The Law of Thinking: What Is It and How Does It Work?

How mastering your thoughts makes success inevitable.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” – Plutarch

As you read this post, you have thoughts in your head. You can’t not think. It’s a constant state of being.

When you’re doing dishes, driving to the store, taking a shower, or head down working in absolute concentration, you are thinking. You are thinking at all moments of your life.

I often tell people to notice what they are noticing. It’s a Brave Thinking® tool used to manifest the life you would love. If you take charge over your thoughts, you will be able to make your reality equal to your dream.

Have you ever had someone ask you what you were thinking? And the surprise of the question threw you off guard?

Sometimes you didn’t know what you were thinking.

In those scenarios, it’s almost like sand slipping through your fingers. It’s impossible to catch one grain, and it can feel just as difficult to catch one thought. You try to grasp the exact thought and find it challenging because you aren’t prepared to articulate it.

As Brave Thinkers, we know that The Law of Thinking is at the very top of the eleven Universal Laws.

If you’ve struggled with manifesting your visions, or had some success with the Law of Attraction but haven’t been able to sustain it, this post is for you. Today, I’m going to define the Law of Thinking, which is another Universal Law that will help.

You’ll learn what the Law of Thinking is, how it works, and why it matters. You’ll even see examples of how to use the Law of Thinking in the four quadrants of your life so that you can immediately put this powerful Universal Law into practice for greater happiness and success.

What Is the Law of Thinking?

The Law of Thinking is the first step to freedom. This is the first of the Universal Laws, and one you must master in order to make the Law of Attraction work for you in a predictable way.

So many people have worked with manifesting and believe in the Law of Attraction but don’t get the results they want or deserve. That’s because they’re only working with the one Universal Law: the Law of Attraction. But to really raise your vibration to attract the life you would love, you must start with your thinking.

The late Bob Proctor and I taught the course, 11 Universal Laws of Success, to help students master each of these Laws fully.

There are eleven Universal Laws, and they follow this order:

1. The Law of Thinking
2. The Law of Supply
3. The Law of Attraction
4. The Law of Receiving
5. The Law of Increase
6. The Law of Compensation
7. The Law of Non-Resistance
8. The Law of Forgiveness
9. The Law of Sacrifice
10. The Law of Obedience
11. The Law of Success

There is a reason that the Laws appear in this exact order. You must start with your thinking. All success, all that you are, starts here.

Why Does the Law of Thinking Matter?

The Law of Thinking is one of the most important Laws that you can study and apply to your life and goals. This is the ability to realize that you have an influence over EVERY aspect of your reality.

Your thoughts become things. This is true whether you realize it or not. Once you recognize that truth, you become more aware of your state of mind. Whatever you experience in the world is a direct result of your state of mind.

If your thoughts are about gratitude, love and abundance, you’ll find that gratitude, love and abundance are the things that you see in your world.

If your thoughts are about lack, that will define the experience you have. Most of us do this without consciously thinking about it. We worry over what we have or stress about not having enough. Those worries are thoughts. When you constantly think about what you don’t have, you’re attracting that scarcity.

All action is the result of thought.

In fact, everything is created twice – once in thought, and again in the material world. Nothing manifests in the world without first being a thought. Take any invention that we see today, it was first an idea before it came into being.

The difference between most people and Brave Thinkers is that most people aren’t consciously aware of every thought they have. They simply operate as they always have and don’t necessarily consider why they believe the things they believe.

Once you’re aware of the Law of Thinking, you can make a practice of noticing what you’re noticing. This allows you to be more aware of the thoughts you give energy to, and therefore the reality that you create.

Law of Thinking Examples

There’s a difference between mental activity and common thinking. Many of us don’t think authentically. There are thoughts. Then there are ideas. Ideas are a collection of thoughts focused on a purpose.

When we talk about thinking, as in the Law of Thinking, we’re talking about mental activity which is done from the depths of your desire and creativity. Your results are an expression of your thinking.

In a very real sense, if you don’t like your results, you need to change your thinking.

Most of us are trained from a young age not to think expansively. You might ask your parents to get you something or tell your parents that you want something.

For example, as a child you asked for a pony.

Your dad laughed and said, “Where would we put a pony? We’re not rich. We don’t have a stable. You can’t have a pony.”

