Everything About the Law of Attraction Is a Lie - Part 2


Deepak Chopra recently released his book "Freedom, Power & Grace", which I absolutely recommend you read. It is a book with many abstract thoughts and concepts in it; I loved it, but can be a bit of work-out for the more practical minded under us...

he book revolves around my speciality, the Law of Attraction (LOA).In it, Chopra discusses (among other topics) the concept of "letting go", of releasing our attachment to the outcome of our desires. I'll elaborate a bit more later on, but will first sketch the problem with letting go.

The Law of Attraction is clear: what we consistently think about and have feelings about will come about, regardless of whether the result is wanted or unwanted. Put a positive way, if we really desire something strongly, with lots of good-feel emotions, chances are high we will actually manifest our desire!

There is no lie in the LOA. It always works, for better and worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.

So why is it that many of the desires we have don't come true? Why haven't I still got a million dollars or more in the bank? Why do others not have the house they so desperately desire?

It is quite simple: we either don't believe we can actually fulfil our desires by trusting the LOA to do the work for us, or we don't desire strongly enough. I'll touch upon the latter reason in another article; here I want to discuss the conflict between desire and belief.

Personally, I strongly desire to be financially free (meaning, having more than enough "dough" at my disposal to live very comfortably, without needing to do anything to make more of it). Up until today, I am not financially free. Why not? I've desired to be financially free for years, and really, really want to! My desire is high enough!

The main reason is that, on some level, I probably still am "attached". I am attached to the outcome of my desire. My emotions tell me that I will feel a certain way (extremely happy, most likely; or abundant) when I have reached my goal. Whereby I actually say -on a meta-level- that I am not feeling that way at the moment, and will not feel it UNLESS I reach my goal!

Do you get that? I make my emotional state dependent on reaching a certain result. If [this or that] happens, THEN I will feel [this or that] way. So I don't BELIEVE that my abundance will eventuate any other way than by frantically chasing the money.

The LOA doesn't listen to our conscious thoughts all that well; it has very sharp ears as to what our subconscious thoughts are, however! In my case, as long as I keep repeating -subconsciously- that I don't feel a certain way until I have done this, that, or the other, the LOA will keep me feeling that way.

What I predominantly think about and feel about is what is going to come about!

Deepak Chopra describes it like this. He states that we should not interfere with the intelligence of the universe, which is present in all of us. This interference takes place when we start worrying, when we anticipate problems, when we think "what can go wrong?". When we control everything, and are afraid, when we feel we MUST take action, SHOULD be working hard, that's when the natural flow of intelligence is interrupted, and things don't go our way anymore. Stress, Chopra says, is the restricting of the flow of intelligence as it moves from the unmanifest to the manifest (which is the LOA).

A couple of more examples when we use the LOA in the incorrect way: when we are frustrated, when things go "wrong", when there is too much effort on our part. These are all forms of resistance to the omnipresent universal flow.

We all get hung up on our IDEAS, our BELIEFS about life, our social conditioning. We have taken on board a huge set of beliefs that make it nearly impossible to create spontaneously and joyfully, utilising the LOA for what it was meant to do: bring us what we want. So even though we may have a great desire for something, deep down we don't believe we will achieve it. We don't deserve, we are not good enough............

Chopra in his book then goes on to explain that LETTING GO OF INTERFERENCE is the way to allow the natural flow through.

Letting go......... Letting go.........

Just as we cannot make a seed germinate faster by peeling the first green leaves out, or make a rose bloom sooner by unwrapping all the petals before they are ready, so too can we not FORCE our desire into existence by putting too much effort in, by being attached to the outcome, by becoming impatient or frustrated with the speed of creation.

The only thing we can do is set our desires, feel good about the prospect of getting our desires fulfilled, and then LET GO of our attachment to that outcome. Trust God/The Universe to take care of the details. Use you internal GPS (your emotions) to show you how you are doing: when you feel good about the prospect of getting your desires fulfilled, you are letting go; when you feel frustrated or impatient about not having your desires fulfilled yet, you are still attached.

Do less, achieve more. This Taostic Principle of "Wu Wei" is what we call the Law of Least Resistance. It is the principle by which nature operates; nature doesn't do anything in a forced way. Everything is done with maximum efficiency of energy. As we are part of nature, we can operate under the same law as well. It just takes some learning and a paradigm shift.

