When things are going well, it’s easy to think positive. But when times are tough, it’s much more challenging.
For the past week, the area of Central Texas where I live has been beset by fires. More than 1500 families have lost their homes, including some families from our homeschooling community. At least two people have lost their lives. One of our most beautiful state parks has been ninety-five percent destroyed – nearly 6,000 acres of piney woods. I’m an avid nature lover, and it’s almost overwhelming to me to realize it will be decades before the forest rebounds. (The picture is of Bastrop State Park in happier times; I couldn’t bear to put up pictures of the fire.)
I do believe in the Law of Attraction. I see it at work in my life, and in the lives of those around me. I believe that our thoughts and our words are powerful, that what we hold in consciousness attracts more life experiences at the same vibration.
When I feel prosperous, I find money rolls in easily. When I feel happy, more and more joyful events come into my life. And if I’ve been sick, then notice I’m starting to get better, I soon find I’m returned to my full health and energy. The theory, of course, is that we pay attention to, particularly with strong emotion, increases.
It took me quite a few years to understand and start using these principles, but for the past thirty years, they’ve been part of my daily life. I meditate, and I visualize what I want to happen. I focus on creating a mental picture of the highest good for all concerned. I pray, and I create vision boards. On my bathroom mirror, I have a collection of little post-it note affirmations; when one comes to pass, I remove it. When a new need or desire appears, up goes another post-it. My friends and family tease me about being a first-class manifestor, always attracting wonderful things into my life and the lives of those I love.
Asking for what we want with strong emotion is the first part of manifesting, but the second part is equally important. That is release. Law of Attraction works when we ask clearly, but without a sense of attachment or desperation. We put forth our request, then we allow God, or the Universe, or “whatever is out there” (we each have our own way of understanding that Higher Power) to work things out in the perfect way at the perfect time. We recognize that sometimes the answer will not be as we imagined, and that’s okay.
It’s easy to see Law of Attraction working in situations where people are generally content and their basic needs are met. But what about people who live in desperate circumstances, who are hungry or ill or victimized by war? Why are they not receiving the benefit of Law of Attraction?
The answer is, they are. People who are suffering are also attracting from their level of consciousness. They are attracting more of what they think about and focus upon with strong emotion. Law of Attraction is an impersonal law, like gravity. It works all the time, whether we recognize it or not.
This week I’ve had a powerful personal experience of how all this works. I’ve been so strongly impacted by the smoke, the stories, the losses, that I have found myself very sad and depressed. It has required great focus for me to separate myself from the energy all around me, to meditate or to pray for protection for the land and the people, and for an end to the fires.
I’ve experienced first hand how easily we get caught up in group consciousness, and how sadness and anxiety soon spread to affect everyone involved. It has reinforced for me the lesson I’ve had to learn before, that I must work to remain detached in order to cope with my own emotions, and to have a positive effect on the situation.
Does that mean there is no hope for people caught up in a mass consciousness of lack, or fear, or the expectation of still more bad times? Absolutely not. Because I also believe in, and have experienced, grace. When any among us cannot transcend a consciousness of hopelessness, then those of us who are operating with a consciousness of good can visualize, meditate, and pray on their behalf.
Calling forth grace for others is something we can do all the time, for those we love, and for anyone in any circumstances, anywhere in the world. But insofar as we can, we must make the call from a place of inner peace.
Jillian,
Thank you for the beautifully written post. I agree with you, thoughts are things – Napoleon Hill said it so long ago. We have to do everything we can to be positive and direct that positive energy to help ourselves to concentrate on what we really want, then we can easily get to the prize we desire. People in war zones and in times of disaster, will indeed have a very difficult time getting out of the mire.