You need more than positive thinking to attract abundance into your life. Your thoughts and intentions need to match the energy vibration of the things you want to attract. The law of attraction brings to you the experiences, situations, and people who match the frequency of your vibration. So you not only need to think positive thoughts, you need to really FEEL positive emotions and stop focusing on the things in your life that are lacking. When you come from a place of lacking, you attract more lacking into your life.

When you understand that you cannot control the outcomes of situations, only how you respond to them, you begin manifesting the experiences you truly desire. Every thought and feeling carries with it a vibrational frequency. Obviously, negative or judgmental thoughts or feelings of struggle are low frequency emotions.

The Universal law of attraction does not disseminate what you want or don't want...it simply brings to you that which you focus on, and manifests situations that reflect your current vibrational frequency.

Release your feelings of want or you'll continue to live in the low vibrational frequency of lack. Make a conscious effort to choose positive emotions, no matter what the situation is. When you notice a negative thought, immediately release it and choose a lighter, more positive thought or feeling. Focus on the positive emotion or thought, and you will increase your frequency.

Live in a state of gratitude for what you currently have in your life. The law of attraction will bring into your experience more things to feel grateful for. Every thought and emotion you experience sends a signal to the Universe, it's like an unspoken prayer or request. And you truly do get what you ask for.

Being successful does not mean conquering your emotions or operating simply in a thinking state. Emotions can be a powerful and helpful force that will offer you the motivation to pursue the things in life you care about most. What tends to happen is we spend our time fulfilling our obligations to others and not pursuing our true desires.

If you are doing something and you feel struggle, or you get stuck, stop doing it. Check in with yourself. What emotions or feelings does pursuing the activity or obligation create inside you? When you feel resistance it's because you are not doing something that fulfills your purpose. It will be difficult to find the motivation to get the activity done and you most likely won't enjoy doing it.

Let your emotions guide you. When you feel strongly or passionately about something, you will have the desire and motivation to go after it, and you won't feel resistance or struggle. When pursuing your passions, you find a way to make it happen. That's because when you are in alignment with your life purpose or passion, you attract situations and opportunities to you through the law of attraction. You will know the actions you need to take, and they will seem effortless.

Have you ever wondered why you keep getting the same results, not feeling like all the self improvement efforts you struggle with produce anything that's really "improved?" So, STOP doing those things, and you'll STOP getting those results. It's really that simple!

The law of attraction doesn't deliver what you want, it gives you whatever you focus on. So if your focus is on struggle, and manifesting through force, your results are the evidence that you need to consciously choose to take different action.

Any time you feel resistance to achieving your goal, or manifesting, STOP.

If the goal is truly in alignment with your life purpose, and you focus on manifesting and remove your focus from the struggle, situations and experiences will manifest in your life that provide the opportunity for you to move closer to the goal. If your goal is not in alignment with your purpose, you will know it.

It's Not the Outcome that Matters

When we set a goal, many of us will prepare an action list, a road map if you will, of how to get from Point A to Point B. Seems practical, but it's not always a very effective way to reach your goals. And here's why: when you focus on the end result, and not the journey, you can easily become overwhelmed, thinking of all the work and energy it will take to reach the destination.

Unlike a road trip, where you have a START point and an END point, the journey of personal development is actually about the stuff that happens along the way. If you engage in the right actions, the end result takes care of itself. This approach allows you to release any anxiety or frustration over reaching the end, and focus on each step along the way.

Moving Past What We Think We Know

Our past experiences often create a fear of failure that keeps us paralyzed. We don't want to be judged by others, and we don't want to fail! Even though we can learn from our past experiences, so we don't repeat them, we often live in a state of resistance.

The interesting thing is that when we resist something, it intensifies! The more you resist, the more difficult it is to make the impossible a possibility. Part of us resists change, and part of us wants to try. The danger in staying in the comfort zone of "sameness" is that we simply maintain the status quo. We limit our options, and therefore our possibilities.

To have new experiences, and manifest the abundance we desire, we have to reach past what we know, or what we think we know. Our subconscious mind knows more than we consciously conceive. Everything we've ever heard, seen, or been, it's all stored in our subconscious mind. If we can reach our subconscious mind through exercises, mediation, or techniques we can tap into a powerhouse of knowledge!

So it would seem that if we just quit resisting, and came to realize we could tap into this knowledge, there would be no reason to repeat past experiences. If we improve our listening skills, and begin to listen to the wisdom of others, and ourselves, we'd have an unlimited number of resources to guide us.

Are we really more productive when we're busy?

Technology has us completely dialed in at all times: we check our email at the coffeeshop, we have portable headsets for cellular phones (which are already portable), and we send a staggering amount of text messages while we shop, send emails, attend meetings, and even drive! As a society we believe the busier we are, the better! Busy means working hard, doing something, achieving, having, creating...busy, busy, busy.

So what about the idea that we have to work hard to achieve our goals? Or the idea that nothing worth having comes easy? We've convinced ourselves that work should be difficult, we should struggle for the things we want, and if we're not busy all the time, we're not really doing anything. We've adopted the belief that struggle is necessary. It's almost a status symbol. If you're not struggling, you're not getting anywhere in life.

Indulge me for a moment, and allow me to suggest an alternate belief: Life doesn't need to be hard, and if you're experiencing struggle it's because you're using force to attempt to create what you want.

