TheLaw of Attraction: Feeling is the Real Secret

If you’re like me, you find the idea behind the Law of Attraction appealing, but solid, and simple, guidance on how to make it work is elusive. Some advocates would have you believe you can manifest a Tesla right into your driveway in a matter of days. Such conceptions of the Law of Attraction have bred a healthy skepticism.

The Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction is a spiritual principle that states: That which is like unto itself, is drawn. Or put even more simply, like attracts like. It is the principle by which we create our own reality. According to Abraham-Hicks, “Nothing merely shows up in your experience. You attract it—all of it. No exceptions.” (The Law of Attraction, Esther Hicks)

Now, it is easy enough to believe that as you think about something and have faith that it will come to pass that you will take action to make it so. But Law of Attraction works at a metaphysical level. Proponents like Abraham-Hicks posit that the universe conspires to bring about events that match with what you are “manifesting.”

Reluctant Believer

I guess I’d characterize myself as a reluctant believer. While I’m very open to metaphysical ideas, my logical mind, which has been indoctrinated by mainstream science, is a little slow to come along. But even with my skepticism, I’ve seen the Law of Attraction at play in my life. I’m convinced that I used its powers to manifest at a job with a six-figure salary and some sweet homes in tough housing markets.

Importance of Feeling

Through nearly fifteen years of researching and experimenting with the Law of Attraction, I’ve come to one key conclusion: there is nothing more important than your feeling. You can create all the vision boards and mantras that you want, but they won’t do a thing unless you are invoking the feeling of already having the thing you desire. The universe, it seems, doesn’t respond so much to your wanting as to the quality of your feeling state.

In fact, when you are in a state of wanting, your vibration is one of not having. The universe matches your vibrational energy, giving you more of the same instead of that which you seek. But if you get your vibrational energy focused on what it will feel like to have the desired thing, the universe will conspire to bring you more of that feeling, including those things that you desire.

This, I believe, is the true meaning of the biblical passage, “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

Feeling is the Real Secret

The movie The Secret did a great job of popularizing the Law of Attraction in 2006, but, for me anyway, it failed to emphasize this most important factor. Ironically, it was a book published in 1944 that had the emphasis in the right place: Feeling is the Secret by Neville Goddard. It’s almost like he knew there be this movie called The Secret that would gloss over the most important part!

Goddard and Abraham-Hicks exhort you to get clear on one point. There’s an alchemy to the Law of Attraction, in fact, it’s almost mundane enough to break down into a recipe.

Take desire. Mix with a strong dose of feeling. Marinate. Yield manifestation.

We Get the Order Wrong

But most of us almost always get the order wrong. We want the manifestation first so that we can have the feeling. We get sloppy with our feelings (or don’t know any better): we allow our feelings to be dictated by outer circumstances.

If you look at your life and don’t have what you’ve been striving for, recognize that the absence of what you want only gives you information about where your feelings have been focused. It’s just feedback, not some immutable fact.

I’m guilty of doing this the wrong way all the time. I look around at what I haven’t yet manifested and I feel bad about it. If I’m not careful, I’ll assign all sorts of dire reasons to my state of lack.

But the alchemy is simple. There’s only one reason I haven’t manifested — my feelings have not been aligned with that which I desire.

See if this isn’t true for you. What desires have eluded you? Have you consistently focused on the feeling state of having that desire fulfilled? Even if you’ve done it consciously do you suppose there might be an unconscious drag operating against you somewhere in the background?

So, how do we get our feeling aligned to the things we want? That is the tricky part. Especially when we consider unconscious dimensions.

No matter what your current feeling state is, you need to go beyond it to conjure up the feelings of having that which you are trying to manifest.

3 Powerful Manifestation Tools

Here are three ways to raise your vibrational frequency in order to facilitate manifestation:

1) Develop Emotional Intelligence

I’m not speaking precisely of the notion of EQ developed by Daniel Goleman. This has more to do with understanding that there is a vibrational resonance associated with each emotion. Emotions can be placed on a scale according to their energy. Abraham-Hicks have defined twenty-two levels of emotional energy:

1. Joy/Knowledge/Empowerment/Freedom/Love/Appreciation
2. Passion
3. Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
4. Positive Expectation/Belief
5. Optimism
6. Hopefulness
7. Contentment
8. Boredom
9. Pessimism
10. Frustration/Irritation/Impatience
11. Overwhelm
12. Disappointment
13. Doubt
14. Worry
15. Blame
16. Discouragement
17. Anger
18. Revenge
19. Hatred/Rage
20. Jealousy
21. Insecurity/Guilt/Unworthiness
22. Fear/Grief/Depression/Despair/Powerlessness

In this case, Emotional Intelligence means to pay attention to where your current thoughts and feelings fall along the scale. Once you know where you are at on the scale, you can intentionally raise your vibration by thinking of a thought at a higher level.

For example, a new entrepreneur might be disappointed that they didn’t win a new client, putting her at #12 on the scale. A higher energy thought would be to focus on her impatience (#10) over how quickly her business is growing. She may further increase her vibration by thinking about other prospects and her hopes (#6) for converting them to clients. In this manner, she can work her way up the scale.

As I do this exercise, I like to make note of my highest energy thoughts, keeping a sort of catalog of them. I can then refer to these like affirmations or even turn them into mantras.

2) Tap the Power of Your Subconscious While You Sleep

We spend one-third of our life sleeping, but most of us do not use this time strategically. Maybe you didn’t even realize that you could use this time strategically — I didn’t. But according to Neville Goddard, you can leverage your sleep to tap your subconscious powers.

The process is simple: as you are falling asleep focus on that which you desire and bring up the feelings associated with having that desire fulfilled. Try to hold on to that feel of contentment, or thrill, or whatever it is, as you fall asleep. Doing so will have the effect of encoding your subconscious.

“Unless you consciously and purposely define the attitude of mind with which you go to sleep, you unconsciously go to sleep in the composite attitude of mind made up of all feelings and reactions of the day,” Goddard counsels. Then, of course, you’ll just keep getting more of the same thing.

So, if you want to change the quality of your life, focus first on changing what you attend to as you fall asleep.

3) Basking

This final technique is something I created to leverage the importance of feeling. Right after my regular meditation practice each morning, I queue up an inspiring instrumental song. (My favorite song to use is Palladio by Escala.) For the duration of the song, I conjure up the feeling state of having my desires fulfilled. Sometimes the feelings morph into imagery and I see myself engaged in the activities that I desire. These visualizations even become metaphorical and I find myself dancing on the furniture in my exuberance. The process feels great, but better still, it is a powerful manifestation tool.

I’m convinced it helped me to secure a great rental when I recently relocated to Portland. Portland has a super competitive rental market and I was nervous about securing something since I have a big dog and I’m self-employed, which means no pay stubs or salary. I counteracted my worries by focusing on landing a beautiful home in my basking sessions.

When I flew out to Portland I gave myself five days to find something. Turns out, it took about five hours.

The first place I saw was gorgeous, but true to the competitive market, seven people showed up for the appointment to see the place!

But I was ready with a comprehensive dossier to hand the property manager (including a dog resume!) I jumped on my iPad immediately after the tour and snatched up the place. I’m sure that my basking inspired me to not only take all the steps to be ready but that it also lined up universal forces in my favor.

So, happy manifesting! Let me know how these techniques work for you in the comments.