The Law of Attraction is a natural law of the universe and it is actually a very simple concept. At its most basic, it is “like attracts like.” Whatever you are thinking about, that is what you attract in your life. Many say it is one of the most powerful laws in the universe. Bob Doyle in The Secret defines it this way: the law of attraction is impersonal. It does not see “good” or “bad,” it is a law of the universe that simply receives your thoughts and then reflects those thoughts back to you as your life experience. The law of attraction simply gives you whatever it is you are thinking about.

Also in The Secret, John Assaraf talks about a problem that many people have. Most people, he says, think about what they don’t want, and then they wonder why that thing they don’t want shows up over and over again.

The answer to this is startlingly simple. Assaraf says: “The only reason why people do not have what they want is because they are thinking more about what they don’t want than what they do want.”

Assaraf’s advice is simple. “Listen to your thoughts, and listen to the words you are saying.” Because the Law of Attraction is absolute, there are no mistakes. In other words, this law works every time, no matter what. Whatever you are thinking about is what you are going to attract.

So, the question is: why attract what you don’t want when it is just as easy to think about what you do want! The choice is yours.

To put it another way. Affirmations are simply you being in control of your thoughts, declaring to the universe what you want to be true. And when you want it to be true, it will be true because that is your intention.

The Power of Intention
Intention is the power behind affirmations. When you assert something to be true, it is true because your intention makes it true.

Webster’s dictionary defines intention as the “conception of a thing formed first by the direct application of the mind to the individual object, idea or image.” This is what we were just talking about. You have to have the conception of a thing in your mind, you must have the intention to make something happen before it actually happens.

A good example of this is when I decided I wanted to be an author. I put the intention out the universe and things happened very quickly. The people circumstances and events lined up beautifully.

When you have an affirmation and back it with intention, you become an unstoppable force. Give it a try and see what happens. You will be pleasantly surprised!

Research has shown that we have between 45,000 and 51,000 thoughts a day. That’s about 150 to 300 thoughts a minute. Research has also shown that for most people 80% of those thoughts are negative.

Now, we have been taught to think that most of these 51,000 thoughts are “sub-conscious” thoughts meaning that they are below our conscious awareness level. Affirmations actually make your sub-conscious thoughts conscious. Affirmations make you consciously aware of your thoughts. When you start making conscious positive thoughts, you actually become more aware of the negative thoughts that are always threatening to take over.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, really. It actually proves true what your mother always warned: be careful of what you think because what you think is what you get. She was basically telling you that you create what you think about.

When you’re not aware of your thoughts, they tend to be negative. And not being aware of your thoughts tends to cause a nasty spiral downward. Remember that 80% figure of negative thoughts? It gets worse. Whatever you are thinking about, 90% gets carried over to the next day’s 51,000 thoughts. So, if you’re thinking negative thoughts, you will cause yourself to think more negative thoughts. This is not going to get you out of your rut.

Affirmations can change all of that! Affirmations make you conscious of your thoughts. To affirm means to say something positively. It means to declare firmly and assert something to be true. Affirmations are statements where you assert that what you want to be true is true.

Here are some affirmations you can use:

I am a success in all that I do

I feel happy, I feel healthy, I feel terrific

Everything feels just so right

I am a money Magnet

My mind is clear focused and energized

A belief is any guiding principle, dictum, faith or passion that can provide direction and meaning in life. When we trust something is true, that belief delivers a strong command to the brain to visualize what we are convinced will occur while simultaneously changing our subconscious thought patterns.

Having a strong belief can be your most powerful tool in bringing great things into your life. A series of strong beliefs can empower you so you can achieve almost any goal that you set for yourself. Once you set your goal and you truly believe you can accomplish it, your nervous system and brain come into play and make it work. Throughout history, people who have had strong beliefs have accomplished things many people thought were previously impossible.

To change your behaviors, it is important to examine your current belief system and be open to changing what doesn’t work. The first step in changing your belief system is to find people who have done what you want to accomplish. Study their belief systems and incorporate them into your own belief structure. As these wise folks know, success leaves clues.

