There are many myths around the Internet regarding the Law of Attraction. Buying into some of these ideas can actually hamper your success. What’s at the core of the Law of Attraction? What are the best practices you should follow?

I recently found a blog post on the Law of Attraction Tutor about Five Things to know about the Law of Attraction, which got me to thinking about what I believe about it.

Here are five important things I think everyone needs to know about the Law of Attraction:

1) Awareness

You cannot do ANYTHING until you take control of your mind. It’s really the only quality we have that nobody else has, that nobody can take that away from us. We can decide what we choose to listen to, or not. That is the power of awareness. You need to be conscious of the thoughts that you are letting into your subconscious mind.

2) Avoid Limiting Beliefs

The LOA Tutor lists this as his #5 belief, but I think it’s one of the most important ones: Once you become aware, you are able to neutralize the limited beliefs. You know when something bad comes into your mind, you can diffuse it by not letting it set in your mind. Many times, this means that you need to get rid of the perceptions and preconceived notions things you were exposed to early in your life.

3) Setting Clear Intention

The next step in applying the law of attraction is knowing exactly what you want. When you set an intention, you need to be very specific. You also need to be very positive. If you are visualizing something and simultaneously feeling negative energy about something surrounding that thing, you are actually giving power to the negative thought. By telling the Universe exactly what you want, you are instructing it on where you are headed and how it can support you in getting there.

4) Taking Action

You have the Law of Attraction, but you also must consider the Law of Actions. You have to take action. I can sit here and talk about all the things I want to be, such as, “I want to be an Olympic champion.” Unfortunately, there is no way I’m going to become an Olympic champion if I don’t lift any weights. It’s just not going to happen. I’m not going to make the Olympics if I’m not practicing any sports. I can visualize myself playing basketball and making three-pointers every time, but if I never go to the court to put in some time and effort into what I want to be, it will not come to be.

5) History of Law of Attraction

The LOA Tutor reminds us that the true Law of Attraction is not a flash-in-the-pan idea. It has actually been around for quite a while, some say as far as 100 years back. Self-help books from 50 – 75 years ago teach the principles of the Law of Attraction that are presented today as being brand new. The long history behind the Law of Attraction is a testament to the success that people have found with it, when they’ve learned how to apply it correctly in their lives.

The Law of Attraction gives to you what you most strongly focus upon, whether wanted or unwanted. The same is true for your partner. The Law of Attraction will give you everything you desire by either creating a stronger connection with your present partner (or whomever it is you are trying to connect with) or aligning you with a person who vibrates in the same frequency that you are vibrating in.

This means that if you are not meant to be with a specific person, it will never happen, because you’re not both vibrating on that same frequency.

If you focus so much on attracting the love which you desire, you will find it. It will materialize in your life. The Universe will either align you with your partner, or it will find the person that is the best for you, a new partner. You have to allow the Law of Attraction to do its job and set you up with the experiences you are putting your focus on. The Universe knows what is best for us, and if we act with faith and trust, we will receive it.

Many people only know about the Law of Attraction because of movie, “The Secret.” In a way, it’s a good movie because it helped people learn about the Law of Attraction. But at the same time, it’s fairly elementary. People think, “Oh, if I do A, then B will happen.”

There’s a lot more to it than what they show in the movie. This is certainly the case with the Law of Attraction and how it relates to personal relationships.

For example, it is impossible to create an experience for another person. I might say, “I want Cindy to be with me,” but if she doesn’t want to be with me, I cannot make her. I can visualize her being with me all day long, but then I won’t be open to all the possibilities that the universe can give me. Because the universe might give me something better.

That’s why, when you do affirmations, you say, “Give me this, or better.” When you say “better,” you’re opening yourself up to everything that the universe can provide. If Cindy is not good for me, and God knows best — God knows what’s good for me — it’s not going to happen. He’s going to give me what is best for me.

If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. If it’s not, God is going to give me what’s best for me.

No one ever said life would be easy. When you start applying the Law of Attraction, it’s not like turning on a switch and everything becomes instantly better. However, with the Law of Attraction, life will be easier than it has been.

