Desires That Influence the Law of Attraction - Law of Attraction Classics: WW Atkinson
Some of you are probably familiar with the Law of Attraction Classics series of posts that we publish on this site. Well, today's post is a little special - it's a reprint of an article from 1909!
A lot has changed in the last 100 or so years and you might be wondering what relevance these old articles have to people now. And I can tell you that there are some shocking parallels between then and now - from an increased interest in health and fitness to fearmongering media, our society is still very much influenced by social "norms."
If this article proves anything it's that there's never been a time when we can't learn more about the world around us through historical documents like this one. And it certainly gives us a better perspective on what we experience today.
Happiness is not an emotion that comes or goes, it is the result of a steady, consistent application of thought to the things and opportunities within your control.
Consequently, it will follow that if you can make yourself truly happy by thought, you should be able to make others around you happy at the same time."
The law of attraction states that as we think in a positive manner about something, we are naturally drawn to want to experience that thing in our lives. For example: When I think "I want to eat a cheeseburger" I am naturally drawn towards cheeseburgers because they are in my thoughts. The Law of Attraction states that if we are thinking in a positive manner, we will draw things into our life that have to do with what we are thinking about.
This law of attraction and thought also inspires us to want to be around good people. And when we are around good people, our thoughts will naturally drift towards them. Additionally, new ideas and opportunities will come into our lives when we think about them. If you are focused on making friends and relationships work in your life then this is going to become true for you just as it has been true for everyone else that has ever written these principles down in writing...
The Law of Attraction states that we attract into our lives what we think about. If we want to be healthy, happy, and fulfilled in all areas of our life then we must cultivate a positive attitude and feel happy when thinking about these things. If you are happy with your current circumstances then you will naturally think positively about them and attract more good things into your life. If you spend all of your time thinking about the negatives in your life, it will only serve to sabotage any hopes of improvement because if you are focusing on the bad that is in your life right now, that is all you will be attracting more of.
Contrary to popular belief, negative thoughts are not a new phenomenon in our world. Our ancestors have been writing about what we would consider the Law of Attraction for thousands of years. What we do now is start to see the greatest value of these principles in the early 20th century. In 1909, a book called "The Science of Getting Rich" was published, and it was written by Wallace D. Wattles who I believe was the first to apply Daily Affirmations to his success in achieving financial abundance.
The Science of Getting Rich was originally published in 1903, however, there is an interesting correlation between this book and the Law of Attraction. Wattles talks about how he became poor as a child and that "the only way he could have a healthy body was to make it sick."
This is very much like many of the other principles that we talk about here on the Law of Attraction Blog - we must spend our time focusing on good things so that we can cultivate positive habits, and then it will become easy to attract what we want into our life.
For instance, Wattles writes:
"We must make ourselves sick in order to grow well."
And he also talks about "making ourselves happy in order to grow rich," and this was the first time that anyone had ever used the word "happiness" as a verb. Wattles is also very much like Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer in that he mentions that writing down the things you want to have in your life will create them before you actually have them.
"But I don't know how, unless I let my thoughts dwell on these things until they are present to me. Like the man who was cured by a miracle, I must go in search of my desires and find them, must persist until I grasp them."
The Law of Attraction then is simply focused positive thinking about the things that you want. The only difference is that you are consciously engaging with this principle to create these good things - instead of it being an unconscious process.
For instance, Wattles talks about "the thought of success" being our greatest attraction into our life, and he uses many forms of imagery and metaphors to describe this concept. This same principle is seen everywhere in the world's literature - it's very easy to find examples.
"I am so thankful for this article - it is so wonderful to know that all of this has been recorded for posterity! Wallace D. Wattles has been an inspiration to me for some time now and I cannot believe that no one talks about him anymore. I could not find anything about this book anywhere and I would love to pursue the notion of writing a screenplay based on his words. It would be such a great movie because every sentence was written from a place of truth, clarity, and honesty."
Based on what I have read in The Science of Getting Rich, it is clear that Wallace D. Wattles was very much like Victor Frankel when it came to writing about what we call the Law of Attraction today. Wallace D. Wattles was very much like other pioneers in the field of personal development whose ideas about thought and mental focus were being experimented with in many ways - and although there are many different ideas about how to live our life, there are certain universals when it comes to this particular way of thinking.
When we think positively, we will be drawn towards what we want in life. We will naturally attract more positive things into our experience because this is a positive way to be living our life. We will never find ourselves in a negative (self-sabotaging) situation if we are focused on what is good in our life. When we are thinking positively, we will be living and acting towards positive actions, which will then allow us to attract more of what we want into our life. As Wattles says:
"It is very easy to bring into our experience the things that we think about, but much harder to remove them."
If your mind is filled with negative thoughts and feelings, you will only be drawing more negativity into your life.
Conclusion
There are many great books out there about the Law of Attraction, but if you want to know about its roots, The Science of Getting Rich will give you the best possible understanding of how it all began. If you want a good book on this subject that is practical, easy to read and understand, and has a lot of examples for how to apply these principles then I would recommend Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
In addition to reading books on the subject, it is important that we also set aside time to just think positive thoughts and feel happy feelings. This alone will change our life in many positive ways.