It is important in your life to do things that will challenge your established belief patterns and get you out of your comfort zone. The event in my life that took my belief system to an entirely new level was the fire walk experience with Tony Robbins. As you may already know, Tony Robbins is a well known motivational speaker and the father of the Life Coaching movement. On the first day of his seminar, participants walk across a bed of hot coals. I will never forget signing the waiver form right before the event which stated that Robbins Research International was not responsible for any bodily harm — noting that the coals can reach temperatures up to 1,200 degrees! Trying to stay positive, I thought to myself at the time, “If I don’t get through the fire walk successfully, I could always become a professional stump dancer!”

In the end I made it through unharmed, and that successful walk across a twenty foot bed of hot coals took my belief system as well as my mental game to an entirely new level. The fire walk also demonstrated to me that I can trust myself and have the ability to use my mind over physical obstacles. It removed any doubt about my ability to do anything I thought was difficult or impossible. That is why I now believe that if I could get myself to walk over red hot coals, the world is open and waiting for me to achieve things I previously thought I could not.

Beliefs come from different events in your life. We all have experiences that we won’t forget. We each have events in our own lives that create or alter the perceptions we have of our own world. A good way to reconstruct or bolster a belief structure is through seeking additional knowledge. By reading books on how others have achieved incredible accomplishments, you will help shift your belief system relating to what is possible. This will eventually help you succeed. Also, talking to anyone you can find who has accomplished what you wish to accomplish adds to your knowledge base. Learn as much as you can from others’ experiences. Most people enjoy talking about their successes and sharing the knowledge they have gained.

Remember to Believe and you will succeed!

One of the reasons why I am considered one of America’s top success coaches is the affirmations I have shared with my clients worldwide. This is the foundation of my coaching program. Within a couple of weeks of my clients practicing affirmations daily, I have seen an incredible difference in their mindset. I am helping them program their minds for success every single day. The success stories with my clients are just overwhelming.

When you consider you have over 50,000 thoughts a day and the majority are negative, and then the following day 90% of the thoughts you have are the same as the previous day, there are a lot of negative thoughts swirling around in a person’s head. With affirmations, I have my clients break this negative loop and have them affirming all the things they want in their lives. Affirmations are almost magical, and oh, how fun it is when you start seeing them work!

One of the most memorable moments when the affirmations really came through for me was when I was going for one of the biggest dreams of my life. I always wanted to run the Boston Marathon. Only the best runners get to do it, and qualifying for it is actually the most difficult part. In my case, because of my age, I had to run a marathon in under 3 hours and 10 minutes. That’s running each mile in about 7 minutes!.

I chose the Chicago marathon as my qualifying race, and going into it, I was in the best shape of my life. I also had the best coaching possible. But the most intriguing part about a marathon is that you never know what will happen race day. Since you are running 26.2 miles, many different variables can come into play.
The race started out great for my running partner and me. In the early miles, we were right on target for a 3:00 finish. At mile sixteen, things changed for the worse. I was feeling a little fatigued. My training partner started to pull away from me, and I had a hard time catching up with him. He had never beaten me in a race so this was not a good sign. This was the turning point of the race.

Of course, all of those negative thoughts that are always lurking about started to jump into my mind. When things started getting tough, I started thinking—almost automatically—“I can’t do this,” and “Why did I do all of this training for the race?” I will never forget thinking to myself: “Here I am at mile sixteen, with ten miles to go, and I’m already running on an empty tank.”

Knowing what I know about affirmations, however, I recognized this as a crucial time for positive self talk, for affirmations. I immediately cancelled my negative thoughts and went into my positive self-talk mode. Even though I was not physically 100%, it was important to be 100% mentally. I started to think about how much training and time I put into this for the last 10 months. I thought about all those mornings I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and did half-mile repeats. The deciding factor that made all the difference was my inner dialogue. I started to tell myself: “I can do it.” “I feel strong.” “I am the best.” I gave my mind every positive message imaginable.

Sure enough, things started to turn around for me. I continued with this positive self-talk the final ten miles of the race. I finished with a time of 3:07 and qualified for the Boston Marathon! My dream came true! If it weren’t for the affirmations before the race, and the positive self-talk during the race, I don’t think I would have accomplished my goal.

Start using affirmations today! They will change your life!