If you could paint your life exactly as you wanted beginning today, what kinds of experiences and ideals would you choose?

If you haven’t framed out a life vision or set goals, you’re manifesting a default reality. Your subconscious programming determines these condtions. Without a guiding vision, you find that events and choices happen almost by accident. When you reflect back upon some major life decisions such as marriage, career choice, children, or where you reside, you may have a sense of wonder about how you chose a particular path because you cannot recall exerting conscious choice. Because of your own pattern of choice-making, or lack of it, you may fear life changes, as if some dreaded outcome awaits you after each turn.

A desire for change requires you to develop clearer vision. Setting a goal will activate your internal guidance system while a point of positive focus will fuel law of attraction to bring opportunities to you. Guided by your internal wisdom, with your cooperation by choice and action, you will move in the most expeditious way possible, towards your goals, visions, and ideals.

On a conscious level, goals help you plan and make choices on a daily basis. Think, for example, if you set a basic goal for a desired target weight. That goal provides a scaffold for meal and exercise choices. You may want to explore diets or exercise options, and thus set in place more specific goals, but you would have set a very general and needed framework for action to bring you to your vision of a healthier and slimmer body. You know if you choose to eat a certain type of food, say doughnuts, that your choice contradicts your goal. While you can eat a few anyway, you know that it does not support your vision, and if you do so repeatedly, you will not reach your goal.

When you have framed a goal, you can more easily make choices based on whether or not they bring you closer to that goal or keep you from attaining it. In the same way, a general long-term goal of sucess, achievement and happiness will provide a scaffold for intelligent choices and action. Success and happiness does not happen by accident.

Without a vision, you have nothing to move toward and no true direction. How can you make decisions when presented with choice? Random choice will bring you closer to the unknown.

Realize that you cannot receive guidance if you have not provided direction. You cannot ask for directions when you do not know where you are going. Your internal guiding system works hand-in-hand with you once you have developed a vision. If you want more active control of your life, you need to set a course. Have faith that you could not have a dream without the inner wisdom and ability to get there.

Vision marks the first step in the process of transformation. Once you set your goals, make conscious and intelligent choices to move toward them. Your intuition works with you in powerful ways even when you are not aware of the possible outcome of choices. You will find the more you honor intuition, the stronger that inner voice becomes. Law of attraction will bring amazing and synchronistic opportunity, but it cannot work alone to change your life. When you cooperate with universal law, you empower yourself to become a conscious creator. 

Your choices and actions work with the law of attraction to form what you see around you. While you state your desires via affirmations, visualization exercises, and vision boards, you must support your intentions through your choices and actions. This is how you convey your serious intent to others from whom you seek help or opportunity, as well as from the Universe.

When you begin your holiday shopping for your children, you ask them for a wish-list. You verify their list to observe their real interests, before spending money on something that might just sit in the closet. When you look for validation, you’re really looking for serious intent. You can observe their real interests by watching how and where they spend time and energy. This is the same way you relay your intentions to others. This is the same way you communicate serious intent to the Universe, when you attempt to manifest using the law of attraction.

Once you have set a goal, you need to do your part by following through in ways that support that goal. Praying for, or affirming an outcome, only to spend time negating that affirmation is counterproductive, and you will not see positive results. Use your valuable resources to move you closer to your vision. Commit to your goals through action.

This requires developing unbiased awareness. Awareness allows you to you to look objectively and non-defensively at yourself, removed from your normal perspective. What motivations do your choices and actions suggest? Through this unbiased lens, you can see the negative or destructive underlying programs or belief systems that have been driving your choices. When you move out of habitual pattern and begin to make conscious choices, you will be empowered to make truly positive changes.

Do you allow negative thinking to dominate your mind? Do your thoughts and spoken words support your conscious vision or contradict it? Do you share negative conversations with friends, perhaps to catch them up on your day? Affirmations are a method of conveying your desires of intention, but if you speak them only a few times a day, and spend the rest of the day contradicting them, you will not yield positive results.

