According to the New Thought, thoughts have a magnetic power that acts as a force of cause and effect between your wishes and their realisation. This idea was taken back by Rhonda Byrne in her book The Secret, a best-seller that tells you how to apply the Law of Attraction into practice. Want to know how? Keep reading, then...
The Secret: Rhonda Byrne's proposal on the Law of Attraction
With a truly special message and a couple references on Oprah Winfrey's show, the book The Secret, written in 2006 by Rhonda Byrne, became a best-seller overnight and one of the self-help books with most copies sold around the world that helped spread the message of the Law of Attraction.
The book calls the readers' attention by presenting 'The Secret' with an intentional commercial strategy, like a treasured mystery, hidden away, stolen and bought with a large sum of money, and stashed away by the great thinkers of humankind, all the way from Plato to Einstein. Then, the author is willing to reveal the secret to readers. But what is it, actually?
It's the Law of Attraction, a concept rooted in the ideas of the editor and occult expert, and also New Thought founder, William Walker Atkinson. This idea basically presents the premise that everything that comes into our life, no matter if positive or negative, has our attraction through thoughts as a natural cause.
Based on this thought, the book unfolds the nature of the secret to the Law of Attraction through quoting celebrities of different fields of expertise, and some personal testimonials as well.
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Rhonda Byrne points out it's a natural, neutral law that each individual can use to turn its effects in favour of their own interests. Emotions determine our thoughts, and those thoughts in repetition favour the realisation of whatever experience it is we seek.
In a practical way, the author introduces three steps to make it happen: the expression of wishes, that is, the request; the belief that whatever we wished for has already occurred, that is, the faith; and to act as if our needs have already been met, that is, the reception. Requesting, believing and receiving are the three great actions that make the Law of Attraction come true.
What is the New Thought? Discovering a pathway
For some it is a revelation that breaks the mold of the foundations of psychology and thinking. For others, it is just one of the many religious cults in the USA that appeared during the second half of the 19th century. The truth is that New Thought settled a basis as a source of inspiration for many esoterical currents.
Initially, it was a compilation of esoterical ideas revolving around the healing power of the mind and organised around the concept of mental science. One of the people who found healing in this current was William Walker Atkinson, a lawyer and salesman who, after a period of stress and depression, attributed his health improvement to new beginnings.
That's how he started writing articles and bringing in some Eastern practices, like yoga, into the United States. After moving to Chicago, the worldwide center of New Thought, he became this movement's most active promoter, especially through editing and publishing his ideas.
There's no doubt that the final turn in New Thought comes along with the publication of a series of books and articles written by Atkinson about thought magnetism, eventually developing the revolutionary theory that concentrating thoughts is a way to make experiences true through a Law of Attraction.
Seen in perspective, New Thought is just the introduction of the Eastern idea of karma (transcendent energy created through an individual's actions) applied into practical psychology and the self-help processes of industrial societies which ends, from the first theoretical developments such as Atkinson's, at Rhonda Byrne's Law of Attraction.
How the Law of Attraction works
Therefore, these esoterical currents transform the belief in magnetic transcendent vibrations from several dharma-based religions into one single practical tool for the psychology of individuals inhabiting industrial societies, who are submitted to high levels of stress and frustration. The Law of Attraction is nothing but the strong idea that you can attract happiness and prosperity through focusing your thoughts.
We've already seen that, according to The Secret's author Rhonda Byrne, in a simple way, the Law of Attraction is about requesting, believing and receiving.
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1. Requesting: the expression of your wishes
This is perhaps the most important part. Because the Law of Attraction is based on the magnetism of your thoughts, formulating wishes is the trigger to activate their occurrence. In a practical way, this means you need to express your ideas positively by avoiding the temptation of focusing them into their negative side.
For instance, if you're going through a financial pinch you can promote recovery by focusing your thoughts into formulating that wish. Focusing on things like 'I can't make ends meet' or 'if things don't change I'm doomed' just create foul vibrations that block the arrival of beneficial actions.
Instead, building up mental strength through thoughts such as 'this is just a bump in the road, I can do it' or 'I'm gonna find a way out' are ideas that create a positive environment to promote the entrance of good vibrations for realisation and prosperity.
2. Believing: the belief that it can come true
The second step to accomplish the Law of Attraction is to believe, which consists of the following: once the wishes have been formulated into positive thoughts, you need to have the belief that they are achievable and can actually come true. This second step gets the magnetism of thoughts and their attraction going quite strongly.
According to this idea, it's no good to present a thought positively if deep down you don't believe your wish can come true. You should also create a cause-and-effect connection between requesting and receiving: a positive thought eventually comes true through the magnetic attraction coming from the faith that it can happen.
In a practical way, this means that, following the previous example, if you've already presented the positive wish of financial recovery, you need to act as if it had already happened on a daily basis.
3. Receiving: thankfulness as compensation
One of the essential principles Rhonda Byrne presents to complete the process of the Law of Attraction and promote its renovation is thankfulness. According to this, feeling thankful for all the good things you've received is a way to continue creating positive ideas that keep promoting the arrival of good things.
In the Powerful Processes section of her book, the author advises to revise the day's events and to relive frustrating experiences in the way we would have liked to. Also, through the creation of a list of things we feel thankful about, we'll attract more benefits.
The secret to applying the Law of Attraction: health, money and love
After these practical tips on how to promote positive actions and the arrival of good things into your life through magnetic thoughts, you should know that the Law of Attraction has practical applications in the different areas of life.
The Secret and love
The idea is really quite tempting: can you get the love of your beloved through your thoughts' actions? The power of the mind is limitless and, according to the Law of Attraction, you can create the conditions for it to occur.
To begin with, you need to strengthen self-love. Only by acting from a sense of mental strength based on trust and self-esteem, you'll manage to win the other person's heart. Also, the creation of a positive self-image attracts others' attention. Believe in achieving love, as hard as it looks, and express it through your emotions. Your actions will be rewarded.
This is also good for long-term relationships, or couples in crisis: projecting a mental image of a future perfect life promotes overcoming issues and strengthening stability and wellness.
The Secret and money
To apply the Law of Attraction into receiving money you need to overcome a strict material ambition and to set yourselves into a more spiritual domain. The material arrival of riches and abundance will only come if you can grow mentally and spiritually through the Laws of Attraction: requesting, believing and receiving.
According to the Secret, you're your own reality's creator and that applies to money as well, so you can create conditions that promote prosperity and abundance through the projection of positive thoughts. Reinforce them by acting as if your wishes had already come true on a daily basis. Think about solutions and avoid moping.
You need to keep in mind that the Law of Attraction is not an immediate mechanism that works like a charm. If you think that money will rain over you if you think of a number, you're not using this law's potential to the fullest. Think positive and let the universe compensate you without getting obsessed.
The Secret and health
For many people, health is life's most important area, because a good physical state helps us face the other areas with more guarantees for success. In the case of health, the Law of Attraction works quite intensely, because in this case it is based on a connection created by the medical sciences between the mind and body.
There has been enough of a comparison between the several psychosomatic effects of bad thoughts, which create a drop in the immune system's barriers and the appearance of illnesses. Thinking negatively also creates a dark aura around us that blocks the flow of good vibrations, and the body feels that sooner or later.
Instead, projecting positive thoughts on your health is the first step to prevent illnesses and overcome physical issues. For instance, if you're recovering from sickness, focusing your thoughts on physical wellness and acting as if you were healed already attracts the vibrations that will help speed your healing.