As you might expect, plenty of people who have encountered The Secret and/or other sources on the Law of Attraction have expressed criticisms about the message. These range from arguments that only a small part of the overall picture is presented, which is a common view among Witches who write on the subject, to declarations that the whole thing is completely bogus. In a sense, both of these statements are true. The more mainstream sources do tend to just scratch the surface of how the Law of Attraction actually works, particularly when it comes to how to train the mind to consciously direct it. And those who flatly reject any notion of some invisible force governing the circumstances of our lives will, like everyone else, always experience what they believe to be true, which means they will be unable to recognize any evidence of the Law of Attraction in their own lives. But even believers experience obstacles, doubts, and difficulties in understanding just how it can be that every aspect of their life experience is created by their thoughts. Here we’ll briefly address a few common concerns expressed by skeptics and practitioners alike.
Everyone knows that success is achieved through hard work. How is sitting around daydreaming about a better life going to change anything for me?
First, no one is suggesting you quit your job and devote yourself full-time to closing your eyes and visualizing your success. After all, in your current life, you probably still need to work to pay the bills. But the equation of “hard work” with “success” is really a cultural myth that can do more harm than good. After all, plenty of people work very, very hard and can’t get ahead no matter what they do, while others find immediate success with what feels like very little effort. If you’re focused on the idea that work should be hard, your work will always feel difficult to you, and success will always seem like a destination you haven’t reached yet. But if you go about your work while keeping a positive frame of mind, not only does the work become easier, but you will also be more receptive to ideas, tips, and opportunities that can lead you to the promotion, new job, or other “lucky break” that will bring you the success that is currently eluding you.
If thoughts become things, why can’t I make a monkey ride a bicycle into my living room right now?
The answer here has to do with probability, which is often left out of the discussion when it comes to the Hermetic Principles and/or quantum physics. On the mental plane, if you are imagining a bike-riding monkey in your living room, you are indeed creating this scenario. However, on the physical plane, many factors have to be navigated before any idea can be made into reality. These include linear time, geography, and the existing circumstances of all the people, places, and things that would be involved. In other words, our ideas can run into a lot of interference on their way to physical manifestation—including, and especially, our own doubts. So unless you happen to know a circus trainer who can bring a monkey and a bicycle over to your house, there’s a very small probability that these circumstances will come together on the physical plane. And knowing that the probability is small, you’re automatically reducing the chances even further by projecting your doubt—however reasonable it may be—into the Universe. Nonetheless, if you really have a strong desire to make this happen, it is possible. But it would likely require a lot of legwork on your part, and most people find that they’d rather develop their Law of Attraction skills for what they feel are more beneficial, as well as more probable, goals.
How am I supposed to think positively about my living situation when I hate it and desperately want to move?
Although this tends to be difficult to hear at first, the answer is to do your best not to think about it. The more you notice and actively focus on what you don’t want, the more persistently it shows up in your life. This is where appreciation can be a big help—find whatever you can identify as the good in the situation, no matter how seemingly small, and see how many aspects you can add to that list. Whenever you start to dwell on the negatives, try to direct your attention to that list. If that seems impossible, gently allow yourself to think about other aspects of your life that are going well, until you notice that you’re feeling better. And when you think about moving, imagine your ideal situation and how you will feel once you’re in it.
If I create my reality, why in the world would I have chosen the terrible things that have happened to me?
This is often the hardest aspect of the Law of Attraction for people to wrap their minds around. Most of the time, we’re only unconsciously creating our reality. We’re not deliberately choosing our thoughts, and we’re unaware of all the activity going on in the subconscious mind. So no, you are not deliberately choosing to attract negative circumstances. But your thoughts, whether they are conscious or unconscious, are creating your dominant vibrational frequency, which is attracting experiences that match it on a vibrational level.
These experiences may not match any specific thoughts that you’ve had in the past, but they do match up with some part of your dominant vibration. The good news is that as you learn to work with the Law of Attraction, you can raise your vibration to attract positive experiences, instead. And there’s no need to indulge in regrets about the past, or about your role in creating it. We can’t undo the past—the only point of power is in the present, and in believing that your future will be better.
I think about what I want all the time, but it’s still not here. What am I doing wrong?
There are two parts to this answer. As explained above, everything that we’re trying to draw to us has to contend with time and physical space, as well as the vibrational frequencies of any and all people who may be part of the equation. So it can feel like the thing we want isn’t happening, when really it’s just not manifesting according to our preferred timeline.
The problem we run into, then, is the second part—we end up focusing on the fact that it hasn’t happened yet, which only brings us more of it not happening. In fact, often when we think about what we want, we’re simultaneously thinking about the lack of it. The trick is to focus on the belief that it will come to us, imagine how we will feel when it does, and ignore the fact that we don’t have it yet. If we can practice this patience for long enough, and trust that what we want is coming, it will eventually come. It has to, because the Law of Attraction is universal and all-encompassing.
Things started to improve for me after I discovered how to work the Law of Attraction, but now everything is back to normal. What happened?
This is common. People who really grasp the concept often get a significant vibrational “boost” just from the excitement of being liberated from their habitual thought patterns as they practice the art of deliberately choosing where to put their focus. This will often move a few positive things into place in a relatively short time. Maybe you get a surprise check in the mail, or you find that your days are going more smoothly, and you feel better about life in general. You may sustain this higher vibrational state for several days, weeks, or even months. However, life will always bring us challenges, and if you were operating on a low or mixed frequency—which is the case for most people, there will be unwanted circumstances and experiences that have been making their way toward you for a long time. Furthermore, the collective force of your old habitual ways of thinking has a very strong vibration that is easy to fall back into, particularly when you experience a challenge. In other words, old habits are hard to break, and new ones are hard to establish. So don’t be discouraged if you find you can’t constantly sustain the positive frame of mind that you know has worked for you before. Just like learning to play an instrument or a new sport, working with the Law of Attraction takes practice, and even once you really start to master it, there will always be room for improvement.
