It’s time for another awesome reader question! Awesome Dudette asks: “How do you use the Law of Attraction to get rid of, say, B.O.? Or bad breath? Or even smelly feet?  And if you’re unlucky enough to have to work in a neighboring cubicle by “that guy”, how does one escape?” Brilliant question! And while the subject matter may seem a bit silly, much like the post on Yvonne the Cow, it will allow me to explain and illustrate some really important Law of Attraction principles. Because explaining LOA through weird and wonderful yet totally applicable examples is my specialty. You’re welcome.

If you are the stinky one

Does the subway clear out when you raise your arm to hold on to the rail? Has the CDC classified the stank emanating from your sneakers as a possible bio weapon? Do flies drop in mid air every time you yawn? Do your farts make your dog throw up? First of all, if this is you, know that I still love and accept you, but I reserve the right to do so from afar. Just saying.

I’m going to assume that if you have a problem of an odiferous nature, that you’re aware of it, and that you’d love to do something about it (as opposed to be proud of your stank and answering all the above questions with “Damn right!”) . In short, you’re stinky and sick of it. How can the Law of Attraction possibly help you?

Figure out what you want and line up with it

You know what you don’t want – to listen to your cat gagging melodramatically every time you take your shoes off, for example, and that has helped you to define what you do want: to smell good (or at least neutral), to feel comfortable in your own skin and around others. And when you focus on that, when you stop obsessing over the problem and start opening yourself up to the solution, the right solution for you will present itself.

Remember that manifestations will always show up in the way that’s easiest for you to allow and accept. So, instead of you waking up one morning, magically and miraculously stank-free, it’s probably much more likely that you’ll find a doctor, a treatment, a new kind of odor eater, a change in your diet, or a new deodorant that will finally rid you of your smelly aura. But you can’t find that solution while you’re still focused on the problem. You can use the technique I’ll be describing below to help with a funky co-worker, to help line up with the energy of being stank-free yourself.

If you’re being subjected to someone else’s stank

But what if you’re not the stinky one, but rather just being subjected to the odors of another? I actually have a certain amount of experience with this. In Europe, many offices aren’t air-conditioned, leading to some pretty sweltering conditions in the summer months. Add to that the fact that a large part of the population does not wear deodorant and you have a great chance of being slapped in the face by soupy air, thick with the odors of the unwashed. It’s not like everyone stinks, don’t get me wrong. But the chances of encountering an offending armpit are fairly great. It’s one of the reasons I don’t ride the subway (that, and it’s easier to pretend I’m in a chauffeur driven town car while in a taxi). So, I know whereof I speak.

Again, what’s important is figuring out what you want and then lining up with that. It can be difficult to ignore “reality” when it’s creeping up your nostrils, so this is best done at home or any time when you’re NOT being subjected to your malodorous colleague.

Figure out what you’re feeling

As always, you have to be aware that whatever is in your reality has been drawn to you by you. And your clue to figuring out why you would manifest a smelly co-worker is in how that experience makes you feel. Are you angry? Frustrated? Disgusted? What’s really going on here? Perhaps you have a belief that others can infringe on your comfort and that there’s nothing you can do about it. Maybe you think that the only way to solve this problem is to confront the stinky party and make them aware that the fire alarm that went off last week was not triggered by smoke, but their gaseous emissions, and that the cleaning lady’s real reason for retiring early was that the funk clinging to their workstation was giving her hallucinations. In other words, you may think that the only way to get resolution is to go and be a total bitch or bastard. And perhaps the prospect of that makes you really uncomfortable, so you feel trapped.

So, let’s say that your real issue is with confrontation. You want this issue to go away, but the only way you can think to do that is to hurt your colleague’s feelings, something you don’t want to do. Your belief that you have no other options will keep you stuck there, and has most likely caused this manifestation in the first place. It’s an opportunity to release this false belief.

