LAW OF ATTRACTION: CRASH TEST
INTRODUCTION
I’m going to start this pretty hefty article by laying all my cards on the table: I have an interest in all things spiritual, and I probably ponder life, the universe, and everything at least once during the course of my day.
Now when I say I have an interest, I’m not saying I have a belief; the two things are very different. I want to believe, I really do; I want to be seduced by the promise of something way bigger and better than me that is guiding my life in the right direction and giving me the illusion that my destiny is already written. It’s easier to believe that scenario; to believe that any screw-ups in my life have been necessary and pre-ordained, rather than to believe that actually, everything wrong has been down to my own bad choices, no cop-out allowed.
Still, I love to ponder. The meaning of life and the magic therein must surely be vaster and more wondrous than we can even begin to imagine but I kind of need proof to believe it, so after listening to yet another Audible book about the Law of Attraction, I decided that this was my chance to undertake my own experiment.
I’m not going to reveal any books or resources that I’m using to put the universal Law of Attraction to the test; I’m simply going to explain my little experiments and the results. This is simply because I’m not looking to advertise one writer above another; I’m simply appointing myself crash test dummy for the Law of Attraction vehicle.
DAY 1
Okay so I consider myself fairly lucky; I have managed a few wins at online bingo and £10 here and there on the lottery over the last few years, so I decided to start Day 1 with bingo. I have only just started listening to an audiobook about putting the Law of Attraction to the test, so I really wasn’t expecting much today. Although I have previously read a few books on the Law of Attraction, the audiobook is the first one I had decided to really put to the test. I had already decided what I would try to manifest: money! World peace and the end of disease just seemed too big an ask.
This evening I sat down and logged into online bingo with my limit already set at £10. I never, ever put any more than that on either bingo or the lottery and I figured that the Law of Attraction would be benevolent even on a tenner. I got down to £3 and wasn’t expecting much; at this point I really didn’t have any faith that the Law of Attraction wasn’t just a fairy tale. I watched as my numbers came up until I only had two numbers left for the full house. I refused to get excited, though I could feel my heart beating a little faster; then I only had one to go and I really did start to feel the blood pounding in my head. Now it wasn’t about testing the Law of Attraction; it was about winning that money! My number came up and my player name flashed under the ‘WINNER’ banner; I had won £294.
Okay so I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. For the rest of the evening, I furiously pondered whether this really was the Universe gifting me what I had asked for, or whether it was pure chance and complete coincidence. I decided to do something a bit naughty; I told the Universe that it didn’t count. I was only into the first chapter of the audiobook and I hadn’t had time to formulate my plan for manifesting abundance. I continued with my unfaltering gratitude for everything I had been given, but I put my win down to coincidence and asked the Universe for another display of its power.
DAY 2
Today, on the way back from the school run, I decided to buy a scratch-card along with the milk. I paid £1 for it and I had slightly more nervous anticipation about scratching off the hidden numbers after last night’s successful bingo win. I made myself wait until I got home before I scratched the card. It was a winning card of £15. I was starting to be a bit unnerved to be honest. Of course, it wasn’t a fortune, but it was a strange coincidence. Still, I would not be completely convinced and I left my request for money hanging out there in the great Universe; well, it would have been rude not to.
The Euromillions draw was to take place the following day so I decided to buy a ticket for that, and I pictured myself winning the £21 million. I also buy one ticket for the UK lottery in two days time.
I’ve decided that another way to allow the Universe to do its work is to download Law of Attraction hypnosis sessions. I am a member of Audible so I search out the best-rated hypnosis audiobooks and I’m going to commit to listening to them every night during this experiment. Tonight, I have chosen a hypnosis program that claims to put you into a deep sleep then rewires my brain with statements of wealth and abundance. As it professes that to work you need to listen to it every night for 21 days, I think this is the one I will stick with for the duration of my experiment.
DAY 3
I continue to try and put the Law of Attraction to the test. Having decided to carry out this 30-day test, I thought I would throw into the mix a visit to a psychic. I find a local woman who seems to have plenty of social proof that she can indeed read your fortune. She can see me tomorrow and I have requested to go to her house so that she can’t get any clues from where I live. I don’t leave her my surname, just in case she decides to do a Facebook search.
The Euromillions draw takes place. I follow the numbers online, too embarrassed to watch it on the TV as then I would have to explain to my family what I am doing, and my kids already think I’m pretty lame. They won’t be laughing at me when I win £21 million. I don’t even get one number. Still, I have the UK Lottery ticket for tomorrow night.
DAY 4
Today I have been to see the psychic, a quite lovely but ordinary woman who leads me through to her conservatory, having first asked me to remove my shoes as she has just had new carpet laid throughout the whole house. Business must be good, I chuckle to myself. I was in her house for nearly two hours and heard only two things that actually were creepily true. The first was that my dad committed suicide; the second was that my dad and the number 76 were connected; my dad took his own life in 1976. The rest was standard simple psychology that could be interpreted to mean anything. What did I believe coming out of there? Truthfully, I still don’t know what I believe.
