A few years ago, when I was hard at work grinding away at my job as a press operator, I honestly believed that everything in my life came to me because I worked so hard at it. I had a nice car because I worked 45 overtime shifts the year before. I had a nice house because I saved money and managed my finances properly. I had Dariece because I slowly courted her over many years of friendship.
If someone told me then that if I think of things, then they would magically appear, I would have called them crazy and walked away.
Fast-forward 8 years and here I am today, only working as much as I feel like, and yet living a life of absolute luxury in a Caribbean paradise. I can no longer deny the power of positive thought and the law of attraction (LOA).
Back when I was working 12 hours / day, I didn’t enjoy what I was doing for that entire 12 hours. I loved the people I was working with and had fun from time to time, but there was ALWAYS somewhere I would rather have been. At that time, things just didn’t seem to go my way. I kept having hurdles to jump over and I kept having to be places that I didn’t want to be.
My car would break down and I would have to spend hours with the mechanic. The dishwasher stopped working and I’d have to try to fix it. Work would call and request that I come in for even more overtime hours.
I should have known then that the universe was just giving me more of what I already chose to have. If I was consciously making the decision to work at a place that I didn’t enjoy, and spend most of my waking hours there, then I must have wanted to always be unhappy and be places that I didn’t want to be. Right?
The universe doesn’t think, but it adapts to the choices that we make and sends us similar outcomes based on those choices.
The minute Dariece and I started to think about living a freer life, over 7 years ago, everything started to line up. The hurdles and speed bumps disappeared and suddenly we were both on a superhighway to happiness.
I had been trying to sell my shitty little Honda Civic for months, and once I had the mindset to sell it to do something I love, a call came and the car was sold within 2 days.
I needed to make more money to save for travelling, and suddenly cheques, returned payments and overtime shifts were appearing as if out of nowhere.
We needed to sell the house in order to take off to Thailand and a buyer came just in time.
We needed a place to store our belongings and just then my brother bought a business with extra storage space and agreed to let us leave our stuff there (a decision that the universe later righted).
Even after this strange shift in events, I still wasn’t totally convinced that there was a “higher power” at work here.
On the road during that first trip, we had nothing but positive experiences, which isn’t a surprise because we were living a new, stress-free life of travel. But one very strange thing happened that made me open my eyes a bit. You can read about that crazy LOA lesson here.
Then these types of things started happening all of the time, reminding us that we were on the right path. We missed flights that would have put us in danger, we were kept from travelling off the grid during family emergencies that needed our attention, we arrived in two different places when our favourite bands were playing and we landed our house sitting job in Grenada only months after thinking about how cool it would be to house sit in Grenada.
Those things were all pretty crazy, and they opened my eyes a bit to what was going on around me, but it wasn’t until this past 7 months living in Grenada that we’ve really seen the power of positive thought having a drastic, and near-immediate effect on our lives.
Examples:
- We decided we wanted to start freelance writing, and in the days that followed (not weeks or years) we were contacted by some great websites and companies willing to pay us for our work.
- We decided to set a number, an amount that we would like to make in October of 2014. We set it high, nearly 3 times higher than any amount we had made in previous months. That number was reached by the end of the month.
- I said “I wish I could see my grandparents more”, and two days later my grandma emailed me and said that she would like to come and visit us in Mexico.
- We decided that we would like to make money without having to work for it, and lately our passive income has been rising every month.
- We were tired of being secluded and not having enough friends in Grenada. Just days after vocalizing our hope for change, our friends Darryl and Amanda contacted us on Twitter and introduced us to so many awesome locals and expats.
But not all of the effects of the law of attraction were positive.
Examples:
- Dariece said that she was worried that we would get broken into. A week later one of the houses on the property we’re sitting had an unwanted intruder.
- We were dwelling on negative people experiences and a few cropped up again and again.
- We mentioned how bad it would be if something happened to the owners’ car and 2 weeks later, someone did a hit and run while we were parked.
It has literally been one thing after another and although Dariece has always had faith in the Law Of Attraction, I now consider myself a firm believer as well.
I don’t believe that when I think of something, exactly what I thought of will come true the next day. But I know that by following happiness instead of forcing success, we’re constantly being shown a path to follow, and we’re being reminded repeatedly that we are heading in the right direction.