You may think that what you really want is for your co-worker to stop funking up the office. But even that is you trying to control HOW you’re going to get what you REALLY want, which is for you to stop being subjected to your co-worker’s stank, preferably with no hurt feelings.

Leave the HOW to the Universe

Remember that it’s not your job to figure out HOW a problem will be solved. It’s up to you to line up with the solution. And in order to do that, you have to allow for the idea that the solution you want is actually possible. You have to believe that it is possible for you to stop smelling your co-worker, and for that to happen in a way that doesn’t force you to do something you don’t want to do (to have a confrontation that feels bad).

First, consider the idea that your co-worker could be transferred to another department. Or that they could simply move to another workstation. You could move or be transferred as well. They could be made aware of their funkitude by a family member or friend, causing them to adopt an improved and much more effective personal hygiene regimen. They could get a new lover who introduces them to the joys of soap. They could see a doctor who diagnoses a condition which caused their malodorous state and by treating that condition, the fog could be lifted. Another co-worker could find a way to let them know. Or, and yes, this is a possibility, you could be inspired to say just the right words that would make them aware of the issue without hurting their feelings. These are just some of the many, many possibilities that would solve the issue, while meeting your criteria of not hurting anyone’s feelings.

Again, it’s not your job to figure out the HOW. Your job is to simply line up with what you want.

How do you line up with the non-smelly version of them?

First of all, I’d like to reiterate that what you really want is for YOUR experience to be better, which isn’t the same as focusing on THEM making a change of some particular kind. You don’t necessarily need the smelly party to stop stinking in order for YOU to experience relief. Get clear on what you REALLY want.

Second, spend some time while you’re on your own, and not subjected to their stank, to line up with that vision. In this case, I’d highly recommend Writing a Letter to the Universe. (please read that post for a full explanation of this technique.)

Here’s an example:

Dear Universe,

[State the problem]

I have a problem. Bob, the guy who sits next to me at work, smells like a skunk who rolled around in fermented cheese and then went for a swim in a sewer filled with old people’s feet.

[State what you don’t want and what you’re afraid of]

I don’t want to have to confront Bob. Despite his personal force field made of stench, he’s actually a really nice guy and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. Also, I have no idea how I could even approach this subject without being a total bitch. I get so offended and irritated that I’m not sure I could even be nice about it at this point. I don’t want to hurt him. I just want it to stop.

[State what you want]

I want to be able to do my work in peace. I want to be able to come to work without dreading it. I want to get along with my co-workers and feel comfortable around them. I want to have a positive relationship with them. I want to be able to breathe easy when I’m at my desk. I want to know that no one can really infringe on my reality without my permission. I want to be Who I Really Am, a kind, compassionate, loving person. I want my working environment to be pleasant and safe and comfortable. I want to feel safe and comfortable. (Notice how you want to gravitate more and more toward how you want to feel).

Once you’ve written the letter, you’ll already feel better. You’ll have realized what you REALLY want, and also stated what you’re afraid of, soothing the fear that the solution you want may come at a price you’re not willing to pay. You’ve also spent just a few minutes describing what you want, starting the process of lining you up with that energy.

The solution may or may not include you

Next, take a few minutes each day and visualize yourself, happily at work, no intrusions, no distractions, joking and laughing with your colleagues. You are visualizing the absence of the problem – what your work environment would look and feel like if the problem was solved. Try not to put any restrictions on how that problem was solved – whether or not Bob is still working right next to you, or how the solution actually came about.  Just know that it did come about and it was comfortable for you.

If the manifestation of the solution involves any action on your part, you will be inspired to it. Circumstances will be created that will allow you to easily say or do whatever it was that you were supposed to, in order to make that solution happen. And it won’t be uncomfortable, confrontational or ugly. It’ll be easy and effortless and natural – inspired action always is. Again, you can’t be afraid of any part of the solution and still fully allow it to appear. This does take a certain amount of trust. This is where the letter technique comes in. By stating clearly what you don’t want and what you’re afraid of, it makes it easier to let go of those fears. It makes it easier to believe that the Universe knows what you don’t want and won’t include any part of that in the final solution.

