I've been reading self help books and the like for years and years trying to attract wealth, happiness and to sooth my soul and solve my problems. These days I'm wondering if they do any good at all. I mean, really! If I've been reading them and doing what they tell me to do for such a long time one might think I'd be rich and that my problems would have been solved by now!
Not so, I'm afraid. I'm one of those folks who seem to dwell on their problems. I think about the things that I have done and second guess myself. I worry about what other people think and then wonder if I've said something to make them angry or hurt or annoyed.
Not so, I'm afraid. I'm one of those folks who seem to dwell on their problems. I think about the things that I have done and second guess myself. I worry about what other people think and then wonder if I've said something to make them angry or hurt or annoyed.
Several years ago I saw the film “The Secret.” I thought, “Wow, maybe I can manifest away my problems. Maybe I can attract affluence, wealth and happiness with THIS technique.” But it didn't take long for me to realize that what I was hearing (and ultimately, what I read, because I got the book, too,) was old news. I'd read Wallace Wattles, I've read Napoleon Hill and I've read Charles Haanel, and other New Thought writers, and each of them spoke of this “secret” which, ultimately has been dubbed “The Law of Attraction.” I realized, too, that there was something missing from this pop culture dressing of this idea which has its origins in the distant past. It's as though there were some forgotten laws or rules. All of the folks that seem to be the source material for The Secret indicate that there is more to the process than just asking, believing and receiving. There was a certain amount of conviction required, a willingness to restructure the way you think of the world and, quite importantly, the ability to act with courage, faith and conviction. But where was the complete set of laws?
Ultimately, I read some books by a few of the individuals that were a part of The Secret project (by which I mean both the book and the film.) I was amazed at how many of them seemed to be nothing more than hucksters offering thousand dollar workshops and quick fix solutions. A few of the experts, though, stood out as having a spark of truth and believability. Bob Proctor was one of them. He spoke like someone who had been working this Law of Attraction for many years and was fully aware of both its simplicity and its complexity.
At the end of the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” as the credits roll there appears what is labeled as an African Proverb: “When you pray, remember to move your feet.” The friend I was watching the film with laughed because he thought it meant that you should dance when you pray. I, on the other hand, realized that when you ask a higher power for something, you need to act. Bob Proctor knew that and he says as much in The Secret.
To act implies movement, and to move gracefully and with purpose is to flow, and that which flows is affluent and that which is affluent is abundant and that which is abundant is wealthy – a wealth of resources, love, caring, beauty and constructive energy. If we want to attract affluence, if we want to manifest wealth, we need to act on the opportunities for wealth, we need to allow that wealth to flow through us. How do we do this when we have no wealth? Ah, we must learn to see the wealth that we have!
This has long been my problem. I don't pay attention to now. I don't recognize what I have – I keep getting distracted by the past and the future, neither of which exists except as emotional memories and projections.
So, you see, it's all a matter of perspective! To attract abundance and to attract affluence, we are required to redefine what we recognize as wealth. We need to open ourselves to beauty and recognize that love, love for ourselves and for our fellow humans and all that is around us is necessary to position our minds, spirits and bodies within the river of abundance. And it has to be now!
