I have nothing personal against the Law of Attraction. Except for the painful shadow it casts when it becomes your direction-finder and distracts you from what needs to be learned or done about your current reality.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s much to be said for hope and belief and positive intention. Leaning into life’s possibilities, as a way of walking the planet, offers joy and curiosity.
But imaginative envisioning is half of an equation, and it can be a distraction to sit in wishful thinking when a lot of life perspiration and determination. It’s really true what they told us when we were little: Almost everything that has any worth and personal value requires work, and that sense of accomplishment is its own reward.
The darkest shadow of the Law of Attraction is the way it seems to trigger the belief that if bad things happen, I must have done something wrong. I’ve worked with more than one client on that belief. People with migraines, cancer, bank foreclosures due to a health crisis. All of these real life situations are difficult enough without blaming yourself for attracting the situation. And blaming yourself is a logical step to take if you believe that you’re creating your reality.
One of my teachers (Byron Katie) once said she was less interested in attracting what she loves than she was in loving what she has. What a simple shift! It’s way kinder, too.
Lots of my clients think that loving what they have would mean they’d never do anything, change anything. Not true, in my experience.
What I’ve found is that all it means is that I’m not distracted by my mind. When I’m at peace with the life I have, I’m free to move to change it with an open mind and a clear heart. From fullness, I welcome more. If I’m ill, I find the bed I’m in perfect in the moment. I don’t make myself sicker by making it my fault. If I lose my job, I can find an opening from which to do what is next to do. I’m not caught up in blaming them or (worse) myself for reality. I’m light on my feet and open to the next chapter. I do the next thing. And reality shows me what it is. There is great kindness in this simplicity.
