What It Is and How It Actually Works

Most people first hear about the law of attraction through Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret. Or a friend who’s read it. Or a late-night rabbit hole that ended somewhere between quantum physics and a vision board tutorial.

The idea is simple enough… Except most people try it and nothing happens.

And that’s where most people stop — one step short of understanding why.

What is the law of attraction?

The law of attraction is the principle that like attracts like. What that means is simply that your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations shape what you notice, what you do, and what you end up with. And manifestation is simply what it looks like when that principle is working in your favor.

If you’re familiar at all with the 12 universal laws, the law of attraction is one of them. Michael Bernard Beckwith, the founder of Agape International Spiritual Center, in his Life Visioning Mastery program on Mindalley, explains, “There are laws of the universe, and if you practice them, they will respond to you.”

And like all of them, the law of attraction doesn’t require your participation to operate. It runs in the background of every thought, every belief, and every expectation you carry, the same way gravity operates whether you’re thinking about it or not.

There are laws of the universe, and if you practice them, they will respond to you.

— Michael Bernard Beckwith, trainer of Mindvalley’s Life Visioning Mastery program

Is the law of attraction real?

Yes, the law of attraction is real. But whether it works for you depends entirely on what you think it is.

Most people encounter it as a creative visualization technique — think about what you want clearly enough, feel it fully enough, and the Universe delivers. That version has let a lot of people down.

Now, if you see it as a principle that’s operating in your life, the question shifts from whether it works to whether you understand it well enough to direct it. It’s as Michael puts it: “Energy flows where attention goes.”

Take a look at Jim Carrey, for instance. In the mid-1980s, before he was famous, he wrote himself a check for $10 million for “acting services rendered.” He dated it Thanksgiving 1995 and carried it in his wallet. Then, in 1994, he found out he’d earn exactly $10 million for Dumb and Dumber.

That’s a prime example of the “law of attraction” meaning in a nutshell. Nothing in your life is happening to you randomly. Like Jim, you’re always in the process of creating your reality, whether you know it or not. 

Scientific evidence for the law of attraction

Your brain receives around 11 million bits of sensory information every second. The thing is, though, it can’t process all of it, so it filters. The part of the brain responsible for that filtering is called the reticular activating system (RAS). It decides what reaches your conscious awareness based on what you’re focused on, what you believe, and what you’ve told it matters.

For example, you decide to buy a red car, and suddenly, they’re everywhere. The reality is, they were always there, but your brain just wasn’t filtering for them. And the moment you made that decision, your RAS started flagging red cars as relevant, and they became visible.

It’s the same mechanism that operates with your beliefs. A 2022 study published in eLife by Kaanders et al. found that people actively seek out information confirming what they already believe. The stronger the belief, the more biased the search becomes. If you believe opportunities are scarce, your brain keeps finding proof of that. If you believe good things are coming, it finds proof of that instead.

What’s more, Dr. Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London and author of The Optimism Bias, found in her 2011 research that expectation shapes behavior directly. People who expect positive outcomes take measurably different actions than people who don’t, which means they get measurably different results.

Additionally, Dr. Joe Dispenza, the author of You Are the Placebo, has documented through studies conducted at his workshops that sustained belief and mental rehearsal produce measurable changes in brain chemistry. The brain doesn’t distinguish clearly between a vividly imagined experience and a real one. Both produce the same neurological response.

That’s the thing about your beliefs. They aren’t just thoughts but the instructions your brain follows all day, every day, without you realizing it.

Learn more:

How does the law of attraction work?

The law of attraction responds to your beliefs, fears, and expectations, and it brings more of that into your life.

Let’s say you tell yourself, “I am enough” or something similar, your brain starts filtering for proof of exactly that. On the other side of the spectrum, if you tell yourself you’re not good enough or “money is hard to come by,” the law of attraction finds evidence to match it.

What can you do about it? Change what’s running inside, and what shows up outside begins to change, too.

Most people have this backwards. They focus on changing their external circumstances while the inner signal running underneath stays exactly the same.