Do you invest in yourself, in your vision, or spend money perhaps opposing that same vision? As an obvious and easy example, say you affirm for energetic and vibrant health. Then, you purchase cigarettes. Even worse, you smoke the cigarettes. Perhaps you ask to develop your own inner guidance and then put money into psychics.

Where do you expend your effort and energy? If you have affirmed for a healthy and fit body, but do not expend effort into the exercise required or make unwise choices on diet, you aren’t serious about that goal. Perhaps you have a goal of self-employment. You need to research your interest, network with others, and learn what you need to make it a part of your world. Eventually, you will take proper action, armed with guidance and opportunity that the Universe supplies as you move toward bringing that goal into manifestation.

With whom do you spend your valuable time? Simply do not put time into events, people, situations, or activities that have no place in your vision. Begin to cut negative or unsupportive affiliations. It may sound harsh but you need to remove people who are critical or unsupportive. By the same token, if people from your past do not fit, you need to think about limiting time spent with them, or letting go altogether. For example, if you want to strengthen your significant relationship, but you hang out with single or non-single friends who spend their time at bars looking for opportunity with the opposite sex, you might find that counterproductive to your intentions. Find friends who have or share similar goals.

When you give some thought to this, you might see how you contradict your own intentions. Realize that you affirm intentions by the spoken word, but also by action. You can see from the relationships in your life, that people relate their needs and desires to you in just this way. Would you assist someone that asked for help, if you saw them resist your efforts? Or worse, not make any effort to help themselves? When you declare your serious intent in all ways, the Universe will respond by providing opportunity and success.

Your personal success on any level requires taking action. Recognize that you have to ask to receive, but you also need to be serious about what you want, and commit to your own success, before you will receive. You simply cannot hope for the law of attraction to bring the changes that you want without your cooperation. Rubbing a lamp does not count! If it lightens the mood and keeps you happy and entertained, it certainly has value, but you’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to your success.

Become more conscious of the choices and actions you make on a daily basis that shape your life circumstances. Imagine the positive changes that will begin to take place with only a change in your own behavior and choices. Then imagine how much you can accomplish by using the power of law of attraction. 

Focus on the desires you want to manifest. Develop the commitment, wisdom of choice, action, and self-discipline to effectively utilize your resources to support your goals. Remain mindful of the spoken and written word. Talk about what you want, not what you don’t. Do not spend time, energy, effort, thought or money in areas that will not help you reach your future goals. What has no place in your ideal future vision, should not be included in your present in any way whatsoever. Consciously practice this until it becomes automatic and ingrained. And it will, with committed and diligent practice.

People once regarded the law of attraction as a concept that fell within the realm of spiritual or metaphysical study, but suddenly, people from all walks of life have been talking about it as though a well-guarded secret to the universe was just discovered. As much as pop trend wants to cast an air of mystique around the subject by suggesting that this information has been deliberately hidden, printed information has circulated freely on the subject since the early 20th century, when many authors of New Thought literature shared their knowledge and success using law of attraction. See the online library on this site for many of these classics. It was mentioned in the Bible, taught by eastern religion since the dawn of time, and revived in the latter part of the 20th century with the concept of the power of positive thought. These early works laid the groundwork for later teachings and also provided us with a good history of many who succeeded by using the methods that these authors detailed in their writings.

From 1963 to 1984, Jane Roberts channeled spiritual information, including law of attraction concepts, from an entity named Seth. Almost immediately following Ms. Roberts’ death in 1984, Esther Hicks channeled similar information, beginning in 1985, from a group of entities who referred to themselves as "Abraham." Hicks’ many books and tapes have been widely available ever since. Most recently, the release of the cleverly-titled DVD, The Secret, illustrated a rather seductive and magical presentation of the law of attraction. The release of this movie spawned a deluge of get-rich-effortlessly-and-quickly instructional seminars, CD-sets, books and e-books, targeted toward people easily wanting to reach their material goals. However, aside from those who directly benefit from the sales of these products, the manifested results are less than profitable!

