth and a more successful life. I asked Joe’s permission to re-print a few excerpts from my reply to his email here in the blog, and he kindly agreed. I think sometimes we all overlook these simple law of attraction tips that can make such a huge difference in our lives.

Joe was specifically looking for tips to help take his life to the next level, and (importantly) he expressed a great deal of dissatisfaction with his current circumstances, though to an impartial observer (ie: me) he seemed to have a very charmed life indeed. Here is an excerpt of the tips I gave him in my reply:

I can tell from your email that you are very passionate about using the Law of Attraction, and I have a few tips to offer to help you develop the “larger strategy” I mentioned above:

Practice gratitude and visualization (see yourself having, not wanting) and you WILL see big positive changes in your life. Make all of these things part of your daily routine–it is absolutely worth the effort to change your life.

All the very best,
Jon

www.attractanything.com

NLP, or neurolinguistic programming, is an amazing advancement that has taken place in the field of psychology over the past few decades, and it’s a very powerful tool for practicing the law of attraction. NLP is a collection of many different techniques, but in general, it involves the use of pseudo-hypnotic states and linguistic patterns to change our thinking “from the inside out.”

The results of using NLP techniques can be dramatic: phobias and other unconscious “blocks” can be collapsed quickly in most cases, and limiting “loops” in our thinking can be replaced with more positive and resourceful habits. And this is the area where NLP becomes most beneficial to law of attraction users. The law of attraction says that we attract according to our thoughts, beliefs and feelings; but psychology tells us that our conscious thoughts are really just the tip of the iceberg — the vast majority of our “thinking” goes on at the deeper unconscious level.

Because so much of what we think is outside of our conscious awareness, any technology that helps us to change our unconscious thoughts and beliefs in a positive way is extremely helpful in using the law of attraction. That’s why NLP is such a powerful technology to change what we are attracting on a daily basis.

NLP takes advantage of the brain’s method of processing language, and uses linguistic loops and embedded commands to cause a restructuring of information within the unconscious mind. Pioneers such as Milton Erickson, Richard Bandler and John Grinder exposed how we develop beliefs, and how we learn and process new information at the unconscious level, effectively redrawing our map of “reality.” Obviously, this is a powerful law of attraction tool if you find that you are attracting unwanted things in your life.

Those of us familiar with the law of attraction understand that everything that shows up in our life begins with a thought. But changing old, outdated thoughts and beliefs can sometimes be challenging. For example, those of us who grew up with a belief that “money is the root of all evil” may realize that this is an extremely unuseful and false belief, yet we may still hold on to this belief at an unconscious level because it has been so thoroughly programmed into us from an early age. The beauty of NLP is that it can change these deep-seated beliefs, and install more useful patterns of thinking that are in alignment with the law of attraction.

I recently recorded and short NLP hypnosis session for our sister site EasyCalm.com. This particular session is a quick anxiety buster which encourages feelings of self-acceptance, optimism and confidence, and is primarily designed for people experiencing anxiety and panic attack problems. However, this session can be useful to anyone, and especially those of us practicing the law of attraction. We’ve had tremendous positive feedback about this recording (modestly titled “Instant Tranquility” haha), so I have included it here on the blog today, and I’d like to have YOUR feedback as well.

I find short NLP hypnosis sessions (about 10 or 15 minutes) like “Instant Tranquility” ideal for maintaining a positive state of mind, and helping to attract better circumstances. They are also useful to law of attraction users who are simply having an “off day” and need a quick way to adjust their attitude. Give it a try for yourself, and be sure to leave a comment and let me know how it works for you. In an amazing way, I believe I attracted the study of NLP into my life, and it has been a VERY useful resource for me personally. I recommend all law of attraction followers checking out NLP techniques to improve what you’re attracting.

Check out the “Instant Tranquility NLP Audio Session here:

The Law of Attraction is Incomplete…

That’s what famed motivational speaker Bob Proctor is saying about the Law of Attraction, and how it is being commonly (mis) practiced by individuals around the world today.

Three years ago Proctor was one of the featured speakers in the groundbreaking docu-film, “The Secret.” But today Bob believes that many people have misinterpreted the teachings of the law of attraction, and the entire philosophy has been “watered down” and oversimplified for the masses.

And while I believe that “The Secret” was a good introduction to the law of attraction for many people, I have to agree with Bob Proctor that the film didn’t go nearly far enough in explaining the processes by which attraction can be made to work in our favor. I suppose that’s one of the reasons that I created the AttractAnything Advanced Law of Attraction Coaching Series in the first place, and I’m very proud of the work we’ve done — and the many people who have used the series to become more wealthy, prosperous, happy, and connected to loved ones and friends.

