The universe just conspired to remind me of a valuable lesson.

Last night, before retiring, I was trying to think of a marketing promotion for Mystic Warrior, something that would emphasize the overwhelmingly positive response I've received from readers. Out of thousands of readers, not a single person had taken me up on my unconditional money-back guarantee.

The image that came to me was that of the lonely Maytag repairman, whose products were so reliable that no one ever had a problem. Every time the phone rang, the repairman would grab it hoping that it would be a complaint.

I thought to myself, "what if I write about a fictitious reader that returned a book, drawing attention to this exception?"

I dismissed the idea as untruthful. Fortunately, I had no "unhappy readers."

Meetings occupied me the next morning. After returning to my office after lunch, I discovered an unhappy reader had emailed me!

My fleeting thought had manifested in less than 12 hours.

The principle that was demonstrated is a basic one. It comes in several flavors:

"Whatever you think about expands." "You are what you think." "Be careful what you wish for-you might get it."

These are all applications of the Law of Attraction or Like attracts Like. Everything is energy; everything has its own unique frequency. You automatically attract energies of a similar frequency. The energy of a thought will attract similar energies to it. I was familiar with these principles, which form the basis of many mystic visualization exercises. (See 3 Steps to Manifesting Your Ideal Life.)

What surprised me was not that my thought manifested or that it did so quickly. Thoughts can sometimes manifest instantly. Neither was it that so little time had been spent thinking this particular thought. What was shocking was that I had manifested a NEGATIVE outcome, by reflecting on a very POSITIVE situation.

That was my lesson.

Even though my conscious mind was hearing positive thoughts, such as "there has not been a single unhappy reader," it's a different story for the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between positive or negative thoughts.

The words "no, never, not" have no meaning for the subconscious mind!

What my subconscious mind heard was "blah blah blah, unhappy reader." It didn't matter that there weren't any; all it heard was the focus of my thought. Then in less than 12 hours, an unhappy reader manifested to demonstrate the principle to me.

It was as if a huge, delicious donut was staring me in the face, which was so big it didn't have a hole. But instead of looking at the plump donut, I was thinking, "this donut has NO hole." The universe heard me and quickly manifested a hole.

You may have heard the adage, "don't focus on what you don't want, focus on what you do want." This is a good way of ensuring that you stay positive and avoid the negative. But this is still not good enough. You have to phrase your desire so that there are only positive elements in it. Otherwise your subconscious mind will misinterpret what you're saying.

For example, let's say you suffer from headaches. You might be content to be "pain-free." Desiring this outcome is not going to help. You should strive to be healthy and clear headed.

In other words, you should choose to:

Be healthy, not pain-free.
Be pro-peace, not anti-war.
Be sober, not anti-drug.
Be pro-environment, not anti-pollution.
Be wealthy, not debt-free.

When you incorporate this principle into your thoughts and words and state them clearly, the universe will conspire to make them come true.