Those who have read or heard talks given on the messages in books such as Creative Visualization, Illusions, and most recently The Secret (which also included a movie), are familiar with the concept that whatever you think about intensely, focus on habitually, or visualize happening to you in time, becomes exactly what does happen to you, or what you do bring into your life.
This is "the Secret", also sometimes called the Law of Attraction or succinctly summed up as: "Like attracts like."
There are even some Christian "Prosperity Teachers", typically maligned by those Christian preachers and teachers who don't like the message of Christians becoming wealthy and generally joyful with their lives, who teach the "like attracts like" principle within a Christian context. These teachers rely most heavily on passages from the New Testament to back up their teachings.
The reason that the "like attracts like" concept is taught so often is because of one thing: it works. One's own imagination, in time, creates one's material reality.
Unfortunately for many, many people who try or who consider trying to master this principle, there are several misconceptions about "like attracts like" or this "secret", and they leave their "discipleship" broken-hearted, or wrecked financially, or just discouraged if not depressed. Then there are the ever-present cynics, who call themselves "skeptics" to disguise their true intentions, who are always waiting in the shadowy wings to burn any message of hope for something beyond the ordinary or self-fulfillment, who prey upon these poor people and use them to denounce the Law of Attraction.
Those people who are abundantly wealthy, abundantly joyful, successful, or clearly on the road to fulfilling their dreams, then get labeled as "just lucky"...or, they are slime who took from others by underhanded means.
Perhaps the most prevalent misconception about "like attracts like" is that it should be, or can almost instantly be, working in everyone's life because everyone is already constantly thinking about those things, events, or people that they desire to have happen to them, own, or have in their lives. Shouldn't everyone be well along the road to personal dream-fulfillment?
No.
Because, most people are not thinking about having what they want. They are obsessed with thinking about the fact that they do not have what they want! They do not envision obtaining what they want: they only see their life circumstances constantly getting worse. So, when they think about their dreams and desires, they only do so in order to pine for what they remain certain they can probably never have, or to send themselves into a rage about not having it (and they'll likely them blame big business, or their childhood, or their own imagined inferiority), or to be able to talk about not ever getting that which they desire.
In order to get what you want into your life, your envisioning has to be positive. Your attitude, your habitual talk, your actions have to be unceasingly driving toward your desires--not focusing on your lack of them.
Which leads to the second misconception: this "like attracts like" stuff requires almost zero work.
Absolutely false.
The right work is essential to obtaining what you want. This work can be intense, and it's almost always constant. This is not "magic" in the popular sense, and at any rate any authentic magickal practitioner will tell you that what she does requires much preparation, study, focus, and will power; and not just for the working of rituals but for day to day living as well.
The right work begins with doing the kind of work that you love. If you hate what you do, or it's burning you at both ends, then even if you're currently in a lucrative career position you'll fall short of attaining to your dreams. The right work is when you rightly ascertain what your true talents and abilities are and where your authentic interests lie and then put yourself in that place.
There can typically be much "soul work" that must be done, too. You may have to work very hard to change your attitude from a habitually pessimistic one to a habitually optimistic one. You may have to literally "repent": that is, change your mind, or your habitual way of thinking; reshaping your stream of consciousness. You may have personal flaws that you have to root out or subsume because they are obstacles on your road to abundance. You may have to work to make yourself healthier in body (and thus in mind) by eating better or getting into exercise. All of this kind of work requires ruthless self-examination and self-honesty.
And there will not be, at least at first, any lack of personal trials and tribulations for you as you let go of that piece of precious safety you've been tenaciously clinging to, and which others have lauded you for clinging, to float free in that Stream of Consciousness that shall carry you along to where you are supposed to end up. There shall be everyday wars to fight and wrestling matches with angels for you to win. It will not always be easy by any means.
And finally, sometimes the most difficult to overcome or accept misconception: you can utterly change yourself, but not others.
You may have to cut your ties, permanently or temporarily, with people you held dear, or to whom you always believed you owed a close relationship. This does not mean that if you are a parent, you abandon your children because they cost you money and time! But you'll have to examine your relationships, even those with your parents, siblings, and closest friends to see if they are in need of a dynamic changing or a rethinking, or even a departure from.
Ancient Buddhist writings say that one must guard one's mind assiduously when in the company of those who are not kindred spirits; if one doesn't do this, one's mind can easily become poisoned by those who are antagonistic or inimical to what one desires or is attempting. This means: be very careful with your associations. This can often be the most difficult part of making like attract like.
And some people that you desire to attract into your life will arrive only for you to find that either you were mistaken about who they were, or there are problems on their end, in their life--which is a life just as free as your own. You can, of course, talk to them and try to help see them through, especially if you love them, but in the end they have to start doing things right by their own freewill.
One more note: everything and everyone you desire to attract must move through time and place. All of your dreams, no matter how "crazy", are realistic (as long as you have done or are doing the right work, remember); but, people so often have very unrealistic time frames stuck in their heads.
Things and events and people have to manifest into your life in their own good time, even though the imagination travels faster than the speed of light.
The great poet W.B. Yeats wrote, "In dreams begins responsibility." Follow the thread of your dreams, take personal responsibility for making them come real, and you'll discover that you have all the time you need.
