Fake It Until You Make It

Daily Meds, or Daily Meditations, are quick-hitting bits of practical advice to contemplate before starting your day. If you can resist the temptation to check your phone or turn on the news first thing in the morning and, instead, start your day with quiet, focused reflection, then you will begin attracting the highest quality outcomes into your life. Such is the basis of the Law of Attraction.

The best way to cure a general unease towards the world is to stop trying to think of a brain-based solution, to stop identifying as someone who is anxious, and to stop trying to find a new buzzword or phrase that you can cling to for relief. The key to making life easy is to begin anticipating each moment as if it held only positivity. Cynics and realists alike will scoff at such advice, so let's use one of their favorite worldly phrases instead: fake it until you make it. This aphorism actually makes a lot of sense, as long as you follow both parts of the advice. Let's take a look.

“Faking it” is the easy part; most people live their lives in distinct separation: a real self that stays hidden and fearful (spouses see this side the most, but never all of it), and a contrived self that we create and tinker with during adolescence that only highlights our best qualities or those that will keep us safe. In other words, we become master “fakers,” living separate lives depending on the situation. And unless the situation is naturally just incredibly optimal (which is very rare), we begin to see life as a series of situations as something that must be endured instead of embraced. Not only are you faking, but now you are faking and coping. This mindset becomes tantamount in high school or college; but add a few kids and a stack of bills to the mix and you can see how life becomes a quiet desperation for many.

This leaves us with the second half of the aphorism. We have to also “make it,” which most people assume means making a significant amount of money or accumulating influence. The "faker" thinks that with unlimited money they will feel better, which will naturally allow them to drop the "fakeness" altogether and finally blend the two aspects of themselves (the real self and the contrived self). Astute thinkers see the paradox, though: a fake self based in fear cannot produce a real self dripping in abundance. Would you add rotting fruit to a smoothie, even if you could clean off the mold and scrub away the smell temporarily? Of course not; this kind of faking will never benefit you. Positive outcomes demand positive journeys.

Therefore, if the aphorism fake it until you make it is to hold true, then there must be another type of faking that exists other than dressing up negativity with lies. The only way to leverage the Law of Attraction, which states that outcomes are influenced by matching vibrational attributes, is by finding positivity in all aspects of life. You must learn to "fake" the feeling of unconditional love and satisfaction until it becomes real, at which point "making it" becomes a physical inevitability. The Law of Attraction is already working with you regardless of what vibration you are consciously emitting. If you want to guarantee that you "make it," you need to start vibrating in a way that attracts positive outcomes. This means allowing yourself the opportunity to embrace life, to be your true self, and to help others that are clearly in need. The advice is both simple and profound.

Even if you don't feel the zest of life naturally flowing through your veins, you can still "fake" the feeling of satisfaction in the meantime. Gratitude, appreciation, and humility can be your guides. Love harder and forgive quicker. Reject self-righteousness and indignation. At first these emotions will feel false, like you are telling yourself a lie; but how is this any different than the mainstream version of fake it until you make it? The lie that "making it" will undoubtedly make you happy has been told with vigor for centuries. Since the feeling is all that you've ever been after anyways, why not find it today, right now, and live life as if you'd "made it" already? With conscious practice, positivity begins to feel authentic, and soon you will have transcended the game entirely. Your identity will shift from someone with two selves to someone with one, remarkable, shining self that only seems to attract positive outcomes. The Law of Attraction demands it.

Once you identify as exactly what you always wanted to be, you are no longer faking, but rather making the exact life you want. You are at the cause of life, rather than the effect.