
I am focusing this article on the idea of “fine-tuning” our language. For by selecting better words and phrases, we can produce better results, in terms of more positive-leaning manifestations (using the law of attraction).
KEYWORDS: Abraham-Hicks, beliefs, concept-switching, emotions, feelings, focusing, law of attraction, philosophy, point of attraction, psychology, sentences, thoughts, words.
This blog post deals with the importance of language, and of being more attentive to details when we are choosing words, phrases, and composing sentences (propositions).
This is important not only when we are conversing with other people, but it is also important for our own self-talk (whether expressed verbally or non-verbally), as well as when we are expressing ourselves in writing (whether it is in a blog post, or when writing a book, etc.).
Contents
Thinking About It Creates It
Why are we interested in optimizing our language? Well, it comes from the basic principles surrounding Abraham-Hicks’s account of Law of Attraction, namely the principle that “thinking about it creates it”.
So in Abraham-Hick’s own words (The Law of Attraction, p. 31):
“Without exception, that which you give thought to is that which you begin to invite into your experience.”
Because of this law, everything that we focus on for a longer time (or return to, time and again) will be manifested into our personal world. This is because thoughts are very powerful.
In fact, thoughts are so powerful that they are sometimes thought of as “design tools” for creating our personal future. In this spirit, Abraham-Hicks writes in their Ask and It Is Given (p. 27):
“Whatever you are thinking about is like planning a future event. When you are appreciating, you are planning. When you are worrying, you are planning. (Worrying is using your imagination to create something you do not want.)”
‘Don’t Monitor Your Thoughts’
Because of the strong power of thoughts, new students of the Law of Attraction sometimes try to “screen” all the sentences and thoughts that they are thinking.
As Abraham-Hicks points out, this is extremely hard to do, since we typically produce an enormous amount of words and phrases and sentences each day. And the Law of Attraction brings even more content that matches it.
So the general advice that Abraham-Hicks gives to us students of the Law of Attraction is that we should not try to “police” our words (The Law of Attraction, p. 35):
“Rather than trying to monitor your thoughts, we encourage you to simply pay attention to how you are feeling.”
The idea here is that if you do not feel good about a certain thought or sentence, that simply indicates that you should not continue in that direction, but instead redirect your consciousness to some other topic which will feel better, and thus be of greater value to your overall point of attraction.
Avoiding ‘Don’t Monitor Your Thoughts’
The exact extent of the principle of “don’t monitor your thoughts” is somewhat unclear. Personally, I do feel that this principle is not set in stone as a general principle of polishing up our language.
In other words, I do not see the need to avoid optimization of our language, if we simultaneously can increase our focus of what we want.
So the behavior that I suspect Abraham-Hicks is addressing is the idea that some students are “often feeling guarded about their thoughts” (The Law of Attraction, p. 35).
In other words, some students are afraid to utter certain (negatively-sounding) sentences, for the fear of them attracting similar (negatively-sounding) sentences.
But as soon as we are abandoning the general mood of “being on guard” or “being afraid of” or “being worried about”, and instead are putting our attention on the many creative and positive effects that an optimization of our language can deliver, then I think we are right on the money.
Concept-Switching (1)
So here we are then, in the positive realm of fearless creation, where we will discuss my idea of “concept-switching”.
But before we are diving into the details of concept-switching, we will talk about the way that the Law of Attraction works. For concept-switching is a way to counteract, or dampen, the effects of the Law of Attraction, in certain circumstances.
The Law of Attracts works by way of the attention you give a certain thing. It’s about the object (or concept) that you are looking at, or talking about, or writing about.
So if you say “I love Lisa!”, then the object/concept that is the center of attention is “Lisa”. This sentence is about Lisa. Therefore you broadcast a signal of “Lisa” to the universe, and the Law of Attraction starts working on that object/concept.
Similarly if you say “I love pineapple!”, then the object/concept that is the center of attention is “pineapple”. So here you are signalling “pineapple” for the Law of Attraction to respond to.
Because the Law of Attraction system is concept-based, some of the words expressed in a sentence are not having any influence on the Law of Attraction. One important word here is the word “not”.
So if you are saying “I do not love Lisa!”, it will have the exact same affect in terms of the Law of Attraction as the sentence “I love Lisa!”. This is because Law of Attraction only listens to the object/concept (in this case “Lisa”). And the object/concept (“Lisa”) is the center of attention in both sentences.
So if we do not want to increase our attracting of “Lisa”, then we shouldn’t at all mention Lisa, in any sentence.
Concept-Switching (2)
Concept-switching is a way to mitigate some of the negative effects that some sentences might produce.
The idea behind concept-switching is that it is truly beneficial to exchange negative concepts for positive concepts. Here is a health-related sentence:
“Honey, I am sick!”
The problem with this sentence is that the focus is on the negatively-charged word “sick”. So by uttering this word, and thinking it, and discussing it, you are inviting sickness into your existence.
Of course, it’s not your intention to invite more sickness into your existence, but the Law of Attraction doesn’t care: it’s on automatic, and it reflects whatever is broadcasted by you.
The idea, then, is to switch the word/concept “sick” and instead supply another word which is more positive, that will take you forward into a better state of affairs, in terms of your point of attraction.
So we might instead use the word “well”, and toss in a negation just before (that the Law of Attraction ignores anyway):
“Honey, I am not well!”
By making this simple switch we have now transformed our sentence so that it sounds (much) less negative. And by repeating it, we may now increase our potentiality for wellness every time we utter it (in stark contrast to the original sentence, which instead cemented the idea of sickness into our vibration).
Concept-Switching (3)
A natural objection to the concept-switching idea is this: By kicking out the word “sick” and instead replacing it with the phrase “not well” we diminish the force of the whole sentence. Saying “I am not well!” doesn’t sound as severe as “I am sick!”.
In other words, the new sentence is not an equivalent to the original sentence. So they do not do the same job.
And because of this, the new sentence cannot be used in the same way in a conversation. For the original sentence (“Honey, I am sick!”) may very well have been uttered in the spirit of evoking some compassion from the other person. But since the new sentence (“Honey, I am not well!”) sound much less severe, there will be less scope for compassion.
Concept-Switching (4)
My answer to such an objection is this. I totally agree that the two sentences are not equivalent. I mean, that is the whole point of concept-switching in the first place.
The whole purpose of concept-switching is to move away from negative concepts, and instead focus in on positive things. Thus, it is perfectly natural to expect that a converted sentence should sound (much) less negative.
Another point related to the objection is the “compassion” argument. A law of attraction student should very early on try to get rid of any tendencies to manipulate people. Law of Attraction students should stop caring about what other people think of them, and thus the whole point of “compassion” is irrelevant to this discussion.
Also, students of the Law of Attraction should never see themselves as “victims” anyway (for “victims” are often fishing for compassion and empathy), because according to the Law of Attraction, their whole situation is created by their own thoughts. No-one else but the student himself or herself is responsible for his or hers own current state of affairs.
Conclusion
Concept-switching is a very powerful idea that can be implemented very easily. By switching out negative words and phrases, and replacing them with positive words and phrases, we can achieve a more positive vibration overall.
Good luck with your concept-switching!
Chris Bocay
References
- Hicks, Esther and Jerry Hicks (2004), Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires. Foreword by Wayne W. Dyer. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. [Link to book]
- Hicks, Esther and Jerry Hicks (2006), The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham. Foreword by Neale Donald Walsch. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc. [Link to book]
NOTE: All links are clean (i.e. NOT affiliate links).
Leave a Reply