Could the Law of attraction, that massively popular metaphysical teaching that erupted around the globe after the phenomenal success of the film , have anything to teach us about the phenomenon of addiction? I think so.
Law of attraction teachers such as Esther Hicks and her channeling of the entity as well as Rhonda Byrne who made the film and brought the whole host of present days teachers to the forefront, do one thing very well. Beyond the movie, they repeatedly present the idea that we attract not only what we think about, but more importantly that we attract what we feel strong emotions and desires about. They emphasize that you cant bring in the abundance youre seeking if your thoughts are programmed with negative and limiting beliefs. For example, Abraham will point out that people who talk the most about illness, have the most illness. Its attraction alright: negative attraction. People that are focused on their lack lack of money, relationship, and well-being tend to keep up a cycle of lack because thats what they are looking at, thinking about, obsessing on, or believing to be their bad luck or unchangeable fate.
Anyone who doubts that the simple premise of the Law of attraction, the like attracts like, is real, think of the negative ways we see this played out in the world. Did you ever know someone who says something like, How come every man I get involved with turns out to be an alcoholic or have some other addiction? Well, its likely an unconscious attractor-factor at work in someone who experiences that repeatedly. Perhaps shes an addict too, or a co-dependent just magnetizing to help or reform the next addiction-laden man she meets! Or how about someone that replaces one addiction with another? Its a well-known phenomenon in AA and other 12-Step Programs. Its the reason that particular type of recovery emphasis the need for a spiritual approach to recovery, and why it emphasizes a need to re-program oneself. And its the very thing that turns off folks like Charlie Sheen. But the spiritual approach has in it many similarities to the teachings of the Law of attraction. A complete new way of thinking is needed.
When I got to thinking about some of the parallels to creating a new life, with what in AA parlance is called The Promises where just by thinking differently and doing the right thing life begins to change for the better, I saw how this Secret, which has been around forever but just not well-known on the mass scale it is today, was operating at the heart of a spiritual recovery program from addiction. The Promises refer to a life now lived with ease, intuition and well being, just by unplugging the bad neighborhood that the addicts very way of thinking had become and plugging into personal responsibility and taking certain steps toward honesty and amends.
Because heres the thing that struck me: An alcoholic, a drug addict, a gambling addict, or any other kind of addiction is absolutely focused on LACK when in the grip of addiction. There is always the anxiety, the fear, that there wont be enough. The bottle is getting near empty and there wont be any more! The drugs may run out! The gambler fears running out of money to bet, and the food addict hordes food under the bed in case the food in the fridge runs out. The more the addict focuses on lack, which gets programmed by the addiction, the more lack and fear they experience, going to desperate lengths at times to get the fix needed.
Have you seen the new movie ? Its the story of a designer brain-boosting drug creating a whole new dependency along with the constant fear of lack, of running out. When lead character Eddie Morra (played by Bradley Cooper) is focused on the lack, he becomes very sick and hopeless. The movie leaves unanswered where Morra really goes for success: constant supply or weaned off? Its a typical addiction story, and the laws, as it were, are playing out in the drama.
In recovery, the person is brought around to seeing what they have: they have their life, number one; and health in recovery a life able to be rebuilt. And funny thing: ever notice that when in the grip of the addiction, its amazing how alcoholics attract other alcoholics wherever they go. One woman said to me, I could walk into a room of 500 people. Within minutes I would have zeroed in on the one drunk in the room, and become best friends. Law of attraction. But once the focus is changed, and new life, not lack, is the focus its amazing how an alcoholic will no longer attract other addicts. In fact, theyre no longer very interesting or attractive at all to people in the grip of addictions or codependency. Instead, theyre attracting some really, well, attractive people, places and things. Law of attraction in action.
So yes, the Law of attraction does provide some insight into both the nature of addiction, and the pathway out it: a spiritual path with a mind focused more on what we have than what we dont have; more on whats right and good; and more on loving oneself and doing the right thing from a place of love and appreciation for life. Thank you to those who understand and teach this metaphysical path to the love and happiness humanity was created to experience.
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