One of my most popular posts last year was The Vibrational Ladder – How To Feel Better In 4 Simple Steps. I’ve gotten tons of emails on this post and have referred to it many times since, both in blog posts and in my email correspondence with readers. But while this technique is pretty incredible and can lead to amazing changes, there are times when it doesn’t seem to work. Sometimes, people sit down intending to feel better, but simply can’t seem to budge from where they are. Are they doing something wrong? Are there issues that can’t be shifted with the Vibrational Ladder? Are there people who simply won’t respond to this technique? What can you do if the Vibrational Ladder simply doesn’t seem to be working for you?

Not all techniques work for everyone

First of all, everyone is different. Just as not all students will respond to the same teacher, not all women will be attracted to the same man (not even George Clooney. Sorry George.), not everyone loves puppies (haters), not every energy shifting technique is going to resonate with every person. So yes, there are individuals who will not respond to this technique, not because there’s something wrong with them (unless they hate puppies) or the technique, but simply because they resonate more with something else. No big whoop. But, for the sake of this explanation, I’m going to assume that the person who couldn’t shift their vibration to a better feeling place using the Vibrational Ladder, tried it in the first place because they DID resonate with it.

When the Vibrational Ladder doesn’t work for you, it’s generally due to one of two issues:

Too far, too fast

You’re trying to move from the bottom of the ladder to the top, without shifting incrementally. This is called a Quantum Jump and as a general rule, I don’t recommend them, even though I’ve made several myself (click on the links to find out why this does NOT make me a hypocrite).

An example of this issue would be if you’re broke and feeling hopeless about money, and you sat yourself down and started chanting “I’m financially free. Money comes to me easily any time I want.” While you can say those words, you don’t actually have access to the vibration of those thoughts from where you are (“I’m broke”) and trying to reach for them is going to cause a major backlash. You won’t be able to shift to those thoughts and will therefore stay exactly where you are, only now, as well as feeling broke, you’ll also feel like a failure. Nice.

The solution to this issue is simple: Move incrementally. Don’t try to reach for a thought that feels good. Reach for a thought that feels better. So, if you’re currently thinking “I’m broke”, the next thought you CAN reach might be “I am not homeless or starving. I have enough to survive.” Now, while this thought is nowhere near “I’m financially free”, it represents some movement in the right direction and, just as important, it’s reachable. Stop trying to jump from the bottom rung to the top already (*slappity slap slap*), and be willing to move incrementally to the next best feeling thought you can get a hold of. Do this and you’ll work your way up that ladder, rung by rung. Successfully.

Your current vibration has you in its grip

The second reason that the Vibrational Ladder may not be working for you is because the energy of your current pattern of thought is just too big. When you focus on a thought, you activate the energy of it and the law of attraction gathers more energy like it. In short, whatever you focus on grows. This makes the thought you’re focusing on easier and easier to think. When you’ve spent a great deal of time focusing and obsessing over a particular viewpoint, it can grow so big that it’s like a planet with its own orbit. When you try to shift your vibration, it’s like you’re trying to break free from that gravitational pull. The thoughts you’ve been thinking are so practiced (“I’m broke. I’m broke. I’m broke”), that any attempt to move to a different thought can seem futile. You just get sucked right back into that practiced paradigm.

These types of beliefs are the big issues (mega beliefs) – stuff that’s been with you for a long time (sometimes for generations). The mere mention of this type of subject will set you off on a rant that can last for hours. It’s easy for you to find lots and lots of examples that support your point of view, because over the years, you’ll have manifested gobs of evidence that “proves” that belief to be true. If you suffer from lifelong weight issues, physical illness, persistent (and unwanted) singledom or any other condition that seems to have been with you forever and can’t be budged, chances are you’ve been giving A LOT of energy to a limiting belief over the years.

So, what do you do if you’re stuck in your current belief?

Back off

You may be getting déjà vu at this point. Yep, I’ve talked about this before (same damn principles, different topic…). When you’re stuck where you are, you need to back off of the subject for a little bit and just focus on generally feeling good.

Why? Let’s say that all vibration can be measured on a scale of 1 to 100. Your current belief about money is at a 3. You feel totally broke, your entire family has always been broke and you can’t even imagine not feeling utterly and completely broke. If money were the sun, you’d be a vampire. And not the cool daywalker kind from Blade. The From Dusk Till Dawn kind that explode in sunlight. If money were a single man, you’d be a drunk, toothless, 39 year old, desperate chick, with one remaining ovary threatening to dry up, grasping his arm in a death grip, screaming “Make me a baby!!!!” I think you get the picture.

