I recently read a great article on the Knowledge Plus Action blog that had some great points in regards to letting go of the “when” and “how” when using the Law of Attraction in your life.

While people can easily grasp the idea of visualizations and affirmations, they can sometimes get caught up in thinking, “there’s no way this could actually happen,” or “this might not happen.” In the Law of Attraction, simply performing the meditations isn’t enough. You must have faith that you deserve whatever it is you desire, and that it (or something even better) will come to you.

While I agreed with most of the points in KPAction’s article, there was one point I do not agree with: how our work ethic has changed in the present day. The author made the argument that it should be easier than ever to use the Law of Attraction because in the past, the idea of working hard was necessary for survival.

While I agree that we do not have to work as long and laboriously in today’s society, we still need to take active strides toward what we want. However, in the time between manifesting your thoughts and taking action, you need to practice the art of “allowing.”

Allowing gives us the ability to stay open to what God can give us.

For example, let’s say I set the intention of a specific vehicle that I want: a red car with four doors, four wheel drive, and all the bells and whistles. Once I’ve done that, I have set the intention of what I want.

The next step is to let go. Why? Because whatever comes my way, I’ll be open to it, because it will be better for my life. When you allow, you’re not blocking yourself from whatever it is that God can bring you. When you don’t allow and don’t let go, you are blocking yourself from the possibility of something even better than you imagined coming into your life.

Instead, you create anxiety by holding onto something and trying to force it into existence. You begin to worry, “Why is it not working? Why is this not appearing in my life? Why is it not manifesting?” When you do your visualizations and your meditations, and set intentions, you must have faith that whatever you ask for is going to manifest. If you have faith, you allow, and you let go. Affirm to yourself, “It will come to me. It is either this, or something better.” Then you are open to endless possibilities.

Letting go can be hard for some people to grasp when applying the Law of Attraction. Letting go means to fear NOT and TRUST that you will get what your heart desires.

What I mean is to let go of the doubts and insecurity. Thinking “it might not happen” keeps you at that negative energy frequency. Keep up the visualizations, affirmations, and intentions. However, once you do, let God take over and bring about your manifestation.

You need to stay open to whatever God can bring you when the time is right. By letting go, you’ll find it overrides that doubt, and fills you with faith that it’s going to happen. Remember, it’s very simple when it comes to the Universe: Ask, and you shall receive.

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.

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.

Like the Law of Gravity, the Law of Attraction is always present. Positive thoughts attract success, logic attracts order; but also, chaos attracts more chaos, and negativity attracts defeat. To harness the Law of Attraction to obtain what you most desire in life, always remember the following:

1. Set clear intentions.
2. Believe that what can be, is.
3. Allow the universe to bring your intentions to fruition.

When you’re utilizing the power of the Law of Attraction the most important first step is your intention. You can’t be wishy-washy about your goals in life. Be clear with yourself about intention. Why? Because, thoughts are things. If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. If you can see it in your minds eye, if you can visualize it, it’s there. You may not be experiencing it right now, but it’s there. So, set your intention thoughtfully.

Have faith in yourself and God. Affirm to yourself that you will achieve your goals. Visualize the small daily successes that will lead to your greater intention. Truly believe that the intentions you set now exist. They are “things” now. Things that are just waiting to move from a conceptual realm into reality, and they move closer every day that you believe in them.
That which is like unto itself is drawn. ~Abraham-Hicks

Finally, it is vital that you allow the universe to materialize your desire. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, the Law of Attraction is a universal truth. What you project to yourself and to the world comes right back to you. That means you need to get rid of the negative thoughts that spring up from time to time. Doubt, anger, jealousy and apathy are human nature, but they’re also emotions that easily multiply and eat away at the progress of your intentions. You need to fight the negative, because only with positive outlook do dreams become reality. The universe has your goals in hand. You just need to cut through the haze to see them.