The Law of Attraction is the Universal Law governing creation. It says that we attract what we think about. The thoughts we think give rise to the physical reality we experience. Once we know this, we can start to take conscious steps towards creating a reality that we like much better than our present one - 3 steps, to be precise. In this post, we will explore Step 1: Asking for What You Want.

The Law of Attraction, Step 1 of 3: Ask

In order to get what you want you have to know what you want. If you don't know what you want then you get, by default, whatever you think about. And more specifically, whatever you keep thinking about, over and over again.

The more we think the same thoughts, "Life stinks" or "I hate my job" or "Same stuff, different day", the more we reinforce and perpetuate the realities we create, in the cases of the previous examples: a stinky life, a job worth hating, and a day like any other.

But if you want something different and you know what that is, you can think about that instead of what you've been thinking about, and start to attract that new, desirable stuff into your life. This is what Goal Setting is all about. And it's another word for the first step in the process of implementing the Law of Attraction.

Changing what you think about can really be as easy as changing the station on the TV. Every time something comes on it that you don't like, change the station. The Universe instantly changes then too, bringing you the physical manifestation of your new thought rather than your old one. Changing what you think about it as easy as switching TV stations. But the physical shift in your reality does not change immediately.

There is a time delay in the process of creation, which means you don't get what you think about the instant you think it, but sometimes later. I rather like the word "attraction" because it implies a coming together rather than some instantaneous transformation. The benefit of this to you is that you have time to change what you think about, time to change what you've attracted/created in your life. Time to change your mind.

This means that you are not "stuck" with any state you've brought upon yourself. Knowing that your thoughts create your reality doesn't damn you to face a dreaded future cursed with all the horrible things you've thought so far. You don't curse yourself to any self-designated fate unless you don't do anything to change it.

If you start thinking about what you do want in life instead of what you don't, you'll start to get more of what you do want and not what you don't. To get what you want out of life, you have to be at least bold enough to put forth the request. Whether this comes forth in the form of a Wish, a Goal, a Dream, a Daydream, a Fantasy, a Desire, or a Prayer matters not, so long as it's there.

Law of Attraction, Step 2 of 3: Receive

The Law of Attraction is the Cosmic Law governing all creation. The Law of Attraction says that we attract that which we think about. Our thoughts give rise to our reality. Knowing this, it becomes clear that we can choose to consciously create realities more suitable to our tastes, if we only make the necessary shift. Step 1 of this shift is to Ask for what you want - change what you think about from things you don't want to things you do. Step 2, the subject of this article, is to sit back and Receive.

For some, this may be the trickiest step of all, as it requires you do nothing, and for some, nothing is the hardest thing of all to do.

We spend far too much time trying to figure out how to get what we want and not enough time getting it. We expend way too much energy working hard to chase a goal rather than having the goal. Having it come to us.

This is the message of Step 2 of the Law of Attraction - what you have asked for (in Step 1) is already on its way. It's the nature of the Universe - inherent in the process of "asking" for anything is the manifestation of that which was "asked for".

By thinking about something, we automatically bring it into being. By giving something the energy of our attention, we literally call it into being.

'Ask and ye shall receive' the timeless message holds. Ye need not worry how, nor need you do a darned thing to "make it happen". It's already coming. A done deal. Our every wish has been granted. The only thing we can do now is mess it up. How? For starters, by not getting out of the way.

Step 2 is taken care of as an automatically result of Step 1. It's not your job; it's the job of the Universe. You ask, it gives. Step 1, step 2. Simple.

The problem for so many of us in getting what we want in life is that we skip Step 1 and jump straight to Step 2. We avoid our job altogether (choosing what we want) and try to do the Universe's job instead (working, trying, figuring out how to get it). No wonder it doesn't work!

Our plotting, planning, working, figuring, straining, stressing, worrying, doubting, bemoaning, dreading, resenting - all get in the way of the "package", the Universe is trying to deliver to us.

Expending a ton of energy to try and get what you've already asked the Universe for is a major display of distrust in the Universe. It's like saying "I know I've asked you for this, but I don't believe you're really going to give it to me, so I'm going to go ahead and figure out how to get it myself then, thanks anyway." What's the Universe to say then? "Fine, go do it yourself then. And good luck with that."

Imagine if you asked your partner to pick something up for you on the way home from work and then you went ahead and picked it up yourself anyway. How do you think your partner would feel? How inclined is your partner going to be to honor your next request without first giving you a hard time? Why should the Universe be any different?

Step 2 of the Law of Attraction requires that you trust. Trust the Universe, trust the process of creation, trust the Law of Attraction to work, and to work for you. Put your attention on the end result, the goal, the desire. You be the master visionary dictating how your creation should look and feel. Let the Universe be your workers, bringing your vision into being.

Law of Attraction, Step 3 of 3: Allow

The Universal Law that governs the process of creation is known as the Law of Attraction. According to the Law of Attraction, we create what we think about. The thoughts in our heads produce the things in our world. Knowing this, we can begin to take steps towards conscious creating a desirable reality rather than continue unconsciously creating undesirable ones. The first 2 steps of this 3 step process are to Ask for what you want and then trust that the Universe heeded your call and you're on your way already to receiving it. In this article, we cover the critical final step, the one so many people overlook. In Step 3: Allowing, we make sure that we are present to receive what we've asked for when it comes.

As soon as you ask for anything, the Universe is instantly in action working to bring that to you. Whether or not you ever get it, depends on whether you are "there" to receive it. This is concept of "allowing" - the crucial final step of the Law of Attraction.

You are always given what you ask for, but do you take it? Do you allow it in? Anything the Universe offers us (or "throws at" us), we either accept it or we reject, refuse, or deny it. It's that way with the things we don't want, and it's that way with the things we do want.

The opposite of allowing is resistance. The reason for so many "unanswered prayers" is resistance, which is to say: the reason we don't get so much of what we ask for is because we resist having it.

It's like if you have a hang-up about your appearance. Implied in that insecurity is the desire to look good, and to feel good about the way you look. Now imagine if someone gave you a compliment about your appearance, "Oh, you look great today," and all you can say is, "No, don't be ridiculous. Oh stop. You're lying. Don't poke fun." This is a perfect dramatization of the resistance to allowing something we desire in.

Impatience is a from of resistance. Expecting a goal to be reached or a desire to be fulfilled faster than it seems to be happening is a way of not allowing it to happen in its own natural way. In noticing that your desire has still not been fulfilled yet, you're actually that desire's fulfillment further and further away.

Observing that you don't have the resources you need to get what you want (i.e. "But I don't have enough money and I have no idea where I'm going to get it"), only succeeds in perpetuating that lack of resources. You're given just what you've "asked for" and "allowed" - a severe absence of funds and a corresponding absence of opportunities for producing funds. Congratulations!

Being unhappy about your current state in life and bemoaning that if only X, Y, and Z would happen already, you could finally get on with being happy is just as bad. As is feeling jealous of someone else having it first.

Omitting this all-important step of allowing cancels out the previous two steps of asking and receiving. It's like being given a gift of something you asked for and then returning it. You're certainly entitled to do that. Just stop complaining that you don't have that thing you've been wanting.

If you choose to trust that what you have asked for - everything you have ever and will ever ask for - is on its way to you, then you can experience the joy now of its impending arrival. That's how allowing feels - as eager anticipation of that which you know for sure is yours.

The esoteric description of it is to say that, in allowing you're getting "in energetic alignment" with the fulfillment of your desire. In plain English what you're doing is getting "out of the way".

Ask and ye shall receive. Allow and ye shall have.