If you’ve been on this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a big proponent of practicing non-judgment. The Universe and Who We Really Are, never judges us or sees us as “wrong” or “broken”. No actions are “evil”. There is simply that which serves us and that which doesn’t. This, or rather the misinterpretation of this principle, is one of the main reasons that many consider LOA to be a selfish and even sociopathic belief system. Nothing could actually be further from the truth, and answering this question will allow me to further explore and explain the concept of non-judgment.
So, if there is no big entity somewhere judging us, if everything is truly ok in the Universe’s (or God’s or our Higher Self’s, etc.) eyes, then is it “ok” to steal?
Stealing is not manifesting
First things first. Almost every one of the versions of this question that I have been sent (and there have been several), asked if it was ok to “manifest” by stealing. So, before I go any further, I’d like to explain that stealing is not manifesting, at least not in the way we want to deliberately practice it.
That’s like saying that you manifested a resolution to an argument by bashing your opponents’ head in. Sure, you can do it that way, but given what it is that you REALLY wanted to accomplish, it may not have been the BEST option.
True manifesting is lining up your energy with what you really want and then allowing the Universe to bring all the components together perfectly to make it happen. And when you allow this process to take place, when you simply open yourself up to receiving what you want, and being inspired to any action that you may need to take, you never have to take anything away from anyone and you never have to hurt anyone.
When you align with Who You Really Are, your manifestations will never have negative consequences for anyone.
What causes people to steal
No one just wakes up one day and decides to be a thief. This is an action and a mindset that results from a whole host of limiting beliefs. Stealing is a way to make something happen that one doesn’t believe will happen any other way. Again, it’s the equivalent of resolving an argument with violence. The basis of this kind of behavior is fear and powerlessness.
Think about it: Under what circumstances might you be motivated to steal something? And I don’t mean what kind of justification might you have to come up with to make it easier for yourself – that’s just the mind justifying the action. I mean, under what circumstances would you actually feel compelled to take something that isn’t yours?
The Reptilian Brain
Well, I’m guessing that pretty much everyone would steal food if they were starving. While extreme, this is an example that we can all understand and relate to. If you and your family were starving to death, and there was a loaf of bread sitting on a shelf by the door of the supermarket, you wouldn’t hesitate for very long. You wouldn’t really have a choice – your hunger and fear of death would compel you take the food. Your survival mechanism would step in to protect you from death. This is the reptilian brain – the oldest part of our brains and the part of our noggins responsible for basic survival. And while our actual survival is rarely threatened these days, the reptilian brain gets a lot more involved in our everyday lives than we like to think.
This part of our brains makes no decisions or judgments. It doesn’t evaluate or weigh evidence. It’s like a machine, running a very basic program of survival and it sees EVERYTHING in terms of this program. When it considers something a threat, it has no way of determining if that threat is big or small (that comes from the higher brain functions). If the reptilian brain considers something to be dangerous, it sees it as a threat to your life and reacts accordingly.
This is the most animalistic part of our brains and as much as we like to think of ourselves as evolved, intelligent, cognitive beings, when it comes right down to it, we’re a lot more primal than we may realize. And at no time is this more apparent than when we feel threatened or in danger.
Activating the reptilian brain
When we have a fear or limiting belief, and this fear gets triggered, it can actually cause the reptilian brain to think that our life is in danger. It will cause us to act in ways that are designed to mitigate that danger. If you get hungry enough, you’ll eat anything. Your cognitive abilities will eventually shut down to the point where you are nothing but instinct. You won’t even be aware of what you’re doing anymore. You’ll kill for food. It doesn’t matter how evolved you are, if sufficiently threatened, your animal nature will step in to protect you and keep you alive. The motivation and drive for these actions come from the reptilian brain and it has the power to override all the other, much bigger and more evolved parts of our brains when it has to. This is generally a good thing, and has been crucial to the survival of our species.
The problem is that, in our current times, our lives aren’t really threatened all that often. The issues we face today have much less to do with hunting and protecting ourselves against saber toothed tigers, and much more to do with budget reports and arguments with our spouse. And yet, when we feel threatened in any way, that reptilian brain jumps in to protect us. Willpower, determination and discipline can’t stop it. Neither can the threat of negative consequences. When you are starving, you no longer care if you could get in trouble for stealing the bread. You just want to live.
How this relates to stealing non-essentials
So, we’re all in agreement that if we were starving, we would totally steal some food. But how does that relate to people who are stealing lipstick and designer shoes, or those who plunder millions from retirement accounts? The underlying principles are exactly the same, just on a different scale.
Stealing usually occurs when the individual (the thief) has a combination of the following beliefs (highly simplified for the sake of explanation. Real life is always messier):
Scarcity – a belief that there’s a limited supply of everything. In order for one person to get something, another must give it up. In order for one person to win, another must lose.
Powerlessness – a belief or set of beliefs that states that the individual does not have the power to get what he really wants.
A strong desire – the individual must have a strong desire for something – so strong that the reptilian brain equates it with survival.
