Have you read The Secret? Or at least scanned the back cover in the airport bookstore, while covering the title with your hand, so nobody will see what you’re reading?

I know you have.

I know this because I know there are things you want. I know you are grateful for the things you have like a loving family, or if not a loving family, then a roof over your head; and if not a roof over your head, then food in your belly.

But I know you want more.

If not more love, then more money, and if not more money, then a job you enjoy more, and if not a job you enjoy more, then an exotic vacation.

And if there was a way to get these things, to get them easily, with just the use of your thoughts, if this could possibly be true like The Secret tells us, then it must be worth a shot. Right?

Even if part of you doesn’t believe it could work, I bet you try to sometimes change your thoughts to get what you want, even if just for a moment:

You imagine a beautiful home or your dream vacation.

You clear out a drawer in your dresser to make room for the imaginary love of your life’s stuff for when he or she will move into your house in the very near future.

You try to see the glass as half full and put a positive spin on things whenever possible, as sometimes you find it actually works.

You think of a friend and then see them on the street.

You imagine a convenient parking spot in front of the bank and one opens up just in time.

And you think, this is working, using my mind to get what I want actually works.

And then things start to go wrong:

You get in a fight with your friend.

You have a car accident or unexpected expense.

What is happening?

Where did it all go wrong, you wonder?

You’re thinking all the right thoughts and still things don’t seem to be working out? Are you manifesting all this bad stuff, too?

Up and down our days go.

Sometimes we like things that happen and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we like and don’t like the same things that happen. Our minds change all the time.

The Secret and other books of its kind are based on the concept of the Law of Attraction.

This holds that everything is made up of energy, and what controls energy is thought. And that we can control our thoughts so we should be able to control our surroundings with just the power of our minds.

The books and the Youtube videos and Facebook notes preach to us “think positive” and remember that “where the mind goes, the energy flows.”

And it’s true.

Quantum physicists know this and the Buddha knew it, too. As humans we are just remembering now what we have always known, energy follows thought.

But we are still trying to figure out how it works, and since what our generation knows how to do is to be good consumers, wanting more all the time,  we are always looking for ways to use this concept of manifesting with the power of our minds to get more stuff, be it materials goods, love, trips, or cars.

These are the things we have been told we are supposed to want. And when we don’t get them, we feel guilty, as if we have done a bad job manifesting.

The thing is that the Law of Attraction doesn’t have an on and off button. We don’t suddenly decide, “Oh, now I will use my mind to get something I want.”

Law of Attraction is happening all the time, every moment of everyday.

Stop and look around you. Look up from this computer screen and see where you are. Is it nice? Are you safe? Is there something beautiful?

My guess is that you are not in a war zone reading this. You probably have a full belly, and most likely a hot beverage somewhere near you. I am sure there are things you are worried about, even things that scare you. But really, take a close look. I bet your immediate surroundings are pretty good, possibly some of the best in the history of civilization.

Clean clothes, controlled temperature, access to food and water. And this, all of this, is a reflection of your mind.

Yahoo! Look what a great mind you have, it created this. And if your mind could create this—a warm, safe place for you to be, it must be a pretty great mind.

What I keep trying to understand (and if you know the answer please comment because I just can’t get it) is why do we only notice the negative?

Why do the problems and challenges captivate us so much?

I’ve decided that about 98% of my life is beyond great. I live in beautiful nature surrounded by family and friends. I am rich by the standards of the majority of the world. I eat fresh, organic food regularly and my children are safe. 

And do little annoyances happen to me? Yes they do.

I have trouble communicating with the people I love, and I feel stressed about money. Cars break down and there are worries about diagnoses for myself and people I love.

But really, these experiences only make up about two percent of my existence, but somehow they get most of my attention.

Instead of having to change our minds, it seems we just need to stop and notice. Be mindful if you will, shift where we put our attention.

The good is already here, it doesn’t need to be imported because like it or not the Law of Attraction is manifesting your life.

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Apprentice Editor: Sarah Qureshi/Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

Photo: abhisawa via Flickr