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Putting LOA To The Test
Submitted by: Cathy M.
PAAn optimistic autism mom on an extraordinary journey through life.
I have been a big fan of The Secret since I was introduced to the movie in 2007.
When I first watched the film, I recognized the truths contained in it and realized I have been manifesting my life for the last 25 years using the Law of Attraction without even consciously knowing it. I am married to the partner of my dreams, I live in my dream house, I have a truly abundant happy life and I know there are endless possibilities for my future.
One of the challenges for me has always been wondering “how” what I want will manifest. I constantly remind myself that “The how is the domain of the Universe” as Mike Dooley emphasizes. When it comes to small things, or things I feel confident are under my control like finding my soulmate or the money I need, I can usually trick my logical brain into letting go of the how and just feeling good about the outcome. This past year, however, our family faced a seemingly impossible situation and I had no other choice but to put the Law of Attraction to the ultimate test.
My teenage son has autism and has been living in a residential treatment center for the past couple years because he became extremely aggressive and violent.
The place where he lives is wonderful and located about an hour away from our home, which means we can visit several times each week and be an active part of his treatment team. Our hope is that through working with the specialists there, he will be able to change his behavior and return home to live with our family full time.
The decision to have my son go to a residential center was extremely heart wrenching and difficult. We went through several different options including hospitals, schools and another residential center before we found his current placement. I described the place where he now lives as heaven compared to the other places we had tried and I truly thought I was the most grateful I could possibly be for the services he was receiving.
Then last Spring the residential center informed us they could no longer care for him because his aggression had become out of control and some staff members had sustained injuries.
At first we were only dismayed that he would be moved again, but when I contacted our insurance provider I became panicked. The only places that would accept him were across the country from our home!
I could not bear the thought of my son, my smart, sensitive family-oriented boy being moved so far away, unable to have any regular contact with our family with little hope of returning home. I cried, I screamed, I begged for the decision to be reconsidered.
Despite improvements in his behavior and a decrease in aggression over the weeks that followed, the administrators at the residential center remained resolved to move him.
I decided I would act as if my son would stay at his current placement, despite what our family had been told. Each morning I wrote in my gratitude journal: “I am so happy and grateful now that my son will stay at his current placement.”
When I visited, I brought baked goods and treats for the children and staff. I purchased several copies of my new favorite book about communication and autism and gave them to every staff member on my son’s team. I said thank you to everyone I encountered, and even said thank you for the campus, the buildings, the trees and flowers. Even for the administrators who were stubbornly insisting he leave!
Many times a day, I felt the feelings of true gratitude for every person and thing located at that center. I really felt them deep in my heart in a way I had never done before. I cried tears of joy for the gift of keeping my son close to our family which we were receiving now.
Three months later, an opportunity arose to speak with a very high level administrator in the organization.
As I prepared for the meeting, I was determined to speak only from my heart with love and gratitude and to trust that the Universe had already manifested the outcome we wanted.
A few days later, I was told that my son would be able to stay and that he would receive even more services than he had before!!!
I immediately purchased thank you cards for every single person involved with our son’s care, from frontline staff to the vice president of the organization with whom I had spoken. And I continue to say thank you hundreds of times each day for all that our family has received.
I thought I knew how to use The Secret and keep my faith strong. Through this experience I realized that I had been good at manifesting people, circumstances and events if there was nothing big at stake and the outcome didn’t really matter so much, but when it came to something as monumentally important as keeping my son close to his family and ensuring he received the services he needed, I was a panicked mess.
Putting the Law of Attraction to the test when it really mattered has shown me that everything truly is possible and gratitude is absolutely the key to manifesting the life you want!!!