Is there a conflict between what Mormons believe and the principles of the law of attraction? For me, that’s an easy question to answer because; I think not only are there no conflicts between the two, but they are actually the same thing but worded differently.
For example, in the classic law of attraction book “Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting,” the author, Lynn Grabhorn, says that the way to attract anything into your life is to determine what it is you want and then imagine what it is. is what you want. it would feel like you already had it. The Mormon Church, like all other Christian churches, teaches that God will bless us with our heart’s desires if we ask in faith. So whether you call it faith or feeling doesn’t really matter, right?
And I like to compare the teaching of Mormonism and the principles of the law of attraction; for a clearer understanding of one leads to a better understanding of the other. For example, a common misunderstanding of the law of attraction is that you just have to feel good, and suddenly everything you want will appear. But a key component of the law of attraction is to “act as if” you already have what you want. This is perhaps best explained by the scripture Mormons like to quote which says that “faith without works is dead.” Taking inspired action is both a gospel principle and part of the law of attraction.
My favorite Biblical example of Christ teaching people to “act as if” is the story of the jumpers who called out to Christ, asking him to heal them. His instructions to them were to present themselves to the chief priests. Because? Because it was the custom of the day that when someone was restored to health after being gravely ill, they had to have them certified as “clean” by the Head Priest before they loudly returned to society. So Christ was telling the jumpers to go ahead and do what they would do if they were healed. He was telling them to “act as if” they were cured. They acted and were healed.
I am a life coach who specializes in the law of attraction; I am also a practicing Mormon. And I have found that my religion is a great help to me as a life coach. One thing Mormons teach is that time is meaningless to God. Think about it, if God knows at this moment, everything that has happened and everything that will happen, then the concept of “time” certainly changes.
And playing with “time” is one of the best techniques I know of for applying the principles of the law of attraction. This worked wonders with a client she was working with who was so stressed out by a major crisis in her life that he was making her physically ill. She could not see HOW this crisis could be resolved. So I told him that I didn’t know HOW the crisis would be resolved either, but that I was certain that it would be resolved in time. So I asked her to imagine that she could travel 2 weeks into the future and imagine how she would feel if the problem was completely resolved. That didn’t work out for her, so she asked if she could go 2 YEARS in the future! And when she imagined herself 2 years in the future, she reported that she felt completely at peace. I told her to focus on that feeling and for her to trust (or have faith) that her feeling of peace would manifest into reality. And within 2 weeks everything was resolved and she really was at peace.
So in this example, did this woman create the solution to her problem? Or did God bless her with what she needed? Or maybe God blessed her with the ability to create what she needed in her life. And maybe that’s why some people have trouble reconciling Mormonism (or any religion) and the law of attraction. Perhaps some people feel that the law of attraction teaching that WE attract what we want into our lives leaves God out of the process. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I believe that by blessing us with an understanding of the law of attraction, God is simply teaching us how to become more like him. And when our lives turn out just the way we designed them, does God really care if he gets all the credit?
