Law of Attraction

I’ve been a fan of science fiction & fantasy since childhood, and I have to say that through the years I’ve found many truths were shared in the creation of those other worlds by many a great writer. As a Star Trek fan from the beginning, I admit that Deep Space Nine may not have been my favorite show of the franchise, but it had its moments and its insights to be sure, and I loved many of the characters.

Star Trek: DS9 debuted as a series way back in 1993, but I still remember the pilot, because it introduced me to an important concept. I can’t say that I embodied the lesson then, but at least its message was imprinted on my consciousness so that many years later I would start to live that wisdom.

In part 2 of the pilot episode, Commander Benjamin Sisko (played by the brilliant Avery Brooks) took a shuttle craft into a stable wormhole. Rather than returning as expected, however, he was taken into what seemed to be another dimension, where beings of a very different understanding lived. These beings found the concept of linear time altogether foreign and nonsensical. In an attempt to understand Commander Sisko and third-dimensional humans, they plucked scenes from his life and had him relive them.

Sisko’s wife had died when their starship was attacked by the Borg, and he was unable to save her. He and his son had to evacuate the ship and leave her behind. Although the inhabitants of the wormhole took Commander Sisko through many of his life experiences, they kept returning him to this one scene that replayed over and over again. He became more distraught each time he was forced to relive that moment of having to leave his trapped, dying wife, and he said to the aliens something like, “Why do you keep bringing me here?! I don’t want to be here!”

Their reply was the same each time: “You live here.” In the years that followed his wife’s death, his intense guilt and grief had lingered to such an extent that the beings in the wormhole believed that this moment was his reality. It was the place where his mind returned every day—likely many times a day. In essence, he indeed lived in that same excruciating place for many years.

Thankfully, the wormhole inhabitants came to comprehend Sisko enough to know that he wasn’t a threat to them and let him leave the wormhole and return to the space station. In the process, they helped him to come to terms with his wife’s death and to realize that it was time to release the past and move beyond that place of guilt, anger and sorrow.

I too spent much of my life living in the past—especially in those moments where my great wounds were born—and I can say from much experience that it is not possible to cling to those old wounds and still be whole here in the present. It took me decades to let go of the more intense traumas of my life, but now at last they have faded and receded and in some cases entirely departed. This took diligence, self-exploration and a great deal of healing work using many modalities to get past those traumas. I feel grateful every day that I was able both to heal and to train myself to focus on the life I was born to live and the world that I want to create.

Of course, it wasn’t only the big things that lingered in my psyche. I used to find myself rehashing every day and wishing I had done this or that differently/better. Worrying about the past never improves the future, however. In fact, it creates more of the same, because the focus is on the thing that was unhealthy rather than on building the best life possible. The law of attraction teaches that energy moves in the direction of our attention, which means that every time I felt angst, guilt, etc. for those moments I deemed inappropriate, I was generating energy toward the repetition of the same.

I still have to work every day at focusing entirely on what I desire to see in the world (rather than what appears to be), but it gets easier as I generate more positive thought and feeling in my life. While still a work in progress to be sure, I can say that dedicated practice of focusing on what I want to create has helped me shift many patterns and deeply ingrained behaviors. Each success in this process builds on the prior ones until it becomes second nature.

I know from countless experiences in this life that the law of attraction not only works but is actually quite foolproof. Yes, it takes time (mostly because of the need to keep shifting ourselves in the direction we want to go) and extreme self-awareness and diligence. Even so, we have such an opportunity every day to choose where to place our energy and attention. That’s the great gift of free will. By staying in harmony and deciding in each moment to hold only Light AND by living in gratitude for all the good things that are present here in the present, we can build a personal reality that embodies our fondest dreams, and that reality then can spill out into the world to touch other people’s lives in beneficial ways.

This is what I believe, because this is my experience. You are free to embrace your own experience. I simply extend the invitation to join me on the quest for a truly joyful life. How? It begins by checking in several times a day to see where the attention is going. Simply ask, “Where am I living right now? Do I like it here?” If the answer is “no,” then it’s up to each of us to unequivocally decide to alter our trajectory. See what happens when the focus shifts.

I’m not saying it’s always easy. I know firsthand that can be exceedingly challenging. I have been in that pit of despair—unable to relinquish my sense of loss or anger or some other painful emotion. Finding the way past such things takes work, and seeking help along the way from friends, family and even professionals is the wise act of a strong person. Yet, once we get to a certain point in the journey, it becomes about retraining our minds to align with the highest reality, and that can go hand in hand with all other efforts on the path of healing.

