By Dr. Ari Bernstein
When it comes to philosophical and spiritual ideas that have grown exponentially popular over the past several decades, the Law of Attraction most likely tops the list.
The idea that we can create our reality by choosing our thoughts grew in popularity through films like “The Secret” and “What the Bleep Do We Know?”
However, while the law of attraction is commonly associated with spirituality, we can gain insight into how and why it works through science. As a doctor myself, I believe in the law of attraction because I understand it from a scientific perspective.
1. The Observer Effect
Also commonly referred to as the double-slit experiment, the observer effect describes a quantum phenomenon that occurs when we observe the behavior of electrons.
The experiment found that electrons behave in ways that are consistent with both waves and particles.
But things took an even stranger turn when scientists attempted to observe how the electrons were producing this behavior.
While attempting to measure how the electrons were producing this behavior, scientists found that the electrons reverted to behaving like particles.
So how does this experiment apply to the law of attraction? The observer effect is proof that all possibilities exist, which is exactly what electrons show when they behave like waves.
This means that in the outcomes you desire exist potential futures for you to experience. You collapse those possibilities into one event or circumstance through what you think and believe.
When you expect the miraculous, you manifest miraculous occurrences into your life because the universe is actively responding to what you expect.
2. The Role of the Mind in Gene Expression
Epigenetics is the study of how our environment creates changes in gene expression. Studies have shown that changes in gene expression occur not only as a response to our external environment but also to our internal one.
Our genes contain the expression for optimal health, as well as the expression of disease.
When we are under stress, our fight or flight response kicks into gear. In this state, our body shuts down processes like regeneration and diverts that energy to help us react quickly to danger. In small doses, this response is natural and live-saving.
On the other hand, if our lives are steeped in stress or other negative emotions, we ultimately “turn off” the gene expressions for health and “turn on” the expression for the disease.
Our day-to-day thinking has a measurable effect on whether we manifest health or illness in our bodies. Put another way, our thoughts and feelings attract circumstances of the same vibrational frequency even at a cellular level.
3. Visualization and Achievement
Visualization, or mental rehearsal, is a powerful way to attract your desires.
For decades, authors such as Joseph Murphy have told us that when we visualize, we plant seeds in our minds that our subconscious begins acting upon and ultimately attract us.
Science is now starting to back up these theories. A study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that individuals who practiced mental rehearsal of physical exercise increased their muscle strength by 35 percent.
Results from studies such as this one show that our minds hold the power to impact the world around us and that we can alter our reality just by thinking we can bring about changes.
4. The Placebo Effect
The success of placebos in modern scientific studies and even some therapeutic practices also point to evidence of the law of attraction in action.
In most cases, study participants believe they have been prescribed a medication designed to alleviate or cure symptoms of a disease or ailment. Most of the time, the patients do not know whether they are taking the medication or a placebo.
Because they believe that their symptoms will improve with medication, participants who unknowingly take sugar pills can see their symptoms improve.
In fact, in countless studies, placebos have been proven effective on 15 to 72 percent of participants. The placebos work because those individuals expect an outcome, and so the universe arranges the necessary conditions to bring it to them.
Different areas of modern research have begun pointing to what ancient cultures and motivational speakers have tried to tell us for centuries — that our thoughts and emotions attract circumstances into our lives, which is the very basis for the law of attraction.