When I first saw The Secret a few months ago, it instantly made complete sense to me. I had always known that when I imagined something happening, it often happened – I just didn’t understand what factors made it manifest. But there were a few significant events in my life where I instinctively used the Law of Attraction consciously.

The first time I did this was when I was a student, spending a summer working on an island here in the British Isles. I stayed on as long as I could before term started to make as much money as I could, but I had a specific date that I had to enroll at my university for the year by, or else I couldn’t take that year.

A few days before this date, I was getting the ferry back home to Ireland. It was an extremely stormy day, and the ferry was rocking violently all over the place. Half an hour out of the port a passenger was knocked to the ground, hitting her head on the way down. We had to turn around and go back to port for the woman to be taken to hospital. Whilst she was being taken off, the captain announced that it was going to be a very rough crossing, and anyone who wanted to get off the ferry should do so at this point, but they should know that it would be a couple of days before the next ferry. I was a nervous traveller at that time, and normally I would have been off like a shot, but I needed to get back in time to register, so I would have to brave it. All the drivers had to take their cars off the ferry so that anyone wishing to leave could do so, and then the ones who were staying had to drive them back on. So we were delayed by a couple of hours. When we finally set sail, the boat was literally bouncing up and down. I was very scared and convinced that I was going to be sick, so I started to imagine that the rocking motion was the sea wrapping its arms around me and rocking me, telling me that I was safe. I repeated over and over to myself, “The sea looks after me and protects me”. I don’t know why this affirmation came in to my head, but it helped to think of the sea as my protector rather than something to be scared of. Needless to say, I reached the harbor unharmed, but it was what happened then that stunned me. Because of the delay, the ferry had come in several hours after it was supposed to, and I had missed the last bus to my hometown. It was late at night, and not knowing what else to do, I went to the information desk in the ferry terminal, explained my situation to the woman working there, and asked if she knew of any bed and breakfasts nearby where I could stay the night. She told me that there was a place around the corner where I could stay, and that the ferry company would pay for it, since it was their fault that I had missed my bus. She rang the place, and the man who worked there came to collect me and walked me round. I was astonished to find that where I was staying was a Christian hostel for seamen, called ‘Stella Maris’ which is Latin for ‘Star of the Sea’. Even on dry land, the sea was still looking after me!

I had a warm, comfortable bed to sleep in that night, a hot shower and a cooked breakfast in the morning, and the people who worked there couldn’t do enough for me; it was a lovely experience. What was more, by coincidence my mother was in that town that morning for a business meeting, and she picked me up and drove me to my university to register. After that experience, I knew that anything that I asked for, I would get… that I would always be looked after.

When I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma a year later, and spent 18 months receiving treatment, I absolutely knew in my heart that I would get well. I never let myself doubt it, I never let the fear take hold – I used to visualise myself being healthy and strong and doing all the things I wanted to. When I was lying in my hospital bed with nothing to do, I spent my time visualing white light melting my tumour into nothingness. I got well and have been all clear for almost 8 years now. The Law of Attraction saved my life.

I spent some time at cancer care centre following my treatment, and one of the workshops we did was about making plans for the future. We were told that the more specific we were the more success we would have. At the time I really wanted to move out of my parents house, so I pictured myself living in my own apartment. I wrote down a detailed description of what I wanted, and I even outlined what area of my town I would like to live in. I specified the street names, ‘Clarendon Street’ and ‘Lawrence Hill’. About a month afterwards, my father informed me that he had bought a luxury apartment in a new development as an investment, and he wanted me to move in and rent it. The apartment was in the exact area that I had wanted, it was even better than anything I had imagined, and the building was called ‘Lawrence House’ and the development ‘Clarendon Manor’!

Since watching The Secret, I have been trying to consciously use the law all the time, instead of now and again. I had been having some money problems, and was working recently with the affirmation, “I have more than enough money for everything I need.” My partner was going out the other night to get us some takeaway food, and I asked him to look in my purse for cash. I said that I didn’t know how much was there, and that he might need to take my card. He had no idea about my affirmation, but he turned round to me and said, “You have more than enough here for what we need.” This stuff scares me sometimes!

I know this is very long, but I would like to share some things that I have learnt about using this law. Number one is be extremely careful what you wish for, because you will get it, so you don’t want to attract something that isn’t right for you. Number two is that I have found that the less attached I am to a specific outcome, the quicker I get what I want. The more desperately I need something to happen, the more I push it away. Number three is that if I ask for something, and even for a moment, try to imagine how that might happen, then it doesn’t manifest for me. And finally, that the more I focus on simply feeling good and enjoying life, then the more I seem to attract the things I want with very little effort.