Law of Attraction: The 40 HOUR Prayer vs. the 40 DAY Prayer

I recently received a message from a reader, asking me about the 40 Day Prayer. The reader wanted to know how to use it in an emergency as a 40-HOUR Prayer. The 40-Day Prayer is one of the powerful prayers in my latest book, Have Your Hearts Desire. Here is part of the message I received:

I bought the kindle version of hearts desire and noticed the 40 hour emergency prayer but no reference on how to do it in an emergency situation.”

 OK, the 40-hour emergency prayer. First, 40 days is always best. If you’re intending to do the prayer in 40-hours, because you don’t want to bother doing it for 40 days, or you want results immediately, you might be pushing your subconscious which works in mysterious and subtle ways. As I said in Have Your Heart’s Desire, with the subconscious you can’t expect the same results as with the conscious mind. With the conscious mind, you can add this to that and get a consistent result.

The subconscious is more powerful than the conscious, but is also as unpredictable and as uncontrollable as a dream. Therefore, if you really are not in an emergency, I’d go with the 40-day prayer to allow the subconscious mind to work in its own way.

However, if you really are in an emergency, then follow all the directions for the 40-hour prayer as for the 40-day prayer, such as:

• saying or writing it only once an hour
• If you miss an hour, start from the beginning
• don’t think about it the rest of the hour but say “thank you” if you start obsessing or worrying
• don’t tell anyone that you’re doing the prayer or what the prayer is about
• etc.

You may want to set an alarm to wake you every hour during the night or, you might consider praying it every waking hour. Check in with your intuition whether to wake yourself through the night or not.

You didn’t mention if you’re doing the Manifestation Prayer or the Forgiveness Prayer. If it’s the Manifestation Prayer, remember to keep your words positive.

How does the 40-day (or 40-hour) prayer work? I don’t know. I only know it has worked for me and for others. And, that Everett Irion, who created the prayers, was a devout student of Edgar Cayce’s psychic readings. He said he received his inspiration for the 40 day forgiveness prayer in a dream.

In addition, I also know that the Manifestation Prayer is based on the Law of Attraction. One man who used it, and received great results, emailed me to say that he thought it worked on repetition – that the subconscious makes a new thought pattern or habit through repetition. It makes sense that since thoughts create, the prayer works by repeating the same thought over and over again. That could be it.

Remember, don’t expect anything to happen until the 39th or 40th hour (or day) or even 41st. Furthermore, if you don’t get what you were praying for, note what you did get. You may get something better. Even if you can’t see any results at all, Cayce did say that when you don’t get what you want, it doesn’t mean that God has not answered you.

I hope this has helped.

Are you frustrated with the Law of Attraction? Try the 40-day Manifestation Prayer

I was just talking with the young woman whose experiences with the 40-day Manifestation Prayer I wrote about in Have Your Heart’s Desire. The 40-day Manifestation Prayer is based on the Law of Attraction and uses repetition over 40 days to retrain the subconscious.

This is the young woman who, when she was in college, wanted to be asked out on a date. After she finished her 40-day Manifestation Prayer, a young man she found attractive, who was in one of her classes, came up to her and said, “Hi.” However, she was so shy, that she couldn’t say “Hi” in reply. Then she realized she needed to do another 40-day Manifestation Prayer and ask for the ability to respond when an attractive young man approached her. After her second 40-day Manifestation Prayer, she did go out on a date with  someone she liked.

When we talked yesterday, she told me that it had actually taken her years of doing the 40-day Manifestation Prayer to finally find the love she wanted in her life. She has now been married for a year and a half.

She said during this process of doing many 40-day Manifestation Prayers one after another, at first, a stray cat had turned up that she could love. Next, she got involved in a fan club for a particular sport she loves. And on and on–step by step accepting more love in her life until she found the relationship love she wanted. In her opinion, it took so long, because the changes had to come from within her, and this took a long time.

