The law of attraction is a belief or theory, that "like attracts like," and that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, one can bring about positive or negative results.^[1][2][3][4]

For example, writer Lisa Nichols suggests that if a subject opens an envelope expecting to see a bill, the envelope will "confirm" those thoughts and contain a bill when opened. A person who decided to instead expect a cheque might find a cheque instead of a bill.^[5]

History[link]

Thomas Troward, who was a strong influence in the New Thought Movement, claimed that thought precedes physical form and that "the action of Mind plants that nucleus which, if allowed to grow undisturbed, will eventually attract to itself all the conditions necessary for its manifestation in outward visible form."^[6]

In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932) used the phrase in his New Thought Movement book Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World, stating that "like attracts like."^[7] The following year, Elizabeth Towne, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of New Thought, published Bruce MacLelland's prosperity theology book Prosperity Through Thought Force, in which he summarized the principle, stating: "You are what you think, not what you think you are." ^[8]

The book "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles espouses similar principles — that truly believing in the object of your desire and focusing onto it will lead to that object or goal being realized on the material plane (Wattles indicates in the Preface and later chapters of this book that his premise stems from the monistic Hindu view that God pervades everything and can deliver that which we focus on). In addition, the book also indicates that negative thinking will manifest negative results.^[9]

Richard Weiss explains in his book The American Myth of Success that during the New Thought movement, the "principle of "non-resistance" was a popular concept taught in conjunction with the law of attraction.^[10]

The phrase "law of attraction" appeared in the writings of the Theosophical authors William Quan Judge in 1915,^[11] and Annie Besant in 1919.^[12] Besant compared her version of the 'law of attraction' to gravitation, and said that the law represented a form of karma.^[13]

Israel Regardie published many books with the theme of Law of Attraction as one of the prevailing Universal Laws. His book The Art of True Healing written in 1937 is fully titled "The Art of True Healing, A Treatise on the Mechanism of Prayer and the Operation of the Law of Attraction in Nature". The book teaches a focused meditation technique to help the mind to learn to heal itself on both a physical and spiritual level. Regardie goes on to explain that The Law of Attraction is not only a valid method for attracting good physical health but is applicable in the pursuit of any aspect of life you would like to see changed.

Napoleon Hill published two books on this theme. The first was The Law of Success in 16 Lessons (1928) which directly and repeatedly referenced the law of attraction. Then in 1937, he published Think and Grow Rich which went on to become one of the best selling books of all time, selling over 60 million copies. In this book, Hill discusses the importance of controlling one's own thoughts in order to achieve success, as well as the energy that thoughts have and their ability to attract other thoughts. In the beginning of the book, Hill mentions a "secret" to success, and promises to indirectly describe it at least once in every chapter of the book. It is never named directly for he says that discovering it on one's own is far more beneficial. Many people have argued over what the secret actually is, with some arguing that it was the law of attraction. Hill states the "secret" to which he refers is mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, yet reference to "attract" is used less than 30 times in the text. Most students of the book claim the secret is hidden in its title: THINK (i.e., thoughts). After this, the book, Three Magic Words (1954), by American author, U.S. Anderson became an forerunner to present phase of information on the subconscious mind and the Law of Attraction^[14].

The Secret (2006) was a film based on the law of attraction. It was then developed into a book of the same title in 2007. The movie and book gained widespread attention in the media also from Saturday Night Live to The Oprah Winfrey Show in the United States.^[1]

The success of the film and various books led to increased media coverage. Oprah Winfrey devoted two episodes of her show to discuss the film and the law of attraction.^[3][4] Talk show host Larry King also discussed it on his show with Bob Solis but criticized it for several reasons. He pointed to the sufferings in the world and asked: "If the Universe manifests abundance at a mere thought, why is there so much poverty, starvation, and death?"^{[citation needed]}

In August 2008, Esther and Jerry Hicks's book Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.^[15]

Reception of the idea[link]

Skeptical Inquirer magazine criticized the lack of falsifiability and testability of these claims.^[5] Critics have asserted that the evidence provided is usually anecdotal and that, because of the self-selecting nature of the positive reports, as well as the subjective nature of any results, these reports are susceptible to confirmation bias and selection bias.^[16] Physicist Ali Alousi, for instance, criticized it as unmeasurable and questioned the likelihood that thoughts can affect anything outside the head.^[1]

The Law of Attraction has been popularized in recent years by books and films such as The Secret. This film and the subsequent book^[17] use interviews with New Thought authors and speakers to explain the principles of an alleged metaphysical law that one can attract anything that one thinks about consistently. Writing for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford wrote that "neither the film nor the book has any basis in scientific reality", and that its premise contains "an ugly flipside: if you have an accident or disease, it's your fault." They asked, "If an airplane crashes, does that mean that one or more of the passengers brought that on himself? Do soldiers killed in Iraq simply not think enough positive thoughts?"^[5]