“Too many people never get what they desire in their lives because they never actually claim what they want,” says Regan Hillyer, a globally recognized manifestation coach, in The Art of Manifesting program on Mindvalley. It’s part of what she calls the 80/20 trap.

Eighty percent of manifestation is your conditioning, beliefs, and the story running beneath everything you do. Twenty percent is external action.

Most people pour everything into the 20% while the 80% quietly pulls in the opposite direction. So, they keep taking action but get the same results. Or they make progress and then mysteriously sabotage it. Or nothing moves at all, no matter how hard they try.

The shift happens when you stop trying to force results through action alone and start looking at what your inner world is actually transmitting.

If you don’t claim what it is that you truly desire, you will 100% never manifest it.

— Regan Hillyer, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Art of Manifesting program

How can the law of attraction improve your life? (+ real-life stories)

The law of attraction improves your life by closing the gap between what you say you want and what your inner world is actually broadcasting. It’s when those two align that things start to feel less like effort and more like inevitability. 

The reason most people can’t simply think their way into different results is that the beliefs driving the 80% are subconscious. They’re patterns installed early, often before the age of seven, running quietly beneath every decision, every reaction, and every expectation you carry into a room.

In his book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton documents how the brain operates primarily in a theta wave state from birth to around age seven. During this window, children absorb beliefs from their environment directly into the subconscious mind without the critical filter that develops later.

“Our beliefs control our bodies, our minds, and thus our lives,” he writes, adding that not one of us is fixed until we make the effort to change.

Like Nicole Brooke Schwartz, a kindergarten teacher in Barcelona who was going through a breakup during COVID-19. After completing Michael’s Life Visioning Mastery program, she manifested “a big financial gain, a new career opportunity in Gran Canaria, and the blooming friendship of my estranged parents who haven’t talked since before I was born.”

Now, Brie, a coach from Aruba, had tried action, effort, and consistency, but her spiritual-based business still wasn’t moving. Once she stopped forcing outcomes and surrendered to the process through Regan’s Mindvalley program, the client she’d been working toward arrived ten days after her self-imposed deadline.

The fact of the matter is, when your inner state is in genuine alignment with what you’re calling in, the law of attraction responds the way gravity responds. Automatically. Consistently. Without exception.

Law of assumption vs. law of attraction: What’s the difference?

Both the law of attraction and the law of assumption describe how your inner world shapes your outer reality. The difference is in where each one operates.

The law of attraction works at the level of frequency. What you consistently feel, believe, and expect, you draw more of into your life. It asks, “What am I broadcasting?”

An example would be like you want to go from senior designer to creative director, so you start each morning genuinely feeling like someone whose work already shapes the company’s direction. Three months later, your manager offers you the role.

The law of assumption, on the other hand, works at the level of identity. Developed by mystic and author Neville Goddard, it says that what you assume to be true about yourself and your reality, you live into. It asks, “Who am I being?”

Now, going back to the career growth example from senior designer to creative director, you stop waiting for the title and start showing up as a creative director today, pitching, deciding, and leading from that place. The promotion follows.

Here’s a closer look at the two:

How to use the law of attraction: the Life Visioning method

Most law of attraction practices, like vision boards, affirmations, and positive thinking, stay at the surface. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s just that they don’t go deep enough to touch your subconscious programming, unlike Michael’s Life Visioning method.

“Visioning is not the same as visualization,” he explains. While the power of visualization has its pros, visioning moves more into a level of surrender. “You’re seeking to become aware of and allow to unfold, which may be beyond what you can presently even see or imagine.”

