I’ve started listening to the audiobook version of Andy Shaw’s Bug Free Mind material after a relative said he was interested in it. (He previously liked Wayne Dyer and I asked him what his latest favorite books are)
The first book is about getting rid of negativity and it is related to the “law of attraction” - e.g. if you have a definite belief in abundance that is what you get… or if you want to get rich in the future you just keep wanting to get rich and produce “lack” (since it is a want rather than a present reality)
But often I just aim low in life and I often succeed at that rather than reaching for the sky and being disappointed.
There is another alternative though which Ken Keyes Jr wrote about - having preferences and not getting disappointed if what you prefer doesn’t happen.
Anyone believe in the “law” of attraction?
I think believers in the “law” of attraction might be more successful but I’m not sure if they’re happier in the long term since they believe that they are responsible for their success and perhaps they will fail at some point. Though perhaps they’d reframe it as it being a learning experience.
I recently realized I am amazingly blessed in many ways, many many many ways.
Perspective is everything, you can focus on what you don’t have or focus on what you do have. Some things objectively suck, they just do and no amount of perspective will fix it. But for a lot of things it helps to let go of what should be, and focus on what is.
A wise man would call that knowing your abilities and limitations, having and setting realistic goals. Should Stephen Hawking feel like shit that he can’t go for a hike?
A Bug Free Mind talks about not competing against others but instead competing against yourself. I’ve also read about not comparing yourself to others.
This is really more IMHO or MPSIMS material.
Off to IMHO.
This sounds like a bunch of The Secret-type nonsense: useless at best, actively harmful at worst. Dude’s website does very little to dispel my conclusions.
But good luck to you if you like it.
Yup. It’s basically Tinkerbell thinking - if you close your eyes and wish really REALLY hard, then the vaguely undefined “universe” will magically make everything work out the way you want.
The uncomfortable correlation being that if you die of cancer, it’s because you didn’t wish hard enough for it to go away.
I actually know a couple that hit the lottery and won $10 million. They played out that philosophy on a scale that only a genuine millionaire could. At the end of the 20-year lottery payout they had a very nice home with huge tax payments and maintenance costs, and virtually nothing else to show for having once hit the lottery. Not only did they not “attract” any wealth, they had to cut back their lifestyle considerably and find jobs after 20 years of play.
Fortune favors the prepared, so, perhaps “wanting” something a lot makes one slightly more aware of the opportunities that are out there in the world.
A friend of mine was really taken with the number “42” from the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. He would point it out in addresses, phone numbers, all sorts of places. He said, “The more I look for that number, the more places I see it.”
Well, yeah!
I have quote a few fruit trees in my smallish yard, and people often ask me what I do to maintain them. I answer that I take a zen attitude towards gardening: do nothing, and be thankful for whatever I get.
Does that count?
Well, I think as far as the Buddhist philosophy/teaching goes, All things are preceded by the mind, led by the mind, created by the mind is fairly accurate. Your mind is like your software. It programs you. If you think you can’t, you never will. The reality of the situation doesn’t matter, just like those elephants who are held in place by short tiny chains.
The Law Of Attraction/The Secret lifestyle that is being peddled is BS, but there is a bit of truth to it. For example, women who think they only get bad boyfriends only get bad boyfriends. A large part of it is because they don’t stop and ask themselves “What am I doing that keeps bringing this to me?” and then changing what needs to be changed, so in a way they are attracting it. Self-awareness basically.
I’ve listened to most of the first audiobook and he said that the Law of Attraction really should be the “Law of Creation”… he also talked about scientific “proof” for that kind of thing by talking about the video called “what the bleep do we know” (which is rubbish). He also said that it is bad to talk about what you “believe” since that implies doubt and people should instead talk about what they “know” but then he said you have to be careful about using the word “know”.
I believe in abundance. I went to my dry food storage area and realized that I had a 5 gallon pail of black beans that needed to be rotated from dry storage to canned goods.
I accidentally soaked 5 or 6 times as many beans as I thought I could process in the weekend. I ended up canning 76 quarts, 38 of bean soup and 38 of pork and beans in tomato sauce. I had to modify my recipe slightly on the last 19 quart load but I did not have a drop of beans leftover. I still have a bit of dry beans that I never soaked in the beginning so… abundance… Believe in it.
Hey, maybe you wished as hard as possible.
It’s just that three other people wished as hard as possible for you to die.
What the hell is this even supposed to mean? What life lesson are we to draw from this story? “If you cook a shit-ton of beans, then you’ll have a shit-ton of beans to eat”? “Lots of beans exist”? “Math is a good way to adapt to extra beans you have on hand”?
How do I “believe in abundance”? I am already firmly of the opinion that there are a lot of beans on the planet. How does that help me?
It will make your death slightly less ironic if you are crushed to death as a result of a commercial bean storage vat failure, I suppose.
That’s not abundance. That’s just screwing up a recipe.
Of course it’s mostly bullshit. You don’t become successful or achieve goals just because you think happy thoughts about them.
Yes, getting rid of negativity and having a clear picture of what you want to achieve is helpful. Much in the same way that feeling confident that you know how to drive a car and having a destination in mind are helpful when planning a trip.
But that’s not enough. You actually have to know how to drive a car safely. You need to plan out a route. You have to actively steer the vehicle and navigate a course through obstacles. You have to react to other vehicles and other unexpected events. In other words, specific actions are required on your part to reach your destination.
Life is sort of like that.
Just “wanting to get rich” is not enough. You’re far more likely to get rich as some directionless MBA working for a hedge fund than constantly “visualizing” getting rich as a highly focused, extremely positive school teacher.