I used to work really hard for everything.
Back then, I didn't know any better.
I thought working hard was the way to get what I wanted.
When I began to master the Law of Attraction, I was mesmerized by how easily I could get what I wanted without working hard at all.
In fact, the less effort I put forth, the more quickly my intentions would materialize.
Now there's a lot of folks who think I'm lazy.
Or lucky.
Or both.
Chances are, if you aren't using the Law of Attraction intentionally, you're working way too hard as well.
You could stand to be a little lazy, too.
When I first discovered the Law of Attraction, I could look back on my life and see the Law at work.
For example, when I was a little girl, I wanted my name to be famous.
I wanted people to hear my name and know it.
However, it never occurred to me that I could fall in love and marry a man who would give me a last name that would suddenly make my name famous.
So now I'm Amy Grant.
Arrggghh.
But I can't really be annoyed, because I got exactly what I asked for - the only problem is, I didn't ask for what I really wanted.
What I really wanted was to be famous, not to have a famous name.
Asking for exactly what you want is the first key.
For example, I once requested $5000 by the end of the week.
As it turns out, that Friday we received a phone call from the company that was building our new home.
They had made an error but construction was too far along to make changes, so they were giving us a $5000 credit on upgrades.
See? I got exactly what I asked for.
Too bad I didn't ask for what I really wanted, which was $5000 cash in my bank account.
The same is true for goal-setting: you'll accomplish the goal you set, so you'd better be certain that you set a goal that reflects what you truly want.
I go into great detail about goal setting and asking clearly for what you want in The Success Method http://thesuccessmethod.
com Remember, you'll get what you ask for, not what you want.
The second key involves putting your intention or desire into existence.
You can write it down, type it up or tell a supportive friend or mentor.
Whichever way you choose, make it real by creating it in reality, using language.
Detachment is the third key, and it's just as critical as the first two.
It took me two years to master the art of detachment.
Some Law of Attraction experts call it "allowing," others call it "receiving" and still others call it "detachment.
" I call it "catch and release.
" Here's how it works.
You catch a vision of what it is that you want, and you see it clear as day -- just like the fish you just reeled in and netted.
You admire it for a moment, you acknowledge yourself for catching it, maybe you pose for a picture to capture the excitement of the moment.
Then you set it free or release it and forget all about it.
You go back to whatever you were doing: fixing your pole, tying another lure, having a snack, whatever.
The next time you cast your line, you're not "hoping" you'll catch that fish again.
You're not even expecting it.
When you cast again, you've already put that first fish out of your mind completely.
In fact, when you suddenly get the urge to pull up anchor and move your boat to a completely different fishing spot, you're certainly not thinking about the catch you just freed.
And that's precisely when the granddaddy of all fish snaps onto your line.
That's exactly how the Law of Attraction works.
Let me give you a real-life example.
How I Attracted $7,000 and My Ideal Business Partner I got very interested in Feng Shui a couple of years ago, when I made a few changes in my own home, and miracles began to unfold.
I experimented some more and guess what happened? More miracles.
I told a few friends and they started to have miracles.
Soon I became hooked on Feng Shui, and I still practice it today.
A few months ago, I "caught" a great idea: wouldn't it be great to put together a teleseminar series to teach people all about Feng Shui, and show people how to create their own miracles? The idea grabbed me, and I got a vision of what it would be like.
What felt natural was to attract a partner, because I had no interest in becoming the "Feng Shui Lady" and I had no formal training in the practice.
Then I cast my pole elsewhere and went on to pursue other things.
Or so I thought.
Turns out, just a day or two later, I received an invitation to participate in a Manifestation Weekend that Dr.
Joe Vitale was hosting.
Because I had put the "catch and release" of a feng shui teleclass out of my head, I never saw any connection.
I only read Joe's email and thought "Ooooooh, this sounds interesting.
I'm gonna sign up.
" And I did.
Two months later, I'm at the weekend and I meet Karrie King, who tells me she is a Feng Shui consultant.
I suddenly remember my idea, and I share it with her: "Wow! That's great - I've been looking for someone fun to do a Feng Shui teleseminar with me.
" She was definitely enrolled in my idea, and we hit it off smashingly.
There are a lot of different Feng Shui methodologies and perspectives, but Karrie's were all exactly like mine.
Most importantly, she shared my philosophy: let's make Feng Shui fun and easy for people! That's exactly what we did.
After the weekend event ended, we began meeting by phone to plan our teleclass series.
Within two months, we launched the program and elicited support from a number of big-name promoters.
The event was hugely successful, and we each made a significant pile of money.
Plus, we'll continue to market the recorded audios from the live event at http://redhotmoneymagnet.
com The moral of the story is that I got exactly what I asked for: the opportunity to teach people a fun and easy way to use Feng Shui, a great partner who wanted to be the Feng Shui Lady, and a pile of money.
Feng Shui is just another way to practice the Law of Attraction.
I've discovered all sorts of ways to use the Law, and I applied the same technique to attract my dream home.
How I Attracted My Dream Home in Four Days We moved to Colorado after Hurricane Katrina devastated my hometown of New Orleans.
After surviving our first Colorado winter, we decided to buy a home here in Castle Rock.
We spent some time driving around town and thinking about what we did and didn't want in a new home.
When we were clear on what we wanted (the first key), we decided to put our intention in writing (the second key).
