Our next Metro Law of Attraction meeting is on Friday, April 4!

Are you looking for like-minded Law of Attraction enthusiasts in the DC area? Have you read Law of Attraction books, have you even begun to work with the principles and you've attained rapid transformation in your life, but you're looking for people who can help you take this to the next level? We'd love to see you at our monthly Metro Law of Attraction meeting! Vanessa, Leslie and others will meet at 6:30 pm on Friday, at Piola, 1550 Wilson Blvd. (about four blocks from the Rosslyn stop on the Blue and Orange lines.) www.piola.it. Look for us at the large wooden table near the entrance. You'll recognize us by our Law of Attraction books. Please contact vanessa@vanessacurto.com for more information.

Why They Don't Teach Law of Attraction in Law School

I think that a lot of people wonder why law of attraction did not go mainstream until Oprah endorsed The Secret. Esther Hicks has been teaching the notions of Abraham for over 20 years, yet it took a *huge* celebrity endorsement for the concepts to go mainstream...and I think I know why.

In this country, we care more about one's actions than one's thoughts. "He's a do gooder", "you gotta do what's right for yourself", "actions speak louder than words", and so on. But we know in law of attraction that this is false. Actions are a result of *thinking*. We clearly have a chicken and egg situation!

The best example I can give of the fallicy is for you to step inside any first year law student criminal law course. One of the first concepts you learn is to distinguish the mens rea from the actus reus - the former being Latin for "guilty mind," whereas the latter is Latin for the "guilty act." In America, you are not punished for your thoughts alone. We punish because there has been an actus reus. A person who is thinking about murder is not punished for that thought in and of itself. It takes the act of murder for the crime to actually manifest.

But law of attraction is exactly the opposite! In law of attraction, your mens rea is everything! Without the mens, there is no actus. So the best you can do is to be aware of your mens and make it work for you. The actus will naturally follow.

Using Law of Attraction to Get in Shape

One of the areas where people utilize law of attraction techniques is with their own self image. Usually the person is unhappy with his or her image in some way - out of shape, overweight, cellulite, unhealthly eating habits, aging etc. There is a law of attraction solution to a perceived problem with self-image.

Notice the use of the word "perceived." Law of attraction does not care about your looks. To law of attraction, your body is merely packaging for your energy. Law of attraction does not require you to be a size 4 with big fake gazungas to make it work for you :-) Law of attraction transcends the physical form.

That Being Said, however, your body needs to be nutured and cared for in order for you to raise your own emotions. A healthy body will elevate your emotions. Elevating your emotions to a more joyous place will strengthen the positive vibration you are emitting. You will resonate louder and thus attract like energy more strongly. And, of course, we do live in a material society and it's ok to want to wear a pretty dress or get an awesome hair cut.

So, how do you use law of attraction to get you in shape?

The first thing is to do STOP FOCUSING ON YOUR FLAWS! In law of attraction, we know that your thoughts are energy and energy attracts like energy. Thus, negative thoughts lend to negative energy which means more negative energy coming at you! Instead, you need to invert those negative thoughts to positive ones.

For example, if your negative thought is "my thighs are fat", change that to "I want to look hot in my skinny jeans." If your negative thought is "I'm out of shape", change that to "I want to be able to run 30 minutes straight." If your negative thought is "I have cellulite," change that too "I want be toned."

Even stronger, don't say "I want", say "I have or I am." When you use the word "want" that suggests something in the future, there is some uncertainty still attached to the desire. The better technique is to say yourself and visualize "I look hot in my skinny jeans", "I eat more healthy", "I run 30 minutes", etc. These affirmations will lend you towards the actions needed to get you to your desires.

So, stop staring at yourself disgracefully in the mirror. When you find yourself staring at a perceived flaw, shift your focus and fixate on a body part you are happy with. Then, take it to the next level and affirm your desire ("I eat more vegetables", "I work out regularly", "I love my body"). This will help.

One last point on getting in shape. We know that a happier emotion will make you resonate at a higher vibration. A key way to get a happier emotion is to do an activity you love. So if your goal is to be more active, or do more cardio, pick an activity you enjoy so that your emotional level will be more elevated. Don't force yourself into step aerobics if you know you don't like it. Do whatever it is that makes you happy.

