Law of Attraction

I have often referred to the Law of Attraction in my blog posts.  But what exactly is it, what does it do, how does it do it, and how important is it to you and your own personal development?

First let me clarify.  The Law of Attraction is not something you can choose to use or to ignore.  Whether or not you like it you are "using" it all the time.  Whether or not you believe in it, the Law of Attraction is working right now and even as you read this it is bringing certain things into your sphere of influence.

The concept is actually very simple.  Like attracts like.  If you focus on certain things, those things are more likely to be attracted into your life.

Most of us, unfortunately, use the Law of Attraction in completely the wrong way, and that is why we get the wrong results.

Notice I said if you focus on certain things, those are the kinds of things the Law of Attraction will bring to you.  Not necessarily exactly the same things, but at least vaguely similar.  Also, maybe only indirectly.  Perhaps what will come into your sphere will be an opportunity to begin obtaining what it is you have focussed on.  But you have to recognize that opportunity.  Most people do not recognize it and therefore do not take advantage of it - and then they complain that the Law of Attraction did not work because it did not bring them the things they wanted.  That is a very lazy attitude, and if you are lazy you are unlikely to get very far in obtaining whatever it is you want.

Even worse, far too many people focus on what is wrong in their life rather than what is good and could be great in their life.  If you focus on what is wrong you will simply attract more of it.  The Law of Attraction will work.  It will respond properly to the instructions you are effectively giving it.  But those instructions are for completely the wrong things.

Take wealth, for example.  When you consider your own wealth do you focus on the fact that you are not wealthy enough?  That you don't have the money you need in order to achieve whatever you want to achieve?  If so, you are probably condemning yourself to losing even the wealth you currently have.  Certainly you are making it much more likely that you will lose it.

Jesus told his disciples "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them." (Matthew 13:12).  There are a number of different interpretations of this, but one is that if you are someone who "does not have" it means you are focussed on that lack rather than the abundance you could have.  Focus on what you do have, albeit so small, and be thankful for it, and you will find it will increase - maybe directly, or maybe indirectly, with the Universe putting you in the right place at the right time to create more of that good in your life.

So take away these three things:

1. Stop focussing on things you do not want to have in your life.
2. Be grateful for all the good things in your life, and express that gratitude
3. Recognize that the Universe brings opportunities to you all the time to increase those good things in your life - look for those opportunities and be ready to seize them.

Do this and you will find that little by little you are using the Law of Attraction properly, and more and more good things will begin to appear in your life.

Mindfulness

I want you to imagine you are sat on a beautiful white sand beach that is almost deserted, there is a lovely salt water smell in the air, there is the sound of waves gently washing into the shore and behind you there are birds happily singing in the trees.  The sun is shining, so it is quite hot, but there is also a lovely, balmy breeze.  All is well with the world around you.

This is a scene I frequently use in positive meditations.  But I am not setting this scene up for a positive meditation right now.  Rather the opposite.  Because whilst you are sat on this lovely beach you are not sitting on the sand but on a chair in front of a desk.  You cannot really hear the waves and that beautiful birdsong as you are talking on your cellphone (or what we Brits call your mobile).  You are not relaxed at all, because the phonecall is a business call, and on the desk in front of you is paperwork you are dealing with while sat on that beach.

How do you feel about this scene?  Are you happy with it?  Or does it feel horribly wrong?  I hope the latter!  It certainly feels very wrong to me.

I am using this discordant image as a metaphor for what psychologists call "default-mode network".  Put simply, mind-wandering.  Which is something most of us do, without even knowing we are doing it, a large percentage of the time.  There is loveliness and beauty around us but we miss it completely because we are not paying any attention to it, just like that businessman on the beach.  We are in default mode.

Not only do we miss the beauty of what is around us when we are in default mode, but also most of the time our mind has a tendency to wander into dark, dismal, miserable areas that cause us stress and worry when we allow it to go into default mode.  It tells us all the things that are wrong or that could go wrong.  It criticizes decisions we have made.  It tells us we are silly wanting something better.  Default mode causes us a lot of unhappiness even when what is around us should make us very happy.  It focuses on "what if", with an inevitable bias to all the negative "what ifs".

The opposite of default mode is mindfulness.  Being fully engaged with the present moment.  Enjoying what is here now.  Focusing on and dealing properly with what is here now.  The "what is" rather than the "what if".

There is so much around you that you can enjoy if you cultivate mindfulness.  Don't miss what is around you, but rather make sure you take full advantage of it.  Perhaps the song of a blackbird nearby.  A beautiful sunrise or sunset.  A tasty meal.

Mindfulness is not simply about enjoyment, but also about getting things done properly, and even about staying safe.

Take driving a car as an example.  When you drive you should most certainly be mindful.  Your focus should be on the driving, on what is happening on the road, not (for example) on what is going to happen when you get wherever you are going, and certainly not on a conversation someone in the car is trying to have with you or, even worse, someone at the other end of a phone conversation!

You have probably heard it said that women multitask better than men.  Do you agree?  Well, really that is a trick question, because neither men nor women can multitask at all.  Our brains cannot deal with two things at once.  If you give your brain two tasks to perform it will perform them sequentially, not in parallel.  It may appear to multitask and deal with both at the same time, but what it is actually doing is switching between the two tasks sequentially.  Research has shown that when we are switching attention from one task to another there is up to half a second of complete oblivion when we are totally unaware of anything in either task.