I wrote a short description of our perfect new home, and we gave thanks as though it was already achieved.
Then I forgot all about it (the third key: catch and release).
Just a few days later, we were meeting with a financial planner and the topic of buying a new home came up, so our financial planner asked us what kind of home we were looking for.
We told him exactly what we wanted and, since he lives in the area and was quite familiar with new construction in town, he made a recommendation as to where we could look.
The moment he left, we scooped up our toddler and piled into the family car to check it out.
The first development was not a match.
On a "whim," we decided to drive up the road a bit further, and that's when we found "the one.
" Walking through the model, we fell in love with one floor plan in particular.
However, we had made a very specific request for "sweeping mountain views" so it was time to look at the available lots for sale in the development.
We met with a sales agent and looked at available properties, including one lot that wasn't yet released.
It was perfect.
The next day, I happened to open the notebook where I had written down our intention.
I was not the least bit surprised to see that the home we selected matched our request exactly.
"Our new Castle Rock home has sweeping mountain views, six bedrooms/offices, a walkout basement, Feng Shui compatibility, and bordering open space.
This home is beautiful, affordable, conveniently located and arrives with perfect timing.
Thank you God for our perfect new home!" Notice I didn't set a price on the new home.
I could have said "priced between $500,000 and $600,000" but I didn't want to limit us in that way.
What if the perfect home was $497,000? Or $601,000? Besides, the price wasn't nearly as important to me as long as we could afford it, so I left that part of the request somewhat open-ended.
Once again, I can't stress enough the importance of asking for exactly what you want.
When the house began construction, we noticed that the yard was less than ideal.
Sure, the lot looked big when we selected it, but our house was huge.
By the time the foundation was poured and the house was framed, we realized we had a very small yard with a very steep downward slope, which was not going to create an ideal play space for the kids.
Of course, we didn't ask for a big yard, and once again, we got exactly what we asked for.
But I didn't stay disappointed - I simply decided to attract a solution to make our small yard workable for our family.
A week later, I met the husband of a friend and as it turns out, he's a master landscaper.
We created a plan for retaining walls and play space and-poof-problem solved.
In case you're thinking this has anything to do with money or time or talent or connections or resources, you deserve to read this next story.
How I Attracted a First-Class Trip to Greece (Out of Thin Air) Before I began creating products and marketing on the Internet, I was in network marketing - in fact, it's where I first learned about prosperity consciousness and the law of attraction.
Like many people, I was broke when I first got started in network marketing.
The company I was affiliated with was having a huge conference in Greece, and I desperately wanted to be there, but my husband kept reminding me that we couldn't afford it.
Even after I attracted the money to buy our ticket to the conference (using the three keys), we didn't have the cash to purchase international plane tickets.
Yet I kept getting messages telling me to "think big.
" Eventually, I decided that I would not only fly to Greece and have a fantastic time at this conference, but I was going to fly first class.
My husband was not amused.
In fact, he was pretty ticked off.
He believed I was being completely unreasonable and unrealistic.
"Blah, blah, blah" was all I heard.
I was determined to fly first class.
What happened next was interesting.
Not only did the money randomly materialize for the plane tickets, but we suddenly realized we had enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade.
What's interesting is the way the tickets were booked.
I did absolutely nothing, except a daily visualization practice where I imagined myself sitting in first class on that plane, being treated like royalty, and eating delicious shrimp.
My husband had serious doubts about flying first-class, but he was willing to check into our upgrade options.
As it turned out, he spent nearly two hours on the phone with the airline's representative, because one first-class seat got booked with no problems but the other one kept disappearing and reappearing from availability.
He was speaking to a manager at the airline, who said in the 10 years she'd worked there, she'd never seen anything like this happen before.
When I walked into his office, and he told me what was going on, I immediately began visualizing him sitting next to me in first class.
My prior visualization of being alone (well, not so much alone, but not necessarily imagining him next to me), combined with his doubt about whether or not it would actually happen, were obviously at the source of the mysterious disappearing/reappearing seat in first class.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he came into my office to tell me it was done and we were both flying first-class to Greece.
He was amazed (and exhausted) but I wasn't the least bit surprised.
What did impress me, however, was the fact that I did nothing-I took no action whatsoever, other than my daily visualization.
I knew I would fly first class, but my husband did all the work and I didn't lift a finger.
That's when I started to "get" the power of the Law of Attraction.
One other incident is worth noting.
Even though I visualized myself eating shrimp while sitting in first class, I actually chose something else at mealtime.
Whatever I ordered was terrible, and I attempted to send it back in exchange for the shrimp (which my husband had ordered, and enjoyed immensely).
Unfortunately, they were out of the shrimp meal by the time I changed my mind, and I was stuck with a very dissatisfying meal.
Had I ordered the shrimp as I had visualized so many times before, I would have delighted in my meal.
This taught me a valuable lesson: go with your gut and stick to your plan once you commit.
These three stories are just isolated incidents.
I've used the Law of Attraction to manifest piles of money, new contracts and clients, joint ventures with people who seemed way out of my league, help from people who don't even know me, free stuff, sale stuff, impossible to find stuff -- you name it.
Put simply: the three keys work.
Get clear about exactly what you want, state your specific intention, and use the catch and release process.
Unless of course you enjoy working hard for everything you get.
Personally, I prefer to take the easier way.
Why not try it yourself and see what happens?