Manifest and The Secret

[springtime]

Good Idea Timeheals.  I was thinking of using Pinterest as a vision board.  Have you guys tried Pinterest?  It is great and you set up your own boards with items you like or interested in.  While I was on it the other day, I started to think this could be a great vision board.  I do believe that when I am thinking positive and are grateful for things, my life is more positive and I do seem to attract more positive situations.

I do try and have an Attitude of Gratitude but I was doing that long before I heard of the  Secret. 

 

[TimeHeals]

Good Idea Timeheals.  I was thinking of using Pinterest as a vision board.  Have you guys tried Pinterest?  It is great and you set up your own boards with items you like or interested in.  While I was on it the other day, I started to think this could be a great vision board.  I do believe that when I am thinking positive and are grateful for things, my life is more positive and I do seem to attract more positive situations.

I do try and have an Attitude of Gratitude but I was doing that long before I heard of the  Secret. 

 

I also read a book a while ago, which I still have, called Your Invisible Power, by Genevieve Behrend, which she had written way back in the 1920's, looooonnnnggg before The Secret. Its a short book, only about 80+ pages. One of  the things she says in her book is to keep the things that you wish for, private. Like the vision board for instance, put it where only you will see it, or where it will get limited exposure from others, like your bedroom or something, yet keep  the imagery,the visualizations, in your mind. She talks about meditating on the things, to get a really vivid picture of what you want,  and really 'seeing' all the details - like a house for instance, what type, what kind of furniture, etc. Also, you can put timetables on certain things - like 'this thing will happen or i will have this by such and such a date." Obviously, this timetable thing can only work for certain situations, but you get my drift - Rome wasn't built in a day. But faith and belief that you will receive them are the biggest keys to all of it. Thats the hardest part. Also, not to dwell on it too much though, she recommended giving yourself time in the morning, or before bedtime to REALLY focus on these things. And not to worry about how they come to be - that we will be led to them through circumstance of our thoughts or something like that. And yes, being grateful to God, (or whatever higher power you may believe in, for me, its God) and do no harm, and wish no harm upon others, and to forgive those who have wronged us and ask forgiveness for anyone we may have wronged. Because, God forgives us, so how can we expect forgiveness and be thankful and grateful if we are unwilling to do the same.

I think your idea using pinterest is a good one. For my vision board, I just went out and bought poster board and put pictures of family, with pics. of things I want for them, sayings and prayers that I wrote, etc., and pics. of things I want for myself. I hope this helps. 

Ok, so i am seriously going to give this another try.

[kindred]

If you go into it with a smart ass attitude and you're determined to prove "The Laws of Attraction" don't exist, why would you expect things to materialize? You have to whole heartedly believe in it and not be a skeptic with an axe to grind.... I am speaking generally and not directing this at you, kindred. I am just saying.

Hopeless, even though this wasn't directed at me  , I'd like to share my thoughts regarding it. P.S. I don't take offense to your comments, I respect and love to hear other people's viewpoints and experiences. 

I don't understand why anyone would go into it being determined to prove that "The Laws of Attraction" don't exist or how that would even be possible to prove, it is more beneficial for a skeptic to give it their all because they have nothing to lose. My point was that the main premise from the book The Secret, from what I gathered says that when negative things (or things we perceive to be negative) occur it is because we manifested it and I do not agree with that. I tried living by the principles of The Secret for several months and in that time I had things that I perceived to be positive and things I perceived to be negative occur in my life but in my opinion that is just life in general, whether I was thinking positive or not, those things were bound to happen. Just to clarify, my interpretation of living by the principles was to behave as if I already had the things I wanted, eliminate the negative thoughts, thank the universe for the things I did have, and printing and filling out the checks from the website.

During that time I was laid off from my job. I worked for a small interior design company and with the competition and the economy the owner could not keep us afloat. It was my dream job, I loved starting with just a vision from scratch and creating spaces for people and being able to see the smiles or sometimes tears of joy on their faces when their space was complete but it all came to an end. I could see that we were getting less business but I stayed positive and worked with the owner taking a pay cut and running my car to the ground to meet with clients and going to stores all over town when the owner had to let them take back the company car all to be able to still do what I loved thinking this was temporary and we had just hit a bump in the road and would be back to business as usual in a few months. The circumstances were beyond our control and I don't think there is anything that could have saved the business, it was going to close whether we told ourselves over and over "business is booming, thanks universe for the clients we have" or not. While all of this was going on, I finally got a call from the building I wanted to live in that a unit was available after I had been on the waitlist for over a year. This apartment was one of the things I would envision myself already having, I had purchased several items for the place that I kept in storage in anticipation of that call but because I did not know where my next paycheck was coming from I had to pass on it. Perhaps I manifested getting my place but when the opportunity came to move there I was not able to take it, so in the end the manifesting did not work because I never got to live their like I envisioned.