Michael’s process, which he teaches in his Mindvalley program, consists of seven steps:

1. Settle into a state of unconditional love. Not romantic love but the total givingness of existence itself. And this allows you to start from wholeness, not lack.
2. Ask: What is the vision for my life? This question is designed to open you to something beyond what your current mind can construct.
3. Ask: What must I become for this vision to manifest? This step requires you to ask yourself who you need to be for this to feel natural and inevitable.
4. Ask: What do I already have that serves this vision? Recognizing your skills, relationships, experiences, qualities, etc., shifts the energy from scarcity to sufficiency.
5. Ask: What must I release that no longer serves me? Let go of old habits, limiting stories, and patterns you’ve outgrown.
6. Capture the feeling tone of willingness. Open yourself to however this wants to show up, even if it looks different from what you imagined.
7. Affirmative prayer of acceptance and release. You’ve asked the questions and done the work. Now, release your grip on the how and the when, and trust that what’s meant for you is already in motion.

The thing to keep in mind, though, the Life Visioning method gives you the framework. What you say to yourself while you’re in it determines how fast it works.

Law of attraction affirmations that actually work

Most people treat affirmations like a chant — say it enough times, and it’ll sink in. Repetition alone, though, isn’t what creates the shift. What does is how you deliver it.

“The way to work with affirmations is to understand that the brain has three lobes of how it absorbs and integrates information,” Michael explains. “One lobe deals with what one speaks. Another with what one hears. Another with what one reads.”

That’s what research from cognitive psychologist Richard Mayer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, confirms. His cognitive theory of multimedia learning, published in 2001, found that when you learn something through multiple senses at the same time, your brain retains it more deeply than when you use just one.

Michael advises writing down the law of attraction affirmations, reading them, and speaking them so that “you’re actually hearing it in order to magnify and enhance what you’re affirming.”

Here are a few that can get you started:

• “Good things are always finding their way to me.”
• “I trust what’s unfolding, even when I can’t see the full picture yet.”
• “I don’t chase what’s meant for me. I become someone it naturally finds.”

That said, Vishen, the founder of Mindvalley, points out that affirmations require a trifecta: desire, belief, and expectancy. When belief is missing, the words stay surface-level.

If you’ve hit this wall, opt for lofty questions. Rather than stating something you don’t yet fully believe, you ask a question that assumes it’s already true. Like:

“Why am I so abundant?” instead of “I am abundant.”

Your brain can’t resist trying to answer a question, which means it starts looking for evidence rather than arguing with a statement it doesn’t buy.

Law of attraction meditation: How to use it as a practice

Most of the day, the conscious mind is too loud to hear anything underneath it. Meditation quiets that noise.

When you meditate regularly, you start catching the beliefs, fears, and expectations that are running on your behalf before they produce results you don’t want. And what research has found is that the more you meditate, the more your brain changes to support it.

Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin found in 2004 that people who meditate regularly develop measurable differences in the parts of the brain that control how they feel and how aware they are of themselves. That awareness is where the law of attraction becomes something you can actually work with.

Michael’s got a simple daily practice you can try:

1. Sit with your back straight, feet on the ground, hands facing upward.
2. Set an intention.
3. Focus on your breath.
4. Listen deeply.

Even a few minutes each day, done consistently, begin to clear the perceptual filters that distort what the law of attraction is responding to.

Try this meditation:

The best law of attraction books

The law of attraction has been written about for over a century. These five books have shaped how millions of people understand and practice it, and now, so can you.

1. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Most people’s first introduction to the law of attraction. It’s not the full picture, but it’s where the conversation starts for a reason.
2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Written in 1937, and still one of the most read books on success. The author’s argument is simple: what you deeply believe and consistently focus on, you tend to create. Less about money than the title suggests.
3. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. Joseph’s point is that your subconscious is running your life whether you direct it or not. This book shows you how to feed it something worth acting on.
4. You Are the Placeboby Dr. Joe Dispenza. The most science-backed book on this list. Dr. Dispenza shows how your beliefs physically change your brain and body, and what that means for what you’re able to create.
5. The Optimism Bias by Dr. Tali Sharot. A neuroscientist’s take on why what you expect shapes what you get. Readable, research-backed, and worth adding to your must-read list.

“Manifestation is a magical process,” Regan points out in her Mindvalley program. “It’s something that’s available within each and every single one of us, if you understand the process, if you understand how it works.”

And with these five law of attraction books to start off with, you could very well be on your way to manifesting the life you actually want.