The UK Lottery draw took place tonight and I checked my numbers online. I had matched two numbers and had won a free Lucky Dip ticket to enter into the mid-week Lottery draw. I’ll keep you posted on that. While I was online though, I decided to do one of those Lottery online scratch-cards that pop up to encourage you to gamble a bit more. I click the numbers to reveal the prizes underneath and find that from a £2 scratch-card I have won £40.
DAY 5
I’m feeling like I’m getting a bit side-tracked today. I haven’t listened to the audiobook as much as I would have liked; I tend to listen in the car, but as I’m self-employed I try to work at home as much as possible. I decide to get mobile this morning and pick up some work supplies, a journey which takes me 20 minutes. As I’m listening to my audiobook in the car, it instructs me to manifest something in the next hour that will prove the Universe is listening. I try and think of something that provides a bit of a challenge without being so outrageous as to be impossible; I come up with a horse and carriage. All the way home I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a horse and carriage; the closer I get to home without seeing one, the more disappointed I get. I pull into my driveway a little reluctantly, wondering whether to drive just a bit further down the road to find my elusive manifestation; I figure that my Law of Attraction experiment is faltering, and I berate myself a little forever believing that there could be some substance behind it.
Instead of getting back to work, I procrastinate and start reading the days newspapers online. Literally, on the first news page I open, I come across this headline, which I have directly copied and pasted:
Traffic is slower than a HORSE DRAWN CARRIAGE: Ubers, online delivery drivers, and cycle lanes means we now spend 12 DAYS stuck in gridlock a year
I kid you not, that actual headline was there on the Daily Mail online on that day, and here I was, reading it within an hour of trying to manifest a horse-drawn carriage. I had been expecting to see a physical horse and carriage, but that headline was good enough. So, was that a coincidence? Well obviously it could have been; a slightly bizarre one but then I guess that’s why they are called coincidences. My scepticism is definitely being tested and I’m feeling slightly bemused.
DAY 6
I’m working from home again today, so I don’t get to listen to any of my Law of Attraction audiobooks. I’m beginning to find that actually it is quite hard work to continuously work on keeping a manifesting mindset. Everyday life and work can be exhausting enough and sometimes it’s hard to fit in some visualisation techniques or 100 positive affirmations.
I’m actually quite frustrated that I’m struggling to practice the Law of Attraction today. I’m looking for signs everywhere, but nothing is really obvious today. I thought I would try another technique that was suggested from an audiobook: ask a direct question and wait for the Universe to show me the answer. I asked the question I always ask myself: ‘What path should I really concentrate on going forward?”
Being self-employed, I always tend to have many irons in many fires. I like to pivot frequently as I get bored easily, but this isn’t quite the attitude to have when I need to narrow my focus and concentrate on making just one of my income streams more profitable. My problem is that I’m never sure which work to give all my attention to and which to drop, so I end up doing lots of projects which divide my focus. My thinking is that if I drop one project in favour of another, how will I know I’ve made the right decision? I have been going around in that particular cycle for many years now and I’m sure that it is actually limiting my success. So, this seems the obvious question to ask.
All day I have been looking for signs and there have been none. I’ve even checked the sky for answer-shaped clouds; nothing. At 4pm my phone rings; it is my oil company informing me that it is time for my Direct Debit review and it appears that this year I have overpaid by, wait for it…..£600! They are going to debit that amount back into my bank account within three working days. This wasn’t something that I was expecting or even that I was aware of; I certainly would never have thought I had been overpaying that much. If it shows anything, it shows that I’m pretty lax where my finances are concerned. So I didn’t get the answer to my question about work, but I did get more money. My feelings are hard to explain right now; my old self, despite my spiritual leanings, would have ridiculed the very idea of a Law of Attraction. Now, I’m beginning to wonder.
DAY 7
Today I decided to try the manifestation of making contact with someone I hadn’t heard from, nor expected to hear from, for more than a few months. I picked someone who tends to only be in touch at Christmas and birthdays, projected my thoughts out into the Universe and waited. Every time I remembered, I projected my thoughts of this person out into the Universe and pictured her receiving my thoughts telepathically. I truly believed I would hear from her before the day was done. I didn’t.
I’m also particularly keen to hear the answer I waited for all day yesterday about which career path to follow. Again, I hear nothing. I re-read a few chapters of the book I’m reading right now, an absolutely inspired and enthusiastic Law of Attraction tome which promises all the results you wish for. The author explains that if I’m not seeing results, it means that my underlying belief system still isn’t quite aligned with the Universal field of energy. I want to pooh-pooh that explanation, but I suppose there is still part of me that can’t quite accept the miracle-working properties that the Law of Attraction claims to deliver. It’s hard to suspend disbelief.