I totally agree that when we change the way we view a situation that our entire lives change because everything is about perspective. Thoughts are powerful things and anyone's overall quality of life will be better and they will be happier if they only focus on the positive. I think that when something we perceive to be negative happens it is always at least a life lesson so in that sense it is automatically a positive. As they say hindsight is 20/20 and I cannot think of one single thing that I perceived negative happen in my life (with the exception of the deaths of those close to me) that later I did not say thank goodness that happened or else I wouldn't be where I am today or know what I know now. So I am not knocking positive thinking, I just do not agree with the way the authors of The Secret explain manifestation as the original question in this thread was what do we think of the book and if we tried manifesting how it worked for us; tried it didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for others.

@Time. I too believe in the power of prayer. I have faith that all that happens is part of His plan and that things may not come to us in the way that we want them to or think that they should but that our prayers will be answered. One of my favorite quotes is "God's answers to prayer 1. Yes, 2. Not yet, 3. I've got something better in mind."

[hoplessaries]

I think I misunderstood some things initially.. I do agree that "The Secret" can give you this fairytale that life is going to be kittens and sunshine all the time. I think if used realistically the laws of attraction can change your life in a positive way. I know I practice the laws of attraction, I also pray daily and have a lot of faith that things will work out for me in the end. I do respect everyones p.o.v. on this topic... also, I do think starting vision boards is a good idea. I actually created a vision box. It is the same concept, only I used a box and not only have pictures pasted to the inside but keep my prayer/gratitude journal in there. So far, I have seen some things manifest, others hopefully soon... I am glad some of us are finding other things to do, other than call psychics all day. LOL.

[sunandmoon]

I believe that thinking positively gives you such a better outlook on life anyway. ie if you lose your job, instead of thinking you're a failure, the universe is out to get you.... you can put a positive spin on it and think ok, now I have time to look for something better, which was hard to do while working full time. It is a hard way of thinking though, as it is human nature for most to grab onto the negative.

As for vision boards, that is no different than finding a gorgeous painting of a beach house at sunset and thinking wow, I'd so love to live in a house just like that, on the ocean. So you buy the painting and hang it where you can see it all the time. I actually have some small ceramic houses and for the longest time had one sitting on my desk at a job, because I could envision myself in that house. I still envision myself in a house like that but there's that funny thing called already owning a house, finances, current debt and all that other fun stuff that kind of sits in the way of said dreams.

[hoplessaries]

I use my vision box as more of motivation and I don't put things on there that are outlandish. Some claim they have had great success with things while others claim they only manifested minor things. A lot of people are against psychics, which is what brought all of us here. I think we're all entitled to believe in what we choose and no one should talk down to someone if their beliefs are different than their own. That comment about "paintings and reality getting in the way of said dreams" was just a little bit cynical. I have personally had situations go from awful to great because of positive thinking, faith, prayer, etc... To each their own... If you feel your current responsibilities won't allow your dreams or whatever to manifest then I am sorry for you. My only thing is believe in something or fall for anything. So, if you believe in the secret then go for it. If you don't, that's great too.

[sunandmoon]

Hopeless, there is such a thing called reality. I wasn't being cynical at all, I was being a realist. I still owe on my house and live in a state where housing is super expensive. I could sell my house for sure, but at that point I'd be able to afford something just like it, so why would I? My dream house is a big old house on some land and that's just not in the cards at the moment. No amount of prayer is gonna make that happen, no matter how many vision boards I make, how hard I work, how many paintings I buy, pictures I take, or ceramic houses I put up as decorations. I mean seriously, it's money we're talking. It's exactly right that my current responsibilities won't allow my dreams to manifest - you have no reason to feel sorry for me about that. I have debt and that has to go away first. I have to sell my house at considerably more than what I owe. I am a single person who makes well under 6 figures living in a state where housing is crazy.

