One of the oldest juridical principle states “Ignorance of the law excuses no one”. It means that even if we are unaware of the law, we still cannot escape liability for violating it.

Universal Abundance Laws follow the same principle. You might not be aware of them, but it does not mean that they do not influence your life and that you will not have to face the consequences for not following them to the letter.

If you feel that no matter what you do or how much you work, you still do not make enough money or live below your expectations and abilities, make sure that you read this!

1. THE LAW OF PAYMENT.  There is nothing free in the world. For anything you want to receive you have to pay first, be it with your money, time or energy. You pay for both – action and inaction. Usually in the long run inaction costs us a lot more than action does.

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We have so many different goals and desires. Some of us want to build a successful, thriving career. Some of us dream about meeting that special person, falling in love and spending your whole life together. Some of us want to remain young, healthy and full of energy. Some of us want to make tons of money and never worry about paying bills or having to work two jobs again. Some of us would like to drive a new shiny black Ferrari and feel cool. And some of us, like my 3-year-old niece, just want to have a stuffed pink dog with white fluffy ears.

What do I want? Many different things (including lots of money and a stuffed pink dog ).

But, I guess, the biggest dream I had for the longest time was to buy a summer house somewhere on the beach. You know, a white one, with huge windows that face the sea, with a spacious patio on the first floor and a cozy fireplace that would keep me and my family warm during rainy evenings.

There are so many wonderful things about having a beach house. You could wake up early in morning, stroll barefoot along the beach, breathe the fresh salty air, and feel warm sand under your feet. You could invite friends over for a cook out, grill meat on the patio, drink wine and laugh together. You could admire a breathtaking sunset while holding hands with the person you love. A lovely dream, isn’t it?

Well, I had this goal for over two years. I could picture it in my mind in the smallest detail, and yet nothing happened. The Law of Attraction was not working! I kept hoping and visualizing, working and waiting, but no matter how much I tried, I was not moving any closer to my desire.

Do you know what I am talking about? You try and fail, try again, but nothing seems to change and after some time you start wondering what you are doing wrong.

Of course, there could be hundreds of different reasons, why we fail to achieve our goals, starting from lack of motivation, lack of money, lack of persistence, to lack of self-discipline or lack of time… In general, anything that starts with a word “lack” could serve as a plausible excuse for our misfortunes and failures. But I do not think the true reason is the lack of anything.

I believe that often we do not get what we want, because we are not ready to receive it. I know it may sound weird, but hear me out.

Whenever we start blaming our inability to achieve the goal that we want on lack of something, we are simply shifting responsibility to external factors that are outside of our control. “God’s punishment”, “bad karma”, “terrible character”, “genetics” – all of these phrases have one thing in common – we can not do anything about them. And, therefore, it is not our fault.

In my case, I realized that I only wanted to have all the good parts of having a beach house, and none of the troubles. When I looked deep down inside myself I realized that I am simply not ready to accept the responsibilities that come hand in hand with my goal. I do not want to fix the roof if it starts leaking. I do not want to sweep the floor twice a day, because there is sand all over the place. I do not want to worry about robbers and floods. I do not want to decide whether I want to rent the house, while I am not living in it or just keep it closed for nine months a year. And I, definitely, had never pictured myself staying locked up in the house if it rained for a week.

Of course, you may think that I am saying all this just to make myself feel better about the goal that I have not accomplished or to rationalize my failures. And maybe, you are right. Maybe on some subconscious level I am doing just that. But I do not think so. I believe that desire is not something that we wish to have just for the heck of having it.

Desire is responsibility. And in most cases we can attain our goal only when we are ready to accept full responsibility for it, as well as all the ‘after effects’ of it.

It is like having a child. When you are ready for it, you just know. And you realize it is not going to be easy and that you will have to deal with diapers, burps and many-many sleepless nights, but you still want it, because all these things stop to matter the second your baby looks up at you and gives you a huge smile. That is how you know that you are ready to accept responsibility and truly enjoy it.

Now go ahead and take a look at the goal that you have been trying to achieve for a long time? What are the responsibilities that come along with it? Are you mentally prepared to face all the challenges that your might encounter after accomplishing what you wanted? Are you sure?

If your answer is “yes!” than I have no doubt that you will get whatever you have set your mind on. But if whenever you think about your goal, deep down you feel that strange resistance or that it might not be what you truly want, then I suggest you let go of this goal and direct your energy into something that will bring you a lot more satisfaction in the long run.

They say, “Be careful what you wish for”, because if you keep insisting, you just might get it…

With the popularity of the Law of Attraction, positive thinking has become one of the main self-help topics.  The Law of Attraction states that our thoughts create and influence our reality. Our thoughts, especially ones that provoke strong emotions, with time turn into beliefs. And our beliefs rooted deep down in our subconscious direct our actions. Actions create results. Therefore, our present is a result of our past thoughts. Similar, what we think at the moment will noticeably influence our future.  This is why we are constantly told to think positively and avoid negative thoughts at all costs.