Others have questioned the references to modern scientific theory, and have maintained, for example, that the law of attraction misrepresents the electrical activity of brainwaves.^[18] Victor Stenger and Leon Lederman are critical of attempts to use quantum mysticism to bridge any unexplained or seemingly implausible effects, believing these to be traits of modern pseudoscience.^[19][20][21] Writing in the New York Times, Virginia Heffernan characterised The Secret as "a series of misquotations ... and fraudulent maxims" that nonetheless "takes [her] to a happy place."^[5]

See also[link]

• Cosmic ordering
• Efficacy of prayer
• Kybalion
• Law of contagion
• Magical thinking
• Medical students' disease
• Optimism
• Positive mental attitude
• Priming
• Pygmalion effect
• Reverse marketing
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Sympathetic magic

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Works related to The Science of Getting Rich at Wikisource

v t e Religious Science/Science of Mind Beliefs Spiritual mind treatment · Power of choice Founder Ernest Holmes Notable ministers Fenwicke Holmes · Raymond Charles Barker · Stuart Grayson · Louise Hay · Michael Beckwith · Joseph Murphy · Jean Houston · Terry Cole-Whittaker · William Hornaday Largest groups Centers for Spiritual Living · Seicho-No-Ie · Affiliated New Thought Network · Global Religious Science Ministries Influences Divine Science · Ralph Waldo Emerson · Emma Curtis Hopkins · Thomas Troward · Mary Baker Eddy · Phineas Parkhurst Quimby · Emmet Fox · Doug Kinney · Thelma Smith · Dwight Colby Smith Other The Science of Mind · Science of Mind magazine

v t e Unity Church Founders Charles Fillmore · Myrtle Fillmore People H. Emilie Cady · Tom Zender · Connie Fillmore Bazzy · Charles R. Fillmore · James Dillet Freeman · James Trapp · Glenn Mosley · Charlotte Shelton · Marianne Williamson Background Emma Curtis Hopkins · Unity Society of Practical Christianity · Unity School of Christianity · Association of Unity Churches Other Daily Word · Unity Village

v t e Divine Science Distinctive doctrines Affirmative prayer Meditation The Bible Presence of God Founders Malinda Cramer Nona L. Brooks Fannie Brooks Influences Emma Curtis Hopkins Phineas Parkhurst Quimby Emma Curtis Hopkins Ministers Joseph Murphy Ernest Holmes Fenwicke Holmes Emmet Fox Largest groups International Divine Science Association

Steve Harvey
Harvey in September 2008
Born	Broderick Steven Harvey (1957-01-17) January 17, 1957 (age 55) Welch, West Virginia, U.S.
Residence	Atlanta, Georgia
Occupation	Actor Comedian Radio and television personality Author
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Marcia Harvey (1980-1994)[1] Mary Lee Shackelford (1996-2005)[1] Marjorie Bridges (2007–present)[1]
Website
http://www.steveharvey.com

Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey (born January 17, 1957)^[2] is an American entertainer and author who hosts The Steve Harvey Morning Show, and Family Feud. He is the author of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, which was published in March 2009, and the book Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man.

He's been an actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He starred in The Steve Harvey Show, and he was featured in The Original Kings of Comedy. He also hosts the Steve Harvey Project, on an extended cable channel.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Harvey was born in Welch, West Virginia, the son of Eloise and Jesse Harvey, a coal miner.^[3] His family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he graduated from Glenville High School in 1974.^[4][1] Shortly after high school he attended Kent State University and West Virginia University and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.^[1] He has been a boxer, an insurance salesman, and a mailman.^[1][5]

Comedy career[link]

Steve Harvey first performed stand-up comedy on October 8, 1985 at the Hilarities Comedy Club in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a finalist in Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search in 1989, eventually leading to a long stint as host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, succeeding Mark Curry in that role. His success as a stand-up comedian led to a starring role on the ABC show Me and the Boys in 1994. He would later star on the WB network show, The Steve Harvey Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002. While wildly popular in the African-American community (the show won multiple NAACP Image Awards), the show never achieved critical acclaim outside of the African-American community, a matter about which Harvey has often complained.

In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, touring as one of the Kings of Comedy, along with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The comedy act would later be put together into a film by Spike Lee called The Original Kings of Comedy. DVD sales of The Original Kings of Comedy and Don't Trip, He Ain't Through With Me Yet increased Harvey's popularity. Harvey released a hip hop and R&B audio CD on a record label he founded, and authored a book, Steve Harvey's Big Time. That title was also used as the name of Harvey's comedy and variety television show (later renamed Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge) which aired on The WB network from 2003 until 2005. Harvey also launched a clothing line which features the line of dress wear. In 2005 he co-starred in the movie Racing Stripes. He had appeared in the 2003 movie The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles.

In 2008, Harvey hosted the Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey, a teen-focused personal and professional enrichment event that took place January 17–20, 2008 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Harvey along with a team of judges chose 100 teens to attend the event.^[6]

Radio host[link]

[edit] The Steve Harvey Morning Show

Harvey is the host of a weekday-morning radio program, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, which was originally syndicated through Radio One, Inc. from September 2000 until May 2005, and which continues to air to the present time.

