I was watching a television show recently that featured people who are struggling with various kinds of addiction.  My heart goes out to these people.  Granted, their behavior can sometimes be very difficult to deal with, confronting, even abusive.  It’s important to keep in mind that this is the addiction, the disease talking.  Despite the sometimes challenging behavior, I can still see the pain these people are in.  The addiction is so often a means of self-medication, and I know that in addition to the physical pain they feel, there is the challenge of confronting the emotional pain their addiction has covered up for so long.

In this particular show, a young man was struggling with an addiction to heroin.  As is often the case, the first few days in recovery are the worst.  As he was speaking about the physical discomfort and pain he experienced, he then commented about his emotional and psychological struggle.  He said, “I don’t know why God put me on this planet.”

The look on his face revealed the pain and desolation he experienced at not knowing how to answer this question for himself.

His comment struck me and made me think about what his experience can teach.  Perhaps because I work as a therapist I see more than my share of people who struggle with a similar sense of personal desolation; not knowing what to do in the absence of a sense of meaning for one’s life.

I thought about what it might be like to talk to such a person about Law of Attraction.  It occurred to me that this may not be such a welcome conversation, particularly at such a low point in one’s life.  It occurred to me that before someone in such a situation would really welcome such a conversation there would need to be some personal healing (that seems obvious, doesn’t it…).  But beyond that, the statement itself, “I don’t know why God has put me on this planet” suggests a lack of control;  a perception that the circumstances of your life (his life, in this case, but really anyone who is trying to successfully apply these principles) are in control and you’re at the mercy of these powerful forces.

It’s like a pinball in a pinball machine, bouncing from one bumper to another.

Knowledge of the Law of Attraction holds the promise of realizing your dream life, but it also calls on those who want to deliberately apply it to take full responsibility of the circumstances of their lives.  It’s worth noting that this is much easier said than done in most cases.  The way we, humans, that is, tend to interpret experiences and attribute causes seems to reflect a stronger desire to avoid responsibility than to embrace it.  Yet being successful as a deliberate creator means owning what’s yours to be responsible for; embracing your responsibility and in the process recognizing that doing so demonstrates your awareness of yourself as a powerful deliberate creator.

Best wishes,

Dr. Ralph W.