I heard of the Law of Attraction through someone who took the same coursework during my Masters. That was 6 years ago. I have forgotten the name of the classmate, but the book triggered a trip down the rabbit hole in so many ways that I am still digging myself out.
As a full time adult with all the concerns that come with adulting and a Masters returning student, my mental capacities were maxed out. The humanities coursework seemed enormously stressful to a numbers person like me. I was ready for any and all solutions to complete the degree without going down in flames.
So, I met ‘The secret’ when I was in the mental state of desperation.
Needless to say, I was equal parts horrified and fascinated by the concept. Astrologically, I was also the perfect candidate to experiment with this law. Outer planets positioned at angles making squares to personal planets AND a powerful south node means that I’m usually game for esoteric topics. I was drawn to the idea like a moth to a flame.
Never a stranger to fantasy (Thank you Neptune squares); I found the whole premise very promising.
“Our life is a reflection of what we believe it to be so, and we attract what we believe. If we vibrate higher, we attract opportunities and luck into our lives and if we are lower vibrationally, we attract negativity.”
Simple, no?
Down the rabbit hole of “Law of Attraction”
To seek on the outside for that which you do not feel you are is to seek in vain, for we never find that which we want; we find only that which we are.
Neville Goddard
“The secret” by Rhonda Byrnes, which was not really a secret and heavily (emphasis on heavy) inspired by Neville Goddard, among others, turned out to be a surprising fast and superficial read which did not really get deeper into the whys and wheretofores of the concept.
I felt like an elephant eating a blade of grass. Where the OG concept? Surely Rhonda Byrne is not the first (nor the last) human who has disseminated this metaphysical idea.!
These questions led me to Neville Goddard whose writings are more flshed out, less “marketing spiel” and echo his hermetic background.
And thus saturated with information from his books, I planned a 4 pronged approach to the problem of maxed out ‘mental bandwidth’. The plan was to practice the ideas in Neville Goddard’s books for a month. I suppose I had this vision in my minds eye that once I had internalised the teachings, I would rapidly absorb academic knowledge through osmosis.
Daily affirmations. I chose one by Abraham Hicks “Everything is working out for me”, simply because I liked how it made the words made me feel. About 3 years ago, enterprising youtubers have set the same affirmations to music and its available on youtube.
Meditation/mindfulness: Combined it with my usual daily prayer/mantra to Lord Ganesha.
Mental Diet: This was hard. I had to limit sensorial inputs, which meant I restricted myself from watching the news, or browsing on the internet, or reading, watching, thinking any thoughts that would ‘pull down by vibrations’ so to speak.
Journalling: I committed to journalling every single day, just before bed. And because I used to be the queen of procrastination and would avoid journalling if it is deemed ‘too fussy’, I decided to document my experiences on google drive, instead of pen/paper. It did not quite have the feel of a handwritten diary or journal, but it did its job by creating a database of everyday experiences that I can go back and analyse quickly. The researcher in me is content.
The first few days were easy as my brain latches on to novelty fairly quickly. Until the novelty becomes a routine, then the struggle begins.
Sustaining positivity is hard
Never entertain an undesirable feeling, nor think sympathetically about wrong in any shape or form. Do not dwell on the imperfection of yourself or others. To do so is to impress the subconscious with these limitations. What you do not want done unto you, do not feel that it is done unto you or another. This is the whole law of a full and happy life. Everything else is commentary.
Neville Goddard
Its extremely challenging to be positive all the time even if the default baseline is chirpy, bright, optimistic. There are certain situations which test our patience and ‘never entertaining an undesirable feeling‘ becomes herculean and counter productive. We’ve all had experiences that bring out ‘undesirable feelings’ in us. I’m yet not sure yet how to maintain the constant positivity required by his teachings. But, I have managed to be much more observant of my emotions and quickly bounce back from those undesirable feelings.
Slippery slope of blame
Be careful of your moods and feelings, for there is an unbroken connection between your feelings and your visible world.
Neville Goddard
I had (and have) a really big bone to pick with this maxim. Extrapolating the idea that our inner world decides our external, this could mean every victim is a victim because they manifested that state. Like the preposterous claim that every person with ___disease has manifested their ___disease. And so on.
I do not (yet) believe that humans are powerful enough to create one-to-one correspondence between each thought and their real world.
If we cannot manifest our desires, we are not doing it correctly
Chance or accident is not responsible for the things that happen to you, nor is predestined fate the author of your fortune or misfortune. Your subconscious impressions determine the conditions of your world.
Neville Goddard
Another sticky issue- the problem of technique. I tried SATS or ‘State Akin To Sleep’ where one is supposed to visualise and more importantly feel that our desires having already been manifested. The visualisation is done in first person which is usually a challenge. For instance, if I desire ice cream and want to manifest it in my reality; I need to ‘experience‘ eating it in the SATS. The taste, the coldness, the feel of ice cream touching my tongue etc. The next challenge that I faced was to ‘hold’ the as yet purely imaginative experience in my minds eye. I was successful some nights and other nights, not so much. Ironically, for a brief period, not being able to perfect the technique stressed me out as much as the outcome I was trying to manifest.
Did It Work At All?
In short. Yes.
It worked because my expectations were not rigidly defined. I was not using the law of attraction or law of assumption to find a job or find a suitable partner or a car or something that is measurable and tangible.
My aims were nebulous and intangible and therefore, the results were more of an internal fine tuning than a manifestation of my thoughts into reality. I noticed an effortless bouyancy or lightness to my moods, so much so that my default ‘peaceful’ baseline became optimistic and cheerful. It is not a huge difference for an observer, but for someone who is constantly prone to overthinking and overanalyzing; changing the ‘default’ mindset is a game changer.
I noticed I slept better. I was (and am) less anxious as I have become less outcome and result oriented.
I did not absorb books through osmosis as I desired (huh!); but the remainder of my Masters coursework had a flow and beauty and I received better grades for less effort. So maybe the experiment which began on slightly shaky, even moronic assumptions ended on a very happy note. By the end of that first month, I managed to sleep through the night consistently without dreaming of Bs and Cs on my research papers.
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