Today we look at a simple but powerful step that you can use to enhance your ability to create that which you desire—-falling in love with what it is you want!
This suggestion comes by way of an old book from 1906 entitled Thought Vibration or The Law of Attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson. I’ve been reading a lot of Atkinson’s work this year after discovering his fantastic book The Kybalion late last year. Readers here might recall my five part series on that book earlier this year.
I continue to be amazed that Atkinson is not better known in New Thought circles. If you want to know more about him, check out the following links:
Video presentation I did on Atkinson as a guest on New Thought Media Network program “The Wisdom of the Mystics”.
Conscious Bridge Resource page on Atkinson.
Link to a free copy of Thought Vibration.
What Do You Want?
So, let’s get to the self-help idea being presented here.
Let’s say you want to create something in your life. You desire more abundance and prosperity….you desire a better job or career….you desire a more loving relationship…..you desire a greater sense of meaning in your life…..you desire more friends…you desire a deeper relationship with Spirit or Source….etc.
The first step in the process of creation is to choose what it is you want. Duh!
But that choice needs to have a degree of specificity to it. For example, you may desire to have more prosperity in your life, but simply wanting “prosperity” is not very specific. It’s hard to picture that in your imagination. Imagining what you desire, creating a mental picture of it is so very important to the process of creation.
But what should that picture look like? It should be vivid and detailed enough that can see it in your mind’s eye and describe what it looks like to others (and obviously yourself!). So back to wanting “prosperity”. What does that look like to you? Material possessions? Money in the bank? A good degree of comfort and security? Something else, then what?
Maybe you say “yes” to one of those. Then drill down further. How will money get into your bank account? What actions in your life would support the circumstances of more money getting in your bank account? Picture in your mind’s eye what it is that you are doing and being in life that will position you best for this increase in prosperity in the way that you see it distinctly. Yes, I know that we can be open to something greater than what we can envision as far as what it is that we want, but the creation of the vision in detail brings so much power to the manifestation of the desire.
So what now? This is where we use all of the well-known New Thought tools in our mental toolbox. Here are a few:
We take our vivid picture of what we desire and drop it into our imagination as we drift off to sleep at night….as we are in that powerful “in-between” sleep and wakefulness.
We take our vivid picture of what we desire and create affirmations seeing that thing already in our lives, affirmations which we repeat throughout the day.
We take our vivid picture of what we desire and create actions in our lives that work towards their manifestation.
And, here is where we get to Atkinson’s suggestion….to fall in love with what we desire!
“Falling in Love”
Now, I’m assuming that we have all fallen in love at one time or another and “know that feeling”!
Here is the core of what Atkinson suggests in Chapter 13 of his book:
“In order to attain a thing it is necessary that the mind should fall in love with it, and be conscious of its existence, almost to the exclusion of everything else. You must get in love with the thing you wish to attain, just as much as you would if you were to meet the girl or man you wished to marry.”
So, continuing with my example above, if we have a clear idea of what our life would look like and what we need to be doing to create the manifestation of our prosperity, then we need to “fall in love with that vision” so much that it dominates our thought. In Atkinson’s words, we should be “so “set” upon the desired thing that all else will seem of secondary importance.”
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the feelings and your personal actions when you fell in love with another person such that they permeated most of your waking moments? If so, bring that feeling to that thing you now desire. And you have to have a consistency to that sense of love. Atkinson describes that this way:
“Do you see what I mean? You must get in love with the thing you want, and you must get in love with it in earnest — none of this latter-day flirting, “on-today and off-tomorrow” sort of love, but the good old-fashioned kind, that used to make it impossible for a young man to get to sleep unless he took a walk around his best girl’s house, just to be sure it was still there. That’s the real kind!”
Now, of course, keep in mind as you read Atkinson that his exact language is a product of his time. Again, this book was from 1906! What’s important is the concept of bringing the feeling and actions to whatever it is you want in life just as you would when you fall in love with another person. And when you do, you will surprise yourself with the creative thoughts and actions that come forth from you to attain “your love”. Here is how, Atkinson offers that:
“Just as the man who is thoroughly in love will think out plans and schemes whereby he may please the fair one, so will the man who is in love with his work or business give it his best thought, and the result will be that a hundred and one plans will come into his field of consciousness, many of which are very important. The mind works on the subconscious plane, remember, and almost always along the lines of the ruling passion or desire. It will fix up things, and patch together plans and schemes, and when you need them the most it will pop them into your consciousness, and you will feel like hurrahing, just as if you had received some valuable aid from outside.”
So my suggestion and encouragement to you is to find a way to “fall in love” with what ever it is that you want to create in your life.
But What is Love?
Before I conclude this brief article, I do want to go a bit further and ask us to consider just exactly what this “love” is that we are talking about. I have written on this many times and even did a short video on the spiritual nature of love which you can view HERE.
The bottom line for me is that love is an evolutionary force that seeks to break down our sense of separation from what we perceive as those things “out there” in material life. Love is a power that moves us towards a greater recognition of the unity of all and our place in that interconnection.
Interestingly, Atkinson includes a similar “deeper take” on just exactly what love is:
“Some scientists have claimed that something that might as well be called ‘Love” is at the bottom of the whole of life. They claim that the love of the plant for water causes it to send forth its roots until the loved thing is found. They say that the love of the flower for the sun, causes it to grow away from the dark places, so that it may receive the light. The so-called ”chemical affinities” are really a form of love. And Desire is a manifestation of this Universal Life Love. So, I am not using a mere figure of speech when I tell you that you must love the thing you wish to attain. Nothing but intense love will enable you to surmount the many obstacles placed in your path. Nothing but that love will enable you to bear the burdens of the task. The more Desire you have for a thing, the more you Love it; and the more you Love it, the greater will be the attractive force exerted toward its attainment —both within yourself, and outside of you.”
Love is working to connect us All.
Mark Gilbert