Sometimes clients ask me, “If I’m practicing the Law of Attraction, does that mean I can stop working on my business now?”

Unfortunately, with a lot of myths floating around about the Law of Attraction, people are led to believe this to be true: that the Law of Attraction is some sort of Universal get rich quick scheme. This is completely wrong.

The principles of the Law of Attraction will bring specific people or situations into your life, but you must do something to make that happen. You can’t expect everything to fall out of the sky and into your lap. On other words, you must take action in order to bring the things you desire to you.

Sometimes, this is a hard step to take, but you can’t skip it. You can sit around writing down your goals and delving into you subconscious mind, but if you don’t start chipping away at those goals, you will never accomplish anything.

Some people procrastinate because they want things to be perfect. “I don’t want to open this business until I have this much money.” The money never comes, and they keep pushing that goal to the back burner. The fact is, there will always be something that isn’t quite perfect. You have to be a doer. The more you put things off, the weaker the idea becomes, and the more excuses you will find not to get it done.

Let’s say I want to be a swimmer. I can sit here and visualize myself swimming, feel the water on my skin, hear the national anthem as I’m winning the goal medal at the Olympics. That’s all fine and good, but if I never get in the pool and start doing laps, it will never happen.

You can get started on it by doing something as minor as contacting the people who might be in a network of swimmers. Maybe you attract someone who knows a swimming coach. The Law of Attraction brought that person to you, but it cannot make you speak with that person and use them to reach your goals. That’s up to you.

Consistent visualization, prayer, and mediation are all essential parts of bringing good things into your life. However, you need to have the courage to respond to them when you bring them about. Remember, nothing good comes easy. Anything worthwhile takes work.

Children and teens are prime candidates for the Law of Attraction. Why? Their minds, for the most part, are not filled with all the worries, doubts, and negative garbage that adults manifest in the Universe. Bills, mortgage payments, jobs — these are not things children have to concern themselves with.

Think about how different would your life have been if your parents introduced the Law of Attraction to you as a child. How would the world be, if all children were taught this Law at home? I believe it would not only make stronger families, but a better world.

Here are a few ways you can introduce the Law of Attraction to your kids.

1) Lead by Example

Stay optimistic. Meditate frequently. Live a life that you can be proud of. Your children are always looking up to you; you are their role model. They will emulate your behavior and pick up your attitude. Show them how you want them to live by living it yourself.

2) Educate Your Children about How Their Thoughts Affect Their Behavior

While the Law of Attraction can seem complex to adults, children often easily grasp its simplicity. Explain what the Law of Attraction means to you, and how it’s benefited you in your daily life. By educating them on the Law of Attraction, you can awaken their sense of awareness of their thoughts, which is the first step in successfully living by the Law.

3) Create a Vision Board

Vision boards are a fun and easy way to introduce the Law of Attraction to your kids. What do they want to accomplish? What things would they like to have? Collect a bunch of kid- and family-friendly magazines and have them cut out images and words that resonate with their goals and dreams. Place your findings on a board and hang it where it can be viewed frequently. Each time they achieve something on the board, put a check mark next to it. That check mark will do even more to instill a deeper sense of self-confidence, empowering your child to attract more of what he or she wants.

4) Show Support

Be a champion of your child’s journey. You are their #1 fan, so make sure they know that. When you see them implementing the Law of Attraction in their daily thoughts and actions, give them praise.

Children are like sponges when it comes to learning. They pick up new skills, new sports, and even new languages at a young age. By introducing them to the Law of Attraction, you can teach them a whole new way of thinking.

Stress is a feeling that’s created when we react to particular events. It’s true that there are certain situations where stress is good, and even critical — slamming on the brakes, for instance. That acute reaction to stress is what keeps you from colliding with another car.

Another more mild form of stress is where you feel the pressure is on, but there is no imminent danger, like stepping up to score the winning penalty kick in a soccer game. In this case, stress is good because it keeps you on point and ready to rise up to a challenge. Any good athlete uses stress to drive them forward to overcome any obstacle they may face.

However, we all have known times when stress doesn’t happen in response to something immediate. It may occur as a result of long-term events, like coping with divorce, moving to a new neighborhood, starting a new job, or worrying about losing a job. That is the type of stress we don’t want, as it can have a significant impact on the Law of Attraction.

Why is that? Because, as we know, thoughts are things and what we cultivate in our subconscious mind is what we manifest into our reality. In other words, when we let negative or stressful thoughts into our conscious mind, these thoughts become firmly entrenched in our subconscious mind.

The more we believe an idea to be true, the more we tap into that energy in the Universe, creating more of what we do not want in our lives. That is, if we focus on stressful things, we essentially bring more of those stressful things to us.

You may notice a snowball effect, like seeing someone’s stress begin as something very minor, but then watching it grow. As it gets bigger, it continues to create more and more of that chaotic energy in their lives.

We are psycho-physical entities, meaning the mind affects the body, and the body affects the mind. Therefore, when faced with a stressful situation, your body doesn’t know what the facts are — it’s reacting to your thoughts and moods in order to find that balance between mind and body.

A great example is people who are overweight. They may focus on the fact that they are heavy, that they feel heavy, and they can’t do the things they want to do in their lives. By manifesting this idea within their subconscious, they are, in fact, keeping themselves heavy.