Notice that I never mention morality or ethics here. Those come into play when you judge why certain actions are right or wrong and when people try to justify why an action might move from one side of that line to the other. The Universe doesn’t judge. Period.
For example, if you justified your compulsion to steal by saying that you only steal from large companies but never single individuals, that would be the mind coming up with ways to feel less guilty about the action. But the compulsion was there first. Taking it back to the basics, if you were starving enough, you wouldn’t care whose bread it was that you were taking. Thoughts of guilt might come in later, but in that very moment, you wouldn’t give it a second thought. Because when the reptilian brain takes over, thought no longer comes into play.
So, now you have an individual who has a strong desire for something, which the reptilian brain interprets as necessary for survival (that happens a lot more than you think). You couple that with the belief that the individual cannot get this thing he thinks he needs, and the belief that the only way to get anything is to find a way to take it from others. Stir that pot long enough and a thief is born – a person who, when presented with the opportunity, will take over the Universe’s job of manifesting what they want and try to just make it happen.
And in so doing, they will perpetuate the energy of scarcity and powerlessness within themselves (by reacting from a place of fear, you add to the fear) and by spreading it to others (nothing will trigger beliefs of powerlessness more strongly than being victimized). And while the victim had to be a vibrational match to the experience that being robbed provided, it goes to show that when both sides (victim and perpetrator) blindly react from their place of powerlessness, they simply keep adding to that energy, keeping themselves stuck in this cycle.
A better option
So yes, you can get what you want by just taking it from others, and the Universe will not judge you (you won’t go to hell for it), but given that what you really want (in this example) is to feel abundant and powerful, is it really the best way to go about getting that? Stealing perpetuates the energy of what you DON’T want. This is why thieves never just steal once. The high (feeling of empowerment) from the theft wears off and then they steal again, even when they clearly no longer “need” to. And when focused upon long enough, the energy that led to the compulsion to steal in the first place can become enormous (think Bernie Madoff).
So, while stealing can lead to short term satisfaction, it will never lead to long term happiness and fulfillment. NOT because it’s morally wrong, but simply because the very act of stealing is caused by a focus on the vibration of what we DON’T want, continuously perpetuating the energy of that and keeping us from moving towards Who We Really Are and what we want.
The solution
When a child steals, it’s often enough to threaten them with consequences to get them to stop, especially when they were just testing boundaries. But if the powerlessness is large enough and the desire strong enough, no amount of lecturing and even physical punishments will work. Neither will imprisonment. Most people who steal and get sent to jail will steal again when they get out (often having become more efficient thieves in the process). This is because we are trying to use logic and reasoning to shut down an action that was compelled by the reptilian brain. It doesn’t work.
Our true options for stopping this compulsion are:
- Deactivate the reptilian brain. This isn’t an option, since it would lead to death. Promptly.
- Shut down the desire, therefore stopping the reason for the stealing. This also isn’t really an option, since you can’t shut down a desire once it’s formed.
- Break the link between the desire and the idea of survival. Good luck with that. In order to break this link, you’ll need to find a way to make the desire unimportant (since the reptilian brain only has two speeds – necessary or not necessary). And although this is possible, it’s still the hard way to go about it, since it it’s very difficult to make something that’s really important to you unimportant. However, you can –
- Release the core beliefs of scarcity and powerlessness, to disarm the triggers. This is a really viable option, but very hard to do WHILE being triggered, especially when the beliefs are big and old. Which is why I recommend the following:
- Figure out what’s behind the desire and discover other options to get THAT. No one really wants money. We always want money because we think we can use it to get something else. And so, while the (not too bright) reptilian brain may think “Must get money to survive”, what we really want is to feel powerful, or abundant, or safe. If we can discover what our true motivation is, we can disarm a lot of the triggers of our fears. We may have tons of beliefs of scarcity around money, for example, but we may have no such barriers to the core feeling of abundance. When we focus on the core of what it is that we really want, we begin to see options available to us that have nothing to do with money or stealing.
So, is it wrong to steal?
No. It’s not wrong to steal. Nothing is wrong. There is that which serves us and that which doesn’t serve us. Stealing, while possibly satisfying in the moment, doesn’t serve us. It keeps us stuck in powerlessness and scarcity, perpetuating that energy and making it grow bigger. It’s like a drug addict having to take more and more drugs to get the same rush. Thieves often need bigger and bigger scores to get the same amount of relief. When someone becomes self-aware enough, stealing is no longer a viable option – again, not because it’s wrong, but simply because it doesn’t get us where we want to go.
What do you think? Has this post helped you to understand the concept of non-judgment a bit better? Do you have a different view of those who steal? I know that many of you are going to have a lot to say about this topic, so go on. Let’s have it. 🙂
Hey, I just saw something hilarious!
A car got towed away and I was thinking if people could steal cars with tow trucks? Then I was thinking that I just stood there as someone stole a huge car with a tow truck.
I looked this up and there were so many funny stories.