You might have told your mom, “I want to be a famous artist!” Your mom patted you on the head and said, “Daydreams are fine, but real people work for a living.” These are common thinking responses and many of us heard them all the way through childhood. The adults in our lives weren’t trying to be mean or squelch our dreams. They had limited awareness and were trying to prepare us for the “real world” as they knew it.

These adults didn’t understand the Law of Thinking.

You have the opportunity to do better because you know better.

To use the Law of Thinking, you must start with what you would really love. Would you really love that pony? Would you really want to be a famous artist?

I’ve told my mother’s story before. She became a famous artist in her 80s. It’s never, never too late.

If you really would love that pony I mentioned earlier, don’t worry about the how. Just concentrate on the what – what would you love?

When you raise your thinking and notice what you’re noticing, you’ll find that your vibrations rise to meet that vision. You make it possible to achieve because you’re not thinking at the vibration of, “I can’t have what I’d love”.

Instead, you’re thinking at the vibration that you already have it. You’re matching your thinking with that reality.

How to Use the Law of Thinking: Step by Step

In order to use the Law of Thinking, you must understand the difference between what we call common hour thinking and Brave Thinking, or real thought.

We get the phrase, “common hour thinking” from the Henry David Thoreau quote: “If one advanced confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

You think all the time, but much of what goes through your mind every day is really common thinking. It keeps you busy, but it doesn’t bring you closer to your real purpose unless you’re making a conscious effort to focus it toward that purpose.

Common thinking includes things like planning your meals for the day, thinking about how to pay for upcoming bills, and organizing what you need to bring to work. It includes everyday things that you need to do that move you through your day. It won’t transform your life.

Real thinking concentrates on your inner convictions, values and purpose.

These are the higher thoughts that are attached to your desires and your destiny. We often tune these thoughts out or let them get drowned out by the many busy thoughts of a commonplace life.

While we all live in the real world which demands that we pay attention to certain things, we aren’t forced to ONLY pay attention to those things. We can aspire to use more of our time for real thinking.

This is something that takes practice and commitment, but we all, each one of us, have the potential and ability to master the Law of Thinking. If you notice what you’re noticing.

The first step is to differentiate between common thinking and real thinking. Real thinking means paying attention to your longings and discontents so that you can recognize what you would love. Once you know what you would love, your thinking can be directed toward that goal.

If you’ve mastered the ability to tell the difference between these two things, you must make this a practice every day. Multiple times a day.

Compile a list of your thoughts and label them. On one side of the paper list common thinking. On the other side, list real thoughts.

At first, you’ll notice that you have many, many more common thinking items on your list. The good news is that you can consciously balance that out. You can spend time purposefully working with real thought to add to your list.

The more you work with this, the more of a habit it will become. Until one day you’ll notice that your real thought side will be much longer than when you started. As you move your thinking, your reality will reflect those changes.

Bringing the Law of Thinking into All Four Quadrants of Your Life

There are four quadrants of your life – love & relationships, time & money freedom, health & wellbeing, and vocation. In Brave Thinking, we learn to use the Law of Thinking on each of our four quadrants so that we can determine what we would really love in every area of our lives.

This part of the process is called Blueprinting. It’s something that you need to work on continually and commit to in a real way, regularly. And you can achieve exactly what you would love. To begin, look at each of these areas of your life and honestly answer the question, “What would I really love?”

You may not even know for certain at first. Or you may be embarrassed by your honest response. That’s okay. It takes time, and you will often have false paradigms that try to talk you out of the dreams you have. I encourage you to meet each of those false beliefs with the conviction that if you can dream it in your mind, if anyone else has ever achieved it or if you have a vision of it, it’s not only possible. It’s a certainty.

Making the Law of Thinking Work for You

Are you ready to make the Law of Thinking work for you?

You’ve learned the definition of the Law of Thinking and how it works. Through the course of this post, you’ve discovered why the Law of Thinking is the first of the Universal Laws and what makes it matter so much in your life and ability to achieve your goals.

You’ve seen examples of the Law of Thinking and learned a few exercises to help you master this Universal Law.

We are each capable of unlimited potential and filled with our own unique purpose. I invite you to make time today, and every day to practice working with the Law of Thinking to increase your ability to tap into the power of your mind.

This is one of your superpowers, when you know how to unlock it. You have other hidden powers just waiting for you to explore. If you’d like to find out more about yours, take our free Superpower Assessment quiz.

Think Bravely and Act Boldly!