Have you suffered from smelly co-workers? What about other kinds of pollution (like co-workers who are too loud, constantly negative, gossipy, etc.)? What did you do?

Also, if you’ve found this post helpful and/or entertaining, please do me a favor and share it on FaceTwitGoogleBook or whatever. Thank you!

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  • Hey 🙂

    A popular post would be if you did this for snoring. Women everywhere would love you!!! 🙂 Oh please. And other unwanted sounds.

    I had a funny story here, but backspaced as it pinpoints where I live. Let’s just say I have a noise war.
    A certain thing won’t stop happening. We even took away the thing. They found another thing.
    There’s always a thing. I hate that thing! LOL
    It penetrates all the walls and windows. They’re the unshushable! (seinfeild anyone?)

    For every answer you give to people there’s usually “line up with what you want”

    How do you do that?

    Imagine what we want? Isn’t that a quantum leap?

    What i want in this easy example is the persons’ thing to break and never be replaced or they get orders never to come back ever again.
    Or someone installs sound proofing into my apartment.

    Just like my questions on resistance.. the “solution” part isn’t gelling.

    What if what I want is answers or solutions or to know what I want.

    I need an important answer. What do I line up with? What do vague things feel like?

    “solutions”

    “inspiration”

    “answer to the problem”

    or on a silly topic

    How do you imagine “no snoring?” just imagine silence?

    • Hey Alice,

      The key, I’ve found, is to look for the essence of what you want. Remember that when you’re trying to change your vibration, that the details are not so good? So, if you are currently dying of noise pollution and you sit in the middle of that and you focus on “I want silence”, that’s probably only going to piss you off.

      There are different things you can do, but I’d do none of them while you’re hearing the noise. Instead, go off when it’s quiet and find your silent center. Focus on the peace you feel, the quiet and appreciate it. Do this for 10-15 minutes a day, and it won’t take long before you see a difference.

      Another thing you can do, and this is a bit harder but very powerful, is to accept the noise. Make peace with it. Stop hating it. Accept that in that very moment, there is nothing you can do about the noise. But you CAN stop hating it so much. You can relax and allow yourself to feel better. That, you can do. You don’t have to love it, but you can stop hating it. This will release a lot of resistance, as well, which, when coupled with the pre-paving I just told you about, will bring about changes quite quickly.

      I hope that helps.

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • nice one melody..

    please explain the steps to get rid of bad breath

    you have explained the solution to get rid of the smell of a co-worker but not our own smell…
    please explain that one too

    • Hi SS,

      The steps are essentially the same. Line up with what you want and then allow the solution to come to you.

      I would still recommend writing the letter. Just write down the problem:

      Dear Universe, I have horrible breath and I’ve tried everything, but I can’t seem to figure out how to fix it. (for example)

      Then write down what you’re afraid of:
      I’m afraid that I won’t find the answer and that I’ll be ostracized by people. I’m afraid I won’t fall in love, etc.

      Then write down what you want:
      I want to have fresh breath and to be able to talk to others with confidence. I don’t even want to have to think about it. I just want to be able to confidently talk to others, joke around and feel comfortable in social and intimate situations.

      Then, visualize that scenario and get into the feeling of it.

      Wait for solutions to occur to you. You’ll have an idea, read something on the internet, be told something by a friend… Stop focusing on the problem and focus on the solution. Then, the Universe can bring you that solution. 🙂

      I hope that was helpful.

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • Melody, your brilliance is in balancing a unique flare, humor, and real life LOA all in one fabulous package.

    Never in a million years would I have thought about using LOA with body odor. I have however, experienced stinky co-workers and kept miserably quiet not wanting to say anything and hoping it would fix itself.

    • Hey Aileen!

