In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne outlines three basic steps to the law of attraction: Ask, believe, and receive. Sounds pretty simple. First, you have to ask the Universe for what you want. You only have to ask once. She equates the practice to placing an order from the all-encompassing catalog of the Universe. Once you place an order, you don’t have to place it again. It’s just like ordering something from a tangible catalog or off the Internet — once you order, you don’t have to keep ordering until it arrives. You just sit back and wait and eagerly anticipate its arrival. So, as I think of things I would like to have in my life, I have been trying to remember to send a thought out into the Universe and “place my order.”

Believing is a little harder. Sure, I believe in this stuff, or else I wouldn’t be reading this book. But it’s one thing to say, sure, I believe in the law of attraction, and another to say “I’d like a new laptop, thanks!” and really have faith that it’s going to appear. Along with believing comes allowing yourself to really feel like you already have the thing you desire. This means allowing yourself to feel the emotions that you would feel if it were already yours. This is where I get tripped up. I start trying to feel like I already have something — the relief that the money is already in the bank, the peace of meeting all my work goals for the day — and I feel silly. But more than that, I start to feel the exact opposite of what I’m trying to imagine: I start to feel anxious. I start thinking defeating thoughts like, This is silly. I can’t think something into existence. This will never work.

Which is exactly why Byrne suggests starting small. For example, try manifesting a cup of coffee. There is a wonderful example in the book about a young man who simply envisioned a feather — a very distinctive feather with unusual markings. He pictured this feather clearly in his mind and focused on it for several days. And then one day as he was entering a building, he happened to look down, and on the ground in front of him was the exact feather he had envisioned. He knew then that the law of attraction worked, which gave him the conviction to move on to attracting bigger things into his life. As you experience the success of manifesting small things in your life, you will gain faith in the law of attraction, and with that faith comes the ability to manifest bigger and bigger things.

Finally, step three is to receive. Just as surely as you know your catalog order is going to arrive in the mail in a few days, you know that the Universe will deliver the things for which you have asked. All you have to do is continue believing, and wait for them to arrive.

I seem to get hung up between the first and second step. When I think of something I want, I keep asking for it again. I forget that I’ve already placed my order. I need to work on the belief part, work on allowing myself to feel the fulfillment of my requests, and work on pushing out the doubts and the anxiety that always seem to overpower my ability to believe. It is harder than it sounds, and it requires daily reminders. I need to remember to start small. Maybe the laptop is too ambitious right now. Maybe tomorrow, I should just focus on that cup of coffee. (Note to the Universe: I like Starbucks.)