Achieve Your Goals By Following The Law Of Attraction Through Thanksgiving

On November 22nd 2007, it was Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Some aspects of Thanksgiving Day are similar to Harvest Festival celebrations in the UK and elsewhere. It makes sense to give thanks but not many people realize just how powerful gratitude can be?

Comparatively few people are thankful on a daily basis and, even if they are, their gratitude does not always last long. My stepbrother had a relevant story for me.

One man said to another: “What have you done for me?”

“I saved your life and helped you survive bankruptcy!”

“But what have you done for me recently?!”

In fact, if we are not thankful for either past or recent benefits we damage ourselves more than the victims of our ingratitude. If we are thankful, on the other hand, we focus our minds on the good things in our lives and on the good things we hope will come into our lives in the future. If we are thankful and take some action to help ourselves, more good things will enter our lives.

In 1636, during the Thirty Years’ War, a Lutheran pastor called Martin Rinkart is said to have buried five thousand members of his congregation in one year. His flock was under the hammer of war, the plague and dire poverty.

Martin’s people were besieged in the walled city of Eilenburg in Saxony by the Swedish army. The other pastors in Eilenburg gradually died of the plague and Martin Rinkart was left. At one point he was burying fifty people a day. Eventually he took risks to get better terms from the Swedes.

At the end of The Thirty Years War, this fine minister wrote a prayer of celebration and gratitude which became one of the best loved hymns in the world:

“Now thank we all our God; with heart and hands and voices;

Who wondrous things hath done, in whom His world rejoices.

Who, from our mother’s arms, hath led us on our way,

with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.”

In the midst of death and misery, he followed the advice of the saints of old like St Paul who taught that we should be thankful in all circumstances.

Many modern thinkers also stress the importance of thankfulness or gratitude. The power of gratitude has been made clear in the film ‘The Secret’ which teaches us how we can create or bring about the reality we want.

In case you haven’t come across ‘The Secret’, it is a film that claims that there is a powerful law that governs every human life. This law is the secret to almost everything-the secret to unlimited happiness, love, health, and prosperity.

The secret is the law of attraction which states that you attract or draw into your life what you think about most. The film shows how the law of attraction has brought success, peace and happiness to humans throughout the centuries.

However, the law can be a double edged sword. If you think continually about gloom and doom, that is what you will attract. So you need to control your thoughts with care.

One way to make sure that you are thinking mainly about the good things that you want in your life is to make giving thanks a key habit in your life. Every day, try to express your gratitude to other people and to God or the universe or whoever you believe in.

St Paul had given similar advice two thousand years ago to the Christians of Philippi and Thessalonica:

“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phillippians. 4:6-7).

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5 v 16 -18)”

More recently, John DeMartini in ‘The Secret’ summed up the power of thought and gratitude, “What you think about and thank about you bring about.”

The law of gratitude says that whatever you are deeply grateful for is truly yours. Gratitude is thus an important aspect of the law of attraction. It can even improve your future.

We can give thanks for things that we do not yet have. Giving thanks with feeling will help draw that person, or experience or car or house to you in the future.

Gratitude affirms the view, which can become a belief, that you are the beloved beneficiary of God or the universe. If you think about this fact and are grateful for it, you may start to bring about what you wish for in this life.

Gratitude is powerful because it encourages and builds up belief. In the spiritual sphere belief leads to seeing rather than the other way round as in the popular saying ‘seeing is believing.’ When you believe that you have received or are about to receive the good things you wish for, you begin to see them for real.

Nearly everyone, including golfers and other sportsmen recognize and talk continually about the power of belief or confidence. Jack Nicklaus, the champion golfer, once commented:

“Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your talent, there is only one way to obtain it-work.”

I agree that work is essential to build the confidence and belief which is so important for achieving your goals but affirmations and an attitude of daily gratitude can also help.

Many religious and non-religious people use affirmations to help them believe but believing an affirmation is not easy if all the evidence points the other way.

If you affirm “I have paid off my credit card debts” when you still owe the credit card companies twenty thousand pounds, you will have trouble believing this affirmation. However, expressing gratitude and visualizing the happy outcome you wish for as if it has already happened can help you to believe.

Jeff Staniforth, an expert on the subject of affirmations, describes how saying ‘Thank you’ can ‘set your affirmations on fire’.

“An important part of believing is to feel ‘as if it has already happened.’ I have found that one of the best ways to evoke that feeling is to express gratitude after you recite an affirmation.”

Saying ‘Thank you’ after you state your affirmation increases your belief that God or the universe has started to fulfill your desire or might even have fulfilled it already.

You may, for example, affirm: “I will have made £1000 by the end of this month. Thank you for that. I am truly grateful.”

You could affirm: “I am constantly adding to my income. Thank you! Thank you!”

Or “Everything I touch turns to gold. I am truly grateful and expect my debts to vanish soon.”

Your desired outcome may not appear at once but expressing gratitude frequently helps you believe that you will soon see the results you wish for and it focuses your mind on the benefits that you wish to attract.

You will begin to experience a sense of expectancy and excitement like a youngster waiting for Christmas morning. You will still need to make an action plan to achieve your goals and then do some legwork to achieve them but prepare to have some great surprises come into your life.

If necessary say ‘thank you’ again and again until you mean it. Repetition can be the mother of belief. If you say ‘thank you’ long enough you will start to believe your own affirmation or statement of what is real. You will also focus your mind on good things on a daily basis.

As mentioned earlier, strong belief is the key to receiving what you ask for or desire. Jesus once said: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” He also said “Ask and it shall be given to you.”

You can express and even create this belief by saying ‘Thank You’ after affirming or asking for what you want. Then follow up your belief by taking any necessary actions to achieve your goal.

You can use the tool of gratitude many times throughout the day and may well be amazed at the results. Count your blessings ever day as in the following example:

I am thankful for my eyesight which allows me to read this fascinating article!

I thank God I am able to get up and walk.

I am thankful for all my relatives and friends who are still alive.

I am thankful that I can learn a useful skill like how to cook.

I am grateful for having somewhere to live and sleep.

The more grateful you are, the more likely you will be to draw into your life even more good things, experiences and people to be grateful for.

Being grateful is one of the most dynamic emotions we can have. An attitude of gratitude can change our lives. It can help us to lead lives full of peace, confidence and abundance.

Even if you have to endure a time like that experienced by the German pastor, you can always find something to be grateful for. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Pollyanna was not far wrong.

The following poem by an unknown author follows her example of looking for the silver lining in every dark cloud:

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something

For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations

Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge

Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary

Because it means you’ve made a difference.

Even the England soccer team, who have just lost to Croatia and have not qualified for the European Cup in 2008 as a result, can be thankful that soccer in the UK will now come under close scrutiny.

If they had won and qualified, many current problems would have been swept under the carpet. A new set up and a new manager may well bring benefits which will make defeat seem like victory in the long run.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of abundance and achievement comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. I’ll finish with a reminder of the brilliant summary of the secret by John DeMartini in ‘The Secret’:

“What you think about and thank about you bring about.”