In my article debunking the Law of Attraction teachings, I showed you that quantum physics in no way suggests that our thoughts control the manifestation of our world through the known laws of physics or quantum mechanics.

That doesn’t mean our thoughts cannot change the world, it just means that there is no scientific proof that would suggest it (yet).

There is a reason why so many people are attracted to the ideas taught by Law of Attraction proponents.

One of the main reasons is that you start to feel pretty good as soon as you start to focus your mind in ways that generate positive emotions and hopeful thoughts about the future.

In this article, we are going to zero in on how to take the best of the Law of Attraction teachings and ditch all the meaningless babble that usually accompanies the teachings.

Long before I became a doctor of psychology and life modification coach, I was profoundly influenced by a book about the power of the unconscious mind.

It was one of those books that claims that all the universe is at the beck and call of your magical unconscious mind.  If only you could harness the magical power of the unconscious, suddenly everything you ever wanted would come true.

I was in high school and I had not yet developed the discerning wisdom of adulthood when I read the book.  Neither did I have my present level of understanding of the unconscious aspects of our minds (which I gained through my advanced training in psychology and my experience working with people who have mental disorders based on unconscious processes—like people with Dissociative Identity Disorder).

Nonetheless, I was skeptical enough of the claims of unlimited power that I had a hard time taking the author seriously.   But I kept thinking about the book after reading it.  I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a try, and a lot to gain if it turned out to be true.

What happened next was quite astonishing to me.

To this day I marvel at the changes that happened in my life as I began to practice daily meditation on the hopeful anticipation of things I desired.

There was never a miraculous experience that could not be explained, but there were numerous surprises of good fortune that fell in place because of normal-life factors that I had not perceived in advance.

Despite these positive surprises, I continued to be skeptical.

At one point several years later, I actually decided I would put aside my disbelief if I could accomplish one more feat that I didn’t think to be very likely.

Ironically, it was a logic class I was taking in college.  My logic told me I only perceived uncanny events because I was looking for them.  But I had many positive experiences with visualization and focus on the goals that I wanted to achieve, so I decided I would try the method one more time and put aside my disbelief if it worked again.

Within a few days I found a good test.

My logic professor told me I had a B in his class and he showed me the numbers.   I realized I had a good opportunity to do a little test.  Based on the numbers he showed me, it would not be possible to bring my grade up to an “A,” even if I did very well on the final exam.  So logic would say I should not get an A in that class.

I resolved in my mind to accomplish an “A” nonetheless.  With purposefully generated hopeful anticipation of an “A,” I focused my mind on the desired outcome, frequently rehearsing my desire throughout the day.

After the exam, I met with my professor as he was wrapping up his lecture to another class.  I asked him how I did on the exam and he pulled out his materials and showed me that I had achieved an “A” on the exam and in the course as a whole.

I looked with an odd sense of disbelief.

I actually questioned my grade, saying I thought my grade was too low to be able to pull off an “A” in the course.  He looked amused as I explained to him why I couldn’t possibly have achieved an “A.”

He then politely showed me that I had one of the highest grades on the test and that my weekly quiz scores had brought my grade closer than I thought to the “A” range once he used a grading scale curve.

I had set out to test this magical focus thing one last time, with the idea that I would make up my mind after this experiment.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work.

The circumstances always seemed to conveniently explain my success, and I was hoping for some sort of unexplainable event.

Did God set up the world in such a way that our thoughts can control it?

He probably did.  But I doubt we will ever discover the mechanism by which that works using scientific methods of discovery.

For now, let’s focus on what we do know and go from there.

We do know that focusing the mind on a goal has a profound effect on our behavior.

The reticular activating system of our brain is responsible for determining what you notice and what you do not notice.  You notice your name being called but not all the other babble in a crowded room.

You see the same model of car you just bought all over town once you own one.

If you are focused on finding real estate to rent for the new company you are forming, you may hear your name mentioned in a crowded room and you might also hear someone several yards behind you telling their friend about a new property they are developing to rent out.

This only happens when you have “taught” your brain what to look for and what is important.

As I studied for that logic class exam, my brain had been “taught” to think the information I was reading was highly valuable and important.

It was my nightly meditation on the class and the grade that caused my unconscious processes to zero in on that information.

Since emotions are a huge determinant of what sinks into long-term memory, my study time was more efficient, aided by the emotions I connected to the class through my visualizations and meditation.

I also remembered to study because my goal was on my mind when my friend invited me to drive to St. Luis to see a professional soccer game.

I stayed home to study instead.  So the reticular activating system is one mechanism by which focused attention on a goal can make a difference.

But there’s more to it than that.

Another thing we know about rehearsing a goal with a positive expectation for success is that it puts our mind in solution-focused mode.

We act in ways that reflect an expectation of success.  This, more than anything else, is the power that is behind positive expectations for success.

It’s called creating your own luck.

Who do you think is more likely to get a job in a depressed economy, the guy who tries until the fifth interview yields nothing, or the guy who keeps trying without ceasing?

The guy who keeps trying only does so because he is convinced that the right job is out there and in the perfect timing it will be revealed to him.

He keeps looking and he doesn’t get depressed when things fall through because he knows that it was lucky that job didn’t work out because obviously it wasn’t the right one for his long-term success, otherwise he would have gotten it.

That’s the “grateful” mentality that I like about the Law of Attraction teachings.

Being grateful for what you have and hopeful for what’s to come causes you to not only enjoy the process of life as it unfolds, but it also causes you to create your own luck through persistence!

What can we learn from this?

Can we throw out the possibility that our minds somehow influence the unfolding events around us in metaphysical ways?

No.  We can’t.

But we can avoid the trap of blaming victims of bad circumstances.

We can avoid living in a naive La-La-land where everyone lives in an imaginary world they created, being God’s of their own world without ever realizing it till now.

Leave that behind and adopt this healthier alternative.

We may or may not be able to shift our circumstances in a metaphysical way, but it doesn’t hurt to try with an open mind.

The side benefits of adopting an expectation of success are so great that we really don’t lose anything even if there is no metaphysical effect cause by our thought focus.

We can shift our life and circumstances in a very powerful and direct way by choosing to purposefully adopt a focus on specific goals and an attitude of optimistic expectation for success.

With this foundation, you will be amazed at what you can do to transform your emotional world and your practical outer world.

Get to it!  Start Today!

Choose an attitude of joy right now, based on the expectation that your attitude itself will cause you to have a better life and circumstances that unfold to meet you as you reach for your goals.

Are you going to use this in your life? Please leave a comment and let us know.

Dr. Todd Snyder