How to Tell Your Loved One about Law of Attraction and not Sound Hokey

One of my big struggles with being a law of attraction practioner is trying to explain law of attraction to people who are not really into the metaphysical, people who think that meditation and visioning are just plain hokey and impractical. These people could be your spouses, friends, family, etc.

There will be a time where you need to "fess up" about your visioning, whether it be becasue you want to make a meditation room in your house, or a family member finds a vision journal you've been keeping, or you just want to be honest with who you are and how you go through life.

There are a number of things you can do to explain to your loved ones what you are doing with law of attraction:

1. Visualize yourself having the conversation with your loved one. Visualize that person listening to you. Visualize that person having an open mind and being interested in your conversation. Visualize that person accepting the method of being you have chosen for yourself. A script may go something like this:

Honey, I wanted to sit down and talk to you about some things I've been trying to make myself a more confident, happier person. Please don't take this to mean that I've been unhappy or have had low self-esteem. I am very fulfilled with our life together as it has been, but I've also been trying some mental exercises that I've learned to make things even better for myself and us. I've been learning some meditation and positive thinking techniques and I've been utilizing them, such as doing visualization exercises and keeping a journal of my life goals. I am sharing this with you because I love you and I hope that you support me in my efforts to try to improve myself in a positive way.

This script may trigger an open dialoque with your loved one about what *are* exactly your life goals. Perhaps your loved one has some goals of his or her own? This conversation can lead to a deep sharing with your loved one that will strengthen your relationship. Your partner may ask you how this change came about. Be honest with your loved one. If you learned about it from Oprah or a book, just be forthcoming. Honesty with yourself and others vibrates very strongly and will elevate your emotions.

2. Anticipate your loved one's concerns and be prepared to address them. Assure your loved one that your are not joining a cult (joke!) or abandoning conventional religion for something more spiritual if you know that it would upset your loved one. Explain that you are merely supplementing your current way of life with a way of being that will enhance the current lifestyle and make it better. Assure your loved one that you are not simply buying into the latest fad, but that you are serious about educating yourself to be a more self-aware and positive person.

3. Convince your loved one(s) that everything you do with law of attraction will help them too. Tell them that a happier you will make a happier them. How can they argue with that?

Proving that Law of Attraction Works

When I first started getting into law of attraction, the realist in me wanted tangible evidence that it was actually working. I suspect most people also crave concrete proof as well. So when I decided to utilize law of attraction techniques in my life, the first thing I did was create a "proof journal" - basically, a written log of everytime I thought of something and it happened to come true.

I first started logging times where I had a song stuck in my head and then heard it being played somewhere. I know this has happened to you as well where you've had a song in your head and then within the next couple of days you hear the song on the radio or in the restaurant, etc. Those types of instances were my first "proofs" that the techniques were working.

The next proofs were ones in which I was thinking of someone and then they happen to call or email me. The most blatant example of this is happened one night where I was fondly thinking about my former secretary Cassandra, wondering how she was doing, etc. I hadn't spoken to her in over a year. The next morning, she had emailed me to catch up.

I'm sure that things like this have been happening to you too. Now you know that they are not random acts of coincidence (what an oxymoron!), but are proof that law of attraction works.

How Did I Get Into Law of Attraction?

My path to law of attraction is probably the same as most peoples'. I was around 30 or 31 years old, single and wondering why I was such a failure in the relationship department. And I certainly wasn't alone. At that time, many of my gal pals were feeling the same frustration.

A friend of mine had gotten herself on one these city professionals mailing lists which blasts upcoming events catering towards singles. One of these events was a one-day seminar on using law of attraction to find love. At that time, I had no clue about law of attraction or energy or anything. I was just a single gal looking for love and was open-minded about attending a seminar about it with my friend.

The seminar was hosted by Dr. Margaret McCraw and she taught the techniques described in her book, Tune Into Love. Both the seminar and book are good on fundamentals, i.e., what is law of attraction, what is law of vibration, using your emotions as a metric for whether your thoughts are aligned with your desires, and so forth - ultimately, how to attract the mate of your desires using all of those elements.