One involved a guy who had his car towed and simply strode into the impound and “stole” back his own car instead of paying the fine.
What category does that fall under? ha-ha-ha! I can imagine that’s what I’d do-just take my car back.
Hey Kane,
I would imagine that the person who took his car back didn’t believe that the city had a right to take it in the first place and believed it to the degree that he was able to just take it back.
I’ve met people like that – they somehow just always landed on their feet in the weirdest and most wonderful ways. Law breakers who avoided detection against all odds, stories that just blew my mind. I find that so fascinating. These are people whose beliefs are stronger than those of the masses around them. They just actively defy conventional reality. I love it! (Just to be clear, I said law breakers not criminals. We all break the law, there’s no way not to anymore. These weren’t people who hurt others. I wasn’t cheering on a murdered who got away with it or anything like that.).
Personally, I’ve never been that brazen. Maybe I’ll spend some time imagining myself to be. It could come in handy one day… 🙂
Huge hugs!
Melody
So, Melody, even the mass shooting yesterday was not “evil”. Just someone so far from his inner being, and even farther from Source, and perhaps hurting to such a degree to perform such an act to give him some power, i.e., anything he can muster. People want to bring the death penalty in to take care of such “scum”, as they call them, but I know that that would be the answer to this person’s pain. I remember an old movie with Judd Nelson, where his character led to cops to kill him for that very reason, he wanted to be free. Anyway, same concept. Just thought I’d bring this up as it is relevant to this topic and conversation.
Hey Kat,
I agree with you on principle. I haven’t heard of this event, so I can’t comment on the specifics. But when people act out in such a way, it never happens in a vacuum and it’s ALWAYS from a place of tremendous pain. And yes, the death penalty would actually be a release.
I wrote a post a while back on why anyone ever hurts someone else. You can read it here: http://www.deliberateblog.com/2012/05/17/does-the-law-of-attraction-give-people-permission-to-hurt-others/
I’m also planning another post on the penal system and the beliefs that have created it (that will be one of those big, epic ones) and will do my best to offer an alternative from an energetic point of view.
Huge hugs!
Melody
Hi Melody,
I too had not heard about this event until John Cali mentioned it and wrote a blog around it, so I listened to the news to find out what he was actually talking about. What struck me most was that this was not some messed up kid but a young man from a loving home (as far as outsiders can judge anyway) and he had graduated university at the top of his class in some medical specialization. And not only had he killed twelve people by shooting them and wounded numerous others, yesterday they were clearing out his home where he still had many rockets and the place was rigged with bombs to let the place go up sky high. And very efficiently because he was very intelligent.
When even someone in this position is in such unmanagable pain that he cannot see anything else to do than to take revenge on never mind whom at such a scale, it really says much about the state of the world we live in. I think we must be very near the turning point right now or we would really destroy ourselves and I do not believe we will. Too many people are waking up every day. We just see all the hurts that have been hidden all the time come up to the surface in these days in order to be transformed. So we might also look at this at the birthing pains of a new world being born.
Love,
Anny
Absolutely Anny. Things are getting better and better and worse and worse at the same time. As the energy is rising, the pressure on those who are holding on to lower vibrations is getting bigger and the pain is getting worse. Sooner or later, they’ll have to let go. It’s like the global version of a person who creates so much pain in their life that they have no choice but to give up and finally shift.
But of course, we each also get our own say in what experience we have. So we don’t have to experience the painful but. We can just ride the high energy wave, if we like, or anything in between.
The world is waking up. Some are having a harder time than others, but it’s happening. 🙂
Huge hugs!
Melody
Hi Melody,
I would like to ask a question about the word wrong. What exactly do we mean by it? In the sense you use it here it contains a moral judgment. And in that sense I am in complete agreement. But wrong in itself does not always have that meaning.
When somebody takes the wrong exit from the highway, for instance. There is nothing morally or even factually wrong about that exit. The only thing is, this way does not bring him where he wants to go, at least not by the most direct route. And is that not exactly what you say about stealing? There is no judgment involved but it is not the optimal way to get what you want to get. In this way you could say that stealing is wrong.
And if we stay with the example of the wrong exit, what if (I love what if) on this longer road you happen to meet someone you were trying to get hold of for a long time already, or you drive past the perfect house that you always wanted and guess what it is for sale! Or this particular road leads you through a patch of nature which you sorely needed but never took the time for? Who says it might not be the same about stealing. Even if it is wrong (in the non-moral sense), in the end it could result in something that is right, as in the case I told you about, about the priest who caught a child stealing and started a children’s home for abandoned children which in turn turned into eight children’s homes which take care of over 3000 children. Not that I encourage anyone to go and start stealing now! A smiley would be in place here, but me being me I lost the link you sent me before I could even try. To tell the truth here, I am not really the type to use these things though I certainly appreciate seeing them.
