Happy happy Friday, lovely humans!
Nowadays, there are quite literally millions of books about “The Law of Attraction”. So, what can I possibly write that has not already been written? Well… my perspective, of course!
This week, I began writing several pieces. Each one began with a force, but, very quickly, the infamous writer’s block entered my creative space. This is one of the first times in my life that I was determined to write something and could not (besides school papers). Every other time I wrote just for myself, so if nothing came, I left it be. This time, I am writing not just for me, but for you, my lovely readers.
Thus began the quest of overcoming the block by trying different tactics.
At first, I thought, maybe the topic I’m writing about is simply not resonating with me at this time. Perhaps the solution is to write about something else.
I reached that conclusion several times before noticing the pattern. It’s not the topic itself, it’s the energy circulating it. Now I was getting somewhere.
I am currently reading several books at once. Some people do that kind of stuff. I like to experiment! Sometimes, the books choose me! And who am I to deny their attention?!
One of the three books is called “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert (who wrote “Eat, Pray, Love” in case that name rings a bell for you). In this book, Liz writes about inspiration and creativity as a living entity who searches to collaborate with a human host. Once the human accepts the invitation for collaboration, the magic can begin! That is a contract between inspiration and the person it chose to create with. Both parties must abide by this contract, that is, inspiration will come, so long as the person continues to agree to take action to bring it to fruition. If the human does not commit to the creation of the inspiration, it (the inspiration) will leave and find someone who will commit! No hard feelings there. But it’s just not going to wait around forever.
So there I was, waiting for the inspiration to come.
Back to the here and now: I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and calmed my mind (aka meditated), and listened for the “big idea”. The topic about which I can write for you this week.
Imagine a small tornado above my head, where, instead of destruction debris, it’s ideas. All swirling around in any which way, none settling in, none resting with me. So, I took one more deep breath, and zoomed out a few feet. What was happening just beyond the tornado of thoughts and ideas? As in nature, just beyond the storm, there is a calmness. That’s where I decided to venture. The mind might be preoccupied with “writer’s block” but just beyond the storm, other things are possible!
Alas, I have already written this much simply by observing and naming that which is happening for me presently, and I have not even touched on my topic! Side note: if you’re ever stuck in an inner storm, see if you can calm your mind and look at the storm from a foot away, and then two, and then five, until the storm only takes up a part of your view, and not all of it. From there, it becomes easier to focus on something else.
Now, back to my topic!! I chose to write about the laws of attraction because I have become more and more aware of my vocabulary and attitude in the past year.
I used to say these phrases several times a DAY:
“I have no idea…”
“Why is this happening?”
“Ughhh, I just can’t!!”
“What I want won’t happen to me, because of X, Y, Z”
“Why is my life so difficult?!”
You get the picture.
Since then, I’ve done about a million workshops (see Workshop Queen blog here), read a million books, listened to a million and two audios, attended a few seminars, and after all that, the thing I can tell you that helped me the most to live a better life was to change my perspective by changing the words I chose to use.
“I have no idea” became → “What an adventure this will be!”
“Why is this happening?” became → “What’s right about this that I’m not seeing?” (This is Access Consciousness, ladies and gentlemen!)
“Ughhh, I just can’t!!” became → “OK, girl, I got this!!”
“What I want won’t happen to me, because of X, Y, Z” became → “Life is happening for me, not to me.” (This one is from the great Tony Robbins!)
“Why is my life so difficult?!” became → “The greatest growth come from the most challenging times”
You get the (new) picture, right?
Sooooooo important for me to mention here: changing the words I used was a baby step towards changing the way I viewed my life. But all change begins with a baby step. So, really, in a way, it’s one of, if not THE, most important step you can take.
A baby step can be anything you need it to be. Not necessarily like this one, per se. Just any step which will help you get a tiny fraction closer towards what you want.
My topic for this week was the Law of Attraction, and I am getting to that soon, I promise.
The other day my mind decided to have a conversation with itself in the form of myself and my father. My father is a wonderful man, who loves his family and has worked hard his entire life. He is ready for retirement and a simpler life.
My father also takes things VERY seriously.
Everything is a big deal.
The chances of something becoming anger some is quite high.
The conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi dad, how was your day?
My (mind’s version of my) Dad: Bad.
Me: Ah, I’m sorry to hear that. What made your day so bad?
My Dad: People at work are driving me crazy
Me: Mhmmm, I hear you. But your work day is over, and the rest of the evening can be pleasant, right?
My Dad: No, I’m too tired.
(For the record, this interaction actually has happened, more than once)
This is where my mind felt free to experiment with the imaginary conversation:
Me: You know, dad, you work hard, yes. And not to take away from that, but you’re not the only one in the world who works hard. In fact, there are people in this world who even work twice as many hours as you do, in much more physically challenging environments, just to be able to feed their family paycheck to paycheck.
There are single mothers who work two jobs, buy groceries on their way home (by bus), cook dinner, clean the house, make sure their children are fed, bathed, schooled, and here's the kicker: they LOVE THEIR LIVES. They are happy and grateful for what they have.
Dad, you have a nice house, nice car, good food, good family, loving wife, and true, you do work very hard, but you're also doing what you love (which is a big deal, let me tell ya). Can you take a moment to appreciate everything you have in this life?
What if you began to show gratitude for everything you have?
What if, instead of feeling angry and resentful over what’s missing, you appreciated what you did have?
What if the reason you feel your life is not what you want it to be is because you don’t see what you already have?
And what if, all it takes for you to have the life you want, is to see your life as already being everything you need it to be?
This is how my imaginary conversation with my father went down.
Perhaps I will bring it into this reality one day (when the time is right).
But that got me thinking, is it always does. How can I apply that to myself and my life?
I once said a phrase to a friend (after which I had to write it down, I impressed myself):
“The best advice you could ever get, is the one you often give to others”.
Once again, I shall take my own advice! Which, technically, is the advice I already gave myself during a conversation between me and me.
“What if, all it takes for you to have the life you want, is to see your life as already being everything you need it to be?”
By setting the vibration of love and gratitude, you attract (through the law of attraction -- I promised you my topic will come up) the life you want simply by shifting your perspective. Which you can do with one baby step at a time.
What you put out is what you get back (some even say by ten-fold). The Universe will match the vibration you are giving it. Pay close attention. At what frequency are you vibrating? What messages are you putting out into the Universe? What are you telling it, really?
Is it that things are “bad” (as my dad put it) and will continue to be bad because life is bad and the world is bad and the Universe is bad and everything is just bad?
Or is it that you are happy and grateful with what you have, and to please send more of that good stuff?
Your choice!
As always, with love and kindness to you all!
~L