This type of “magic power mumbo jumbo” may not be for everyone. I’m not religious, not because I don’t believe in a higher power, but because I don’t agree with one specific religion in its entirety. Even if LOA was a religion, I would not “practice” it, because it is so unlikely that I would agree with every facet of it, laid out by another believer.
The capacity to get what you want through positive thought is open to interpretation, and the great thing about it is that many of the people who believe in it are open as well. My new, favourite LOA blogger, Kelli Cooper, writes in great detail about how people can create, manifest and change their life using this miraculous power.
I don’t know enough about it to teach others about it like she does, but I know enough to say with confidence that it works in our life. When you show the universe that you don’t mind having a sour taste in your mouth, life will just keep giving you lemons. But don’t make lemonade with them! Tell the universe, screw lemons, I want more love, money, health, freedom and happiness and just see what it throws at you.
It’s worth a try! It may seem strange but what do you have to lose? Just try to make some small steps towards something positive in your life and see what happens. Think of the feeling you get when something great happens, rather than dwelling on the thought that something bad is coming and see if events in your life start changing for the better. With life going as awesome as it is for the goats, I just figured I’d share a little bit about why we’re so happy. Give it a try and let us know how you get on!
Are you already a master of your own destiny? Share some tips and specific experiences with us below!
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I’m personally very skeptical of this. I think it’s easy to notice patterns of what might look like the law of attraction etc. when you’re looking for them. What about all those other things that you were wishing for that didn’t happen? I do agree that attitude is very important, and that people with negative or close attitudes towards certain things will probably not end up getting those things/experiences and vice versa. Hmm…more thinking required.
Wow Nick, it really sounds like a lot of things you were wishing for have become true, that is great! I personally do believe that positive thinking and the right mindset are definitely the key to happiness and success. But if you are too skeptical, question too much or think negatively it obviously doesn’t work, sorry Sam… 😉
In my opinion, thinking positively is pretty key in having good things come your way. But I also think that you and Dariece have worked really hard to make all of these great things happen to you. So I guess I feel that it’s a combination of hard work and positive thinking. That being said, I can totally relate to this post. The timing is especially funny. I’ve been a little down lately because I’ve been having a really hard time finding a job since I moved to Jakarta. A fellow blogger told me that she believes that the universe has a way of bringing opportunities our way when we need them. And it really got me thinking that she was right. I had been working my butt of trying to find a job, and sooner or later my hard work would have to pay off. So I decided that I needed to stop the negative thinking and have a little faith that things would work out. The next day I got this really intriguing freelance job offer that could potentially open all sorts of doors for me. I don’t know if it’s necessarily the LOA or the power of positive thinking, but the timing was pretty interesting! Anyway, you two are clearly doing something right so just keep doing what you’re doing 🙂
Gratitude and positive thinking take practice, but (as you’ve proved in this post) it can make a world of difference. I’ve definitely noticed positive changes in my life thanks to gratitude, positivity, and the law of attraction, and I love knowing I ultimately have control of my life. I just read the post about the alarm clock you found in the street- such a crazy story!
Hey guys!
Thank you so much for mentioning me, and I am so happy that you are finding my LOA content helpful. Your story is awesome, and I loved reading it. You guys are living a very similar life to Ryan and I and even though I don’t you know you personally, I feel we are kindred spirits! I think a lot of people will be inspired by this post, and good for you for writing it. I find a lot of people are reluctant to talk about their belief in law of attraction because it makes them sound ‘weird’ or something. But, as you know from the results you have seen in your own life, there is something to all this, even if we can’t wrap our human brains around it. And we really don’t need to fully understand it to benefit, much like many other things in our life.
You guys have done something amazing with your life, and keep on inspiring others!
Very inspiring post. I do believe that positive thinking can make things happen for you and there were times when I feel it worked for us but I think that I need to focus on it more, maybe meditate on it.
Great post, my friend. I seem to have had a similar relationship to the Law of Attraction and definitely now believe in the Power of the Universe.
I love reading your stuff, and especially like ones like this. Keep up the good work.
Your article is really amazing,every time I find my self thinking negatively your article reminds me to think positive. Thank you so much, such an inspiration.