Love,
Anny
Hey Anny,
Great question. Nothing is morally wrong, in the sense that “morally wrong” doesn’t actually exist. Since there is no judgement, nothing is judged to be wrong. That’s a human concept and one that’s caused a lot of pain.
You bring up an interesting point – even when we take a “wrong” turn, when we do something that takes us away from what we want, we ultimately are still moving toward what we want. There will always be opportunity in everything we do. So, even if we take a detour, that detour will lead us to where we want to go.
I would say in the case of the priest, the child may have stolen, but no one was hurt by it because he was caught. So could stealing be inspired? Yes. Could getting caught be the best thing that ever happened to someone? Yes. Could you lead a life of pain and sorrow and ultimately still find your way to where you want to go? Well, yes. You can’t NOT find your way there. You just determine how bumpy the ride is.
Is it ever possible to really judge someone’s journey, given all these variables? Nope. 🙂
Extra smileys for you: 😆 😆 😆
Hugs!
Melody
Hi Melody,
I totally agree. Right and wrong, good and bad, etc. are all tools of duality in order to help us to distinguish things and as such to experience all things we want to experience. But now that we are starting to see the relativity of all these terms and as such bring a balance into our lives we are obviously heading back to a world of unity in diversity.
Love,
Anny
Yes, Melody, that explains a lot. Don’t even get me started about some companies and government agencies. In government, some positions are deliberately filled by choosing the candidate who has the least power, this is a fact. Crazy, but serves a purpose to the powerless people running things there.
LOA has steered me clear of such situations, but I sure have learned from them!
The whole time I was reading this article I was thinking about a news story I saw the other night. (I don’t usually watch the news but a couple nights ago I let myself get sucked in.)
There was a story about a woman who went to a Walmart and stole a pack of diapers. My heart went out to her. She had been seen and chased across the parking lot on foot. The officer’s or guards chasing her ripped her shirt off trying to get a grip on her and I thought, “Geez, just let her go home and diaper her kid for Pete’s sake.”
I also have a question. When someone steals from someone the one being stolen from is vibrating at a level to ‘attract’ that. So does that ring true for corporations (Walmart is mega-gi-normous) when they’re being stolen from? Or is it the building? Or is it the employees that are working there? or, or, or?
Hi Laura,
That’s a cool question! I also have the same desire to reply to and interact with the other commenters on this website. But then think “am I interrupting, arr just go for it!” 🙂
Yeah, I don’t like those stories either. It reminds me of this woman:
http://youtu.be/KgOFuRwVJD8
She’s not the most eloquent of speakers but she’s obviously hungry and shouldn’t be a source of ridicule.
Alice,
Thanks for the video. I like your input.
Though I am not able to watch the entire thing, the woman is most likely some kind of addict, or perhaps schizoid, can’t tell exctly. Regardless, she does have an excellent point about the fact that society is indeed very wasteful and foodstuffs not eaten should be donated. People take things for granted and should instead be in gratitude throughout their waking lives, as LOA teaches us.
Wow. I had to shut the video off after a few seconds. But I saw enough, really. This is a very powerless woman, which is where the intense anger comes from.
And I agree that she has a great point – why stop someone who is hungry from eating food that has been thrown out? I never got that. When I managed a restaurant in San Francisco, I routinely took our leftovers (which were still perfectly find, but could not be sold the next day) to the homeless on my way home. I would not allow anyone to come in and beg from the customers, but I often quietly gave someone a bowl of soup to eat in the back.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind preferring to throw something out rather than donating it. However, I don’t blame the employee. This is a person who is following rules that they often don’t agree with and who mostly likely feels almost as powerless as this woman. That’s why they reacted they way they did.
When people staunchly and angrily enforce rules, it’s usually because they feel powerless themselves. It’s easier to get angry at the person in front of you, the one challenging the rule, than to challenge a huge, unyielding system.
And to answer your question Kat – companies have a vibration, yes. A very complex one made up of all the people who manage it, work there AND those who focus upon it. And I can tell you that the executives themselves have a certain expectation that there will be theft. Add to that a dictatorial and exploitative management style and you get a whole lot of powerlessness that attracts other powerless people. So, not only do customers steal, but employees as well. A whole lot of people all trying to get away with whatever they can, because it’s the only way (that they know of) that they can feel an power at all.
And because most people are totally reactive, spending any time in that environment just makes them feel worse and worse, perpetuating the cycle. The wonderful thing is that the opposite is also possible. I’ve worked in both kinds of environments and let me tell you, amazing things happen when you empower people and let them to a really good job (instead of just putting obstacles in their way). When you let them be human and compassionate and truly help others, they shine. You don’t need motivational tactics. You don’t need to whip them into shape. You don’t need to protect against theft (if anyone does that, the others step forward and tell you.) Not only do they do a great job, but they come up with super ideas on how to run the company better. Companies often have a horrible vibe, yes. But they don’t have to. 🙂
And yes, I’ll write more about this in the future.
Huge hugs!
Melody
Hi Melody,
You certainly have your work cut out for you. So many topics have come up from myself and other posters in the comment section of many areas to explore further!
