In an earlier article we described how Napoleon Hill met one of the most successful and wealthy men of the 20th century, Andrew Carnegie. The two men spent three days discussing “The Secret” to which Carnegie attributed his almost unbelievable success. Carnegie explained that everything about business was an aspect of this one, all-important “secret”. That secret was what is now called the LAW OF ATTRACTION.
The first sentence in the famous Think and Grow Rich book is about Andrew Carnegie’s secret:
“In every chapter of this book, mention is made of the money making secrets that have made fortunes for the exceedingly wealthy men whom I have carefully analyzed over a long period of years.”
Indeed, Napoleon Hill conducted 25,000 interviews of extremely successful people over a 20 year period to understand Carnegie’s “magic formula”. And did you notice his choice of words … exceedingly wealthy? Sounds good to me = how about you?
Just What IS This Law of Attraction Stuff?
The shortest possible answer is that “like attracts like”. Of course, that three-word definition is way too brief and simplistic to be of any use if we want to change our life, but the idea is that if we focus on thoughts of health, wealth and successful relationships that is what we will receive in our lives. Conversely, if our every thought is filled with a worry, anxiety and fear, that is what we will attract.
The Law of Attraction has been ridiculed by many people. They dismiss the notion that our thoughts and emotions have any power in the physical world and often sneeringly refer to the Law of Attraction as believing in “the mail order catalog in the sky”.
Napoleon Hill and Andrew Carnegie were quite clear about the Law of Attraction and how it works. You can’t lie on the couch and wait for your fire engine red Ferrari to gently float from the sky onto your driveway, keys in the ignition and title on the front seat.
Instead, action is a critical piece of the successful use of the Law of Attraction and focusing our thoughts on what we want brings possibilities, ideas and plans to our minds so that we can carry them out.
How Your Minds Works, How My Mind Works, How Everyone’s Mind Works
To really understand the Law of Attraction, let’s look at our mind and how it works.
Your Conscious Mind
The human brain is the most complex ‘machine’ we’ve found (so far) in the universe. It contains 100,000 miles of blood vessels and 100,000,000,000 neurons and can perform an astonishing 10 quadrillion operations per second. This number is so far beyond our grasp that we can’t comprehend it – but there it is, nevertheless.
And every time we think, our brain lights up like a Christmas tree as all those little neurons, or nerve cells, connect with each other. Now get ready for this astonishing fact:
“If you were to write out your brain’s potential as expressed by the number of possible neural connections it could make, it would take you seventy-five years to write out all the zeros. That’s the level of power and capacity you have at your disposal every moment of every day.”
“In other words, your potential to achieve what you want is essentially without limit.” [The Answer, John Asaref & Murray Smith, page 36]
Your Subconscious Mind
Your subconscious mind is sometimes referred to as your unconscious or non-conscious mind and some writers further ‘divide’ our minds into the conscious, subconscious and Superconscious. But regardless of the semantic differences, here’s the point: as amazing as your conscious mind is, it’s puny and pathetic to your subconscious.
Brilliant Bruce Lipton, biologist, author, speaker and epigenetics expert flatly states that the subconscious mind is *one million* times more powerful than the conscious mind!
One analogy that’s often used is that using the conscious, instead of enlisting the subconscious to achieve your goals, is like trying to pull an ocean liner with a rowboat.
The truth of this can easily be seen when we consider that the conscious mind processes about 2,000 bits of information per second (almost all of which is outside our conscious notice) while the subconscious processes about 400,000,000 bits per second.
The amount of raw power at the disposal of every human being is truly even beyond our imagination!!!
Since this is so why do so many of us live such miserable lives?
Why We MUST Get Our Subconscious Mind To Go Along If We Want To Change Our Lives
The subconscious mind is the repository of all our habits and beliefs, most of which are outside of our conscious awareness. So if, for instance, you want to lose weight and have tried a zillion times – and failed every time – it’s because you have some unconscious habits and beliefs that are working against you.
Yes, your conscious mind wants to lose weight – but your unconscious believes that’s a bad idea. In any ‘contest’ between the conscious and unconscious mind, the subconscious will win every single time.
So all your resolutions that ‘this time you absolutely will stick to your diet’ are useless until you get your subconscious to go along for the ride.
Regardless of *what* you want to change in your life, all change MUST begin in the mind. If your life isn’t the way you want it to be it’s always because some time in the past you had a thought that was repeated again and again until it became a habitual thought. an attitude, a habit and a belief.
The fact that you aren’t consciously aware of any sabotaging belief is irrelevant. The subconscious mind will deliver the same results again and again until you change your mind.
How To Change Your Mind & Get The Law Of Attraction Working FOR You, Instead Of Against You
Repetition is the easiest way to change your mind. Going over your goals again and again and again – for as long as it takes – is a sure path to success. When you build a belief in your ability to do something, and you have no contradictory thoughts, it’s a done deal. The results you want WILL eventually show up, whether it’s weight loss, health, strength, self confidence, money or the love of your life.
Here is a succinct explanation from one of our favorite books, The Secret of the Ages by Robert Collier. This is one of my all-time favorite quotes and is sitting in front of my computer as I write these words …
The most important province of your conscious mind is to center your thoughts on the thing you want, “Believe that you receive”, and then shut the door on every suggestion of fear or worry or failure.
Once you gain the ability to do that, nothing else is impossible to you. (page 15).
Chan says
This is a very interesting article, it is amazing to read about how the subconscious mind can almost control all of our actions. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to reading the book.
CNC says
I was once told that if the mind were compared to all the collective telephone directories in the world, in or day-to-day lives we only use power equivalent to the size of half a page from just one directory. When you unleash the power of your mind, it is infinitely easier to influence circumstances in your life.
Miguel says
Nice article, I always wanted to know how the law of attraction works and how it affects my life and with this read I’m a step closer to finding out.
haran says
One might argue whether the law of attraction is real or not, but you can’t argue about the fact that mind is a source of power. Personally I belive in it. You always hear something like ” I am always unlucky” or “He is always lucky” or “I am never successful at anything”. Sometimes you do everything right but things do not well. May be the law of attraction is against. I wouldn’t be surprised if mind can be used to make it work for one rather than against. Worth of giving it a try for people who are always UNLUCKY OR UNSUCCESSFUL.
BlissPlan says
You’re so right that the mind has great power and why not give it a try? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Noahh says
Holy cow this interesting , everything about it, i mean how else are you supposed to understand the law of attraction
BlissPlan says
The Law of Attraction is quite a stretch for our minds since we’re programmed since birth with how ‘weak’ we are. But it’s definitely worth learning because mastery offers great rewards.
Pal says
I wasn’t too sold on some of this, but after giving it a shot, it makes total sense. The law of attraction, I wish I had known about it a long, long time ago.
BlissPlan says
But have you used the information? LOL
Bhola says
This is the most valuable article. I can’t believe that our mind play a vital role in our live. I really don’t have any knowledge about it. Thanks a lot for the post. This will be very helpful.
CReap says
Wow, quite interesting, i wasn’t aware of this before. Maybe i’ll try and start unlocking the powers of my mind and look into this more. Amazing! You never know what you will find each day.
Dee Cooke says
I am a firm believer in how the sub-concious mind can affect many aspects of our lives. Getting control over the sub-concious mind can help many acheive their goals. One must always be mindful that action is a must in The Law of Attraction. One can not just sit back and expect good things to happen to them.
Kaldasky says
Very sensible article. Good points, can’t really say I disagree with anything.
noosrath says
It is amazing that how the subconscious mind can almost control all of our actions. I really wanted to know how the law of attraction works and how it affects in life. The post is very helpful. Thank you!