by Katherine Dedyna
Times Colonist Staff

 Give off negative vibes and there’s a good chance bad things will happen.
Conversely, good stuff happens when we’re on a roll of positive feelings, says motivational speaker Michael Losier

WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR the better?

Then stop breaking the law of attraction, says Michael Losier, a fast-taking, 41-year-old career coach who claims people can pull prosperity and joy into their lives by pursuing positive vibrations.

But first, you’ve go to acknowledge and change the negative vibes you may be sending off, says Losier, who calls himself a “law of attraction” practitioner and makes his living explaining the very weird science of “attracting more of what you want and less of what you don’t.”

“We need to be better vibrators,” he told nearly 300 well-dressed people packing his Laurel Point Inn book launch and free talk last week, all of them eager to hear more.

“Right now all of you are offering a vibration. And at every moment, law of attraction, which is a universal energy, is checking to see what you’re offering vibrationally and is responding to it by bringing you more of it.”

Huh?

“OK, I’ll have to say that again,” he says to laughter. “(Although) you’re not doing it on purpose, you’re not doing it deliberately, you’re offering a vibration.”

In other words, at any given time, we’re asking the universe for more dreck when we’re giving off bad vibes and conversely, for more good stuff when we’re on a roll of positive feelings, he maintains.

“The law of attraction states that whatever I give my energy, attention and focus to, the law of attraction will bring you more of that whether wanted or unwanted.”

The law doesn’t care whether the result is good or bad for you, it just responds to your vibration, he says. And his self-published book, The Law of Attraction is a 101-page manual, (heavy on the white space) on how to harness higher vibrations.

This is the kind of book that suggests financial security might be enhanced by putting $50 bills in the fridge in order to enjoy the feeling of abundance whenever the door opens.

Victoria financial adviser Ivor John, who describes himself as “analytically minded” and the last kind of guy to buy into law of attraction stuff, is included in a testimonial about how receptivity to this outlook led to good things on the job.

“I started taking an optimistic approach to business situations that I would generally worry about,” he writes. “When I deliberately raised my vibration from worry to a positive, happy mood, I noticed that I got results – and they came fast. If I decided to meet three new clients in one day, that’s what happened!”

Now he keeps a log book of his law of attraction successes, and refers to it to stimulate good vibrations.

Losier warns against one of the biggest invitations to negativity; using an abundance of the words ‘no,’ ‘don’t’ and ‘not.’

To illustrate, he says: Don’t think of the Statue of Liberty. Who doesn’t? The same goes for when people say ‘don’t’ worry,’ or ‘don’t hesitate to call.’ The opposite message gathers momentum because we’ve giving it our attention, he tells them.

The woman who keeps harping about hat she doesn’t want in a man, i.e., not controlling, and not sports-obsessed, should concentrate instead on clarity in what she does want, such as flexible and conversational, and sending out those signals. To get what we want, we must clear about what we want.

Losier calls it a “science” but it’s not the kind that has yet made the textbooks. His theory is thus: Energy can never be destroyed whether it is atomic or personal. And personal energy sends off vibrations that will align win the same direction, much the way metals can be magnetized by aligning their molecules in the same direction.

In Losier’s world view, it’s why some people keep attracting the same kind of “wrong” partners or why a salesman clinches one deal after another, seemingly without effort. It’s called karma, serendipity or fate, but it’s really just about the law of attraction at work, he says.

To help the positive alignment come about, he suggests: “Stop complaining, stop worrying, stop saying ‘don’t, not and no’ and start offering what you do want.”

Unlike the plod through personal growth courses and counselling that set him back $20,000 over the years, Losier suggests law of attraction is a handy shortcut.

It’s a message the former information technology employee with the province has dispensed to thousands via TeleClass International, his teleconferencing business.

What the heck, how could a message of positive vibes hurt?

The law of attraction does not hold together as a theory that could change people’s lives on its own, but it has its good points, says local psychologist Bryan Sweet, who has been in practice for 22 years. Naturally, he’d like to see some research backing it up.

He does not believe that principles from high school physics necessarily apply to human interactions.

Still, “there’s a lot of things here that are not harmful at all, in fact they’re very helpful – having positive expectations of people is very helpful…staying away from negativity is very useful.”

But life is more complicated than keeping a happy face on things, he says. “Because what people will do, when they find out it doesn’t work, they’ll tend to say, maybe something’s wrong with me.”

Getting what we want out of life is most certainly not as simple as courting good vibes, he says. Inn reality, good fortune is the ability to adapt to change and reflects a combination of things we’ve done all our lives falling into place to make it happen, he says. That means earning credentials, meeting the right people; keeping our minds attuned to opportunities being proactive in pursuit, not merely vibrating for the dream job.

The crowd was behind Losier, not surprising in that some seemed to have seen him or known him before.

“I thought it was quite inspiring,” said actor and Queen Elizabeth impersonator Carolyn Sadowska, chic in black rather than her customary queenly garb.

“It’s always good for us to have things we can hook on to quickly.”

“It was great,” agreed organic farmer Jeff Manfield, who had travelled from the Lower Mainland for the talk.
“It’s just nice to know that you have a bit more control – that you can bring positive change to your life. It’s good to get people out of their negative thought patterns. The world needs more of that.”

But Danielle Lavoie, a trained cook, isn’t so sure. “I didn’t totally agree with everything. I think we do have the ability to attract what we want…but sometimes I think there is a divine source that has another plan for us.”