So, I wanted to pass this on to you just in case you need some encouragement with holding a positive thought so you can to continue going step-by-step in your changes toward a happier, more fulfilling life.

Law of Attraction: The “Yes/Buts” of Killing Your Dreams

Law of Attraction Quote: The “Yes, Buts” and tail-enders of killing your dreams.” ~ Sherry WinnSherry Winn knows about the power of the Law of Attraction. A former elite athlete competing at the Olympic Games of 1984 and 1988, she contracted chronic pain at the age of 33 and was told by 17 medical practitioners that there was no help  for her. Learning from seminars, mentors, books, and meditation, she used positive thinking to help herself.

In an online article on the Elevated Existence website, Sherry says:

. . . most of us want something but we don’t think we can have it, or we want it but we don’t see how we can get it. Our doubts interfere with the conviction behind the thought. We tend to use the “Yes, but” statements.

The “Yes, Buts” and Tail-enders of killing your dreams

I know what she means. I might get enthusiastic about, say, cleaning the house. It is time for Spring Cleaning, right? So, I might visualize my lovely, glowing clean house and how good I feel welcoming friends and family to my spacious, beautiful home. However, all I have to do is look around and see all that needs to be done, and right away, I’m susceptible to a “Yes, But” statement such as:

“Yes, I love that my home is so beautiful, spacious, and clean, but there’s so much work to be done I don’t know how I’ll ever do it and get my work done too.”

There you have it: My “Yes, But” statement that attracts something I don’t want.

Sherry suggests meditating and asking yourself:  Why? Why do you have what you want?

For example, I could ask, “Why is my house so beautiful, spacious, and clean?” And, my answer is, because I hired someone to clean it for me. Or, because I’ve set aside 30 minutes every day to clean it. Now, my positive thought can create what I want. Thanks, Sherry.

Unity and the Law of Attraction

Over the years, I have been invited to speak for groups that hold their events in Unity churches. Therefore, I have always felt a resonance with Unity. As a result, I feel happy to see that Unity’s philosophy is very similar to the Law of Attraction. For example, in an online article in the Westlake/Bay Village Observer, I read an article that said:

The law of attraction is summed up in Unity’s law of mind action: thoughts held in mind, reproduce after their kind, and out-picture on the screen of life as our experience.

Unity can help you bring on a breakthrough!

An ancient Buddhist chant similar to the Law of Attraction

Since the Law of Attraction says that “Like attracts Like,” the following Buddhist chant addresses the concept by referring to the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect. I learned about this chant on the Thanking the Spoon blog site, which is about Nichiren Buddhism. I like that the Law of Attraction, which seems to be so new because of the Secret movie and book, is actually quite ancient.

Thanking the Spoon says that:

A deeper and more complete concept of the LOA is in fact at the core of the philosophy of Nichiren Daishonin, who in 13^th century Japan first chanted the mantra Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, where the words ‘Myoho Renge’ mean (amongst other things)‘Mystic Law of Cause and Effect’. Nichiren explains: “It is called the Mystic Law because it reveals the principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena.”

OK, what does that mean, you may ask? I love this explanation from the novel The Buddha Geoff and Me, where author Edward Canfor-Dumas eloquently describes this Mystic Law as the “mystical, invisible thread between the churning, inner reality of my life and the great outdoors of the rest of the world.”

The Secret and the Law of Attraction – good stuff but Buddhism says they’re only half the story…

Karma and the Law of Attraction

Another way that Buddhism differs from the Law of Attraction is that Buddhism includes Karma–that difficulties in this lifetime may be the result of actions and decisions in past lives.  The colorful image below is a 19th century painting showing the 10 avatars or incarnations of Vishnu, one of which was Buddha. Vishnu is the supreme god in the ancient Hindu Vedic sacred texts.

