I’ve been listening to Black Girl in Om, Behind the Brilliance, Raise your Hand. Say Yes., and a few other podcasts lately. Many of them are in the wellness niche and I have noticed certain language present in all of them. This idea that thoughts create reality. That we have to manifest what we want in life. That we have to place our trust God or the Universe.
A lot of this begins to sound like the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction, LOA, is one of these mythologies that seems to pop up every to every other generation or so. The insidious thing about LOA is it mixes things that are true with things that we wish were true. Simply put, in LOA you: figure out what you want, ask the universe for it, visualize it being yours, open yourself to receiving it, let go of the outcome, and you will get what you want. The warning is that what we expect to happen will happen, so we have to think positive thoughts.
The truth in this is that our thoughts and feelings do have an effect on the events that take place around us. A change in perspective and understanding of our truths can begin to attract better things into our lives. Concentrating on positive or negative thoughts can bring more positive or negative experiences to us. Focusing and visualizing positive or negative experiences doesn’t necessarily cause correspondingly good or bad things to happen. However, by constantly visualizing our goals and ideal selves, we will most certainly more readily recognize opportunities to progress towards each. We also begin doing things that are consistent with these goals.
When we focus on something we both consciously and subconsciously intensify our striving toward our objective. If we really want that promotion, and spend all our free time thinking about it, we make decisions that will move us closer to getting that promotion. It also works in reverse. If we are focused on a negative not only may we be blinding ourselves to the positives we may even start advancing toward the things we fear. We all have that friend who consistently sabotages every relationship because they approach it from a place of negativity: anger, fear, or even desperation.
Our minds are incredibly powerful. The past decade has provided a wealth of data that have demonstrated that through visualization the brain simulates action and other functions. When we visualize an action we literally stimulate the same brain regions as when we are actually performing that same action. This idea of visualization, or mental practice, is even used as a form of neuro-rehabilitation with stroke victims. Visualization targeting and using the occipital lobe is one of the strongest ways to help ideas enter and take hold in the brain. Some research has even suggested that mental practices are almost as effective as actual physical practice. There is no doubt that doing both is more effective than either alone.
So, if visualization is a thing then what is wrong with LOA and the language that supports it? One thing is the warning is that what we expect to happen will happen. For followers of LOA, every single thing that happens in your life is your fault because it is all in your control.
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne
Unless of course, you believe in LOA. Then, from the LOA site, “…every single one of your decisions in life, good and bad, have been shaped by you alone.” This idea of individual power is particularly seductive to Americans to whom the mythology of the self-made man bootstrapping his way to the top through individual effort, hard work and personal responsibility is mother’s milk. While it is true that we all need to own our decisions, they are not made in a vacuum. And if LOA is a natural law that applies equally to all, then it affects even children and infants.
In LOA we are to visualize that whatever we ask the Universe for will come to us. However, we can’t look for what we asked for because that would be telling the Universe we don’t have it. Therefore we will attract not having it. Don’t worry about how. Don’t strive toward our goals. We are supposed to live the lie, I mean life, we aspire to and let the Universe work for us. This is how we get what we want. I have extremely lucid and powerful visualizations. If my dreams could create my reality we would all be living in a very different world. The fact is that visualization is a formidable tool but, ultimately, we actually have to *do* something to make what we want happen. This is truth.
LOA admonishes its disciples to trust the Universe. I don’t believe in an interactive God or a responsive Universe. I don’t believe in a law or power that will help you find your car keys but won’t protect a five year old from a drunk driver. I believe that we walk daily in God’s grace and love and that the Universe is a balanced and impersonal system. I do believe in the power of positive energy through meditation/prayer, visualization, even laughter. There are scientific studies that have proven this.
I believe that we are capable of change. That it is never too late. That even on our death beds we can take actions that have powerful impact on our lives and those of others. In my review of Altered Carbon I wrote that our brains, though forever malleable are also constructed of deeply entrenched patterns with entire ecosystems of habits shoring them up. To make those changes you can’t just think about what you want. You have to understand what you need to do, who you need to be, to achieve your goals. The really hard part is becoming that person while still holding on to your true self. It is an arduous journey involving leaps, baby steps, and catastrophic tumbles- but it can be done.
If you want to know more about LOA, feel free to Google. I refuse to send traffic to a site supporting the ideology. If you would like to learn more about visualization here are a few of the resources I used.
The Science of Visualization: Maximizing Your Brain’s Potential During The Recession
From mental power to muscle power–gaining strength by using the mind.
Seeing Is Believing: The Power of Visualization
Brain Basics, Part One: The Power of Visualization
Or you can wait for my next post, this Friday, which will talk about visualization, meditation, and fitting these changes into our lives.