Dozens of dispirited LOA (law of attraction) students have been contacting me for help lately. The chorus of inquiry I hear form them: “what am I doing wrong. Why can’t I attract what I want?”
Before I go on, I feel compelled to mention my résistance to publicly discussing this subject. It’s for several reasons. First and foremost, teaching folks how to “get” or “have more” is not what I do. I explain our ego mind and Spiritual Truths as I understand them: it is this “chasing more” that actually keeps our good from coming to us and most of us, having caught a little good, let it get in the way of our better. While I totally support learning how to Be containers for more-it is the Sustainable More of the Spirit I teach, not ego.
Additionally, I have a discomfort with how I see many folks practice and teach LOA. I have felt judgmental about some of the teachers—viewing some of them as snake oil salesmen. I have prayed and prayed about what, if anything, was mine to say about the whole business. I know my judgment needed to lift and I needed to shift to discernment. I suspect I have been making the shift, hence the numerous inquiries I receive.
Disclosures made, here is why the mainstream teaching of LOA doesn’t work: materialism is of the ego, not the Spirit. Our true self is Spirit, Energy, Love, Children of God, and Eternal. Not the attached-to-form-ego. It is from this ground of Being, we do. We do with Spirit, then we have. Have what is highest and best for all concerned.
Regardless of form—the love relationship someone craves, car, money, house, possessions, health, body, gadgets, toys –by themselves are neither good nor bad. Putting these material “things” first, before What we Authentically Are, and Who we Authentically Are is the difficulty and cause of pain.
This self-inflicted pain is something I see many LOA students wrapped up in. Misguided and believing they were empty or lacking in something, LOA students began their LOA apprenticeship with this deficit, or false belief. This false belief is a stark contradiction of the Truth: there is no lack in Who you Really Are.
The same power that can make seeds become flowers, planets revolve around each other can use this misguided situation too. This is when your LOA disillusionment becomes a gift. Tired of being told they are practicing “wrong” LOA students are waking up: there is actually something missing in what is being foisted upon them—it isn’t them-it’s all the folks trying to make money selling them something that isn’t Authentic.
The three reasons why LOA, of itself, doesn’t work Sustainably:
Missing the Spiritual foundation (knowledge of the other Divine Universal Laws) to use the LOA with balance and “right mindedness.”
Not taking responsibility for being the co-creator.
An Authorship problem: you think you are creator.
All Spiritual teaching tells us we need to understand we are confused by our life here in Earth School. Earth isn’t the source of the Real You. There IS a power in us BUT not OF us that is meant to remind us of our True Home: our at-one-meant with God. 
Of our acculturated ego minds (monkey mind thinking) we do not have clarity on what would be best for everyone, including us, in any given situation. We are asked to have Faith the connection to the Divine that is within us (Source Energy, God whatever name you know it by) does know what is best for all concerned. And we are asked to yield to this Power by practicing Faith.
So the novice LOA student thinks again and again “I want a bicycle”. Then either gets a beat up bicycle, no bicycle, or a bicycle they like.
In the first two scenarios they will be told by the snake oil salesmen “the universe doesn’t hear no, and not” or they must be sending out conflicting vibrations, or even they were not specific enough—they need more details! In the last scenario, they will be misleadingly told they did it right—they manifested!
What each possible outcome fails to consider: The Universe is good all the time. If you do not know what is best for ALL concerned in the circumstance, then how can you actually pray for it? It’s this built in safety valve –called Grace—that doesn’t allow us to have something just because our ego wanting mind, wants it.
Yes, it can be true that what you got—isn’t what was the fullest and best in the circumstance—because you limited it. More often, it’s because the act of trying to manifest captures us in the materialism of the ego, not the Spirit.
I have a client; I’ll call him John, who is a recovering LOA addict. I had John practice Authentic LOA with a bicycle.
First we took months of practice through awareness exercises to see what John thought was a good idea usually wasn’t. Thank God for Grace. And if it was a good idea, John, like most other folks, let good get in the way of better.
On top of this Spiritual Truth of Awareness, we next laid the foundation for TRUST.
As Einstein said, “the most important decision anyone will ever make is weather they live in a kind or unkind universe.”
Trusting the Universe puts each of us up against the Ghost of our culture’s God. What we believe or don’t about God shows up here. We can’t or won’t Let Go and Let God if we don’t Trust God. All of our Vengeful God mythologies become active and we need to deconstruct them to build the authentic relationship with God.
Yes, I know many passionate folks who think man-kind would go nuts if we didn’t have God keeping us in line. Monkey-mind always blocks out the obvious: Free Will. God can’t force any of us to do anything. God gave us free will. We are meant to be wholly responsible for our choices. We are not punished FOR our sins (mistakes) we are punished BY them. We do it to our-self.
I liked the idea of practice with the bicycle because it was a small consequence. It would be nice for John, but not a deal breaker, thus making it easier to trust and keeping monkey mind on the side lines. Additionally, John is a passionate bicyclist, who desired a new bike.
I asked John to begin his LOA experiment by setting the Intention: willingness to be a container for “more” good in his life but not to dictate the how.
Affirm he was not “lacking” anything—including a bike. The application of this thought required opening to the good of Source Energy, detaching from the ego want and surrendering to Divine Wisdom
Next, I asked John to be willing to prosper everyone and everything through the form of the exchange of energy for the new bike. None of the “hard bargaining” “its business” crap. Everything has a cost to produce. John needed to honor that on all levels of energy and trust that if the bike cost $10,000.00 dollars and it was the best for all concerned, it would be his. 
Thirdly, hold the supporting values he wanted from the bicycle in his head and heart. Affirm these values in his journeling.
Values like connecting and supporting others through his riding, busting limitations he holds for himself (I can’t ride Washington Mountain!) and demonstrating ability.
And finally, I asked him to create a mantra to keep him on track: “Divine Father/Mother God, I am willing to be a container for all the good you have for me and how I manifest the bicycle that would be the highest blessing for me and everyone else.”
Here is what happened: John went about his life, he remained dedicated to practice and awareness. He noticed when monkey-mind was having a field day and he made his choices to stay in balance. His brother, also a bicyclist invited him on a “ride”. It was somewhat of a competition, but John said yes in order to spend the day with his brother.
John didn’t even pay attention to the prizes—let alone the grand prize-a bike he would have loved but considered “out of his budget.”
I received a phone call from him (at first I thought it was a prank call there was so much huffing and puffing on the phone!) announcing he had just won the grand prize! The grand-prize bike was so much better than what John would have received using his old “LOA” mindset.
During this experience John recalls how connected he felt to God. John’s awareness came and went during “the ride.” He remembers his body working hard, but not feeling like He was working hard. He remembers noticing how qualitatively and quantitatively different his experience of his experience was and feeling peace around this feeling. John said, “I’ve never, ever felt anything like this before.”
Even better? He donated his old bike to a charity that fixes bikes up for needy kids. John met new folks through this ride and in growing this new circle of friends, has begun organizing rides for needy kids.
Here’s the best part: each time John is asked about his new bike he is given an opportunity to testify to the Power of the Universe. As John’s guide, my cup is over flowing each time he says, “I stayed centered on my relationship with God. I became willing to do my part, and not interfere with God’s part, and surrender to the goodness of the Divine Wisdom.”
Amen.
Mindfulness tells us that we only see a part of something. The entire whole is always obscured based upon the way most of us function. Mindfulness isn’t raining on the positive or highlighting the negative. It is recognition there is always more than what our 5 sensory perceptions would indicate. Mindfulness is openness to this unknown “more”. 
