The Law of Attraction
Apparently the movie was released first, but I’ve read both the book and watched the movie — they’re basically the same thing, word for word. Well, when I was first introduced to the concept, it blew my mind. It convinced me of the power of the mind, which I still fully believe today.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Law of Attraction, it states that, in the simplest of explanations, what you think is what you get. So say you really want to get rich and all you think about is money, money, money. You’ll get rich and make a lot of money. But once you’re rich, if you start worrying about losing money, you’ll notice more bills and loss of moolah. Of course there are other factors that play a part in this process, but for the most part, that’s the idea.
Now, the other day I was watching a YouTube video of one girl’s channel I follow and the video title blared something like “HOW I LOST WEIGHT WITH MY MIND - NO DIET NO EXERCISE” and of course, me being a 24 y/o female, weight loss runs through my mind more than I’d like to admit. So she starts telling her audience about her weight gain/loss journey and how when her focus was on her appearance and losing weight, she kept gaining weight even though she spent hours and days in a gym while also keeping a strict diet. But then, a year or two ago, she decided to turn her attention towards stabilizing and improving her less-than-positive mental health which stemmed from her negative body consciousness. After hearing a podcast about a lady who toned her arms by just imagining toned arms and imagining doing arm workouts, she thought to give it a try. She ate what she wanted, exercised less than she should have, but long story a little shorter, this YouTuber lost weight by thinking positively about her body when she looked in the mirror every day.
I’ll say it again: I 100 percent believe in the power of the mind. What I am not sure of is the level to which we are allowed to use it, as Christians; or to what end we’re allowed to use it. God is all powerful, right? And He created us, right? And we were made in His image, right?? Then our minds are really powerful too, right?? God gave us such powerful tools so we should be allowed to use them, right????
I still don’t have a definite answer, but I can’t help but feel like using the power of our minds for trivial and superficial things like body composition probably isn’t what God intended. To be like Jesus, we should strive for our will to align with God the Father’s will, which is to love others and to live for others.
When Jesus was tempted to turn stones to bread in the desert, Jesus responded with, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Even though He had all the power to do exactly that — to turn the stones to bread — He denied Himself and delighted to do the will of God instead.
I can’t speak for everyone, but it does seem like a selfish act to use the most powerful God-given tool to get a thigh gap, a thinner waist, and toned arms. Instead, what would God use it for? The answer probably comes from examining Jesus’ life.
Shanna is a born and raised Californian who lived in New York from the Fall of 2018 to the Fall of 2019. She was a confused-about-her-future-24y/o but is now business woman in the making, with prayers for God’s will to become her's.