You’ve probably heard of the Law of Attraction, but may not know much about it. This theory and belief held by many thousands of people can be an integral part in changing your life, and it can be a great help to you in your recovery, too. However, despite the fact that there are many people who follow this philosophy, there is also an equal or larger number of people who believe it to be completely false and ineffective. Read on to learn more about this controversial idea and to determine how to apply it to your own life, as well as whether or not you even should.
What is the Law of Attraction? Simply stated, the Law of Attraction is the belief that focusing on positive thoughts or negative thoughts can bring positive or negative experiences into people’s lives. Sounds pretty simple, right? But there is so much more to it than that! The larger concept and idea is based on the thought that people and their thoughts are made from energy, and, in short, “like attracts like,” just like magnetic forces. Through the process of energy attracting energy that is similar to it, a person can improve his or her health, wealth, happiness, personal relationships, and financial situation just by thinking really hard and positively about the outcomes they would like to see in those areas of their lives. People who deeply believe in the power of positive thinking and the Law of Attraction try to manifest positive changes into their lives through affirmations and visualizations and through replacing their negative thoughts with more upbeat ones. In order for this “universal law” to be effective, believers need to feel and act as if the dream they want to come true already has come true, and that they are already living the happy life that these changes and advancements will bring.
The Law of Attraction’s Beginnings
The Law of Attraction is not at all a new concept; in fact, it has been around for at least two hundred years already. The New Thought movement – an overarching title for the Law of Attraction and some other, similar concepts – considers its forefather to be a man named Phineas Quimby, who lived in the early 1800s. He was suffering from tuberculosis, an ailment that was quite common, and quite deadly during his time, and had tried countless medications and recommendations from doctors in order to find a cure. After giving up on medicine of the time, he chose to take rides in his carriage around town, and while on these short trips, he began to feel much more positive about his outlook. Soon, he found he was cured, and he attributed his health and literal survival to not only his exposure to fresh air, but more specifically to his positive thinking.
Decades later, in 1886, author Prentice Mulford published an essay entitled The Laws of Success outlining the ways that positive thinking can help people in business. This essay inspired a slew of other writers to write similar works, including Henry Wood and Ralph Waldo Trine. Not much later, in the early twentieth century, author Napoleon Hill published one of the most famous books about positive thinking –Think and Grow Rich – and Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, which details the ways she healed herself from cancer by loving herself, celebrated much success in the 1980s.
In the twenty-first century, the Law of Attraction really gained a lot of traction and began to draw even more believers after the release of the documentary film The Secret in 2006 (it was followed by a book in 2007). This film interviewed a number of people who are dedicated to the Law of Attraction about how it works and how it effected their own lives. Prominent individuals in the film include popular speakers and promoters of the concept such as Jerry and Esther Hicks, Jack Canfield (author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books), James Arthur Ray, Michael Beckwith, and Joseph Vitale among others.
Is it real?
Although the concept of the Law of Attraction is considered a pseudoscience, and it is not scientifically true, there is certainly some truth to it. If one goes through life with a positive attitude, he or she will most certainly experience more positive interactions with other people, will build stronger relationships, and will therefore lead a happier and easier life overall. The saying, “Good things happen to good people,” is a popular one that has been around for years because everyone has seen it happen time and time again to people around them. Of course, on the flip side, sometimes very bad things happen to good people too, but for the most part it seems that people who life a positive, friendly, ethical, and virtuous life do tend to reap what they sow, and cultivate the good fruits they planted, more often than people who go through life grumpy, negative, and angry at the world around them.
Law of Attraction and Addiction Recovery
If you believe in the theory of the Law of Attraction, it can be a great help to you in your recovery. Being optimistic is absolutely an extremely important thing in any stage of recovery, but particularly in the beginning. Believing that the way you think has a large influence on the outcome of your life can help to get a positive momentum going, and then you can ride that wave of momentum into a life of health and happiness. Further, application of the Law of Attraction can remind us that happiness is not something outside of us, but something within us, and that we all need to take responsibility for our own successes, and also our mistakes and failures.
On the other hand though, the danger of following the Law of Attraction is that we all need to realize that simply thinking positively without putting in any other work is unlikely to lead us to any great epiphanies or successes. In recovery, it is important to think positively, and to visualize the amazing healthy and sober life you want to lead, but it is also vital that people working on their recovery in an active and effective way must also do things like attend meetings, participate in counseling, read inspirational books, and listen to positive podcasts to support their ongoing recovery. Recovery is not an event, it is a process, and it is something that people must actively work on every single day. Positive thinking and the Law of Attraction can certainly be part of it, but these ideas are not the only thing that people serious about getting better should be doing.
How to Use the Law of Attraction to Help Support Your Recovery
So, using The Law of Attraction to support your recovery can be quite helpful to you, but use it with caution and with the knowledge that while anecdotally, positive thinking can work well for anyone, it is really just one component of a comprehensive plan for a happy and successful life. A few things you can do to encourage positivity in your own life and begin attracting good your way may include:
- Focus on one positive thought today, and stay with it all day.
- Set goals for yourself and reach them.
- Always try to view yourself in a positive light and don’t beat yourself up over mistakes you made in the past. Every day is a new day.
- Think of the most positive person you know. Connect with him or her, and try to spend as much time together as possible.
- Try to incorporate daily affirmations into your life to help you to manifest all the good things you want to develop.
- Use visualization to imagine and truly feel the happiness you seek.
- Understand that your future and happiness is entirely up to you. The world truly is your oyster.
- Apply a slightly altered version of The Law of Attraction to your life. Realize that positive thinking is important, but you must also take action to manifest the life of your dreams. You must make good things happen for you, but the first step to doing so is to truly believe that they can, and will happen if you put your mind to them.
The Law of Attraction is an interesting and powerful concept and is something everyone should consider. Throughout the process of your recovery, positive thinking is important and there is really so much it can do for you. Many people are amazed to see the many ways that a simple change of overall outlook can do wonders for their lives in so many areas. Try it today, and then try it again tomorrow. With the right mindset, and the right action, you are capable of truly anything!
Our facility in Cancun, Mexico, is a great place to start your recovery and your new life of positive thinking and living. At Transcend Clinic, we want to help you take the first steps towards a life of health and happiness. Our intake specialists are standing by to answer your questions, and to help you determine whether or not an ibogaine detox treatment is right for you. Call us today!