The latest trend has seen people asking me how they can influence their surroundings. While some want to learn hypnosis so they can influence other people, others are interested in the law of attraction to get what they want. Yet others have simply asked me how they can use Reiki to change their current circumstances.

And as usual, I tell them all the same thing – the only change you should be trying to make, is within. The law of attraction, the secret, and other such information have become so popular lately because it is so easy to make money by promising people what they want. Tell a person you can help him make his dreams come true, and he’ll pay you whatever you charge. Tell him, on the other hand, that you will teach him to accept his present circumstances, and he’ll probably walk away with a smirk. And that’s why you see so many books and stories of the law of attraction. Because it sells. Not because it works.

It’s just plain, simple logic. Why would you want to attract things? Because you want to be happy. And…? Anyone with a basic background of spirituality will know that happiness is a choice, a choice you can make this instant. So, what are you waiting for? Why wait to get that big house, that big car or that big fat pay check to be happy? And no, those things are not going to make you happy anyway, but then it’s going to take you a lot longer to realise that. By the time you get that, you’ll want something else, and so on until lightning strikes you one day and makes you seek true happiness.

Here’s a simple formula

Law of attraction = Possibly, a means to get what you want

Getting what you want <> Happiness

I’m not saying that if you attract things into your life you will not be happy. Attracting things and happiness are simply unrelated. The strange part is, if you are happy, you will probably not feel the need to waste your time attracting so many things, and focus instead on remaining in the present, which by the way, is the secret to real spiritual growth and true happiness. You will probably still get all those things because you are happy from within, but that is besides the point.

Bottom line? If we focussed on healing ourselves and accepting the current situation instead of focussing on trying to change everything and everyone around us, yes, we’d be happy. This doesn’t mean we take everything in life lying down. Where you can make a difference, please, go ahead and make it. Where you can’t, accept, and thank God for giving you another opportunity to learn and grow.

Faith is a bare minimum essential here, which is probably why so many scientific studies show that religious people are happier than atheists. The basic ingredient for happiness is faith. Faith that everything is going to be alright. Not in the sense that the situation will change for the better, but in the sense that we will have the strength to cope, and to learn to be happy in this situation too. That we will learn to be able to make the choice to be happy, no matter what.

The first step is to accept the current situation, the second to allow ourselves to feel miserable about it. And when you’re done with these two steps, you’ll realise that it’s ok, that the current situation is completely fine, and that you could live with it for the rest of your life, even though it would be convenient if things changed. This is when you could use the law of attraction to make your life easier, if you feel like. And this is also when you’d be a lot more effective at it, getting results almost instantaneously. But the point is, before you changed the situation, you would have learned a very valuable lesson – you would have learned how to be happy in that miserable situation too. And taken your capacity to be happy, one step further.