I recently saw an article written about the Law of Attraction. There are a few variations on this particular topic but this one was specifically along the lines of: “whatever we think about the most is what we attract into our lives” for example, if you think of yourself as a rich person, you will attract riches to you, if you are depressed you will attract more depression, etc.
It is quite an enveloping topic and as such I agree with the originator that his post could not cover everything about it but merely raise it for discussion as covering it in detail would fill a whole book. In saying that I think there were a few points made in his blog and the follow up comments which deserved further analysis or discussion.
One of the points made was that we move our lives toward the things we think about or put another way, we can become a magnet for success, just by altering your attitude. Now, whilst I accept both these statements, if they are read out of context they become almost mystical in nature and people are more likely to dismiss the concept out-right, however, what we’re actually talking about here is a “mindset”…
Throughout everyone’s lives we make decisions in life much like a fork in the road. Each decision may come to us by luck, by others belief in you, by accidents/incidents or even via challenges or opportunities presented to you. In order for you to decide the direction you’ll take, your “mindset” governs the decision making process. What I mean by that is that, for starters, if you have a specific nature for example you’re an introvert, you’re adventurous, or even reckless this is but 1 factor in the decision making process. Your “mindset” at a particular time has been shaped by the world around you and your experiences in it. You may have made some ill mannered decisions in the past, you may have ultimate belief in yourself to achieve anything or you may even have experienced a painful death of someone close leading you to reconsider your life and the risks you’d be willing to take. Each nuance of your life has an effect on the “mindset”. The argument for the Law of Attraction is that if you believe and therefore visualise a specific goal, you will achieve it!!! Again, this is simply 1 factor and all of life’s experiences MUST be taken into account. Don’t get me wrong, I am not dismissive of the ‘believe and you will achieve’ point of view as it is an important factor … your belief in yourself will colour your decisions.
As I examine my life and those of my friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances around me I see a multitude of career paths, personal lives and aspirations. Each trodden path has been taken using a infinite number or parameters taken from the world and their experiences … Just because someone has started out life with a good education and happy family life doesn’t mean this equates to success in later life, whereas another person may have left school with little or no education yet has a better paid job than the first. Why the difference? You could put it down to having a ‘positive attitude’ or ‘ultimate self belief’ but I am more inclined to believe that it’s this plus choices which have been made/driven as challenges and opportunities have been presented and by luck or by judgement the more successful path has been chosen.
There is another factor that has not been discussed but I believe is an important point. Success to one person is very likely to be totally different from success for another yet both are tangible. Whether the point of success was originally perceived in their “mindset” or not is neither here nor there. Success is ‘subjective’ and where one person may see their lives as not being as successful as others and are striving for something even greater, they may actually already seem successful to all around them.
For those interested, the original blog and associated discussion can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/23vgpfc
© Trevor Flanagan
Trevor Flanagan - Writer/Author 