17 Seconds

Could you hold a thought for 17 seconds without contradicting it? I bet you could do it, I bet most of us could do it, especially if we were deliberately intending to hold the thought. But what about a typical day where we aren't intending to feel good or even to feel bad. We just coast through our day and react to whatever happens to come into our experience. How many of us could hold a good feeling thought for 17 seconds without contradicting it in that situation?

Abraham talks about the power of 17 seconds. If any of you are not familiar with Abraham's 17 Seconds process or you might know it as 68 Seconds process I would like to share it with you here.

"If you can hold a thought for 17 seconds without contradicting it, by law of attraction another thought like it will come to you. At precisely the 17 second point, these two thoughts will join one another, they coalesce and when they do there is an energy that is expended, like a combustion point. When these two thoughts join and combust, you can feel a measure of enthusiasm bubbling within you. And in that moment of 17 seconds, these two thoughts that were same become one bigger, more evolved, faster vibrating thought.

If you can stay focused on this subject that you have chosen for another 17 seconds, at the moment that you cross the 34 second mark, that is just two times 17, this now more evolved thought will attract unto it. At the 34 second mark these two more evolved thoughts do the same thing, they coalesce and there is another combustion point. If you keep doing this as you cross the 68 seconds mark, you will have a combustion big enough to affect physical manifestation.

17 seconds doesn't sound like much, but Abraham says most of us start offering contradictory vibrations at about 8 seconds. Most of us don't make it through a whole sentence before we start contradicting the vibration of our desires." I was intrigued with this concept and wanted to see how I would do so I conducted a little experiment with myself.

I noticed that when I was deliberate about feeling good and had a positive intention for my day it was easy to hold a positive thought for way longer than 17 seconds or even 68 seconds without contradicting it. It wasn't that I didn't have any negative thoughts, I did. As I went through my day my thoughts would often drift off to something that wasn't quite so positive and definitely didn't feel good but I was able to redirect my thoughts in a matter of seconds (less than 17) because I was aware of the negative feeling that accompanied the negative thought. From there I found that I could get back to a good feeling vibration with relative ease by choosing a better thought than the one I had just been thinking.

When I had no deliberate intent for my day and just coasted along and allowed myself to react to things instead of pre-paving them it was more difficult to stay uplifted and in a good feeling place. I noticed that I wasn't as aware of the first indications of negative emotion and as a result spent much more of my day feeling uneasy, worried, defensive instead of the way I like to feel which is happy, carefree, abundant and empowered.

I realized that it was much easier for me to hold a negative thought without contradicting it than it was to hold a positive thought. That's why it's so helpful to be deliberate about what you're thinking throughout the day. And that's where the 17 seconds process is so helpful. 17 seconds is not a very long time. It's manageable and it leads you step by step to thoughts that match your desires. And when you are a vibrational match to your desires, your desires must come to you. It's law.

I find this to be a very fun and easy process. I like to set the timer on my cell phone for 68 seconds and then talk out loud about my desires - how I feel, how I look, what my day is like, how I interact with people, etc. I did this a few times during the day today and finally had to shut the timer off because I wanted to keep going after the buzzer went off; it just felt so good to do it. I encourage you to try it and see how it works for you.

Abraham Daily Quote - March 2, 2009

In the same way that there is not an instant wanted thing manifesting in your experience, there is not instant unwanted thing happening in your experience. It takes some adapting to vibrations. If you've managed to hold anything, wanted or unwanted, for 17 seconds -- there is a coalescing of thought that takes you a little closer to the vibration of whatever you are turning your attention to. Those 17 second increments, are not discernable. And that's why, when you get into that place, it feels like instant manifestation. Just like when you get into that negative place, it feels like instant manifestation. It's like, "Where did that come from? Seemed like it just sort of snuck up on me," instead of snuck up over a long time.
--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Tallahassee, FL on Saturday, December 1st, 2001

So what does this mean to me?

It means that when it looks like the things I desire aren't manifesting that doesn't mean that things aren't happening behind the scenes. Each good feeling thought is bringing me closer and closer to the things I desire in my life. Trusting the way I feel will guide me in closing the vibrational gap between what I desire and its manifestation.