The “Law of Attraction” has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, especially after the release of the book andMovie, “The Secret”. And full disclosure: I totally believe in it. Essentially, the law of attraction states that you will attract into your life whatever you put out. In its simplest terms, if you think negatively, you will attract negative things into your life. If you are a jerk, you will attract jerks into your life. If you put out kindness and positivity, you will attract kind people and situations into your life. Practitioners of the Law of Attraction are familiar with phrases such as “whatever you think about, you become about”, “you are what you believe”, “words equal things” and “our language forms our reality”. It is a little bit like the “you are what you eat” slogan we heard as kids.
Never is the law of attraction and its principles more relevant than when I am traveling, for it is often on our travels that we are inspired and challenged most with more time for reflection and from taking a break for our normal lives. People often take vacations to “recharge” their batteries. So while recharging, make sure you are attracting the charge that you want!
What a lot of people are starting to realize is that just like hanging out with the “wrong” crowd can lead you down negative or damaging paths, when the wrong language is part of your daily life, it shapes your life negatively. The problem is that negative and limiting expressions have become part of our daily lives.
The following are 10 phrases to wipe out of your vocabulary every day, and especially when you are traveling.
1. FML. I always cringe when I hear people say this. If you believe in the laws of the universe, there could not be a worse thing to say. FML? Really? What if I told you that the universe hears this and obeys? Ironically, I usually hear people say this about the most mundane things. FML because you’re late for work? That’s pretty extreme. When you allow yourself to say and believe this phrase, it does nothing to put you in a good space. In fact, it does the exact opposite.
2. Too good to be true. I don’t ever want to believe that there isn’t a place for extremely good things in our world. Living in a time where we’re inundated with fake, PhotoShopped people and advertisers spinning mediocrity into extraordinary, we’re hardwired to believe that behind everything there’s an ugly truth. One thing travel can do is open your mind to the idea that people, places, and moments can be truly breathtaking. Not too good to be true, but too good for a photo to capture or for words to describe. Truly sensationally good things can indeed be true.
3. Just my luck. Now as advocates of the Laws of Attraction, we would say that we invite the good or the bad things into our life with our thoughts, our attitude, and our conscious decisions. That being said, we will always have those moments where things just do not go as we planned, or when things we judge as bad happen to us. No one has bad luck, but someone can easily view everything that happens to them as bad, or see the negative. And without a crystal ball, you never know if things are actually good or bad. Your "rotten luck" may have caused you to be stuck in traffic and late for and interview so you don't get a job. But you don't know if the universe was protecting you from a terrible boss and a horrible job that you wouldn't enjoy.
4. That figures. Cousin of “I told you so”, this is the pessimist. The guy expecting things to go south. He doesn’t offer any solutions, empathy, or resolutions. Things went wrong because they always go wrong. WRONG! A thousand things were great today, and they deserve a little recognition.
5. I hate (blank). This sentence really epitomizes bad energy dialogue. We know that. We still say it. We need another reason to cut it from our vocabulary. Here it is: It is a total conversation killer. Maybe we bond for a second about how we both hate pumpkin flavored beer… then what? No meaningful, inspirational, or stimulating conversation starts with this phrase. Attract enriching, uplifting interactions by eliminating toxic phrases like “I hate”. Instead, this year discover new places that you love to talk about. I should note that I actually love pumpkin flavored beer. I love it a lot—perhaps too much.
6. I can’t. It’s hard to convince yourself you will succeed when trying something new. And the more you tell yourself you can’t, the more you start to believe it. And the more you start to believe it, the more people around you do too. Regaining people’s confidence in you becomes an entirely new struggle. You need to become your own cheerleader, not your own Debby Downer.
7. Nothing is ever easy. Career success, a great body, a healthy relationship - if it were easy, everyone would have it. Ignore people with quick fixes, instant success schemes, and microwave dinners. Let’s drop this phrase, roll up our sleeves, and get our hands dirty. The more you tell yourself that something isn’t easy, the harder it becomes. Next time you are presented with a challenge, keep telling yourself over and over that it is easy. It will always become easier, and certainly easier than being negative about it.
8. Why do these things always happen to me? Even the most devoted disciple of the Rules of Attraction might ask this once in a while. And maybe instead of dropping this phrase completely, we should give it a tweak in 2016. Let’s promise to try something new, do something amazing, explore a new place, where we can sit and say “I can’t believe this happened to me”. AND, if you find that certain things always happen to you, instead of moping about it, find out how you are attracting those things. What are you putting out there?
9. You made me (blank). This phrase and the words that follow it are often the reason for fights among couples and friends, and it is a quick and subtle way to make yourself a victim, the other a villain, and to swiftly give away your power. Don’t do it. Own your emotions. Own your mistakes, and own your successes.
10. Life is a bitch. The truth is, we see only what we look for. It’s up to us to notice kind strangers and beautiful days. To prevent other people’s grim outlook from skewing our own perspective. And if all else fails, there’s always Rio – because there, life’s a beach.
If you are new to the Law of Attraction and thinking positively, I strongly suggest reading or seeing "The Secret" as well as reading "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle.
Bryan Herb is owner of global group travel companies, Zoom Vacations and Zoom Events, and is an avid traveler and practitioner of the Law of Attraction.