DAY 8
I’m finding the whole process of practicing the manifesting exercises slightly exhausting. The constant focus on attracting your desires is time-consuming and feels slightly selfish actually. I am happy to have an hour to take my dogs out for a walk and use the time to really concentrate on this whole journey I’m on. My need for proof is starting to annoy me and I’m feeling frustrated at my indecision; namely, I still can’t decide whether this is absolute bullshit or whether there really is some universal source that I can tap into.
I’m not religious. I do believe in something; a higher power, a force beyond our own, but I’ve always tended to believe that the energy comes from nature and our own spirit. The school of thought that we have become disconnected from both nature and the deeper human soul is one that resonates with me. If I was forced to practice one belief, I would probably be drawn most towards Buddhism, so I suppose my leanings are vaguely spiritual. Accepting that a benevolent energy exists isn’t too much of a stretch for me so my interpretations will be different to someone who believes there are no such spiritual forces at work; nevertheless, the proof still isn’t conclusive enough for me.
While walking the dogs, I decided to put the Law of Attraction to one last test; if this manifestation doesn’t work, I’m putting a stop to this experiment for the sake of my own sanity. It takes me a while to think of something but then I plump for a crown. I’m going for fairly obscure here and I’m not going to accept it as a written word; it has to be a very obvious, very regal, crown. It has 24 hours to appear.
The rest of the day is unremarkably crown-less. By the evening I have assumed that the Universe is taking a break for the night and will present me with a crown sometime tomorrow…or not. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go out for a family dinner, and we chose a place we haven’t been to for the last six months as it was being refurbished. My daughter and her boyfriend had gone on ahead and got a table, so we took a leisurely drive to the restaurant, parked the car, and went inside to look for my daughter. I can’t even begin to explain how I feel when I catch sight of her. She is sitting at a table, waving at me. Literally on the wall right above her head is a large picture in a thick black frame. The picture is a print of two brightly coloured, highly detailed crowns, one above the other. My heart literally skipped a beat.
DAY 9
This morning I’m a true believer. The crown manifestation of last night has solidified the experiment as far as I’m concerned; I feel I have proved to myself that the Law of Attraction exists. My spirits are high and I feel I need to build on this experiment. I search for more audio books so that I can keep the momentum going, and I download some positive affirmation books which claim to deliver the Law of Attraction through subliminal methods. Exactly what I need; a way to keep the positive vibes going even when I sleep.
As the day goes on, I start to question my experiment a little more. So far I have had no contact from the person I was sending mind messages to, and my burning question about my career is still unanswered. Maybe I’m asking too much?
This evening I decide to play a game of online bingo and this time I fully expect to win. I deposit ten pounds, play ten games and win absolutely nothing. The problem with this Law of Attraction is that if it truly is providing me with everything I need, I’m requesting the wrong things. It showed me that I can manifest money but now I’ve maybe pushed my luck and I’m just expecting money to grow before my eyes. I now wonder if I should take this as proof that the Universal Law does exist or if it proves that it doesn’t. There seems to be a split; some manifestations work, some don’t. Does this prove the Law of Attraction or does it prove mere coincidence? However, I do keep coming back to the picture of the two crowns right above the table my daughter chose to sit at in a restaurant.
DAY 10
Today I can’t bring myself to try any of the experiments in my books. I am still listening to the sleep hypnosis audiobooks while I sleep each night and I can honestly say I do feel quite rested. Whether I feel I can achieve all my worldly desires is hard to say. I certainly feel more peaceful and grounded but that could be the hypnosis and subliminal suggestions doing their job. I’m still not completely sure I buy into the whole hypnosis thing and it’s hard to gauge whether it is working. But I’ve arrived at my self-allotted 10 days.
I’m really tired right now. It’s emotionally challenging to focus so hard on my desires; I’m not used to being so selfish! I think I’m asking for too much of the same thing; signs from the Universe, answers to the same questions, money; and I feel that since the Universe has already shown me these little party tricks, the Law of Attraction is falling a bit flat as I am simply asking for more of the same. In my head, that comes across as greedy, despite Law of Attraction-ers claiming that it is fine to ask for whatever you wish. We are so conditioned to not expect too much that maybe I’m now putting my own mental block in the way. The conclusion I have reached so far is that we do, in fact, put out unseen energy which attracts and repels like magnets. This is as close as I can logically come to my little experiment. In casting out fishing lines of positivity and expectation, I believe I did manage to attract some small bites, and although some were pretty impressive, none could be categorically described as proof that any physical Law of Attraction existed.
And there, for me, is the point. If we believe strongly enough and if we wish for it strongly enough, there is a chance it could be true that a higher power is at work sending you enough tantalising clues to make you wonder. But there needs to be doubt and ambiguity; the bigger point surely is that mystery must prevail and human beings should never be granted ‘access all areas’ because then we would lose more than we gain. I may try again at some point in the future to play around with the Law of Attraction, but it takes a surprising amount of energy and a very open mind.
JUST A LITTLE WARNING – I would NEVER suggest taking up gambling as a test of any external force; this was merely a method I decided on as it is very results-based, and I very occasionally play minor league stuff with minimal stakes, so I was comfortable with risking very minimal amounts.
