Dear Chris: Abraham-Hicks’ 17-Second Rule Doesn’t Work for Me!

In today’s Dear Chris column, the question is asked: I just cannot get my appreciation rounds to work, even though I am well aware of the 17-second rule that Abraham-Hicks has presented. What am I doing wrong?

Dear Eve,

Thank you very much for your question.

I will be glad to give you my take on this issue. But I do want to remind you that every person’s perspective, and situation, is unique. So I may not be fully aware of all circumstances in your life, which might influence the situation. But I still hope that my “philosophical ideas” below will be of assistance.

Note especially that these “philosophical ideas” do not constitute any professional counseling advice, or anything like that. You yourself have to evaluate them according your own situation and circumstances, and you yourself also have to decide, on your own, what to do about the whole thing.

Stubborn “Problems”

Abraham-Hicks has said it many times: those “issues” that we are dragging along for the longest time, and have the most desires around, those “issues” are the hardest to move. This is because we are repeating the same vibration all the time, just like it was a broken vinyl record.

So by our repetition, day after day, week after week, year after year, we actively “cement” our problem into our vibration, and make it almost impossible to move.

Emotional Warm-Up

One reason why your appreciation rounds may not work so well, might be because you are doing them in a state of anxiety and frustration, which would indicate that your vibration would be on the negative side of the negativity-positivity spectrum.

And if that is so, then it may be difficult for you to raise the vibration on a topic that is already so loaded with negativity.

One way to improve would then be to incorporate a “warm-up”, in which you, in a very general fashion start appreciation very basic things about you and your life here and now: “Although I have a few things in my life that not yet have manifested, all in all I am leading a very wonderful life. My health is good, and my friends are wonderful, and I have some many nice hobbies that I am engaged in.” Etc., etc.

And then, after, say, ten minutes of such appreciations, you might return to the topic of money. But note that you must feel that those appreciations have moved your energy towards a more positive state. If you haven’t felt such a movement, I would recommend that you do not continue with any appreciation rounds around the topic of money.

Timing

Another thing to consider is the timing of your appreciation rounds. If you are making your appreciation rounds late in the evening (as opposed to early in the morning), you are most probably shooting yourself in the foot. By that I mean simply that you are making it (much) harder for yourself to succeed than it need to be.

The best time for appreciation rounds (and, of course, for meditation) is early in the morning, just a few minutes after you have woken up. At that time your energy typically is on top (compared to what it would be in the late evening), and thus it will be a quicker and smoother ride for you to build up positive momentum.

My own current practice is that I reserve at the very least 15-20 minutes every day in the early morning time for building my positive momentum. Sometimes I spend an hour doing it, or more. For me, this is the most important thing I am doing during a typical day.

Choosing Another Topic

The most important thing to consider, though, is the actual topic of your appreciation rounds. It is incredibly hard (for anyone) to build positive momentum on the same topic that one has struggled for years with.

Many people who are trying to become better at applying the Law of Attraction in a deliberate way think that this is the way to go: if I am struggling with the topic of “money”, then I have to actively shift my vibration on that very topic before it can move.

But that is not entirely true. Sure, if you can shift your vibration on that very topic, then it works. But what happens if you (along with most people) cannot? Then there is another way.

The only thing that Law of Attraction is “listening to” is your “total” and “current” vibration. So if you can just focus in on one topic that is going your way, and start your appreciation rounds talking about that good topic, then you will move your vibration toward more and more positivity.

Conclusion

By applying these three things (warm-up, timing, and avoiding the “problematic” topic of money altogether), I hope that you will experiencing more and more satisfaction in your daily practices.

A last thing to ponder is also one’s motivation for the exercises. The best mindset to be in, I think, is a mindset in which one focuses just on the idea of happiness (and not on any “topic” such as “money”).

By having this non-topical mindset one’s practice becomes more pure and unadultered. This will also help in speeding up the (so-called) “results”: If our real goal is simply “happiness”, we can easily achieve it in a few minutes. And it is this happiness that is the pre-manifestational evidence that “things are on their way”.

So by reminding ourselves that happiness actually is proof that the Law of Attraction works, then I think we can all be more steady in our practices, since we are constantly reminded that the universal forces are now preparing our “parcels” for delivery into this material sphere of existence.

Chris Bocay

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