It boggles the mind.
That was one of the things I hated about hospitality. A whole chicken was thrown in the trash. Salads and fresh food was thrown out. There are homeless people and even I have no problems taking home a perfectly good, untouched chicken.
But the guy above me was not having any of that. Sheez. I wanted to belt him with the coffee maker.
Stritck, stubborn, unyeilding authority figures get my goat! lol 🙂
I could have cried seeing it go in the bin.
Woo. And the guy ten cents short, come on he’s the last customer we can just give him the food and be generous-reduce some waste, hey!
noo no noo.
Everything was no. What an annoying word that can be!
Ok, so I posted a video that made you switch it off. Well here’s a different one about “stealing” that’s funny to even the scales out. 🙂
http://youtu.be/f_WaxuN4o78
The whole things funny but seeing it’s long 5mins is when he starts to steal and 8:40 when he gets his little plan to Metal Gear Solid his way to the Disney food.
OMG Alice, this was hilarious!!! Thanks so much for sharing it. Had a really good laugh. 😀
Super hugs,
Melody
What a great post!
LOA in some ways can show you the good in others. For example- when bad things happen to someone who did you wrong- you could think it was karma punishing them.
When you learn about LOA you get a much nicer answer- that person actually cared about you!!!
They cared enough to feel guilt and shame over their wrong action to you- and the negative consequences now raining on their life isn’t karma- it’s their care for you manifesting their own self-punishment.
That is much better than thinking some outside power was needed to make them see the light. They did it to themselves- they do have a heart in there somewhere. They do realise deep down and have remorse.
I still don’t understand in LOA terms why people think I have the evil eye! I don’t think I have that much power but I’ve seen too many uncanny things where someone did me wrong and then got into an accident and this didn’t happen to anyone else except me.
Is it care?
I’ve had my house robbed. It was an awful feeling and a pain in the butt financially. But I don’t have anything against thieves because I’ve also known some “alleged” (got to be careful lol) petty thieves and they were some of the nicest people. Some openly admit their mistakes because they have already been charged and served time.
I’ve spoken to people that did their time in prison and they are all in agreement on criminals. There is actually a ranking of morals within “criminals”! You see this on t.v. interviews too.
one off murders of passion are actually on top>grand theft>petty/repeat thieves>assualters>repeat murderers/serial>rapist>pedophiles
The sexual criminals are on bottom of pecking order and most hated both inside prison and out.
In LOA terms this is also accurate as they are on the bottom of the power rung/powerlessness.
Hey Alice,
There’s still a teensy bit of an incorrect foundation to what you wrote. You’re still operating under the view that what the thief did was “wrong”. You’ve moved to the idea that there need not be a force to punish them because they will be led to see the light, but it’s still based on the idea that they need to learn the error of their ways.
The problem with that is that there is still judgment there – what they did is “wrong” and they need to learn to do better. This, BTW, is super fine tuning, and the fact that you’ve moved off the punishment bandwagon is HUGE. But for the sake of accuracy, I want to clean this up just a little more. Cause I’m anal like that.
When we view someone has having to learn something, it’s like saying that they should keep the same point of view that they have, but learn to change their behavior within that point of view. So, if you are in pain and lasing out, please learn not to lash out. Good luck with that.
What I teach is this: Change your point of view so that the pain goes away. Then there won’t be any need to lash out. And this is not something you can learn or be taught. It is something you experience, something you come to KNOW, and the best way to help someone else find that place is to find it yourself and then view them through the eyes of who they really are – not broken, not as having to learn anything, but already happy (or at least on their way there) and perfectly ok.
You know, Alice, I don’t think you have a clue as to how well you are actually doing. You don’t think you’re growing, but from your comments, it’s very clear to me that you are. Tremendously, in fact. Your progression is a joy to watch and your questions are often incredibly insightful.
Oh, and you don’t have the evil eye. You have a strong belief that people get what’s coming to them (karma or no) and you attract those who match your beliefs that people suck and that life is unfair and that you are, to an extent, powerless, who ALSO match your belief and therefore will provide you with evidence that they’ll get what’s coming to them.
Yeah… the Universe is one hell of a casting director.
Huge hugs!
Melody
Thank you Melody,
This is really a beautiful and kind reply. Don’t give me too much credit though. I may be off the bandwagon for many things but I’m still bolted down on the bandwagon for many things.
Also Don’t get me wrong, if someone stole from my bank account I’m not going to be peaceful with that . I’m going to be angry and charge them with fraud.
But petty theft yes, I can calm down and I don’t think they deserve years in jail but still something needs to be done to get the items back.
I just think the law is too harsh on people stealing for need, or from huge coporations or robbing a bank…I’m more angry about picking on small business or individual or if you had to traumatise someone along the way.
But I don’t have anything again someone say ramraiding an ATM, an inanimate object and busting cash illegally out of there.
