The Law of Attraction: How to Create Your Dream Life

Spiritual mumbo jumbo or scientific reality? The law of attraction is a popular phenomenon, particularly in personal development, which is repeatedly claimed to “change your life”. What is it and how does the Law of Attraction work?

The Law of Attraction: What is it anyway?

Basically it's very simple: When Law of Attraction is about visualizing the things I want in my life. So in my mind's eye I imagine which material and immaterial things I would like to “own” and gradually attract them into my life. So I basically turn my wishful thoughts into reality without having to do anything about it.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Many people are initially skeptical about the principle: “How is this supposed to work? Then why doesn’t everyone have everything they want?” “That’s definitely just some esoteric drivel…” I can fully understand these objections and in fact the whole thing sounds totally out of place at first. The funny thing is: it seems to work! The basic idea is basically that Like attracts like and that we create our own lives with our thoughts and actions...

To understand the law of attraction even better, let's look at it from two perspectives: the psychological and the spiritual.

What does psychology say about this?

From a psychological perspective, this phenomenon would be called “ unconscious goal priming”. This is a specific type of focused attention. My psychology professor always metaphorically called unconscious goal priming the “mailbox principle”: Imagine you want to send a letter. Your brain stores the intention “send a letter” and is now looking for ways to put this plan into action. When you leave your house now, you suddenly notice mailboxes everywhere that didn't feel like they were there before.
The example can of course be applied to anything: if you covet a certain pair of shoes, you suddenly see it everywhere; If you have found a spider in your room then suddenly there are little animals in every corner and if you are afraid that you are pregnant you will meet pregnant women or mothers with small children everywhere...

What actually happens physiologically in our brain is the following: A thought that seems to be important to us is stored in our subconscious and takes on a special meaning. As described in the example above, this thought does not necessarily have to be associated with positive emotions. It can also be associated with fear or other negative emotions.

The anchored thought makes our attention selective and so we focus on stimuli that are related to and similar to that thought. Like a kind of tunnel vision, we initially ignore the things that are irrelevant to us - after all, we can't focus on everything at the same time. This mechanism has been anchored in our brains for thousands of years: Our brain always wants to ensure our survival and therefore focuses on the stimuli in our environment that appear to be most relevant at that moment.

So what does this have to do with the law of attraction?

As we just pointed out, our brain focuses its attention on stimuli and thoughts that seem important to it. And now when we visualize, this is exactly what happens: we imagine what we would like to attract into our lives. These thoughts create positive feelings in us and our brain registers that what we have visualized is important to us. Through the following one selective attention we notice more things that have to do with our desire.
Due to the increased perception, we also notice more and more possibilities and opportunities that are related to our goal/desire and are much more likely to take action than if we had not noticed these things at all. Our brain and body work to get there, towards our goal.

So if I visualize regularly over a long period of time, I may end up right there.

The law of attraction from a spiritual perspective

On a spiritual level, it's all a little harder to explain. Psychology can be measured and made visible even more easily than energies, vibrations and spiritual forces. The spiritual view explains the Law of Attraction as follows:

We humans are made of energy. This energy vibrates at different frequencies. It is assumed that negative feelings (anger, fear, shame, sadness) vibrate at a low level. Higher vibrations, on the other hand, are enthusiasm, joy, or love. The same vibrations that we send out, we also attract.

So this means for visualization: When I imagine my wishes and goals, positive feelings arise in me. These vibrate high and thus attract high vibrations into my life. This is how my wishes manifest and “come true”.

Either way…

It remains to be seen how exactly it works – it works. So if you want to make a change in your life - be it in your relationships, your health, your career or whatever - then this tool can help you tremendously to get where you want to be. In sports, for example, visualization has been used for a very long time. It's really worth just giving it a try. At the same time, you become more aware of your thoughts and treat yourself and your surroundings more carefully.

Also gratitude can be used like this. Through gratitude and visualizing in my mind's eye the things or people I am grateful for, I change my focus. In everyday life, I notice more and more things to be grateful for. This in turn puts me in a grounded and happy mood...

What do I have to consider when visualizing?

To prevent the law of attraction from backfiring, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

PREPARATION

First of all, it makes sense to get one for visualization quiet place to look for a place where you are undisturbed and can relax a little. Our heads are often still stuck in everyday problems and race from one thought to the next. So consciously take a little time to breathe deeply and arrive.

It also helps enormously to take two minutes before the actual visualization gratitude to practice. When you consider everything that is already in your life, you shift your focus from lack to abundance. If you go into visualization with a lack mindset, you may end up creating more lack. Before you visualize an area where you want change, become aware of what you already have to be grateful for in that area.

VISUALIZATION

So let's get to the actual visualization. Close your eyes and imagine the situation as you would like it to be. It is important to act as if what you want is already reality. You think in the present tense and produce as much as possible detailed images in your mind's eye (for example, walking hand in hand with your dream partner in your favorite place). Here it also helps to explore and integrate the W-questions and the various sensory impressions.

Then it is important from these pictures feelings let develop. Really get involved in the situation and imagine how you feel in the moment. The stronger and more detailed you visualize, the easier it is to feel these things. Feel the feelings you want to feel right now.

Images manifest better within you when they are written down. You can see what you just saw in your mind's eye Write as much detail as possible in your journal or a notebook . Here too, write in the present tense, even if these things have not happened yet, for example: “I live in a fulfilling relationship with my dream partner. In the evening we walk along the river and talk about our day. We hold hands…”. Feel free to be cheesy! There are no limits, dare to think big!

So in summary: See it, feel it, be it! Live now as if you are already where you want to be. And soon you'll be right there. 

If you would like to find out more about the topics of mindfulness, healthy eating or sustainability, take a look here over.