In my practice, I have several powerful NLP and coaching techniques to help you with the "letting go"-process. I have been using them on myself as well, mainly with regards to my biggest (ex-)attachment: financial security, and the results start to show. See it like unpeeling an onion. Layer by layer of social conditioning gets peeled off, and we become freer and freer.

You will be amazed about the effortlessness of life once you start to grasp these principles. Things "somehow" fall into place, "co-incidences" happen, you will come across windfall after windfall, fluke after fluke. Luck will be on your side.

Or isn't it luck, coincidence, windfall or fluke after all, and are YOU the one that is making it work, together with your Creator (God, Universe, or whatever name you give this being). I know which opinion I hold. How about you?

Top Three Books for Personal Development


A while back, my daughter asked me to name three must-read books in my field – which is, of course, Personal Development. It didn’t take much thinking – right away, I answered that my top three recommendations would be:

How to Find Your Real Self by Mildred Mann

The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

That, I believe, is also the best sequence in which to read them. In this article, I am going to outline why I think these books are essential reading for any student of the subject. Let's take each of them in turn ...

There is only one message in Mildred Mann’s book, but it is an important message and one that I hope you will take on-board. It is this … you are here to fulfill a purpose - you are not an accident - your life has meaning and value.

The book is beautifully written and it is the only one of my three recommendations that is in the public domain – that means, you can get a copy for free and read it for yourself; which is something I hope you will do!

Deepak Chopra’s book the 7 Spiritual Laws of Success is the product of much thinking and soul-searching. In it, he outlines the path to success being revealed as a consequence of being connected with the universal mind of God. I particularly like the language of this book – it is almost like reading poetry at times. It is really rich and full of goodness – you feel better for just reading or listening to the words. Personally I have the book on CD and I play it in my car, from time to time, on long journeys.

The 7 Spiritual Laws are sequential and you will find that they build on the message and work of Mildred Mann. Though Mildred Mann writes from the Christian tradition and Deepak Chopra writes from a Buddhist perspective, I personally find no contradictions or difficulties in the essential content.

For many people who have studied Law-of-Attraction-style books and courses, there seems to be a missing link between the spiritual side of the process of creation/manifestation and the practical side of the process. That gap is perfectly bridged with Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The 7 Habits is a well-adjusted approach to achieving success in life; balancing the need for development of character against the need for working creatively with other people. Frequently, people do not see the need for developing character as a basis for personal growth, but that message is central to the book.

It is a sequential approach – easy to understand, but deceptively powerful. In my experience, not everyone can immediately grasp the true power of these behavioral habits, but when they are applied to your life and they become a part of the way you operate, you can produce truly outstanding results – you can achieve whatever you set out to do.

If you take the time to read these three classic works and let the important messages sink in, you will find that they do complement each other, but they each focus on a different aspect of the subject. So you will get a wonderfully complete and holistic view of how to go about achieving real success in life.

Short Sleeves Insights- I Am A Rose Garden!


I picked one rose in a hurry. I was afraid of the gardener. Then I heard the soft voice of her; What's the value of one rose? I will give you the whole garden!" The 12 century poet Rumi, reminds me that I am surrounded by a garden of love. I can become that garden if I believe that I am a flower with no fear, watered from the vessel of All There Is, love.

Like the rose, I am one flower in a garden of beauty. Every person, place and thing that I come in contact with, is part of that garden. The garden is a gift given in love, so I can grow and expand into a grander version of myself. The brightness and the darkness, the hot and cold, wet and dry that I experience in life, are the seeds of learning I chose, in order to remember who I am.

My words and actions express my inner root system and maintain my connection with my garden. I can become a flower of graciousness or die in my own soil. I can be a vessel of awareness or a poison of disconnection. I can hide from my fears or know my identity. I can fertilize my thoughts with gratitude and compassion, or dry up and die in anger and judgment. My petals can be sweet with nectar, or void of taste and limp with suffering. My thoughts create the reality of my garden and I can till, plant and nurture what I desire. My bouquet is my arrangement, for all to see.

In love I feel the garden is me. The world and all that's in it, is connected to a divine garden, a matrix, that grows as the flowers grow, without limits or expectations. Completely free to create and express joy, beauty, and love in peace.

My garden, my world, is a mirror of me. It's a polished vision of my own creation. I am the mist and the cloth, that cleans it.

The gardener gave me the whole garden to love.