I also feel that a life sentence for murder in some cases can be too long. You see after 30 years videos of some murderers getting gray hairs behind bars and that’s sad. They may have genuine remorse and the person they stabbed didn’t spend 30 years slowly dying.
I do believe in punishment-I am not anywhere near the realm of non-judgement- but I do think the system is too hard and long on certain crimes.
Best example: Schapelle Corby- 50year sentence for drugs. Fifty years…. To me that’s over the top.
That’s not going to help anyone.
But remove my halo when it comes to crime of a sexual, horrific nature. Then I have some different ideas. They’re not gentle at all. I don’t have mercy for those things.
In my mind there’s no excuse for certain crimes- I just have a soft spot for stealing as I can see why people would do that.
But thankyou for thinking I’m evolved. 🙂
Melody,
I enjoy reading the information posted here. Every since I can remember I have always felt as if I had something different going on with me. What has been happening is I was witnessing the LOA and not understanding it. Everything is so important. I pay attention to mostly everything around me. There are signs everywhere and some people never pay attention. I don’t see the LOA as a form of magic but at the same time it is kind of magic. I understand so much and you never know you will meet and why..LOL!!
Thanks for all you do..
Hey Deb,
So glad you’re getting it. It can definitely seem like magic. I often walk down the street feeling as though I’m in a Disney movie. Everything is so beautiful and perfect, it’s almost surreal. And when I notice how something has lined up with a perfection that I couldn’t have even imagined, it definitely feels like magic to me. Wonderful, glorious magic. 🙂
Right back atcha (this blog would not exist without people like you who are asking for more clarity. Without you, I’d just be journaling, really…)
Huge hugs!
Melody
Hi Melody,
Thank you so much for another enlightening post!
You’ve made me wonder if the act of judging has a bit of reptilian-response to it. It’s such a deep rooted part of our existence, and so hard to get rid of. Imagine a cave dwelling mama with her babies, and an animal approaches. She must immediately “judge” whether the animal is a threat or not. Judgment itself becomes a survival mechanism. She weighs and judges potential mates (we still do!). We generally still think of “poor judgment” as a fault.
Yet another example of how our higher selves draw us toward a happy ideal of existence, non-judgment, that feels contrary to some of our deepest instincts. And it’s so easy to be judgmental on ourselves for being judgmental!
I love how you take a simple act, stealing, and tease out the deeper facets. You shine, Miss Diamond Melody!
Hugs,
Mary Carol
Ah, but if the cave dwelling mama used her intuition, then she would feel if this particular animal was a threat or simply snooping. The problem comes when we use one experience (like seeing a tiger rip your neighbor to shreds) and then using that to judge all similar instances (all tigers at all times, or even all animals at all times) using the same response. Then, we don’t see that today, this tiger is fed and not at all a threat and would just keep moseying on down the jungle road if left alone. We just assume he’s dangerous and we go into attack mode.
We do that in the modern world too. This is judgment – seeing something as negative based on past events, without first seeing if the similar situation we’re facing is actually the same or not. And sure, one could argue that this has insured our survival – learning to spot potential threats and calculating outcomes based on past experiences. And I would agree with that if we had not intuition and if the Law of Attraction didn’t exist. But we do and it does and therefore, if we change our vibration must also change our expectation and allow for the possibility that even if we’ve had bad experiences with something or someone, that we can elicit a completely different outcome if we want to.
This is why I love this work. EVERYTHING has a deeper meaning. 🙂
I’m glad you’re back.
Huge hugs!
Melody
Have I said I *love* you Melody. Good grief girl… you know your stuff. I’m fed up saying how much I agree with you…will you ever write something where I can say..nah, don’t think so? Very much doubt this because as I say, you know your stuff.
It always, always comes back to ‘as within so without.’ If we believe in lack and scarcity, we get it, if we believe in opulence we get it. Same consciousness, different focus. Why judge when it’s simply consciousness operating…just as Joshua mentioned…he was aware his boat might get stolen and voila…an attempt was made. How can we judge the person who attempted to do just what Joshua imagined might happen.
Nothing comes to us, but we draw it. IMHO.
Thanks again Melody…you rock!
Elle
xoxo
Hey Elle,
Coming from you, the LOA Grand Mistress Boobah, I take that as the highest compliment. 🙂
Thanks so much for adding your wisdom here. Love you to, chica!
Huge hugs!
Melody
Wow!
Big shift to think about. No right or wrong, just serves or doesn’t serve.
If you’ve ever seen someone who is in fear for their life or thinks they are at risk, there is ‘nobody’ there, just pure instinct. Seeing and knowing how true this is helps me understand that while fear for life or survival are instinctual responses, what we tie to these makes the irrational more understandable.
So can you say that fear is what doesn’t serve us, period? Because almost all things that don’t serve us evolve from some fear? And I don’t mean truly life threatening, giant cougar is eyeing you like a big juicy steak, type of fear.
Such a simple truth can make what we do and don’t do so interesting and instead of being frustrated, you can be curious. I know I feel much better when I can work on trying to figure something out instead of feeling helpless and/or frustrated in the face of my own (in)actions;) And for the kiddos, what a new way to look at what they do!!!