The law of attraction states that what you create in the inner world, or your conscious and unconscious mind, will crystallize in your outer world. The visions and thoughts that you impress upon the creative energy in the universe, through the process of your thinking, will manifest in your reality. This creative energy is also known as universal divine energy, or God. At first bite, this concept is usually difficult to grasp, but quantum physics tells us that science supports this concept. So your thoughts have a force that create your outer world. This suggests that everyone is already creating their reality, whether or not they are doing so deliberately.

This premise is based upon only a fragment of spiritual truth, a fact that current teachings don’t factor in when they tell you that you can achieve all that you desire. For this reason, most people do not achieve any predictable success using law of attraction. So, while the teachers tell you that everyone has total responsibility for their life, they can’t begin to answer why they, or others, don’t really have the ultimate control they tell you is possible. You may believe that you haven’t learned enough, or put into proper practice the principles they teach. Did you detach enough? Were you grateful enough? Positive enough? Did you put emotion into your intention? You may feel that if you attend some seminar, watch the movie again, purchase a CD-set, or another book, you might learn the real secret to making this work.

What is the point and purpose to these elaborate teachings of a fundamental universal law that is actually amazingly simple? Perhaps the only point is to manifest prosperity–not for the students, but for those who teach the principles! So, then, we might need to validate the teachings. We might want to see whether the teachers manifested wealth prior to, or aside from, creating and selling the information. We might ask to what extent they manifest other desirable conditions or situations in their lives. Clearly, if we are honest, we have to admit that while appealing, the law of attraction does not have the ultimate power that this current trend suggests.

As knowledgeable and experienced spiritual leaders know: it works for a while, sometimes, and then it doesn’t. As point in fact, some of the published authors who had acquired wealth using the principles, later found themselves in hardship or even destitute. So we need to understand the limitations in order to understand how it can help us.

As spiritual beings, first and foremost, our lives depend upon the demands of the soul, also called the soul plan. Our lives are neither at the mercy of whim, karma, luck nor chance, but neither are they entirely controlled by our conscious, or even unconscious, desires. Common sense, ancient wisdom, and experience tells us this. Spiritual masters have told us this. Health, wealth and the happy and fun life are, like it or not, expendable items, until we take care of the business of growth at hand. This means that sometimes we find ourselves in difficult life circumstances, which greatly contradict our positive intentions. These conditions are in place for the sole purpose of bringing us toward wholeness, light and freedom. Difficult times should be temporary conditions, and the sooner we "get" the lesson, the sooner we move to a higher and clearer level, more empowered to create a positive reality.

The content within our mind presents another challenge for us. The subconscious mind always has the final say-so on which conscious thoughts or desires have creative force. This is based on what ideas the subconscious, or unconscious mind, perceives true by virtue of prior learning and experience. Deliberate creation requires clear intent, free of any opposing thought, in either the conscious or subconscious mind.

Next, the universal consciousness, or "one-mind" restricts us. In the highest spiritual sense, we are all one, despite having separate physical bodies. We cannot escape the belief systems of this group. Tribe consciousness refers to the beliefs of the smaller groups we belong to, such as family, gender, or ethnic.  No matter what we may personally believe with even absolute conviction, we will be limited by the beliefs of all of these groups.

Developing a practical approach that takes into account all these considerations will yield far better results than attempting to use law of attraction in an unrealistic way. Wishful thinking will not make it so.

Nothing outside of yourself will prevent you from attaining abundance, love, health and happiness. There is no soul plan that denies anyone this. Rather, it is every soul’s urging that we grow to accept all this and more. Your success in attaining your goals depend upon you cultivating commitment and patience, as well as a postive mind-set. Your spiritual progress, ability to let go of core negative beliefs and programs, and your ability to eliminate destructive habits of negativity, anxiety and fear will largely determine the results. While you may encounter blocks when attempting to influence elements outside of yourself, law of attraction works infallibly 100% of the time on internal shifts and goals. In other words, what you think you are today, you will be, tomorrow.