While this is very true, the concept of positive thinking has been taken to another extreme. The consequences of negative thinking have become a bogeyman story for adults. “Think negative thoughts and prepare yourself for the consequences, because you will attract terrible things into your life!” Are you scared already? I know I am and I am not the only one…

I receive hundreds of letters from people, terrified that they are unable to stop the flow of negative thoughts. Most of them have literally developed a fear of negative thinking. They believe that one tiny negative thought can noticeably ruin their chances of success. As you know, what we believe we attract into our life.

But that is not all… If a certain thought provokes strong negative emotion this thought will manifest itself into our life with a doubled force. Do you know which negative emotion is the strongest? Fear. Not anger, not rage, not greed, but fear.

The worst thing is that when we do attract negative situations into our life, we become even more convinced of the destructive power of negative thinking. Our fear becomes even stronger and a vicious cycle begins.

The only way to break this cycle is to understand what the true nature of positive thinking is.

While people who teach positive thinking stress that it is important to pay attention to your thoughts and stay optimistic, no one is saying that we should ignore reality the way it is. Being “artificially” happy and upbeat is just as bad as having strong negative beliefs.

In the first case you see everything through rose-colored glasses, in the second case your vision is distorted, because you perceive any situation as gloomy and hopeless. Both of these “extremes” provide temporary escape from reality, but deprive you from taking control of your life.

Sure, there are problems in life that we would prefer to ignore, like a failed marriage, years wasted on pursuing things that we do not need in the first place, inability to open up our full potential in our current job, credit card debts, ill health, and even wars and world hunger. But as you know, ignoring a problem will not make it go away. You can not change the situation if you fail to accept it the way it is.

But what if the situation is disturbing and even critical? Would  it not make us focus our attention on negative aspects and lead to negative thinking?

There is a huge difference between negative thoughts and facts.

Facts are:

• Based on statistics and realistic up-to–date data. For example, saying, “I have $20 left in my checking account” is a fact, while screaming, “I am bankrupt! My business is a failure! ”- is obviously negative thinking. Your mind can work with facts. And it is oriented towards problem-solving. Whenever it faces a certain problem, it starts to look for the best possible solution to change the current situation. Negative thoughts do not require any solutions and our mind just accepts the situation the way it is.
• Free from negative emotions. Very often we judge the situation or another person’s actions, based on bits and pieces of information that we have. As a result we can come to the wrong conclusions. For example, let us say you went out on a date and really liked the person. You tried to call them, but the person that you are interested in does not answer the phone. What would be the fact in this situation? You both had great time together. There is no reason for this person not to answer the phone. Maybe they are just busy? However, many people immediately start making false assumptions, “Why don’t they answer the phone? They have stood me up. Everyone is alike!” Keep in mind, you are not a mind reader nor a fortune teller. You can not predict the future or know exactly why another person is acting in a certain way.
  Do not be quick to judge and you will save yourself from the embarrassment of being wrong!
• Unbiased. Facts are always based on impartial assessment of both the pros and cons of a certain situation. For example, before going to a job interview you may think, “I know I’m lacking knowledge in the area of finance, but I’m willing to learn more and develop the skills that I lack at the moment. On the other hand I posses many strengths that I’m sure this company can benefit from”.
  The same information can become negative thinking if you say, “There is no way I will get this job! I don’t know a thing about finance. There are a lot more people, who are better qualified for this job than I am.” Do you see the difference?

What can you do to stay positive and release your fear of negative thinking?

1. Stop judging, blaming and complaining. All of these are very powerful negative thinking habits that prevent you from becoming successful.
2. Talk about things that you want to manifest in your life. Just be careful not to share your dreams and goals with negative people, who will most likely criticize you. It harms your self-esteem and decreases motivation.
3. Concentrate your efforts on doing those tasks that will take you closer to your goals.
4. Learn to “let go”. If you catch yourself thinking negatively just stop following these thoughts and think of something else. Do not mentally beat yourself up.
5. Do not force yourself to avoid negative thoughts. As you know, any pressure creates resistance. The more you try to force out negative thoughts, the more often they will come back to you.
6. Keep your head “cool” in stressful situations. When you are under a lot of stress it is easy to lose control over the situation and start thinking negatively. Remember, there are people who look for a problem in every opportunity and there are people who look for opportunity in every problem. The latter always succeed.
7. Look for motivation and support. Surround yourself with people and things that make you feel good. Whenever you feel down, read a motivational book, a success story, read your favorite inspirational quotes, buy yourself a little present or just listen to your favorite song. The line of negative thoughts is very easy to break. All you have to do is switch your focus to something positive. Sometimes even insignificant things like new haircut, a hot bath after a hard day working, a delicious desert or a sincere “thank you” can go a long way in lifting your spirits.
8. Love and appreciate yourself. You can not stay positive if you do not like yourself. You can not expect others to respect you, if you constantly put yourself down. You can not expect to have good health, if you do not treat your body with love and care. Positive thinking starts with accepting yourself the way you are and then striving to become a little bit better. One step at a time.
9. Express gratitude. Think about the people who love you, about wonderful experiences that you have had in the past, about material objects (like big screen TV or a car) that the majority of people can only dream of. Doing this will immediately switch your focus from the negative to the positive things that you have in your life.

Positive thinking does not have to be a burden, where you must constantly train your mind to stay optimistic. It is a state of mind that you choose to adopt while having fun and enjoying yourself!