Thank You Melody, as always.
Hey Nay,
Yes, you could state that everything comes down to either love or fear. That’s the very, very general view. I find when we get into more specifics, I like to say “limiting beliefs” because if the person isn’t actually experiencing fear (anxiety), they may go into defensive mode (As in, “I’m not afraid!”). That does happen. So using limiting belief is softer and gets less resistance.
But I would not say that fear is everything that doesn’t serve us. That which doesn’t serve YOU may very well serve me. It’s just a matter of preference. Your response to it (personally, for you) may turn it into a fear. So when you push against that which makes you afraid, it gets bigger. But when you change the response, when you chance the perception that causes the response, you get true relief. Yeah, I’m a stickler for the details… LOL
Huge hugs!
Melody
Melody,
How about if you actually feel good returning the money? It actually helps your business because your clients trust you more?
This happened to me when I was paid twice for a job. The company may or may not have noticed, nor would I the way the transaction was completed, yet I did and returned it and kudos were given and I got more work after that as the preferred vendor. Of course, I always need money, yet in this case I think it benefitted me more to return it.
Hey Kat,
Great question. First off, you didn’t steal anything. But you manifested an opportunity to release some fear around money. This event gave you the chance to feel that fear – giving money back would’ve triggered that belief . What if you just kept it? Don’t you need the money, etc. But you followed your intuition and gave it back and it felt good. I’m certain that the process you went through as you made the decision to give the money back (even if it only lasted minutes or even seconds) helped you to release a bit of resistance.
The degree to which you struggled with the decision is the indicator to how much resistance there is. But even a subtle releasing of a limiting belief is beneficial. 🙂
Huge hugs!
Melody
Woo! 🙂 There are further answers in the comments. (As always) “The degree to which you struggled with the decision is the indicator to how much resistance there is.”
Well. That tells me something personal. 🙂
It’s so funny that I happened upon this post today. Karin’s question hits home with me because someone tried to steal the boat motor from the boat on my dock yesterday. They didn’t get it because I had a lock on it, but they did some damage trying to rip it from the boat. This action bothered me all day yesterday after I found out about it. But then last night I was able to completely release it. My motor is damaged. So what! I’ll get it fixed and then enjoy more fishing. Everything’s OKAY. It would be better to focus my energy on what I learned through inner reflection than it would to worry about it. And isn’t this the point of life anyway? In retrospect (and I know this sounds crazy), but I’m glad it happened. Why? Because through that inner reflection I was able to remember that I had a fear of leaving it down there in the first place. That’s why I got the lock. I had another motor down there before and NEVER used a lock because I had no fear of it being stolen. And no one ever did. So did I manifest the damage to this one? Either way, I should have never feared it before it happened!
Hey Joshua,
Thanks for sharing your experience here. Yes, you manifested the attempted break in. Your fear that it would be stolen made you a match to someone who was ready to steal (for whatever reason). But your manifestation showed you that you were not QUITE a match to being robbed, must close to it. You reacted perfectly – you allowed yourself to have your emotional response (you felt bad for about a day). And then, when you got sick of feeling that way, you found a perspective that made you feel better. And only THEN did you go after the cause that this was highlighting – and you found it. Absolutely textbook!!!
My hat goes off you to sir. 😀
Huge happy shiny puppy hugs with sprinkles on top!!
Melody
Hi Melody! This is wonderful! I especially value the parenting tip “hidden” here>>> “If we can discover what our true motivation is, we can disarm a lot of the triggers of our fears.” It’s such a tricky thing to deal with a child who has stolen something. You don’t want to make them feel guilty but you do want them to understand what is happening. Your point in #5: Figure out what’s behind the desire and discover other options to get THAT. makes so much sense in this regard. Imagine having that conversation with a young child.
Is stealing wrong? I guess it depends on your definition of “wrong”.
Well done!
Lori
Hey Lori,
Thanks so much, I’m glad you liked it. Almost all children steal at some point. They are figuring out how to get what they want in this world and they are fighting beliefs of scarcity and powerlessness that they are picking up around them. If those beliefs aren’t that strong, though, then it can be seen as just a test. And if they ultimately don’t get what they want from it, they won’t do it again.
I remember when I was very young, I stole some gum from a store. I did it to be popular and my desire to be liked FAR outweighed my fear of consequences. It wasn’t a very successful strategy and so I stopped. It was never about the gum. It never is… 🙂
Huge hugs!
Melody
What about picking up cash left on a store counter by the person in front of you without going after the person to return it? A friend was recently telling me about acquiring $100 in this manner and several minutes into our conversation came back with “maybe the universe was trying to teach the woman a lesson that she needed to be more careful with what she’d been given and I just happened to benefit.” Obviously, I’m still thinking about that one.
Hey Debi,
Great question. If you’re asking if it’s wrong, I’m going to have to say no. Surprise! 🙂 But did it serve your friend or not? Well, only she can really know that.