      Thanks so much for your kind words! 🙂

      It’s easy to forget that LOA works for everything. It’s how we create our realities. So, when you focus on the smelly co-worker, or push against them, suddenly you can’t seem to get away from the funkiness. But if you focus on feeling good, on your work and on how you want your experience to feel, they will diminish. Read Katy’s comment above for a perfect example of success.

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • I love your posts of LOA letter writing. I have a smelly relative that I can’t really say anything to. I’m going to follow your advice again and then I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks Melody!

    • Hey Betsy,

      That’s awesome! A case study! Yay! Just remember to be open to any resolution. It may involve action on your part and it may not. What’s important is how you feel. That’s it. 🙂

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • Great post Melody…as your thoughts and solutions can really be applied to many scenarios…not just the ‘smelly’ ones! lol Case in point – I work in what is pretty much my own ‘space’ or office…but am connected to office across the hall. They had 2 very loud office people…often in appropriate to clients and staff etc..but the Doc is non confrontational, so the drama continued daily! Well…it really bothered me for a while…as hey…’it infringed on my space’ (even if their door was closed, as they were that loud). However I moved my desk around…fancied up my ‘space’ one quiet day at work..and simply made my space more enjoyable. Over time I hardly heard their nonsense…and when I did…I just would go over and close their door…saying…”confidentiality reasons” etc lol Then they would notice and also close the door if they noticed it open etc. So it helped.

    Anyway…within the past 4 months…each of them were fired! Seems other staff and patients and staff had had enough..and what do you know? Peace and quiet reins again! 🙂 Yay!

    • That’s awesome Katy! By focusing on how you felt, you not only diminished the impact they had on your experience, but you lined up with them just gravitating right out of your reality. Make no mistake – YOU made that happen, chica! So proud of you!!! 🙂

      This is a perfect example of deliberate receiving. I may make you my poster child. Ha.

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • Melody, you crack me up! 🙂 I just love (besides your excellent perspective) your style of effortlessly putting your on the mark and funny words! Highly entertaining and chuckle causing.

    Have you ever thought of writing a book, I mean a novel?

    Love,

    Uli

    • Hey Uli!

      Thank you so much for your wonderful words. I’m all blushy now. 🙂

      I have, actually. I have an idea for a novel (or knowing how wordy I am, a series of novels), but it’s not quite done baking yet. And yes, it will be funny and spiritual and probably just a little bit sexy. But I have no idea when it will come out. All I know is, I had a vision of it one afternoon, and couldn’t stop laughing – a glimpse of things to come. 😀

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

      • You are very welcome, Melody! It sounds promising that you have something on your mind (I nearly wrote ‘in the oven’ …….. ;-)). Everything has its pregnancy and once it’s out, I’ll definately check it out. The incredients you mentioned are just right down my alley.

  • LOL, that’s great! However, i would like to extend the topic from B.O. to smokers and noisy people and i can tell you, i really don’t care whether or not i could hurt their feelings.

    One managed to choose exactly the spot in front of my window to have his cigarette break there, about once an hour. I didn’t get any support from the management — nobody felt responsible or able to do something about the problem although there’s plenty of free space around, so finally i had to help myself and i did so with a huge fan i mounted on a mobile pedestal. When the first stink was creeping into my open window i turned the fan on and blew it back out, also sprayed some Febreze. Took less than two weeks until the stinker kept off of my window.

    If confronted with smelly people, i usually hold a tissue to my nose. And again, why would i care about their feelings? Obviously they don’t care about my well–being either.

    • Hey Brian,

      It sounds like you found a way to solve the problem. 🙂

      I’m personally not worried about hurting other people’s feelings, but I’ve set an intention to find ways of resolving issues without having to do that. That just feels better to me. You know, when people get offended by BO or smoking or noise, there’s an assumption that the offending party KNOWS that they are bothering someone and is doing so on purpose.