So, your money vibration is stuck at a 3 and no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to shift that energy the teensiest bit. Even a 4 is unreachable for you. But when you back off of your “problem” vibration and move to another subject that already makes you feel better, you raise your vibration. Your money vibration may be at a 3, but your adorable nephew/puppy/funny movie/happy hubby/eating ice cream in the nude vibration may be at an 85. When you focus on a subject that you already feel good about, you raise your vibration to that level. You cannot do that while focusing on money, though. You have to forget about that subject for a little bit. And once you’ve achieved a higher vibration, it will be much easier for you to find better feeling thoughts on ANY subject.

Get a really long hook

In order to shift a belief using any technique, you have to connect with the frequency of that belief and “pull it up” from there (at least that has been my experience.) There’s no point denying how you feel about money. Your money vibration is at a three. So this is where you have to start.  But how do you do that when the energy of what you’re trying to shift has become like a black hole, without getting sucked in?

If you wanted to pull something out of the middle of a raging fire, you wouldn’t just stick your hand in there and grab a hold of it. You’d use some kind of tool to do the job for you without getting too close. That’s what we’re going to use – a hook. We want to get a hold of the energy of the subject we’re trying to shift, while keeping our distance. And the way to do that is to get really, really general. When you talk about a subject generally, but while matching the feeling of your current belief about that subject, you activate that vibration enough to shift it, without getting sucked in by it. Then, while keeping that distance, you can work your way up the ladder until you’ve moved it to a better feeling place.

Let’s look at an example

Your current belief about money: “I’m broke. I’ve always been broke. I’ll always be broke. I can’t pay my rent of $1500. My car is crap. I can’t afford to buy XYZ. My car payment is $400/month. I only earn $25.000/year. No one is hiring contractors right now.” – Notice how specific these statements are. When you’re bitching about something you hate, you tend to really get into the details of it.

Back off and go play with puppies or something until you feel well and truly better. Now, from this much higher vibration, come back to work on this subject.

You’ll want to focus on the subject of money and connect with the feeling of where your current vibration is, while keeping your distance. This means that you’ll want to take those specific statements and make them really general.

• “I wish I had more money.”  – Notice that there is no actual amount involved. It’s more general.
• “I have a lot of bills.” – You’re not listing them.
• “I’d love to get a better job, but I’m afraid that I can’t in this economy.” – Again, there’s no mention of the actual job or industry.

Ok, at this point, you won’t feel all that great. These statements are still quite negative, but general enough so that you should be able to affect a bit of movement. Now, try to make statements that are incrementally more positive, but still very general:

• “Things could be a lot worse. I’m not homeless and I do have food to eat. At least I have a job. There are a lot of people out there who are much worse off than I am.” – This statement isn’t exactly positive, but it gives a little perspective. Things aren’t as bad as they could be.
• “The quality of my life isn’t actually that bad. I have friends, an awesome dog, a wonderful wife…” – You’re focusing on ways in which your life is going well, that aren’t tied to your income.
• “I don’t have to figure this out all at once. I don’t have to have all the solutions to this problem right now. I know that I can figure out a way to fix this in time. I’ve found solutions to lots of things in the past. Like X, Y, Z.” – You’re taking some of the pressure off now. At this point, you’ll start to feel a bit better already.
• “I may not be able to affect my financial situation right this second, but I can affect the way I feel. I’m feeling a bit better already.” – This is giving you a sense of control. You’re not powerless here. There is something you can do.
• “I have been able to afford some nice things. I have a TV, a place to live, heating so I don’t get cold, a car…” – Now that you feel a bit better, you can start to zero in on the subject of money more specifically. Focusing on what’s going well in your life in terms of finances would’ve been impossible for you before, but these thoughts are now reachable. And they feel a lot better.
• “There are some jobs out there. People are still building stuff and giving out contracts. So it’s not true that there are no jobs.” – You’re feeling some hope now. Solutions do exist, even if you’re not yet sure how to access them.
• “Who says that I can’t get a couple of those contracts? If others can do it, maybe so can I?” – You know that solutions exist and you’re going to start looking for them. This is a far cry from where you started.

If at any point during this process you find yourself sliding into a bitching session full of specific details, back off, and get more general. If you can’t seem to do that, go play with puppies again until you’ve successfully raised your vibration and try again. Keep in mind that I’ve greatly simplified the amount of statements and  time it will take to shift such a large amount of energy. Sometimes, you can go days or even weeks between rungs of the ladder. In very severe cases, it can take months. Shift as quickly or as slowly as you need to. If you find yourself wanting to run screaming from the room, you’re pushing yourself too hard. Moving up the ladder successfully feels like relief not panic. Pushing yourself into territory that you’re not willing to go into will not make this process easier and will only create a backlash.

Was this explanation helpful to you? Are you or have you gotten stuck in one of these megabeliefs in the past? How did you address it? Share in the comments!