Here’s what I can tell you. The Universe was not trying to teach that woman a lesson. That’s not how it works. There are no lessons. The woman had something going on in her vibration that caused her to leave the money. We can’t know if this was even a negative or positive manifestation for her. It could’ve been either.
But, what kind of manifestation was it for your friend? Did it feel joyous to find that money, like a gift? Then it was a positive manifestation (which the other woman was a match to in her own way). Is your friend now feeling a bit guilty? That would be an opportunity to release some resistance.
Let’s say that your friend, upon finding the money, had the urge to run after the woman and give it back. But, because of fears around money and scarcity, resisted that urge. The whole scenario would’ve been a mirror to those fears around money as well as an opportunity to overcome them a little by giving the money back. In that case, there would be some negative emotions left over afterwards.
Or, some negative emotion could be coming up because your friend has some beliefs that it’s not ok to get money “for free”. It has to be tied to hard work and can’t just come easily.
The money was left there. She didn’t take it out of a purse. So I would consider this a manifestation, but only your friend can really know what the manifestation was a match to.
Does that help?
Huge hugs,
Melody
Absolutely was a positive manifestation for my friend and “he” felt no guilt and was absolutely thrilled — took me out to dinner with some of it (I found out after the fact). It has given me a lot to think about. As always, truly appreciate your insight. Have a great weekend.
I have a different view on this.
I’ve lost money and items. I’ve had the person chase after me and in the case of my mobile- ring up my contacts to find my address and post it back to me!
This showed me that people were good and kind. I needed to see that. Before learning about LOA I believed in karma. I always returned peoples’ things so believed that as much as people are bad, the belief in karma trumpted that so I was secure people would return my stuff just as I had for other people.
If the person kept the money and my stuff I would have become more bitter and just confirmed my belief that people suck.
Sort if that self fulfilling prophecy, Alice. You get what you think you will.
To be more accurate you get what your dominate frequency and subconcious mind truly believes you will.
On the surface I beleive and think nice and dandy things. I believe good things.
There might be deeper, conflicting beliefs underneath that.
Just like the old question of: “why do bad things happen to good people?” Or why did Neo hit the ground in the Matrix, despite conciously believing that he’d leap to the other side.
Because everyone falls on the first try.
Alice, you put your finger right on it when you said “It would’ve CONFIRMED the belief that people suck.” You already had that belief. And although you benefited from the manifestation that people don’t, in fact, always suck, you had to have shifted into that belief just a little bit before such a manifestation could come to you. And then, just as with the “negative” manifestations, your attention to that event helped you to feel even better.
But don’t blame or credit the manifestation for how you feel. How you’ve been feeling determines the manifestation. Although, in order to really make that correlation, you have to become aware of how you feel and many people are not. 🙂
In a previous post you said I may have the belief that people suck. I just wrote what you expect so it all lines up conveniently for LOA purposes to proove your point. But I handed that to you too easily and shot myself in the foot.
I wrote that reply whilst trying to go on your website to ignore someone in the house that is arguing with me.
That anger and sadness you may feel is not to do with you. 🙂
No worries. I didn’t take it personally. 🙂
Hi Debi-
One of my first thoughts here was, rather than the woman who left the cash on the counter behind, having something to learn (which Mel established that’s not the case) but in your friend’s line of thinking, perhaps then HE was the one who had something to learn. 😉
I love your blog Melody, it’s refreshing that you’re not afraid to make statements that are taboo to other people.
What you said makes sense, and I do agree – there is no such thing as “wrong”, we’re just all doing the best we can with what life has dealt us/ with what we’ve attracted. But I’m no Dalai Lama, so if somebody stole from me then my own core beliefs would kick in and I’d probably want to punch the person in the face!
Question is, with all this in mind, should we strive to become so spiritually advanced that we wouldn’t react negatively if someone stole from us? I’m thinking that if a person was able to feel positive or even just neutral about a situation like that (being stolen from), they would be highly unlikely to attract such a situation…
(Although I’m in no hurry to become neutral about thieves, I’ve got other issues to sort out on my to-do list first!)
Hey Karin,
Getting robbed isn’t so much a function of thinking stealing is wrong, as it is a result of feeling like a victim in some way (the world is unfair, other people have power over me, I feel powerless, bad things just randomly happen, bad things are always happening to me, etc.) So, I think it’s easier to get to the point where you don’t attract being robbed than to wait to be robbed and then find a way to feel ok about it. But, if one has been robbed, then finding a way to feel ok about it would be very beneficial.
And honestly, even if you wanted to punch the robber in the face in that moment, you would be able to get to a point where you’d forgive him. You know… eventually. The goal is not to become a robot who has no reactions (and how do you know that the Dalai Lama wouldn’t, in that second, have the urge to punch the guy, too?). The goal is to be able to recover quickly and then use the information we received from the reaction to release resistance. 🙂
Huge hugs!
Melody