Vishnu with his 10 avatars (incarnations): Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Man-Lion, Dwarf, Rama with the Ax, King Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalkin. Painting from Jaipur, India, 19th century; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. From Wikipedia Commons

According to the Law of Attraction, as popularized in such books at The Secret by Rhonda S. Byrne and The Key by Joe Vitale, difficulties are supposed to result from wrong thought. If a person sustains positive thoughts and visualizes good results that lead to happiness, the person will attract good things in their life.

Some people say that when the Law of Attraction doesn’t work, it is because the person did not visualize properly, or they did not believe enough, or they were not positive enough. Unfortunately, sometime when people do not get the results they were promised, they feel like they are greater failures than before they tried the Law of Attraction.

On the other hand, Buddhism does not promise quick results. Instead, to quote an excerpt from the Talking Spoon blog site:

In my experience of 28 years as a Buddhist, to become truly and deeply happy is indeed a matter of faith, blood, sweat, patience and tears. Of confronting head-on the harsh realities of daily life and creating value and beauty from them. We call this process ‘Human Revolution’ in Nichiren Buddhism and when you’re changing a really deep aspect of karma (for example mental health, career or relationships) it can feel like every day produces new and bigger obstacles. Nichiren himself said that obstacles are an inevitable sign of progress and that when faced with challenges, “The wise rejoice and the foolish retreat.”

The Secret and the Law of Attraction–good stuff but Buddhism says they’re only half the story…

Now, that sounds encouraging! And, it also makes sense–that it would take more than a positive thought and visualization to change long-standing beliefs, especially those carried forward from previous lives.

Buddhism and the Law of Attraction

Gautama Buddha in Sarnath Museum (Dhammajak Mutra), India. Wikipedia Commons

Nichiren Buddhism was founded by Nicheren Daishonin, the son of a lowly fisherman, in 1220. This form of Buddhism is based on the Lotus Sutra, developed by the first Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, in India 3,000 years ago.

The principles of Nichiren Buddha are similar to the Law of Attraction, in that:

“…the events (good and bad) that we attract into our lives reflect our inner reality.”

The Secret and the Law of Attraction – good stuff but Buddhism says they’re only half the story…

However, an online article at the Thanking the Spoon blog site adds:

“Nichiren Buddhism includes other people’s happiness as well as your own.”

The Secret and the Law of Attraction – good stuff but Buddhism says they’re only half the story…

Well, well, well, that’s a new twist on the Law of Attraction, which recently gained prominence in many products associated with the widely popular The Secret. The book and movie show you how to gain health and wealth using the Law of Attraction, but, maybe I missed it, I don’t remember seeing anything about the happiness of others.

40-day prayers: Remember, don’t tell anyone what you’re praying

Remember, even though you’re tempted to confide in a dear friend or loved one and tell them what your 40-day prayer is, the Law of Attraction works better when you keep what you’re praying about to yourself.

You don’t want the other person’s negative comments or beliefs to interfere with your intention. This applies to both of the 40-day prayers in Have Your Heart’s Desire: Tools for a Wealthier, Healthier, Happier Life.

Law of Attraction: Visualize what YOU want

Law of Attraction: Make sure you visualize what you really want, not what someone else wants for you.” ~ Jerry Gillies, author.

The Law of Attraction: Remember to visualize!

I was enthralled when The Secret came out a number of years ago. Day after day I watched the movie while doing my exercises.

I did my best to apply what I had learned in the movie. Every morning I woke up listing all the things I was grateful for–the beautiful sunrise, my lovely slippers, my superb health, etc. Before I went to bed, I kept a Gratitude list.

To the best of my ability, I saw those things I wanted changed in my life as if they were already transformed–in a positive light.

I read the book. I listened to the audio-book while driving. I immersed myself in The Law of Attraction.

And, my life began to improve. However, I did not receive the kind of dramatic results I believed I would receive from watching the movie.

Lately, a series of coincidences led me to realize that I have not been applying a very important part of The Secret, and that is to visualize.

What about you? If you saw, read, or listened to The Secret, did you begin to visualize? Or, like me, was that something that passed you by?