Is positive thinking the correct way to achieve good things through the Law of Attraction? We may have heard it. Think of good things, ignore your negative thoughts and emotions and you’ll soon reap a harvest of blessings and happiness. But is this the way it really works? If we could really just avoid the seemingly negative thoughts and emotions we encounter, then we’ll have no need to even summon this Law of Attraction. In fact, we’ll have no need of anything more because we’d have had everything we’ve ever wanted in the first place!

The reason why we want to reach for that star is because we are in the dark. The reason why we desire to be healed is because we feel sick within. If we can just “be” in the light in an instant, why wouldn’t we?

Yet for all of us here suffering the pull of the duality of light and darkness, of joy and suffering, of every ebb and tide of positive and negative things, we desire to know how we can get outside the tunnel of darkness into the light of joy and peace we’ve always desired.

In order to get to our desired end, we must have power to propel us. And this power is no other than our emotions in its purest forms.

What are these forms? One is happiness or joy. I believe this is what proponents of positive thinking meant to convey. In my own words however, I would like to rephrase this as “positive feeling”. One happiness builds up to another. When we are in a state of bliss, we can’t help but attract to us even more wonderful things, things beyond our wildest imaginings!

Yet we must remember that the pendulum is not frozen because it continues to swing back and forth. This is duality and the polarity of things. How then to surmount the challenge when the pendulum swings into the opposite direction after our moment of bliss?

The answer lies in transmutation.

We do not ignore what is actually there. We do not pretend that the pendulum has stopped. On the other hand, we accept what is. We embrace the ebb of negative feelings and then we transmute these into good.

When we are on the other side of the pendulum, we feel terrible. There is often a confusion of various emotions we cannot even understand or distinguish from one another. There may be anger, fear, despair, exasperation, exhaustion, loneliness. These are the emotions that need to be transmuted into its purest form.

In my own experience, this form is called grief.

Unlike anger, grief does not desire destruction. Unlike despair, it does not rob us of our hope. Grief simply tells us what is, at the present moment. Grief, like joy, allows us to be purified through our tears. Grief frees us and gives us power because it reminds us to ask what it is we truly desire.

Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. (Luke 6:20-21)

Jesus never said it is holy for us to remain in our poverty. He never said it is God’s will for us to remain in our hunger. But He did say that those who hunger shall be filled, and those who weep shall laugh again.

This is one of the gifts given to HSPs (highly sensitive persons), those who experience emotions in a more intense way than other people. In my previous article on HSPs, I’ve discussed how being an HSP can be viewed as a curse in view of the person’s difficulty in being susceptible to extreme emotions. However, this tendency is indeed a gift as well, if the person can steer his emotions into the purest forms of emotional power that can propel her to her heart’s desires.

Is there anything that’s been bothering you lately? Do you feel that you are so far away from the happiness that other people seem to possess?

Try to have a good cry. When you reach the purity of grief, joy is never too far away. When you understand what it is your heart is truly longing for, the answer to your desires are never too far on the way.

God is good. He gives us the means to achieve the fullness of life He intends for us to have here on earth. Whether we are happy or sad, whether we cry in joy or in pain, He is with us, guiding us to the fulfillment of His great plans.

… for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust…Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-45,48)

Additional Note as of 2010:

I've realized that even the above suggestions are sometimes insufficient to pull us through from the darkness where we are. We need God's Grace to do that. We need to know that we are not crying out in vain, but that Someone is listening as we cry. God is the ultimate transmuter of good, transforming all darkness into light if we let Him. Let us offer to Him therefore our griefs that He may turn them into JOY.