Two Key Elements to Make the Law of Attraction Work (and Its Hidden Gift)

The first key element to make the Law of Attraction work is vividly holding the image of already having your desire in your mind and feeling the positive emotion from that image.

The second key element is reaching a place of neutrality—being okay whether it happens or not.

It sounds paradoxical, but isn’t life itself a koan? Here’s a story to illustrate.

One evening, I told my wife how beautiful the Avalokiteshvara statue in Gaoming Temple was. I thought it’d be hard to see again since it’s not open to the public. Last time, my father’s friendship with the head monk allowed us a private viewing. I couldn’t just ask the head monk; it’d be too much trouble.

The next day, my wife and I visited the temple. By chance, we met the head monk—a rare occurrence in such a large temple. He was hosting a group led by someone from the Religious Affairs Bureau. The head monk invited me to join them, and one thing led to another. He took us all to see the statue I’d thought of the night before.

I didn’t consciously ask to see it. I simply thought it’d be nice, vividly picturing the statue’s room and feeling its tranquil atmosphere. That’s the first key at work. Since I didn’t expect to see it—maybe not for years, or ever—I was perfectly neutral, unattached to the outcome. That’s the second key.

The second key is the secret sauce: dropping attachment to your desire enables the Law of Attraction to work.

This is the hidden gift: to activate the second key, you must realize you’re okay without the desire’s manifestation. And when you realize you are okay whether the desire manifests or not, you find happiness in the present moment.