The Law of Attraction tells us that “like attracts like” and that we create/manifest based on the energy we are emanating together with our focus. As the saying goes, “Energy flows where the attention goes.”

If we focus mental/emotional energy (preferably love and joy!) on what we want, we send the signal to the Universe to bring this desire to us. Thought + Emotion + Attention/Visualization (+ appropriate action) = Manifestation.

I’d say that for the most part those of us in the metaphysical and healing community are aware of this philosophy. Yet, how many of us actually live it moment to moment?

I must confess that I spend a fair amount of time on Facebook. During what has been a contentious political season, I’ve had numerous opportunities to practice the art of forgiveness and diligently apply the Law of Attraction, doing my utmost to remember to focus on what I seek rather than what I prefer to avoid. I admit that it’s been a challenge, but in every moment I am succeeding more and more!

I’ve seen so many posts expressing extreme hate/anger/fear and directing these energies to specific candidates and/or political issues. At times I’ve been tempted to hit “Like” (and occasionally even did so) in response to posts espousing political opinions that we “anti” one thing or another. Most of the time I’ve been careful to only give that tiny thumbs up to posts that were “pro” someone or something.

What the Law of Attraction reminds us is that if we keep giving attention plus energy to the thing we don’t want, we are feeding and fueling it. Hate and anger are very strong energies. So if we actually hate a candidate or policy, we are giving that person or issue a great deal of energy, and, if we keep focusing that hate or anger against the person or policy we wish to defeat, we are actually strengthening that which we would prefer to diminish.

So what’s the answer in terms of dealing with politics? I can’t answer that for everyone, but I can speak to my own decision. As much as possible, I choose to live the Law of Attraction. I am giving my energy and attention to the candidates I want to elect and the issues I want to promote. In some cases, that means donating to a person’s campaign or to an organization that supports my values, making calls or sending emails that encourage others to take appropriate action, and contacting current members of Congress (state and national), the Governor’s Office, the President, etc. to let my voice be heard on the issues that matter to me. Another thing I like to do is focus at least 10-30 minutes a day on what I want, on the candidate(s) I seek to elect. I hold love and a feeling of joy while visualizing the outcome I want. This is simple Law of Attraction work. I let no feelings other than love and joy come into play while I’m focusing on my desired outcome. I see/feel/think/live that result as if it were already accomplished. As much as possible, I also keep my emotions and thoughts in check the rest of the time.

Granted I’m just one person doing this, but I know the power of it in my own life, and even with the chaotic, hateful energies being sent out by others, I choose to focus entirely on what I want, who I want to see elected, the issues that I would like to see resolved being accomplished.

If I were to do anything else, I would be contributing to what has been a turbulent political climate. Even as I typed the last three words in the previous sentence, I consciously dis-empowered them by igniting them in the Violet Flame of Transmutation. I acknowledge the need to be ever more diligent in choosing my words to create the future I seek. I am done with allowing unconscious choices to rule my world.

I realize that choosing to live the Law of Attraction may seem a daunting challenge to some. However, its benefits are great enough to warrant my own dedication. I’ve had to train myself on an ongoing basis and continue to get better at the process as I practice it more and more.

My precious pet reminds me regularly to continue to apply this law. “How?” you well may ask. While he’s a great animal companion most of the time, but occasionally he does things that are intended to draw negative attention from me, because attention is, after all, what we all seek. I used to scold him, get upset with him and energetically align with the behavior I wanted to stop. Sometimes I would even replay the behavior in my mind because I was irked at it—thus sending the suggestion to him to repeat the behavior! Now when he decides to “try” my patience, I simply withdraw. I leave the room and his presence behind. I take my attention/focus, one of the necessary components for creation, away from the situation and place it on something else that brings me joy. When I return, the little guy is always on his best behavior.

To add more Law of Attraction to correcting this situation, at a time when things are flowing well, I direct as much love toward my animal companion as possible and visualize him behaving beautifully. This makes him less likely to act out again.

I find that practicing the Law of Attraction on the small stuff helps to ingrain it more in my psyche. Over time, it become much easier to live that law as a result. While the political issues of our time couldn’t really be considered small things, choosing as much as possible to hold ourselves in the light and focus on the things we want can make an impact on the situation—especially as more and more of us begin to do so.