Now that you are aware of the problem, let's go back to the driving example.  If you are chatting and driving at the same time your mind is switching between those two tasks, and each time it switches there is that fraction of a second when you are completely unaware of either.  Do you see the danger here?  I hope so!  What can happen in, say, half a second while you are travelling at, perhaps, 60 mph (or 96 kph for my metric friends)?  The answer is, a lot!  You will have travelled 15 yards, or 14 metres in complete oblivion.  Happy about that?  I hope not!  The reality is neither your driving nor your conversation will be anywhere near as good as it should be.  Be mindful!

In this modern technological age there are so many gadgets and "apps" around us that can interfere with mindfulness if we let them.  Alerts, instant messages, beeps on our phones to tell us someone has texted us.  Each of these will rob you of your mindfulness if you let them.  Don't let them!

How can you acquire mindfulness?

There are many techniques you can use, but the very first and easiest is simply to decide you want to be mindful!  Once you have made that decision you will become much more aware of being dragged into default mode.

As with most things, the more you practice this the easier it becomes.  It may not seem that way, as you will also become a lot more aware of the distractions trying to move you from mindfulness back to default mode, but that awareness is a good thing as it will help you develop the skill better.

Meditation is a very good way to improve mindfulness.  Especially, but certainly not exclusively, meditation techniques that focus on mindfulness.

Look for ways to increase your mindfulness.  Learn to stop and smell the roses.  Become more aware of when you are falling into default mode so you can control this.  By doing so you can increase your enjoyment of even the small pleasures of life, and you may even save your own life and/or the lives of others by being more mindful the next time you drive.

Stay Focused

Great Ideas To Help Stay Critically Focused

Are you prone to distractions while performing important tasks? Do you feel like sometimes your mind is not under your control, that it has made choices of its own? It is because we live in a world full of distractions, distractions which can have numerous repercussions. Naturally, those who achieve greater productivity have an immense critical focus on their goals.

What follows is a guide to help you maintain critical focus on your goals, which will enable you to achieve more gratification and success in your endeavors.

What is critical focus?

Critical focus is extensively related to and with critical thinking. Critical thinking is one's ability or competence to question the assumed facts. Similarly, critical focus is one's ability to retain the concentration or convergence of their mind by eliminating every external interruption. Some of the major causes of these distractions are mental clutter, hyper-mind and head overdrive.

Are you focused objectively?

Many of us begin to work on a project with great expectations and focus. Then suddenly we disappear down the rabbit hole without any apparent reason. It happens because the mind does not like being restrained or made to follow regulations. It will resist nearly all your efforts to keep it on the track. Apparently, it loves its freedom more than anything else. It will find many ways to stop and disrupt you. In order to accomplish and prosper; you must prove to be stronger. The importance of time management should also be kept in mind as critical focus alone is useless without time management.

Let me explain with the help of an example - I have been approached by many students asking the same question over and over again: How to focus on studying? Students are likely to experience the phenomenon of lack of critical focus almost every day. Whenever they get their hand on the books and start reading, they experience aberration and divergence from their topic of study. In spite of the fact that some of them don't even have any external source of disturbance at all. It shows that their own mind is taking them away from the intended practice. This is what shows that they are not critically focused. So in order to get their minds back on the books they need to learn the methods of staying critically focused.

How to stay critically focused?

As explained in the preceding discourse, the combination of time management and critical focus is the ultimate recipe to success. The following list contains some of the many tips mandatory to staying critically focused on your objective:

• Get plenty of rest - You should sleep well and take care of your body. Don't try to force your body when it's demanding rest. Try not to sleep too much or become excessively lazy. An adequate amount of rest is needed to keep your mind sharp and focused.

• Eat proper diet - Some of the most essential elements necessary for a human brain to work efficiently are produced by the body only when the nutrition is adequate. So, take care of your meals and their timings. This will make a drastic change in your critical focus ability.

• Eliminate Distractions - Now that your body has all it needs for the brain to function properly; you'll have to work on the external factors affecting your mental focus. Even a minor distraction can make you lose your train of thought; which is very detrimental. So be careful to make your surrounding environment peaceful and organized.

• Picture your mind as a blank canvas - The most fundamental component of critical focus is to keep your mind clear of all the stress and tension. Your mind should be like a blank canvas when you're about to being working on your project. This enables you to build an ultimate focus on the objective.

• Practice focusing techniques - There are various mind focus techniques that help create critical focus on your ambitions. Some of them include yoga and meditation. These certainly can help and be an effective assistant of critical focus.

There are far too many help techniques that I haven't been able to express in this short article. My intention here is to simply to get you thinking of ways to stay critically focused on your objectives.

It's one thing to get all excited about a new goal, project or just life. Following through and being successful takes planning, productivity. http://jaywestinginfowiki.com will provide comprehensive guidance by suggesting other sources to study in order to glean exactly the information that you are looking for.

About the Author

Jay Westing has been involved in behind-the-scenes internet marketing since 2002. He has now made the decision to come into the spotlight with his introductory blog at: jaywestinginfowiki.com.

Jay says about himself:

My purpose on the Internet is to provide a variety of information that is hoped to be beneficial. My logo is a hound dog whose purpose is to sniff out a variety of information. Along the same track I am sniffing out and introducing the possibilities of making money on line, for those who are interested. My focus is then to basically provide information to make an informed decision.