Last week, I picked up the borrowed copy of The Secret that I’ve had lying around for nearly a year and still haven’t read. I decided it was time to really start learning how to put the law of attraction to work in my life. That was a few days before Mom mentioned going to the Spiritual Comedy — Andy Dooley’s presentation on metaphysics and visualization — so it definitely seemed like the Universe was trying to tell me something.

In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne tells us that in order to attract something into your life, you have to allow yourself to feel as if you already have it. Whatever you think about, you attract. If you allow yourself to think and really feel that you already have something, then you will attract it into your life. Conversely, if you continue to think and feel that your life is lacking in some area, you will continue to attract more of that lacking. So, whenever you think that you don’t have enough money, or time, or whatever it is you need, that will continue to be your reality.

I never really realized before how much I focus on the things I am lacking. I consider myself a pretty positive person, even though Ryan says I worry too much. But I know I’m often stressed about work and feel that I don’t have enough hours in the day to get everything done. And right now, I’m waiting on a $500 check from a client and worrying that it won’t get here this week. It’s hard to shift my mindset and really allow myself to feel like the money is in the bank, like I have all the time I need to get my work done and still get a decent night’s sleep.

So I’ve been trying to start small. The other day I went to the used book store, and on the way there, I visualized the two books I wanted. Looking for a particular title at the used book store can be a gamble, so I really focused on the two books I was looking for: You, The Owner’s Manual by Drs. Michael Rozien and Mehmet Oz, and Eating Well for Optimum Health by Dr. Andrew Weil.  I wasn’t really sure where to look for them; I found a Nutrition and Healthy Living section near the cookbooks, but neither title was there. The absence of any books by these two authors seemed suspicious, since they are pretty well known and have written many books between them. They had to be there somewhere.

I circled the store a couple of times. The sale racks yielded nothing; nor did the audio book section. Was there a general health and medical section I was missing? Then, tucked in a back corner of the store, I finally spotted a sign reading “Alternative Health.” Bingo!  I spotted the You book instantly; two shelves down was a wide selection of books by Dr. Weil. I picked out hardback copies of each title and headed back up towards the cash register. On the way, I passed a cart of new acquisitions sitting near the buying counter. On the top of one of the stacks sat a paperback version of Eating Well for Optimum Health. Even though I’d already found my books, I stopped in my tracks. This was one of the books I’d been visualizing on my way to the store, and here it was right in front of me. I picked up the paperback and started flipping through it. The employee who was about to wheel the cart of to another part of the store gave me a dirty look, but I didn’t care. What if I had seen this book on the cart before I found the Alternative Health section in the back of the store? It would have been an undeniable — and somewhat freaky — manifestation of my visualization.

Yesterday, I went to the grocery store in search of pre-cooked frozen shrimp, which hasn’t been in stock since before Thanksgiving, when the frozen seafood was rearranged to make room for turkeys. I visualized seeing the bag of shrimp in the freezer and putting it into my basket. And though it was around the corner from the place I had visualized, the shrimp was there.

Today, I’ve tried visualizing a few different things — my $500 check in the mailbox, a free phone (mine fell into the toilet over the weekend and I didn’t want to have to spend money on a new one) — but for some reason, my usual feelings of stress are creeping back in and keeping me from fully experiencing the faith that the law of attraction requires. In fact, I think I demonstrated a definite lack of faith when I when ahead and bought a new phone off ebay.  Maybe I should try visualizing a $100 bill to pay for it.