Jack Canfield explains the Law of Attraction: your focused thoughts send out vibrational signals that attract matching results. He recommends writing a 101-goal list, creating a vision board, and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones to reshape your life.
Questions this video answers
Key to Living the Law of Attraction
dreambigcollection.com
137 goals
Over 68 (he says 69, having just achieved one recently)
Write 101 goals to achieve in your life
Chapters
Coming up next, the man who says he holds the key to finding everything you want out of life. Coming up right after the break. Imagine getting all you've ever wanted just by thinking a certain way. Well, the power of your thoughts can improve your life. Even science says there's something to that. America's famed creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield, is here to tell us how to use the power of your imagination and your mind to get what you want in life. Jack's new book is titled Key to Living the Law of Attraction. Jack, welcome.
My pleasure.
Okay. Is this true? Can I really just think about, in a positive way, things I want in life and they will happen for me? Is that how it works?
Yeah. The Law of Attraction basically says what you think about, focus on, attend to what you watch on TV, the books you read, the newspaper stories, etc. You are going to create a vibrational feeling response to that. And that sends out a wave, just like your cell phone sends out a wave. And everything in the universe that is harmonic to that will start to vibrate and be attracted toward you. It's as if you create a magnetic. So we have to be very intentional and deliberate about what we think. And most of us were never taught to do that.
So you think there's something really tangible there. It's not just kind of, I don't know, kind of shrink, hocus pocus sort of stuff?
No, no, there's actually science that backs it up. I mean, we now know from quantum physics that everything that we perceive is actually a thought that creates it and brings it into being. This screen behind us was first a thought. You know, your hairdresser had a thought about how your hair might be styled before they styled it that way. So everything is starting in thought. And we know that these thoughts can travel as far as around the Earth, done by some projects that were done in Japan where a guy literally changed the molecule structure of water simply with 10,000 people focusing on that.
Jack, don't you think a lot of people just sort of hurt themselves because they're just afraid? I mean, they're afraid of taking risks. And I remember seeing that bumper sticker. It says something like, what would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail? I mean, we stop ourselves from moving forward, don't we?
Absolutely. Fear is taking your mind and creating a negative image of the future. When you're worrying you're a man imagining what's bad that's going to happen. I'm going to get sick. I'm going to Miss the airplane. They'll lose my luggage.
Okay, well, let's get positive, because your book is about being positive and thinking good thoughts. How do we take that negative voice that sometimes is screaming and squish it down? And how do we focus on those positive thoughts?
Well, you get rid of anything by replacing it with something else. See, nature abhors a vacuum. If you just stop the negative thought, it will get sucked back in. So you have to replace it with a positive thought. So when you find yourself feeling bad, for example, we're coming into Valentine's Day, right? Let's say your husband forgets to get you a Valentine's Day present.
Yeah.
What do you do? You could think, oh, my husband, husband doesn't love me. He forgot to give me a Valentine's Day.
What should we think?
Someone who loves me forgot it was Valentine's Day. Notice how that shifts it.
I also love how your book. It's a great book, by the way, but I like how it's peppered with quotes from different people. And we read this Tina Turner one earlier, but I loved it. It says, sometimes you've got to let go of things, purge yourself. If you're unhappy with anything, whatever is bringing you down, just get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self, comes out. That's a quote from Tina Turner. It's about purging, Right. And getting rid of the bad stuff.
Yeah. We have to empty it out. It's like if you have too many clothes in your closet, there's no room for new clothes. So just like with negative thoughts, we really should be doing a thought inventory on a regular basis. And every time we're not feeling good, say, what am I thinking? And then say, what do I want to have? See, most people are talking about what happened and how bad it is instead of what you want to be talking about is how good it's going to get. Focus all your energy on your dreams, your vision, what you want to have happen.
Let's talk about goals. It's important, you say, to set goals. Should you write them down? And what kind of things should they be?
Well, in my book, the Key to Living the Law of Attraction, we have a place to write 101 goals that you want to achieve in your life. I did that when I was 47. I'm 63 now. And when I was 47, I wrote 137 goals. And I've achieved over 68 of those. Well, 69 those over 68 and just got one last week. But the point is that if you have that list, your unconscious starts to work on how to figure it out. Lou Holtz, the famous coach of Notre Dame, he's now an ESPN sportscaster. When he was 29, he made a list of 101 goals he wanted to achieve, and now he's achieved all but six of those.
Oh, wow.
See, if you have that every year, you pick four or five, focus on it, visualize it, and then it comes to being.
And this Oprah quote really struck me. It says, your true passion should feel like breathing it. Is that natural? So you've got to find the thing that you're meant to do, aren't you?
Yes. We each have an inborn unique ability. We have a passion. We have a talent. And you know, you're on it when you're happy. See, if you're feeling joy when you're doing what you're doing, then you're on track. If you're not feeling joy, it means you're off track. We're getting feedback all the time now.
Your book is filled with. It's sort of interactive. You can write things in the book, which I like, and there are quotes and things. But you also say to create a vision board. What's a vision board?
Well, if we look right here, we see a vision board, and we call this a vision board. You can actually close it up like this. Isn't that beautiful?
Gorgeous.
It becomes a family heirloom. What's on here? All these are pictures of things that this person who made this vision board, Dede Watkins, wants in her life. Happy family, better relationship with the kids and their pets, their ideal dream home, vacations and so forth. There's also words like peace and love and prosperity. And this kit comes with all the words already cut out. So most people's vision boards look like ransom notes. You know, they've cut them out of magazines. So what we have here is something that's really beautiful. And people can go to dreambigcollection.com and they can find out about how to get one of these.
Jack, I have a feeling you got another winner on your hands with this one. The key to Living the law of attraction. Jack Canfield, thank you so much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it. Good luck to you.
My pleasure. Thank you.
And you can read an excerpt from this book on todayshow.com of course. And we'll be back with more. But first, this is TODAY on NBC.