I started reading the book the night of the seminar and it revolutionized my thinking. And this was before Oprah and The Secret and everything else. Here's what I garnered from the book as my first interaction with law of attraction.

1. You attract what you think. Therefore, if you're thinking positively, you attract positive and if you're thinking negatively, you attract negative.

2. Thoughts are energy. Every time you think, you send out a vibration. That vibration is either a negative one or a positive one, thus attracting positive or negative results.

3. If you want to get whatever you want out of life (a mate, financial independence, a new job, etc.), vision yourself with that desire and keep doing it. Again, thoughts are energy and since energy attracts, you will ultimately attract what you are thinking. So make those thoughts be good ones.

4. You know you're doing it right if you feel good. Your emotions are your metric. If you are thinking about something and it's making you feel sad, angry or hurt, then you are not focusing on your desires.

5. To cure the problem in #4 above, change your thoughts and focus on the positive. This will make you have a happier emotion.

6. A happier emotion sends out happy vibrations, which attracts happy desires.

7. In the realm of attracting your mate, visualize exactly what you want in detail. It's ok to be picky. You are in this universe and by virtue of your existence alone, you have the right to want and expect exactly what you want. So if you like tall men, visualize a tall man. If you want tall and wealthy, visualize yourself with a tall and wealthy guy. If you like 'em tall, wealthy and funny, visualize that. Keep going until you feel like you've captured everything. Then make a written list of your preferences and refer back to that list regularly to remind yourself of your preferences and to keep the vibration going.

8. Get rid of the thoughts of "I have to lose 10 pounds to be desirable", or "I'm not attractive enough", or "I have too much baggage", etc. What you think that men find attractive in the conventional sense is not applicable here. You don't have to have model looks to deserve and attract your model man. Law of attraction does not go down that path, so you don't have to either.

9. With respect to #8 above, it's like when someone walks in a room and you just feel their presence and energy. That person owns the room. That person may not be the most conventionally beautiful person in the room, but for some reason, that person has a presence that can't be ignored. That's law of attraction. So next time you walk into a room or bar or restaurant, walk in fearless and with confidence. Feel your own energy inside you knowing that others in the room are feeling it too.

Since that time, I've been with my boyfriend now for almost a year. This stuff really works. Try it. You have nothing to lose at all.

Is Law of Attraction Simply Avoiding Reality?

Vanessa and I had a discussion last night about whether using law of attraction to deal with life's crises is simply a way of avoiding reality. We concluded that it wasn't, but it took us some dialogue to reach that conclusion.

Our thought was that, from the onset, you can't simply avoid negative aspects in your life or responsibilities that are staring you in the face. The credit card bill needs to be paid, the dent in your car needs to be repaired, you got into a fight with your spouse/friend/boss, etc. No amount of meditation is going to make the bill or dent disappear (although many yogis and gurus may say otherwise - that's a whole different topic that Vanessa will comment on at some point :-)).

We do live in a tangible world (again, yogis and gurus argue otherwise, but let's continue). Life happens and it's ok to acknowledge that it does. Law of attraction does not mean ignoring or fighting the bill, the dent or the fight or letting those instances bring you to an angry or sad place; rather, it means allowing life's annoyances to exist.

The law of allowing basically allows (there's that word again!) it to be ok for the bill, the dent, the fight to exist in your reality. Law of allowing means acknowleging that negative thing and not trying to fight or resist it. Law of allowing is proclaiming "I see you bill/dent/fight, I except that you are here, your reason for being here may lend to something good, but in the mean time, I'm going to change my vibration to make you better!"

Here's a personal example. I drive a pretty old black Pontiac. The parking garage at my office job has this white column right where my parking space is and, on multiple occassions, I've dinged my car door on that stupid white column :-) At first, I was so annoyed with all the white marks on my car! But then I made a declaration to myself that I wasn't going to worry about the white marks - they were cosmetic issues that didn't concern the operation car. I was going to move on from the matter and simply take the car to the body shop when I was ready.

Then I was in a car accident where another driver collided into my dinged up door. No one was hurt, but the car door needed to be replaced. The only way for the new door to match my old car was to repaint the entire car! With the new paint job, all the old dings and scratches were completely gone, paid for by the other driver's insurance company!

That, my friends, is law of allowing.