Frequently asked questions

How to apply the law of attraction?

The law of attraction is already running. Applying it consciously means getting deliberate about what you’re feeding it.

In The Art of Manifesting program, Regan shares seven things you can do:

1. Choose your focus area. Pick one area of your life to work on first. Health, wealth, relationships, purpose, etc. While all nine areas matter, trying to shift everything at once dilutes the signal.
2. Get clear on your vision. “If you don’t claim what it is that you truly desire, you will 100% never manifest it,” Regan says. So, your vision needs to be specific, felt, and anchored. Avoid vague wishes.
3. Raise your minimum standard. You get what you’re willing to tolerate. Getting honest about what you’re currently accepting (and deciding you’re no longer available for it) is where the shift begins.
4. Rewire your belief system. Your beliefs are the software running underneath everything. If they’re not aligned with what you want to create, no amount of action will get you there. Update the program first.
5. Become an energetic match. “You must be that version of yourself from the inside out,” Regan teaches. Embody the version of you that already has what you’re calling in before it arrives.
6. Release the how addiction. “If you are in a frequency of constantly needing to figure out how something’s going to happen, you’re in a frequency of fear,” she says. Surrender the how, and trust the process.
7. Build a daily practice. Manifestation is a lifestyle. Regan explains that “your real manifestation ritual is your life.” A consistent daily practice sets your frequency before you engage with the world.

What are some good law of attraction quotes?

Speaking of abundance, there are plenty of law of attraction quotes that can shift your perspective. Here’s a handpicked list to start you off with:

“If you are not consciously directing your life, you will lose your footing and circumstances will decide for you.” — Michael Bernard Beckwith

“Manifestation is really taking something that is a dream, a vision, an intention, and allowing that to be embodied and anchored through you so that it physically shows up in your life.” — Regan Hillyer

“Every thought we think is creating our future.” — Louise Hay

“Decide what you want. Believe you can have it. Believe you deserve it. Believe it’s possible for you.” — Rhonda Bryne

“See yourself living in abundance, and you will attract it.” — Bob Proctor

How to attract love with the law of attraction?

The law of attraction responds to what you believe about yourself. If you believe deep down that you’re not enough, or that love is hard to find, that’s the signal it works with.

If the same type of person keeps showing up in your life, or the same dynamic keeps playing out in different relationships, the pattern is worth looking at. Remember: what’s running inside you is what’s showing up outside.

Regan explains, “You don’t necessarily always get in life what you dream about, but you do get what you are willing to tolerate.” So, look at your current standards and decide if they still reflect what you actually want.

From there, become an energetic match for the relationship you want. Embody the qualities you’re looking for… In how you show up, for instance. And how you treat yourself, and what you’re willing to accept.

What’s more, if past relationships are still taking up space, Michael’s teaching is worth sitting with. “Unforgiveness is a kind of self-abuse,” he says. Releasing blame and resentment from what came before clears the signal you’re sending.

And that gives the law of attraction something new to respond to.

Turn “I want” into “I can”

Most people spend years reading the books, doing the visualizations, and following the steps. Yet, they still feel like something’s missing. Michael Bernard Beckwith’s free Life Visioning Mastery masterclass is built around exactly that gap.

In it, you’ll discover:

• Why visualizing too hard actually pushes what you want further away
• The four stages of spiritual development, and where you are right now
• How to stop manifesting what your mind thinks it wants and start living what your soul actually came here for
• The spiritual shapeshifting practice for elevating areas of your life that feel stuck
• How to surrender to a vision bigger than anything you could plan on your own

Over 300,000 students have walked through Michael’s teachings and found their way back to themselves. One of them, Fara, a fashion buyer from Dubai, came in stuck in a job that no longer served her, sitting in fear and doubt about what came next. But with all that she learned in Life Visioning Mastery, she walked out knowing exactly who she was becoming.

This course helped me realize everything is within me and I am limitless.

The vision your soul has been waiting for you to claim is one masterclass away. The only thing left is to stop thinking about the life you want and start visioning it.

Welcome in.