Television roles[link]

[edit] Family Feud

Harvey became the host of Family Feud in September 2010.^[8]

Film roles[link]

Personal life[link]

Harvey has been married three times and has four biological children. He has twin daughters, Karli and Brandi (born 1982) and a son, Broderick Jr. (born 1991), from his first marriage^[10] to Marcia Harvey.^[1] Harvey also has another son, Wynton (born 1997), from his second marriage to Mary Shackelford. The couple divorced in November 2005.^[11]

In June 2007 he married his current wife, Marjorie Bridges, who he says is responsible for making him a better man and changing his life.^[12] The Harveys live in Atlanta, Georgia with four of their youngest children as a "blended family".^[13] Harvey will move to Illinois to tape a daily talk show for NBCUniversal from the company's Chicago studios. Production on Family Feud and the radio show will remain in Atlanta, though Harvey will host the radio show from Chicago as well.^[14]

Controversy[link]

On March 27, 2009, Harvey appeared on an episode of The Tyra Show with Tyra Banks to promote his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.^[15] During the course of the interview, Harvey advised that women should not date atheists. Saying:

"You sitting up there talking to a dude and he tells you he’s an atheist, you need to pack it up and go home. You talking to a person who don’t believe in God. What’s his moral barometer? Where’s it at? It's nowhere."

On May 30, 2009, Harvey appeared on an episode of Larry King Live guest hosted by Joy Behar.^[16] During that interview, Harvey reiterated his assertion that women should not date atheists, who he claimed have "no moral barometer". Harvey stated that he refuses to speak to anyone claiming to be an atheist, who he said are "idiot(s)". Harvey went on to suggest that modern astrophysics and evolutionary biology are without merit by saying:

You can't just tell me it spun out of a gastrous ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys. Why we still got monkeys?

In August 2011 on his radio show, Harvey called Cornel West and Tavis Smiley "Uncle Toms" because they have criticized President Barack Obama.^[17]

Awards[link]

In 2007, Harvey won the Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year award by Radio & Records magazine. Other finalists included: Delilah, Blair Garner, Kidd Kraddick, The Lia Show and John Tesh.^[18]

References[link]

External links[link]

• www.steveharvey.com -- Official website
• Steve Harvey at the Internet Movie Database

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009)

Michael Losier is a Canadian Law of Attraction trainer and teacher, and is the author of the book Law of Attraction.^[1] Teleclass International Inc. was initiated by Michael Losier and a business partner.

Seeking a career as a public speaker and motivational trainer, Losier was advised to write a book, and Law of Attraction was the result.^[2] The book was self-published in 2003 and by 2007 had sold more than 250,000 copies.^[2] Losier also appeared on Oprah Winfrey's radio show several times.^[2] He was given a publishing contract by Grand Central Publishing, with the book issued in a hardback version and translated into 28 languages.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

http://www.lawofattractionbook.com/

This Canadian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Wayne Lincoln Law (born 4 September 1978) is a former Welsh cricketer. Law was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born at Swansea, Glamorgan.

Having played since his teens for Swansea Cricket Club, the Glamorgan Second XI since 1995, as well as having spent time on the Lord's groundstaff where he played for MCC Young Cricketers in 1996,^[1] Law eventually made his first-class debut for Glamorgan in 1997 against Oxford University, hitting his first ball of the match for four and eventually ending on 38 not out in Glamorgan's second-innings.^[2] This was his only first-class appearance that season, though he did made his List A debut, playing in Glamorgan's final two fixtures of the 1997 AXA Life League against Surrey and Essex.^[3] During this season, Law also appeared once for Wales Minor Counties against Herefordshire in the Minor Counties Championship,^[4] while the following season he would make a single MCCA Knockout Trophy appearance for the club against the Warwickshire Cricket Board.^[5]

His performances encouraged then Glamorgan coach Duncan Fletcher, who considered Law to have natural flair and graceful timing, to give him an extended run in the Glamorgan side the following season, following the retirement of Hugh Morris at the end of the 1997 season.^[6] Over the coming three seasons, he made a total of 22 further first-class appearances, the last of which came against Nottinghamshire in the 2000 County Championship.^[7] In total, he scored 883 runs at an average of 28.48, with a high score of 131.^[8] This innings of note came against Lancashire at Colwyn Bay in 1998.^[9] Though he struggled for consistency, he still made notable contributions to the Glamorgan cause, notably against Lancashire at Blackpool in 1999 when he held out against Muttiah Muralitharan for over four hours in making 53 in Glamorgan's second-innings, though Lancashire still won the game by 10 wickets.^[6][10] Law was utilised more in first-class cricket, making just nine further List A appearances following his debut in that format in 1997. He played his final List A match against Middlesex in the 2000 National League.^[3] Law struggled during the opportunities he was given in this format, scoring just 104 runs at an average of 11.55, with a high score of 24.^[11]

Having failed to secure a regular place in the Glamorgan team during the 2000 season, Law was released by county at the end of that season.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Wayne Law at ESPNcricinfo
• Wayne Law at CricketArchive