I love and believe in all this vision board/intention setting/beliefs change your reality filter stuff. And there’s a big blind spot in all of this.
I call this the Tyranny of Positive Thinking, or the Lie of Attraction. There’s a promise being made: “If you think good things, good things happen. If something bad happened, it’s because you had a negative thought.” I reject this blame-the-victim equation. Raising your vibration and setting your intentions are not insurance against tragedy.
Imagination–positive or negative–is hugely important in manifestion. I believe that 100%. And sometimes stuff happens (or doesn’t happen) anyway. I come across so much pain in people who are visualizing, meditating, tithing (and all the other stuff that should be manifesting them wealth and love and abundance and prosperity), and they aren’t seeing results. They blame themselves. Even their positive-thinking friends may be blaming them.
My personal reframe is a belief that when there is delay or tragedy in my life, my soul has made a decision that there is something precious in the experience that serves my true purpose. Some how. If I can survive it. (There have been times when that was an issue.)
I don’t think it’s helpful to outlaw negative feelings and thoughts. The last thing anyone needs is to feel guilty, angry or scared of feeling bad! Appreciate the wisdom of the shadow (to sound all Debbie Ford-y). It has something to teach you, and until you listen it will just come back louder. What if every obstacle, setback and negative thought existed only to move you forward to your goal?
So I would like us to utilize visualization and manifestation with a LIGHT TOUCH. We are generally more creative when we are optimistic, and that’s a good reason to think positive. Visualization helps us rehearse for success, and that makes success easier to manifest. I think there is magic to intention and requests to the universe. This is a part of my daily and weekly practice.
And there are no guarantees. IT’S A GAME. Set your intention and see what happens. I find the lighter the attachment, the quicker the results. As the Universe sees fit…
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4 responses so far ↓
1 ElinAnna // Jul 31, 2008 at 9:50 am
I so agree with you. Life happens. What is it that we are being told? What can we learn? We listen and pay attention to what is going on. Sometimes it comes back louder.
2 leslie // Aug 1, 2008 at 3:22 pm
i’m really enjoying your blog entries - they rock. i too practice ‘attraction’ and have had signifcant results in my life as a result..the gift of shadow..the depths of soul work & the journey…i think we are so fixed on seeing gifts from positivity and not through loss and desperate times. as much as meeting my husband through attraction has served me in amazing and abundant ways, so did the dark and still ever -present loss of my mother. and everything inbetween.
3 Random Reader // Aug 31, 2008 at 3:51 pm
It’s nice to see someone else agree with what always bothered me about Law of Attraction zealousness: blaming the victim. Not that everything is a “victim” thing, but sometimes things just happen. I do think there may be many different reasons these things happen, and not just to make us stronger or to propel us toward our goals. I think there are a lot of forces at work in the universe, and we simply can’t control everything.
So I do believe it’s good to make the best of the bad, even transmute it (or at times), although for me personally I feel I’ve weathered the worst, at least for a long time. I’m ready for more positive things in my life, and have seen them start to manifest. What sets me back (and what recently set me back) is often not listening to Spirit (the “quiet voice” within, gut feeling, or whatever you may call it). Thanks for this, Morgana!
4 Jules // Sep 1, 2008 at 9:21 am
Hm, it seems that there is a slight misunderstanding: Law of Attraction doesn’t outlaw negative feelings - at least not the version of Abraham and Esther and Jerry Hicks. Might be helpful to look at those books and such.
Abraham say that the negative feelings are really helpful because they show you you are not on the way to attract that which you really want. You have a thought that is on the other end of the scale from that which you want. You can always fork off into another direction and choose good feeling thoughts. It isn’t about blaming the victims, but I really have to admit that I find the thought that I am the only force in my universe an extremely calming and positive one. No one can attract or choose for me. I am the only one. That is a great thought and one I deeply appreciate and love.
Nevertheless: Thanks for the great blogs.
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