In order for this to happen, you need to put in the effort — and that means consistent prayer and meditation. While life might not become “easy,” it will become more meaningful. That’s the key word here: meaningful.

Let’s say I have a job baking doughnuts, and I hate going to my job at 3:00 am to bake doughnuts for people. I don’t like that; it doesn’t have any meaning to me. But let’s say I vacuum the Oval Office in the White House, and I’m a huge fan of the government, which gives me meaning. I’m happy doing that, because it gives me meaning, it gives me a purpose in life, regardless of what it is. I’m going to go ahead and do that job because it makes me happy. I’m going to vacuum the Oval Office every day, maybe multiple times a day.

The misconception is that everyone is out to be a movie star, or a singer, or an actor, or the President. But not everybody can be those things. In the same way, not everybody can be a street sweeper or a doughnut baker. What appeals to me might not appeal to you. You have to find the meaning, and the Law of Attraction can help you do that.

Finding your purpose and what really makes you happy makes your life much more enjoyable. You just have to be willing to take action and control of your mind in order to attract the wishes you desire. Again, this doesn’t mean that your life will get easier, but it will bring meaning to whatever you decide to entertain in your life.

No, there is no Big Secret to the Law of Attraction. People ask me all the time, “How do I use the Law of Attraction? How can I attract things faster to me?”

The truth is, people choose to either ignore the Law of Attraction, or only take complete control of it during a very specific situation. For example, let’s say somebody is ill in your family and you’re praying for them. You have faith that that person is going to get better, because you love them so much. Now you start applying the Law of Attraction, and use it for your advantage to help that person get better.

We all use the Law of Attraction 24/7, whether we know it or not. It’s always in use. However, when you take control of the Law of Attraction, that’s a different story. You need to ask yourself this question: how am I using this Law? Am I using it to attract the right things to my life, or not?

You must understand that we were all born with the ability to control our thoughts and direct our lives. If there is a big secret, that secret is AWARENESS. That is the only way you can harness this power. However, there is no easy way of being aware.

The only way you can do this is through meditation and being disciplined with your life. Through meditation, you can be conscious of what is coming into your mind. Through discipline, you find balance.

There are no shortcuts. You have to put in the effort and be willing to open up yourself and become more aware, and that takes work. To me, life is like a mountain – you are always climbing it – you never stop. Even when you think you’ve reached the highest point, you should always be working on climbing that mountain.

Without awareness, you are living on autopilot, allowing external situations and circumstances to control your life instead of your inner self. You need to be conscious of what it is you are THINKING in order to make changes and attract what you want.

The Law of Attraction is not just about attracting wealth, but about finding one’s true self. The Law of Attraction is about finding that something that makes you feel genuinely happy and at peace with yourself. It allows you to find clues that enable you to find your true purpose here on earth.

Most people who begin to embrace the Law of Attraction find themselves attracting that which they do not want. How does that happen? By not being a worldly energy, you are giving to a specific something and allowing that thought to settle in your subconscious mind. You have to understand that thoughts are things.

If you are worrying about how you are going to pay your bill, for example, instead of being open to all the possibilities that could arise before that bill payment, you are setting yourself up for failure. You are indeed attracting that which you do not want.

Basically, you are using the Law of Attraction, whether you know it or not. The Law of Attraction brings to you what you most strongly focus upon, whether you want it, or don’t want it. The good thing is that we all come into the world with the ability to control our mind power and direct it to whatever end we may choose.

When the movie “The Secret” came out, most people thought only about the material things they could attract to themselves. But it is much more than that. The truth is, you can literally direct your life by attracting the ideal people and circumstances that you need in order to lead a more fulfilling life.

Remember, God is unity. You can see somebody and think, “I want that somebody to be with me,” but if that person is not vibrating the same energy frequency, then it’s not going to happen. Instead, you have to be open and you have to have faith so that God can provide that person for you.

It will happen, but you have to be open to that possibility. The Law of Attraction allows us the ability to co-create with the Universe. Focusing on wealth only shouldn’t be the main focus of the Law of Attraction.