Concepts such as visualization and affirmations were popular long before the term "law of attraction" became mainstream, and long before the success of movies like The Secret. The reason for that is because those methods work. However, like any success method, you have to do it right in order to get the results.

If you want to visualize your way to success, then you need to find a way to evoke the emotional response that the success itself will feel like once you have attained it. You can sit around all day long looking at mind movies of your successful march down victory lane, but if those movies or images do not evoke the proper emotional response, then your visualizations will have limited effectiveness.

Photo Credit: WazariThe challenge with creating visualizations that evoke an emotional response is that you have to find something to be emotional about. Then, when you do, you must avoid cluttering the whole thing up with so much extraneous crap that you can't even consciously think about it properly, let alone set your subconscious to work on it!

Getting Emotional 

In order to find something to be emotional about, you need to really make the commitment to eventually attain whatever it is. Sure, everyone wants to take a swan dive into a pile of cash, have a body like a super-model, or to have their dream home off the coast of somewhere beautiful, but does whatever you are visualizing for create such a feeling of happiness, fulfillment, success, or confidence that you literally can't stop thinking about it?

If your answer is "yes," then you're on the right track. However, if you had to think about it, then there is a good chance you are trying to visualize something into existence that you don't want as badly as you think you do.

Remember: The purpose behind visualization is to evoke a positive emotional response that is so profound, and so wonderful, that you almost don't even need the "real thing" because you already feel like you have it! As Napoleon Hill says in Think and Grow Rich:

Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire brings a small amount of heat.

Keeping it Simple

Most people are familiar with Einstein's famous "E=mc²" formula. In very simple terms, it means that all energy can be turned into matter, and all matter can be turned into energy. To get energy, you multiply the mass of your object times the square root of the speed of light. OK, have you got that?

Now, do it in your head.

Pretty ludicrous, right? Yet that is exactly the type of situation that we put our mind in when we try to visualize all of our dreams coming true, and we try to visualize it all at once. Neither the conscious mind nor the subconscious mind can accurately and effectively extrapolate that many images all at once, let alone evoking a corresponding emotional response.

It's like trying to walk and chew gum at the same time, all the while patting your head, rubbing your tummy, calculating the aforementioned E=mc², and also trying to balance your check book - and you're doing it all in your head! (p.s. - Don't forget the ATM fees, the revolving interest rates, the monthly service charges, and that check you wrote for little Suzi's school fund raiser!)

The only way that you are going to effectively visualize is if you find a way to keep it simple. You don't need to know every single detail that leads up to HOW you got to the point of where you are in your visualization, all you need to know is the details of that very moment.

• If you see yourself shaking hands with the people from Publisher's Clearing House because you just won a bazillion dollars, then all you need to feel is what it's like in that moment. Give no thought to how many magazines you had to buy in order to get there.
• If you see yourself with a ripped, chiseled body, and people all around you are drooling, stammering, and tripping over their own two feet because you are presenting such a God/Goddess-like visage for them to look at, then all you need to visualize is that moment. Give no thought to how many Ab Ripper X routines it took, how many times you had to do Plyometrics, or how much you love to hate Tony Horton.
• If you see yourself on the top floor of the downtown corporate headquarters in your corner office, all you need to do is feel what it feels like to admire the view in that moment. Give no thought to how many nights and weekends you had to work in order to get that promotion, or to how many years it took you to get there.

Visualization is one of the most effective tools that you have at your disposal when it comes to marshaling your own resources, not to mention the hidden resources that may very well be a part of your success, even though you can't see that part of the equation yet.

Practicing what I Preach

My personal goal is to be the very first Super-Star Diamond Coach for Team Beachbody. No one in the history of the company has ever done it, and I want that slot. For fame and for glory? No. Because having that slot will mean that I have helped literally tens of thousands of people to take control over their health, their wealth, their freedom, and their very lives.