      I was on a long haul plane trip a couple of months ago and had a wonderful conversation with the man next to me. We were not talking loudly, but it turned out that the acoustics of the plane were such that the people in the isle across from us could hear every word we were saying, even when we were whispering (we tested it. They could hear us even when we talked so low we could no longer understand each other). The way we found out was this: A woman from across the isle stood up, walked over and began to berate us angrily for being so rude. How dare we have a conversation. She was comically upset (comic to me). That’s when we figured out that there was no way to have a conversation without her hearing it. We were not trying to offend anyone and weren’t even aware that we were doing so, but this woman reacted from a place of believing that we were doing this specifically to her, and probably out of spite. It was quite interesting but really caused me to think of the perspective that we often have when others are bothering us. We rarely give them the benefit of the doubt, but if we did, we’d be a lot less upset. Other people aren’t nearly as aware of us as we like to think they are. 🙂

      My two cents. Ooh, that would make a good blog post too!

      Huge hugs (lovely smelling ones),

      Melody

  • Melody,

    New to your blog, and I love the post! There are some very helpful recommendations here, and I really like the part about visualizing your target or goal, and then manifesting the solution if it’s meant to happen with your involvement. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

    • Hey Victor,

      Welcome to Deliberate Receiving! It’s great to have you here. I like to use weird and wonderful real life situations to explain complex principles. Why make it serious when we don’t have to? 🙂

      Huge hugs!
      Melody

  • God I laughed so hard when reading that! I’ve had my fair-share of Stinky Petes, and although I have never had the intention to hurt their feelings, they normally get the message when they see me a) holding my breath in front of them while faking a smile b) looking the other way to cough / exhale large amounts of air / furiously huff and puff every time they speak c) turn my eyebrows into a shape that resembles McDonald’s golden-arches or d) consistently talking to them about Axe Deodorant’s new Extra-strong formula for those who smell like they just got off the football field and / or wrestled an elephant.

    Oh, and I love the Friends reference. Smelly cat, smelly cat…what are they feeding you. Ha!

    • Yeah… I suppose that you can get your message across that way, too, LOL. I still think that an open and compassionate conversation is the best way to go. Why hint at it strongly? Why not just confront the issues in a respectful way? I always think: “What if it was me? What if I have really bad breath and don’t know it?” I take all precautions, but I occasionally have garlic… Would I want my friends to cough and wheeze and hold their breath, or just tell me so I can take care of it?

      I was not aware of the Elephant wrestling strength Axe but I will look for it, in case I need to make a recommendation. When I first moved to Europe, I wasn’t quite as, um, zen, as I am now. The department stores in the summer were a shock. Not air conditioned (they are mostly now, although not like in the US, which I actually prefer now, since I don’t like to freeze) and the BO was just ripe. I often fantasized about walking through the masses with a spray can of deodorant and just spritzing people, perhaps pretending to be one of those perfume sales people. Kshh! Kshh! Some for you! Kshh! Kshh! And a bit for you, stinky poo. All while singing the smelly cat song… you know, compassionately. 😀

      Huge, lovely smelling, freshly showered hugs,

      Melody

      • Oh-ho, believe me…I’ve tried the ‘compassionate’ way gig…and it ended with me looking like the douchebag instead. But you’re right, I’d always prefer the more compassionate way. I must have had some false belief that made me think that openly communicating would backfire, and it did. I guess that’s something I’d have to work on…

        Did Europe have a reason for not turning on the AC in the summer? I’m sure you’re not the only victim of Smellosaurus, so how come nobody took notice? Oh, and I’ve had the “deodorant salesperson” fantasy as well. Only I’d look like a superhero. Doomsday gas-mask, hockey pads, and a bazooka filled with air-freshener.

        Huge High-fives,

        • Exactly Derrek. Remember that Who You Really Are and Who They Really Are have the perfect solution to the “problem” – one that reflects their high vibration. If you’re not aligned with that resolution, it’s only because of some limiting beliefs you have.