Most people tend to feel uncomfortable when they're not constantly working towards something because humans are programmed to believe they should always be in a state of struggle, wanting something else or something more.

I believe when we struggle, we resist the flow of the Universe. Resistance lets us know that we're not heading in the right direction or that we are expending energy that really isn't necessary. When you are consciously manifesting the life you want, it isn't a struggle. In fact, the law of attraction will offer you opportunities to manifest what you desire, when you stop struggling and sending ripples of resistance into the Universe. Struggle attracts more struggle. Pay close attention to the results you are getting. When you believe you have to struggle to have what you want, you will continue to feel struggle and resistance.

Successful corporations first create, and then operate, based on the principles of their mission statements. A mission statement identifies their goals, objectives, and vision. So when it comes to personal goal setting, or manifesting our greatest desires, we too can use a statement to create abundance.

Think of what you want and design your own intention statement. An intention statement allows you to visualize your goal. It's also a helpful tool for focusing our thoughts in a conscious manner. It programs our subconscious mind to focus on what we wish to manifest.

Write your intention statement in the positive tense, as if you already have it. Similar to an affirmation, this intention statement keeps your awareness and focus on the end goal. Attach to the intention statement, your positive emotion while focusing on your stated goal, and you will send out a vibration into the Universe that, through the law of attraction, will create situations and experiences to assist you in manifesting your goal.

Start a Gratitude Journal
I recently returned to the "daily grind" after an extended time away, and I found myself overwhelmed by to-dos, obligations, and spent an entire day playing catch up. As my mood shifted from relaxed to stressed, I caught myself and consciously chose to feel gratitude. I felt grateful to have clients who needed my attention, family who needed my support, and friends to catch up with. I realized how very fortunate I am to have a career I enjoy, the ability to earn an excellent wage, and the freedom to take vacations. I started my gratitude journal that night. I wrote down everything I felt grateful for, and focused on my appreciation. What I focus on, will manifest ten fold in my life, so I choose gratitude.

If I gathered 100 people into a room and asked them why they didn't have the things they wanted, 100 people would rattle off their own well rehearsed lists of excuses. While the reasons often seem logical, most often they are not real at all. The excuses are simply the things that keep us from stepping outside our comfort zones. Excuses keep us comfortably in a state of struggle and allow us to remain victims of circumstance.

Exercise One

Here's a sure fire way for you to get rid of your excuses, and begin to live your dream. Begin by writing down all the reasons you use to convince yourself you can't live your dream.
Not enough time?
Not enough money?
You don't have the support of your family or friends?

Whatever the reasons, write them down. As many reasons or excuses as you can think of. It doesn't matter if they seem to be valid or not. Right now you just need to write them down. Look over your list when you're done and stay with them for a few minutes.

Next, imagine you just received a call from your doctor. Uh oh, the test results weren't good%u2026dire, in fact. You've got just 24 hours to live, no cure in sight. Now that's awful news! What would it feel like to have just one more day? Would there be things left undone or unsaid?

Suppose you were then visited by a magical genie. He offers you 2 choices: you can either wrap up your time on Earth in a matter of hours, or you can get a reprieve for 10 years. All you have to do to get those 10 years is promise to let go of all your excuses and live your dreams. You have to step outside your comfort zone, and give up the excuses. Do you choose life, or do you give up on life?

Do you want to be the person who dies at 85, but gives up living at 40?

If you stay trapped by your excuses, your physical life might go on for years and years, but you'll be emotionally and psychologically dead.

Exercise Two

Let's assume you chose life when the genie came to visit. It's time to think of some creative solutions, some ways to resolve the reasons you've not led the life you want up to this point. Write down some possible solutions.

Next, I want you to write down what you are willing to give up or change, right now, so you can begin living your dream. Create 3 columns on a piece of paper. The first column is titled "What I am Willing to Give Up." Next to that, write "Pros" and the third column should be "Cons."

Write down the habits or things you d that no longer serve you. Then write down the reasons for keeping or releasing each one. If the "Pros" or reasons to give up the habit outnumber the "Cons," commit to immediately changing that part of your life, right now.

Sometimes we can feel stuck, but in reality the only thing that is stuck is our faulty beliefs. To change your current circumstances you must release your limiting beliefs. Embrace beliefs that work for you, not against you. Step outside your comfort zone and begin living a life full of abundance.

In order to manifest the abundance you deserve, and live your life by design, you need to master the "ego off-switch." Our egos will trick us into believing things about us that are untrue or that lead us to feelings of inadequacy. It's difficult to focus on achieving our goals if our self-esteem is damaged, or we doubt our own abilities.

You can counterbalance the negativity of your ego by accepting yourself as you are. Love yourself. Forgive yourself for the times when your actions weren't in alignment with your true purpose, the times when you acted out of anger or fear or revenge. If you can begin to love yourself, you can neutralize negative emotions that your unconscious mind, your ego, will throw up to sabotage your changes, your growth.

Do What You Have to Do, So You Can Do What You Want to Do

Truthfully, you have to conquer the tasks in front of you before greater opportunities will present themselves. Actor and youth advocate, Denzel Washington, says "Do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do."

Create your to-do list and prioritize what you must get done, and then do it! If think you don't have time, hire someone or delegate the tasks. Eliminate distractions. Studies show that once you are distracted, it takes as long as 20 minutes to re-focus yourself on the original task! Focus your energy on what has to get done so you can allow more opportunities to present themselves.