How do I visualize changing the lives of tens of thousands of people? I simply see myself walking across the stage and being handed this diamond-studded pin by the CEO and the president of the company, and I feel what that moment feels like.

It may be beyond my capabilities to envision changing tens of thousands of lives, but I can certainly envision two guys handing me a shiny pin that represents the changing of all of those lives. By keeping it simple, I keep it real, and I can put myself in that moment dozens of times each day - complete with the feelings of being there.

What about you? What are you doing dozens of times each day? 

WHAT'S NEXT?

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Is it possible to manifest a miracle? To answer the question Can you Manifest a Miracle?, you must first answer one simple, yet all important question:

Do you personally think that it's possible to manifest a miracle?

If you personally don't believe that some universal energy (God, the Law of Attraction, Buddha - whatever your definition is) has the capability of creating what you ask for, then you can stop reading right now. No amount of information about how to manifest a miracle is going to help if you don't believe that it is possible.

Photo Credit: LilGoldWmnAlso, the question of what exactly constitutes a "miracle" is obviously another question that will be subject to each individual person's belief system. Are we talking about a Divine Intervention here, or are we talking about something more "down to earth," such as changing a life of squalor into a life of splendor?

Personally, I believe that anything and everything is possible, and that the term "impossible" describes nothing more miraculous than something that we have not yet figured out how to do.

History is replete with examples of so-called "faith healing" and "miraculous" cures for terminal or debilitating illnesses. Scientists and medical doctors admit that there is no proven method of repeating these amazing occurrences, but a lack of an explanation does not change the facts of those stories.

Whether you believe that a religious deity of some kind is behind the wonders of the human race, or if you believe that all conceivable wonders are merely the result of having a proper understanding of the laws of the universe, one fact remains clear in all cases: 

In order to manifest a Miracle into your life, you must first BELIEVE that miracles are possible.

Now the question becomes what is it that you have to do in order to create a level of belief that allows you to harness the universal laws, or to take control over the divine powers that govern your life? What do YOU have to do in order to manifest a miracle?

I personally believe that human beings are capable of literally anything, and that it is our doubt about our abilities that limit us, not the abilities themselves.

So, in order to tap into whatever you personally call the power that works miracles, you must first remove the self-limiting doubt that is keeping you from wielding or directing that power.

When people watch movies like The Secret, You Can Heal Your Life, or What the Bleep Do We Know?, they are often not so much looking for the methods of creating miraculous lives as much as they are looking for proof that doing so is even possible.

In that regard, other than The Secret itself, no product has ever convinced me more of my own infinite power - or should I say reminded me - than Gary Evan's Manifest a Miracle.

No, Gary is not some prophet, messiah, or even the graduate of some high-profile school of spirituality where they teach you how to wield the hand of God or any such nonsense. What Gary is, however, is someone who has proven conclusively that "if you do the work, you get the reward".

In Gary's own words:

"A pot of gold isn’t going to fall out of the sky and fall on your lap. Realistically you’re going to need about 30 minutes every single day to follow the Manifest a Miracle proven formula." 

I checked out Gary's "proven" formula, and it boils down to this: If you have the faith, and you do the work, then you get the reward.

Most people who buy "life-changing" products will then read the book, watch the movie, strap on the audio, etc., but then they don't follow through. They get all wired for success, but then they never plug themselves in!

Those same people, consequently, are the people who say that miracles are impossible. I don't know about you, but I see a correlation there…

Is Gary Evan's Manifest a Miracle program the next best thing to chomping on Eucharist wafers and praying to your Lord on bended knee? No product made by man will ever take the place of the word of God, for people who believe in such things.

However, right here on planet Earth (as opposed to the promised land), there are ways to manifest miracles, and Gary has a pretty firm grasp on how us common folk can actually get the job done.

p.s. - Although I obviously believe in Gary and what he teaches other people, I am also a "commoner" just like you. If you go through Gary's Manifest a Miracle program, yet you still think you know of a better method than Gary's to bring about miracles, not only will I personally reimburse you, but I'll buy whatever product you claim is better than his, and I'll give that product a review right here in front of God and everybody.