          You know, it’s just a cultural thing. Europeans, as a whole, are not in love with air conditioning. And I have to say that I prefer that for the most part. When I go to the US, I find it ridiculous that the AC is blasting at freezing temperatures when it would be so much more pleasant to open a window. I like fresh air. It’s not just AC, it’s super AC, and I have to carry a sweater to put on every time I go inside. Not being used to it, my airways get dry, sometimes my nose even bleeds, my skin get all papery… I much prefer to keep AC for extreme temperatures and go with natural air instead (I do have a couple of fans in my home, for when it gets really hot. But I don’t have AC and I’ve never missed it.) The only time it really bugs me is when I’m clothes shopping in the summer here. Clothing stores should be kept cold so that you don’t get all sweaty when you try on clothes. On the other hand, I could simply manifest a bit more money and fly to the US to do my summer shopping… 😛

          Jazz hands! (Also huge. Not the hands. I don’t have manhands or anything. The gesture is huge. Tadaaaaaaa!)

          Melody

  • Hey Awesome Melody,

    This is wanted big time… Thanks for sharing it… This will work for me as a refresher of basics of LOA and getting a much better work place 🙂

    Hug Hugs & Love,
    Sameer

  • This is great stuff, Melody! I love the playful way in which the Universe brings you wonderful opportunities to help illuminate the rest of us.

    I also appreciate the soft and playful tone you use in dealing with these potentially confusing or difficult concepts. It makes it a joy to read and makes me smile as I think about how I apply these principles to my own life.

    • Hey Steve!

      Thanks so much. I’ve been writing about some heavy topics of late (and trying to keep them light), I thought it might be time for a lighter one. I think concepts are more easily understood when we use the absurdity of everyday life to illustrate them. Plus, I just thought it was funny. 😀

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Huge hugs,
      Melody

  • Hi Melody,

    As you say, sometimes the seemingly frivolous topics let us think about deeper stuff. Hmmm….

    My strongest experience with BO was while working with immigrant students in Canada. Notions of hygiene vary around the world, to put it mildly. Our solution was to depersonalize the issue by talking with new students in groups. We put it in terms of adapting to a different culture, and introduced them to “Canadian” personal products. Mostly it worked.

    An aspect of the deeper issue here is the question of the intersection of our emotions with those of others. Having BO is a great example, because the issue so personal that it evokes deep emotions, perhaps fear of rejection or inadequacy. Taking excellent care of yourself is a high vibration thing, so someone who doesn’t take that good care is probably in need of a vibrational boost.

    You often counsel lifting our own vibration to a level where we just don’t notice distractions. I think that’s good advice here. For example, if you’re focused on running a complicated meeting, you probably don’t even notice if someone has BO. You certainly don’t let the meeting get sidetracked. And you can do the same thing sitting in your cubicle. If you can’t, maybe the real issue is your own boredom!

    A side benefit of staying at a high vibration is that you’ll automatically lift everybody around you. No effort involved – it just happens. And that higher vibration just might prompt the co-worker to buy mouthwash on the way home.

    Thanks for another thought provoking post, Melody! Happy Sunday hugs,

    Mary Carol

    • Hey Mary Carol,

      You make some awesome points, as usual. One of the keys for me is to not judge the other person. Yes, they smell. And the smell might be disgusting. But that doesn’t make the person disgusting. And we still brought the experience that we’re having into our own reality.

      I was in a bar the other day with some friends. One guy kept complaining about little things. The AC wasn’t high enough. The WIFI didn’t work (it wasn’t that bar’s WIFI). And then that the TV was too loud. I was quite comfortable, didn’t care about the WIFI (I was having a conversation. Why would I be surfing the net when there’s people to talk to?) and hadn’t even noticed the TV volume. And even when he mentioned it, I decided not to notice it. And I didn’t. I wasn’t even aware of the details that were ruining his night. It was awesome. I also wasn’t bothered by his being bothered. And you’re totally right: after a little while, he was having a good time, too. He couldn’t stay in his miserable place and sit at the same table as me, as long as I stayed in my happy place. 🙂

      Huge minty puppy hugs!
      Melody

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