The Law of Attraction goes right back to the beginning of time, but the first physical evidence dates back to 391 BC with Greek philosopher Plato who noted that “likes tend towards likes.”

With the Law of Attraction, everything starts with a thought: a thought creates a feeling, a feeling then creates a reaction, and that reaction creates an outcome. There’s both a scientific and spiritual view on the notion.

On the scientific side, when you think positive things you activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for all the feel-good hormones. When you do this, you then look at the world through rose-tinted goggles and are more likely to see good things to back-up your feelings. Whereas, if you’re thinking negative thoughts, you will activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the stress hormones. As a result, you go into stressresponse mode and only see more things that make you stressed.

For those in the spiritual camp, negative thoughts vibrate on a lower frequency and don’t make you feel so good, but positive thoughts vibrate at a higher frequency and make you feel great. The higher vibration you energetically calibrate to, the more likely you are to attract good things to you in your life.

I was brought up in a household affected by alcohol, which led to abusive relationships, drug misuse and debt. At my lowest point I discovered the Law of Attraction which turned my life around so that I have now become a life coach and gained qualifications in meditation, mindfulness, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping).

Adjusting our internal language is paramount and often the first step to creating the life we want. We may want to attract love, but if our mindset and internal language is not aligned, or even in opposition to what we want, it either won’t happen or we will get the opposite of what we want.

For example, saying, “here I am all alone again,” means you will ultimately struggle to attract what you desire. The subconscious mind doesn’t know what is real and what isn’t, so on an emotional level we calibrate to the quality of our own thoughts.

About 30 years ago scientists identified mirror neurons in the brain. These are activated when an individual performs an action or sees another individual performing the same task. They are thought to help our understanding of others and their intentions, and how we perceive the world.

Some people see the Law of Attraction as a magnet and you attract whatever is on the same level. Self-help guru Dr Wayne Dyer once said: “We don’t see the world as the world is, we see the world as we are.” Thus, if we want to make changes in our reality, we need to make them from within. This means it’s down to you to create the life you want.

How to Think Positive

Carolyne shares some simple ways in which you can start implementing the Law of Attraction into your life.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT

Practise focusing on what you DO want rather than what you DON’T want. By focusing on positive alternatives, you will develop a positive mindset. For example, “I don’t want to be stressed” becomes “I want to be calm and relaxed”. Where your attention goes, energy flows.’

BREATHE

Sounds simple, but it’s something we all take for granted. It has been proven that by implementing simple breath-work, your brain gets a clear message to relax and this activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the relaxation response.

WRITE DOWN FRUSTRATIONS

Don’t censor yourself, write down everything that comes to mind. This helps release built-up energy that you have stored. When you are finished, imagine placing all the items on the list in helium balloons as you release them and watch them float away. This is an extremely calming visualisation technique. Remember, you are not your thoughts, if they are not serving you – release them.

WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS

Take a moment to think of how you will feel when they have come to pass, rather than always focusing on the obstacles you may foresee (i.e. I won’t be able to run that fast, I’m not flexible enough to do that power yoga class). Next step, then visualise how your life will look when you’ve finally achieved your goal. It is important to include as much detail as you can as you build up your mental picture – what positive impact will it have, along with how your life will then change and how will you feel.

From an interview with Vicki-Marie Cossar published in the Metro