How's THAT for a ringing endorsement?

How would you like to remember this post?

Quotable Quotes and Merchandise for the Offline World

Ah, the never-ending Law of Attraction debate! For such a helpful concept, movies like 'The Secret' and 'What the Bleep Do We Know!?' seem to have stirred up as many questions as they have helped point people to some answers.

When you add in Oprah Winfrey endorsing the whole concept, even more fuel was added to the fire, and the basic question kept coming up again and again:

Does this work?

Skeptics will tell you that it's all a bunch of nonsense, while believers will tell you that you get what you "vibrate" for, so if you don't believe in it, there is no way for you to believe in it! You simply won't attract the knowledge or the experiences that will lead you to a better understanding. 

In addition, the skeptics have pointed out some very specific things that they believe undermine the validity of the entire Law of Attraction concept, and some of the big ones include:

• The Law of Attraction says that "like attracts like". Well, if that is true, how come magnets with the same polarity repel each other? How is it that some of the happiest couples in the world are completely unlike each other, to the point of being complete opposites?
• Why is it that Law of Attraction believers are always talking about money? That points to the fact that the whole thing must just be a marketing ploy designed to steal money from gullible consumers.
• The Law of Attraction seems to indicate that by constantly thinking about what you want, your desires will "magically" manifest into your life. Who ever accomplished anything by just thinking about it???

These are the types of arguments that have been coming up repeatedly ever since the Law of Attraction went "mainstream" and now, someone has finally come forth with some answers.

One of the teachers from the movie 'The Secret' is also one of the sponsors of the Today is that Day website, and his name is Bob Doyle.

Now, although it would seem that anyone who was featured in the movie would quickly jump to its defense, Bob has put together a short video about the Law of Attraction debate, and he specifically calls out the fact that his video has nothing to do with the movie or anyone associated with the movie.

I'm sure a skeptic would argue that Bob could just be lying in order to get people to listen to him, and that of course is a judgment that each person needs to make on their own.

However, I am going to personally endorse Bob because I believe in him as an individual, not as a teacher of the Law of Attraction, or as a cast member from the movie.

When I first learned about the Law of Attraction, I went above and beyond the call of duty to learn more about it. I researched every single one of the teachers from the movie, and I looked into their websites, their products, and their services. I also watched and listened to hours of audio and video files that consisted of teleseminars, recorded interviews, live events, classes, etc.

I did what anyone should do if they become truly interested in something, and I became a voracious student. During that time Bob Doyle kept coming up again and again not as the most famous teacher, but as the most believed in person.

In fact, his website is full of so many testimonials - a "preponderance of evidence" over 30 pages long - that he finally just took them all down and put them in one document that could be downloaded for anyone who wanted to read it.

So, when I found out that he had recently released a free video that was explaining many of the misconceptions about the Law of Attraction, I immediately went to his website to check it out.

Once there, I watched it once, and then I watched it again to take notes for my readers. Here are the high points that he covers that I think both believers and non-believers in the Law of Attraction can learn from:

• Why do so many people who talk about the Law of Attraction constantly talk about money?
• Are you living your dreams when you have created enough money, or do you create money by living your dreams? 
• How do you explain the Law of Attraction statement that "like attracts like," when in all actuality, opposites often attract each other?
• What about people who say they just need to visualize their way to success? Where does taking action come in?
• Law of Attraction believers are constantly talking about being positive and happy all the time. That is not a realistic point of view for many people. Where do negative emotions fit into the equation?
• What about self-limiting beliefs? Are they a part of the process of using the Law of Attraction?

So, without any further adieu, if you have been a Law of Attraction naysayer, or if you believe in the Law of Attraction but want to better understand how it all works, get your pen and paper ready and click the video below:

Why isn't the Law of Attraction working? 

This is Volume 19 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series.

This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!

This is Volume 13 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series.