Metaphysical studies, very much like religion, is often the basis for profit-based businesses these days. In other words, profit is the motive, rather than the spiritual growth of the patrons. Since spiritual growth has turned into a business, we can’t always rely on the integrity of those providing a service or presenting information. When profit becomes motive, truth is expendable. Truth is a prerequisite for growth. So we must question the information, the service, or the healing method, by developing and relying upon, discernment.

True spiritual healing, by necessity, involves an awakening. We cannot remain unconscious until we become enlightened. The journey involves a conscious and willing agreement to seek awareness. When we look into the world with rose-colored glasses, it may boost our comfort, but we are hiding from truth. This is not consciousness. If we believe fiction because it feels better, that is not awareness. If we remain in illusion, we cannot wake up.

Science has proven the existence of some metaphysical concepts, thus bypassing the leap-of-faith requirement that standard religious teachings demand. However this does not prove a particular application of a concept, or law. When putting into practice some "proven" teaching, many students, when faced with failure, do not re-evaluate the validity of the teaching; instead, they believe that they didn’t have enough faith, didn’t know properly how to use the concept, or didn’t want the manifestation on a deep level.

If you have thought of checking with a psychic or reader for some advice, know in advance that they have adopted a standard disclaimer to cover a wide range of error: "free will." Although they may claim to 99% accuracy, free will is the reason they will tell you your reading did not play out as they had told you.

If you have gone to a healer and didn’t experience success, they won’t tell you that you are in the majority. They will point out the few testimonials of those who experienced success, whether or not those testimonials were authentic. They might suggest you didn’t really want the healing on some level. Free will prevails!

A student can spend a lifetime savings on courses, tools, teachers and healing modalities. Perhaps the next teacher who assures us they have "cracked the code" may know something no one else in history has learned. For good reason, we might need to believe that the DNA healer or the energy healer can resolve our health issues. With every product, modality, process, or method that claims success, we need to evaluate the credibility by reviewing our success. We need to remain biased towards our own perceptions. When we doubt ourselves and our judgment, we make ourselves vulnerable to mistruth, and thus, disempowerment. Placing faith outside ourselves removes our power and sets up a cycle of seeking and never actually finding. Today, seeking can be expensive!

This is not an insult to the intelligence of the faithful. Whether we desire to connect with spirit, improve our lives, or achieve wellness, we have a legitimate need. Whenever a need surfaces, business will exploit that need for profit, if we allow them. We can see that modern medicine exploits our natural desire for health. Some patients may continue in the medical system for years, visiting one doctor after another in search of a better answer or better care. One doctor may pass them to another, keeping them in the system. As doctors authorize more tests, more specialists and more treatment, it results in increased profits for the system and increased costs for the patient–who may not even find relief. Many people now educate themselves to make more informed decisions, rather than relying completely on their doctors.

In the same way, the spiritual and personal development field draws in those seeking to improve their health, their lives, or understand the spiritual realm. Unethical people will profit on those needs. Sometimes the healing they provide benefits only their own bank account! We should carefully consider their claims and evaluate fairly to determine which are worthwhile.

Trust yourself. True faith does not require ignorance and complete naivete. Be discriminating in whom you trust and what you believe. Spirituality does not require all-or-nothing blind faith. Although you believe in the existence of "god" as the energy in the universe, you do not need to believe some tool, person, or modality that claims to have captured that essence to heal you. You may believe in law of attraction, and indisputably, it does exist, but you can understand that the way it is presented in some popular teachings is not quite right. You may believe that there are angels or guides in the higher realms that assist us, but you do not need to believe that someone has channeled them or receives special information from them, whether or not they are profiting on the information–although, they usually are! You do not need believe that a book or teaching was channeled information, just because it was claimed. Complete belief is not a requirement for spiritual awakening, but self-trust is. A roadblock on the path to spiritual maturity is trust in self, before all others. In order to progress, you will need to graduate that course.

Be wise! It is not "negative" to use your intelligence and discernment. Wisdom, intellect, discrimination and discernment are our gifts, and our responsibility. It is our task here on earth to balance both our spiritual and human side–not to abandon one aspect of ourselves to embrace another.