Now, Bob Proctor and his friend Mary Morrissey have put together a new comprehensive series teaching the “11 Forgotten Laws” for effectively using the law of attraction. I recently had a chance to review the new series and it is absolutely first-class material — highly recommended!

I’ve been a fan of Bob Proctor for many years, and his “Freedom Series” really helped to open my eyes about the world around me, and MY role in creating it. Over the years I’ve also “turned on” many of my friends and family members to Bob’s work, and they have benefited greatly from his years of experience as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out his new series yet, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised — and find it an enlightening discovery that will improve not just your finances and ability to attract wealth, but EVERY area of your life. Check out the 11 Forgotten Laws here.

I don’t attract critical or spammy e-mails. And normally, if I should receive some kind of ranting e-mail (which basically never happens), I’ll just hit the delete button without ever reading it. I don’t want that kind of stuff “on my radar.” After all, the law of attraction means whatever we are focusing on is what we are attracting.

But a while back I did read such an e-mail — only because it came from the husband of a woman who had purchased our AttractAnything Law of Attraction Video Series. The “husband” was complaining that the law of attraction was “for losers” and people who could not succeed in the “real world.” He then spent a lot of time complaining that his wife must be “mentally ill” to fall for this stuff, and claimed that he was going to start “tightly controlling” what came into “his home” in the future.

He even asked me to refund her payment, even though he admitted that she didn’t want a refund and was happy with the series!

I barely know where to begin to describe what I think is wrong with this gentleman’s comments. Especially the part about “tightly controlling” his family, and “his home.” These comments indicate some rather serious control issues, and frankly, a lack of respect for his wife, her opinions, and her belief in the law of attraction.

But, the fact is, there are people like this gentleman out there in the world, and they have their role to play just like everyone else. Truth be told, when I hear comments like this (which thankfully is not often at all), I’m reminded of the way I used to look at the world, and the way that I used to try to unnaturally control other people, jobs, situations and myself.

But there was something else interesting about that e-mail, and this is the main point I want to make in this post. We ALL have a little bit of this guy’s attitude inside us. Most of us assume that there is a “real world” out there, and that we can judge and measure ourselves in comparison to this perceived “real world.” Actually, this is a very easy mistake to make, but it is a mistake nonetheless. And a serious one, if we want to live in accordance with the law of attraction.

The fact is, none of us knows anything about the “real world,” if there is such a thing. We all filter information to create a “mental map” of the world, to help us navigate our way through life. The problem is, it is easy to start believing that “the map is the territory.”

“Discover The 11 Forgotten Laws That Make The Law of Attraction An Unbreakable Force”

A map is a useful tool. It’s a visual representation of something else, that helps us to understand where we are, and where we are going. But the map is NOT the territory. If I point to the word “Alaska” on a map of the US, I’m not pointing to “Alaska,” I’m pointing to A MAP! The map gives us clues about certain features of Alaska, but it cannot give us the experience of “being” in Alaska. They are two very different things.

Sorry for the crazy map metaphor, but I hope you get the idea. Each of us creates (in our mind) a mental representation of what we believe “reality” to be. But these mental maps that we create are heavily filtered — by the culture we live in, by our family and childhood experiences, by our age, gender and nationality, by our education, religion, beliefs and goals, and by many, many other factors. That’s why no two people’s view of the “real world” is exactly the same. And if you travel around the world a bit, you will discover that people sometimes have dramatically different perceptions of the world we live in!

So I think that the “husbands” rant against the law of attraction was a good reminder for me (and maybe for you too), that “the map is not the territory.” Understanding this keeps us from getting arrogant, from assuming we have all the answers and the “correct” view of reality. It also reminds us that there is more going on in this world than we are aware of, and that we always have more power and resources than we know.

90% of an iceberg is underwater. If we assume that the 10% we can see is all there is, we’re really just kidding ourselves, aren’t we?

Oh, and before I forget, Happy New Year!

Wishing you a richer, healthier and happier 2009!
Jon

Jon Mercer, MA
Law of Attraction Coach

“Discover The 11 Forgotten Laws That Make The Law of Attraction An Unbreakable Force”

We interupt this Law of Attraction blog for a word about taking responsibility for your life. Make your voice heard:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8y1e-z1JA0[/youtube]

Register to vote now:
https://electionimpact3.votenet.com/declareyourself/voterreg2_ret/

Declare Yourself (source):
http://www.declareyourself.com