The Simple Truth: If You Want Good Things To Happen, Believe They Will

I wrote a piece about the law of attraction, “Change Your Thoughts And You Can Change Your Life,” which is about how a shift in perspective can vastly alter your reality.

I believe the reason the idea of the power of positive thinking appeals to so many of you is simple: it feels better to feel good than it does to feel bad.

Once we’re able to convince ourselves that we control our mental state, rather than our mental state controlling us, we’re able to suddenly recognize ourselves as creators instead of victims of circumstance.

In case you missed the last article, the gist of the law of attraction is this: What we think, we become.

It seems so simple. It is that simple.

Still, the concept brings up plenty of questions and concerns. A lot of you have reached out to me since reading the article, acknowledging that you recognize this universal truth, but wondering: How do I apply it? What’s the process of thinking something into reality? What’s the difference between a belief and a desire?

This follow up article is an attempt to answer some of those questions and help you ease into the practice of utilizing the law of attraction in your daily life.

First, realize that the law of attraction is a process. Manifestations, or the things we create by thinking about them, aren’t instantaneous. That’s a good thing! If everything we thought about appeared in our reality as we thought about it, we’d have much more on our plate than we could handle. The delay in our manifestations allows us to practice a thought, determine if it feels good or bad, and hone it until we experience it.

There’s three steps to turning a thought into a physical reality: belief, gratitude, and receiving.

First, believe that what you desire is on its way to you. Know it one hundred percent. A belief is a practiced thought. Anything you give your attention to becomes your truth, and while it may be truth, it’s also creation. When you focus on what you want, and the thought feels good, you’re in alignment with bringing that desire into your life. When you think about the absence of what you want, and you feel bad, you’re shifting your point of attraction to bring more lack of what you want. Creation and lack of creation are two sides of the same coin. They are the same thing but magnetize opposite results. Decide to carry your coin with “creation” facing up, and do not fear lack of creation, because lack of creation doesn’t exist. It’s still creation.

Your emotions are always an indicator of whether or not you’re creating or resisting what you want to create. Focus on the good feeling of knowing that what you desire is on its way, and don’t get discouraged when it doesn’t show up immediately.

I’ll use the metaphor of travel to better illustrate this point about belief. When you embark on a road trip, say, from Nashville to Chicago, you see yourself at the starting point (Nashville) and at the end point (Chicago). You understand that arrival in Chicago is not going to be instantaneous, and that you’re going to have to do the work to get there (stopping for gas and roughly four coffees). You don’t know exactly what the drive is going to look like, or whether you’ll hit traffic in Louisville, but you don’t worry about it, because worrying about it does nothing (except maybe create the circumstances for you to find yourself stuck in traffic in Louisville). You know you’ll end up in Chicago, so you go.

Halfway through your drive, you don’t scream to the heavens: “Why is this taking so long?” You don’t throw your hands up and decide to drive three and a half hours back to Nashville. You keep going, even if you’re tired. You have complete faith in the belief that you’ll get there, and you will.

Your desires are yours to create. The circumstances for how those creations come into your life are the workings of the universe. Do not worry about them. Instead, think only of your intended end result, because that is what you’ll experience.

Enjoy the journey in the meantime, and have as much fun as you can. You are supposed to feel good. Feeling bad is only offering resistance to all of the wonderful surprises you can choose to experience along the way.

Feeling good brings us to the next step in the process of manifestation:gratitude. Feelings of love, praise and genuine gratitude for our experiences (even for our unwanted manifestations) allow us to revel in the fact that wellbeing is our natural state. The universe is full of contrast, so you have to really allow yourself to feel blessed to have experienced both sides of that coin I mentioned earlier. We are always expanding. We don’t want complacency, or we’d be bored out of our minds! Be grateful that life is unfolding in a perfect way to bring you what you desire. Any time you feel bad, recognize it and thank your emotional indicators for reminding you that you’re falling out of alignment, and then go back to having fun.

Finally, allow yourself to receive your desire. Once you’ve declared what you want and feel grateful that it will be provided, you magnetize yourself to put yourself in alignment with what it is you want. You’ll start noticing magic. It’ll come in the form of magazine articles, invitations from friends, gut instincts to stop in a particular store. Pay attention to impulses that allow your desire to come to fruition. Don’t hold on to ideas that limit your receiving: i.e. “This can’t come to me today because…” Realize that your desire can come to you at any time, in any form! There are no accidents; only seeming accidents. Things very rarely go according to plan. This is because the plan isn’t yours to make! Remember, the universe handles the “how.” Everything has been orchestrated to get you where you want to go!

And then, when you’re least expecting it because you’re so busy having a great time being you and bringing other desires into your life, boom! Your gift is waiting.

Your awareness in the here and now creates worlds. It creates everything you experience. Pay attention to what you pay attention to. Feel good.

The future is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.