Unless I somehow win lotto (and I don't play often because I don't like to toss money on an uncertainty) or an inheritance (which is also unlikely as no one is well off in my family) then yes it's reality that this particular dream of mine will not happen any time soon. It's very likely it will never happen. My current house was to be a "starter" house - 5-10 years at most. I'm on year 22. That's life. I'm just happy that I've been able to keep my house through 2 divorces considering my low income at those times AND all the money I threw away at psychics for 18 months.

Does that mean I'm going to stop dreaming of it? Not in the least. But I'm also not going to run out and get the book or any other, and live by every single principle it preaches - because I fully believe in what I'm already doing.

I have certainly had situations go from awful to great as well, love life, financial.... but this is serious money we're talking about. I have also found that being realistic in life gives me less disappointment.

You actually spoke of being realistic in your prior post so I'm confused as to why you suddenly thought my post was cynical and not realistic.

As for people being against psychics, I don't think many of us on here are actually against them. I think many of us came here hoping to discover real psychics. For me, I discovered that many psychics actually said the exact same thing to many people, which kind of leads me down the road of "wow did I waste my money!"

That and the fact that what I really wanted never happened so........

[kindred]

Sunandmoon,

I think it is awesome that you still continue to dream of your lovely home out on a bunch of land but that you continue to stay grounded and realistic. When I had up my vision board I had a Bentley Convertible on it dreaming I'd be out riding on some coast with my hair blowing in the wind  . Did I think I would get such an expensive car? Maybe someday, but most likely heck to the no on that one lol but it was my dream car and I liked to look at it, it made me happy everytime I glanced at it because it would bring me back to that image of me riding down the coast. At the time I needed a car and eventually I got one but I do not feel it was because I had the picture up on the vision board. I can't even say that looking at the board kept me focused on getting a car because everyday I woke up walking out to the bus stop I knew I needed a car. I cut back on some things, saved (would've happened quicker if I stopped with the readings sooner), and searched and searched for the right car for me until I found it.

Some things on the board happened and others did not but I can say that the ones that did where those that I actively pursued so whether or not they were on the board, I believe they would have still happened because I worked towards them. Having taken the time to make a vision board and it being over a year after finally taking it down, I would not use one again because I personally don't find it necessary but I will continue to dream of that car and my oceanfront property where I can open my windows and listen to waves instead of the sirens of the city.

Funny thing though, I have really straight lifeless hair and my sister has curly bouncy full hair. I want hers and she wants mine. She hates that when she wants to wear her hair straight she has to use so many products and blowdry then flat iron and I hate that to get volume I have to use so much hold spray. My point is that we have to be careful what we wish for. I really believe God (or whomever anyone chooses to believe in) knows what is best for the individual and that we will be provided what we need. Maybe that Bentley will be too much for me to maintain and I will miss the sirens I've lived around for so long when I finally make it to the beach. Who knows?

[sunandmoon]

Kindred, maybe we should buy that house together?   I have to say that a few years ago, in the midst of the affair, I "ran away" and went on a vacation to a state that a song reminded me of. My mom later told me that we had camped there but I never remembered it, just figured we had passed through on the way to other places. Anyway, this state is not an ocean state. I think to get to the ocean it would be a 7 hour drive from the closest border. I do live in an ocean state, there is a decent beach 40 minutes from me and some really nice ones 90 minutes from me. Well I totally fell in love with this state, it's everything that someone who loves "old", privacy, space and the outdoors can dream of. I can completely see myself living there. The rivers are so clear you can drink from them. And the ocean can be a weekend trip instead of a day trip.

Ahhhh the dream car. I have always wanted a convertible. I looked at Mustangs at a time when the prices had started to skyrocket and I just couldn't justify it. Someday I'll have that convertible, no idea what it will be but I will have one!

I have to laugh at the hair, just the other day someone told me how great my hair looked! Well it was humid and it had waved up a bit, it has a lot of natural curl to it EXCEPT when it's dry out which is all winter or when I worked in a closed office environment. In the summer you tend not to see it because I keep it in a ponytail or something to keep it off my neck. I told her I had spent years with perms and hair products trying to get it the way it looked that day and had given up and let it do its own thing now, since it tended to do so despite the stuff I did to it. I do still run some gel in it some deep winter days. It's so funny how everyone always seems to want what the other person has! 

ps - I'm not sure you'd miss those sirens to be honest!  but i know what you're saying WRT what we can handle.

HUGS!