Some people wake up in the morning and instantly believe that their day is going to be good, while others dread facing the hours ahead of them. There are optimistic people like volleyball instructor Taye Im who looks for good in every bad situation, while other people let what happens to them affect their everyday lives.

“It’s really about how your thoughts are manifesting everything that comes into your life. For example, if you get up in the morning and you have negative thoughts, you’re already sending that out to the universe that that is what’s in your head. It seems like whatever you’re thinking about is what you attract,” Im said.

In other words, Im lives his life according to the Law of Attraction. Some believe that the law has the power to control people physically, mentally and emotionally in every aspect of life.

“Whatever you’re thinking about is what you’re going to be attracting into your life everyday,” Im said.

According to Shemaroo Entertainment, thinking, feeling and believing in a certain way can result in good or bad things for the future, depending on a person’s mind set. Some people think of the Law of Attraction as a way to strengthen positive thinking or achieve goals, but other people may use the law as an explanation of why bad things happen to them.

For example, say that a person stubbed his or her toe when they woke up one morning. From that point, the person decides whether or not to let a string of negative thoughts run through their head. Following the Law of Attraction, if they were to go the negative route, their day would gradually get worse. However, if they were to decide to continue on with their day and forget about their throbbing toe, their day would run smoothly.

Simply stated, the Law of Attraction says that one’s thoughts and feelings run their life. This is done through energy.  The law says that energy is attracted to similar energy. Therefore, positive thoughts mean good things will happen, and vice versa. Thoughts about being rich and prosperous usually lead to a successful life. Negative thoughts and behavior lead to a dismal and grim life.

So how can someone tell the difference between the Law of Attraction and luck?

With the Law of Attraction, a person’s attitude “sets the vibration,” or forces an initial feeling, relative to something going on in life. Which means, for example, if someone dislikes someone else, their thoughts will attract more people similar to the one they dislike into their life. On the other hand, luck deals with chance and reality, rather than the Law of Attraction, which portrays a person’s inner thoughts affecting their lives.

“I would like to look at it as part of that attraction, whatever comes into your life, whether you call it luck or not, it’s still something that you are attracting. It’s not a fluke, it may seem that way, but I still believe that you are attracting that. In some sense it could be luck, but you’re in control of what’s coming into your life,” Im said.

Im went on to give the example of winning the lottery. When someone wins the lottery, the winner sees this a strike of luck. Five to 10 years after the big win, often enough the winners are in even more debt than they were when they started due to overspending. What was originally luck could now be considered a curse.

“I think the luck is intertwined with the Law of Attraction. What you can consider luck can turn into a curse, and ultimately, I think it’s still something that you create. I don’t believe in coincidences anymore,” Im said.

The idea of attracting things into life through thoughts has been around for years, but the idea got popular when a best-selling novel, titled The Secret, was written in 2006. The author, Rhonda Byrne, helped shed light on what seemed impossible to some.

“I think [the Law of Attraction] is so simple people are going to have a tough time wrapping their mind around it. Ask, is the first step, then believe and receive. If you learn to ask properly and clearly, and believe that it can happen, and when it starts to happen that you actually open the doors so it comes into your life, then like magic it happens very quickly,” Im said.

Another piece to the law is visualization. This important part is similar to affirmations, and it gives the confidence needed to put the law into action.

No matter how simple, some people may find this way of living to be out of their comfort zone. Im suggests studying up on the law and practicing it whenever they can. The result, he says, will more than likely be success.

“This is something that requires practice, but the practice is in your mind. You have to make sure that your message going out to the world is very clear, and it’s very pure thoughts. So in the beginning, be patient and you have to crawl, and you’ll see some small changes, and as you practice it more and more, you’ll start to see major changes,” Im said.