Most of you would probably be familiar with the best selling book "Think And Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. Many people have claimed that the book changed their thinking and have seen their personal wealth grow in abundance. If people can think and grow rich, then can people think and grow thin? Can thinking to be thin help you to lose weight or conversely, for thin people, help them to gain extra weight?

Ever since the released of Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" DVD and book in 2006, The Law of Attraction (LOA), which is the main theme of her work swept the world by storm. If you are unfamiliar with the law of attraction, then the simplistic definition of the law of attraction is that you attract to you what are in your dominant thoughts and what you are focused on. In other words, thoughts become things. That means that you get what you think and focused on.

Of course there are more to it than just merely wishful thinking and if you want to know more, the internet is full of articles on the application of law of attraction.

Experts in the law of attraction such as Bob Proctor, John Assaraf, John Demartini and some others who appeared in "The Secret" explained that recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, quantum physics, metaphysics along with the understanding mental laws, reveal why the "law of attraction" and "positive thinking" work regardless of whether you look at the theory from a metaphysical or a scientific point of view in a Larry King show. Oprah Winfrey also explored this subject several times in her TV programs.

Scientists have long known that your subconscious mind is completely neutral and impartial and it will carry out any instructions the conscious mind give to it. In other words, you can use the law of attraction to attract love, to lose or gain weight, attract wealth, quit smoking or whatever you desire.

Unfortunately, most if not all of us are still running negative programs we picked up from others as children when our subconscious minds were very open, receptive and impressionable, or which we have developed over the years as a result of repetition of our own negative thinking and life experiences.

Yes, many of you may say to me now that you have been thinking of losing weight, but is still getting fatter and fatter. You see, when you are thinking of losing weight, you are using your conscious mind, but what is your subconscious mind thinking? Let me list a few examples :-

a) I am too fat, so I need to lose weight - This thinking cancels out each other. Yes, you want to lose weight, but you are also thinking about being fat. The law of attraction does not react to whether you want it or do not want it, it just delivers to you what you are thinking and focused on.

b) My family members are fat, so I am genetically programed to be fat - I don't need to explain this further. This is a self limiting thought and guess what? If you think you are fat, then you are. Period.

c) I wish to be thin - Now merely wishing is not good enough, the law of attraction will just entertain your wish. You will always be wishing.

d) It is difficult to lose or gain weight - Then you will never lose or gain weight because it will always be difficult for you to lose weight.

So when you do not lose or gain weight even if you have always wanted to, it could be because of your self limiting subconscious thoughts. Some of these limiting thoughts are so embedded in your subconscious mind that you are not even aware that they are there.

Our own thoughts, when repeated often enough are programed into our subconscious mind and most of the time we do not even know that they are there sabotaging us. These thoughts then become our beliefs, habits and automatic behavior.

To change your results, you must overwrite the negative programming and instill new positive ones into your subconscious mind. If you are getting more of the same or negative results in your life such as not being able to attract more wealth, good health or the body shape that you desire, then you have probably been unconsciously running old negative programs and reinforcing them with daily negative thought patterns.

How do we get rid of limiting beliefs and negative thoughts then?

There are many techniques you can use to get rid of limiting believes and negative thoughts such as using goal setting, positive affirmations, meditations and creative visualizations. I will not describe in detail how these methods work here as many books and articles about them. However, from personal experiences, the best method is using self hypnosis.

What is self hypnosis? You see, instead of spending alot of money for a hypnosis therapist to help you find out your self limiting negative thoughts (there may be thousands of them) in your subconscious mind and re-program new positive thoughts into it, you can now do it yourself through self hypnosis sessions through CDs or MP3s. This will save you a lot of money and time.

So if you want to gain or lose weight to get the bodyshape you want, change your negative beliefs and insert positive ones and by the law of attraction, you will begin to attract events, people, books, food, circumstances etc to help you get the bodyshape that you want. Believe it and see the magic unfurl before you.