Instead, they should focus on the lightness of being, and the freedom of their body moving through the world, whatever size it may be. The more you think the negative thoughts, the more your subconscious is going to bring those negative things into your life.

Does it mean the Law of Attraction has failed you, when you have been praying and meditating, but don’t receive the things you’ve asked for?

No, not at all. It means that you are either asking for the wrong things, or you’re not ready for the thing you’re asking for. Nothing happens by chance in this life. Anything that occurs does so because you have sent that signal into the Universe, and the Universe is responding by bringing more of that energy to you.

Here’s a great example: my friend wanted to manifest for himself a nice, new BMW. He was consistently visualizing and keeping optimistic in his daily life. He did his daily affirmations and had visual cues of the car all over his home. And wouldn’t you know it, one day, he got the car. He put all this focus and all of his intentions into this car, and in the end, he materialized the car. He knew that because he was working so hard on this and he had faith that he was going to get it.

Sounds good, right? Except, it wasn’t good for my friend.

He knew he was not in the right financial situation to buy a BMW. He didn’t know how he was going get one. He just focused on obtaining the car in whatever way was necessary. However, once he got his dream car, he stopped implementing the Law of Attraction. He started worrying about his job and his personal relationships, and he started creating more chaos in his life.

All of these worries began popping into his head and it threw him off point. He lacked the consistency he had with manifesting the BMW, and his life started to unravel. He lost his job and couldn’t make the payments on his new car, which he eventually had to give up.

My friend realized that just as he had brought the car into his life, he also pushed the car out of his life, because he had lost focus on the positive and let the negative overtake him. Once he became aware of this, he started applying the Law of Attraction to every aspect of his life and, in the end, found balance.

He told me later that he knew he wasn’t meant to have the car in the first place, but his ego convinced him otherwise. Eventually he bought a new car, one he paid for in cash and was practical for his life. He saw this as a gift, because although the car was not a BMW, he didn’t have to stress out about making payments on this car.

This story can remind us that if we don’t receive something, then it was not meant to be. You need to be aware of what you’re thinking, and let God do the work of knowing what is the best option for you.

That’s why I tell clients to be sure to include the key phrase “or better” in their affirmations, as in, “please manifest this, or better.”

What you are doing is asking the Universe to give you that which you desire, or is a better fit for your life. For my friend, “or better” would not have been a better car than a BMW, but a car that was better for his life. One that didn’t cause any stress or cause him to lose his job or harm relationships.

“Or better” will help you offset whatever comes into your life and to help you recognize that what is actually best for you may be even better than you could ever imagine.

“How can the Law of Attraction help me with my personal and family relationships?”

I get asked this question a lot by clients. We know that the Universe knows what is best for us. We may think we know, but we don’t.

The Law of Attraction will manifest what we most strongly focus upon, whether we want it or don’t want it, and it will do the same for our partners, friends, and family members. That’s why you cannot create someone else’s reality.

For example, let’s say your wife is the love of your life, and you want to stay with her, but she wants a divorce. You may think that if you believe everything is going to be fine, it will all work out. You can think that all day long, but the truth is, you cannot control what she is thinking. You cannot make her want something she does not want. She is not vibrating at the same frequency as you, and by not accepting and letting go of the situation, you could be creating chaotic energy for the entire relationship.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the Law of Attraction to help you with your relationships. Here are four ways you can use it to help you attract the best people for your life, and to help you deal with the ones you already have in your life.

1. Understand the Law of Attraction cannot make someone else do something that they do not want to do. If you’re having problems in your relationship and you wish to manifest a loving relationship with your partner, the Law of Attraction will either help you in your current relationship, provided that your partner’s intentions are to work things out with you, or it will terminate your relationship and manifest the right person for your life as long as you are willing to let go.
2. Leave your fate to God by praying and meditating and trusting that He is going to bring the person into your life you are supposed to be with. By trusting God, you open yourself up to either strengthening your relationship, or gaining the courage to leave it and find someone who is better suited for you. Part of this is letting go, and not worrying about how it will happen. Remember, the Universe knows what’s best for us.
3. Remember the phrase “or better.” When you pray and meditate, it’s always important that you ask for what you want “or better,” because that means you’re willing to receive what is best for you. It means you trust God to give you the best for you, rather than being limited by what you want. This is also true for the people in our lives. We want a loving relationship with this person “or better.” What we’re really doing is letting God know that we trust Him to provide what is best for us. This same reasoning applies to your family relationships.
4. You cannot manifest thoughts for someone else. You can only control yourself and your life. If you are in a situation where you are not getting along with a family member, you can pray, meditate, and have faith that your relationship is going to get better. But it will only get better when you keep yourself from getting bogged down in the negative thoughts surrounding that relationship.  Instead of fighting with your brother, focus on feelings of love and understanding. When your brother sees that, it will automatically decrease the     stress level around the situation. The Law of Attraction is not going to magically heal your relationships, but it can help you find that peace to which others will respond.

By using the Law of Attraction, and asking the Universe to help us with our personal relationships, we can reduce the stress and tension of existing ones, and even find new people we can share our lives with.