What's your take on the "Law of Attraction" ? Do you think it works in practical life?

When I read about it first, I didn't believe about it (though I REALLY wanted to). However it did bring into my mind my own habits about dreaming. I, right from a young age, was in the habit of dreaming of an end-result; proper vivid visions of the event happening and all its consequences (you know, people praising after getting something done etc ;p). So to an extent it made sense that yea perhaps LOA really works. But then I consciously started applying it on things, and to be honest I didn't really like the results, maybe I wasn't consistent, maybe I doubted it too much or maybe it was bullshit.

However now I have started believing in a modified form of it. There can also be a scientific explanation for this (as well as the "you don't have to put an effort" part). So here's what might be a "scientific" explanation:

There have been claims of multiple studies in which visualization has helped improve performance almost as much as actual practice. I haven't been able to find the source of that famous basketball study in which imagining shooting throws (visualizing perfect throws all the time) resulted in 23% improvement as compared to 24% from actual practice. Then there was another study (Clark LV. Effect of mental practice on the development of a certain motor skill. Research Quarterly, v31 n4 (Dec 1960):560-569.).

"The brain does not distinguish between what is real and what is vividly imagined. This allows us to condition our minds with the purposeful use of daydreaming. We can actually create experiences (as though they were real) that were not there before."

There is a part of our brains called the Reticular Formation. It is a marble sized piece of "grey matter" that is responsible for filtering the massive amount of sensory input that we receive every second of our existence. It has a way of bringing to our awareness only that part which we deem important. It is a gift that we usually take for granted. If it weren't for this part of our brain, we would be aware of the gazillions of inputs that we're receiving all the time.

However when we condition ourselves to some beliefs, we are tuned in to those beliefs and may skip out other inputs. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Its like an antenna. Sometimes when you read magazines or newspapers certain articles pop out at you. And some don't pop out at all. Those that pop out at you are those that grab your antenna. The others are ignored by your antenna. You can use visualizations, and "dreaming" about your goal to tune your antenna into the things that will help you get to your goal. There are thousands of opportunities all around us that may take us to our goal but our antenna doesn't pick those up. By dreaming about it, you can create an ultra awareness to see things that were right in front of you that you didn't notice. If you have seen Prison Break you might know that Michael Scofield had "low latent inhibition, a condition in which his brain is more open to incoming stimuli in the surrounding environment. As a result of this condition, he is unable to block out periphery information and instead processes every aspect and detail of any given stimulus... which makes him a creative genius" - Wikipedia. Only, in our case we're conditioning our mind to focus on everything that may help us reach our goal.

Now talking about making an "effort". What I believe is, you cannot just dream about something all day long and after a few days expect it to fall on you. Nope. However, I do believe that we have beliefs about the amount of effort we need to put in to get a particular something. Now when you start the dreaming process, you become more open to the possibilities you have. And it may happen that you find easier ways of getting to the same goal, in which case you don't put as much effort. Heck, the effort required might be so small that you wouldn't even call it an effort. Or you might start enjoying the "effort" so much that it ceases to be an "effort".

That's what I have started believing, I have yet to properly utilize it :)

Reference: The Palace of Possibilities by Gary Craig

yes.Even Allah says "amaal ka daar-o-midaar niyaton per hai".secondly I experienced it. Like i wished since my childhood that i hv to study in Lahore and get higher edu and it was quite impossible in our family as most of the people in my family are uneducated or not well educated. But i changed my wish into a reality. Think good,do work on it and You will get good.If we wish for anything, we always do efforts for it. aur kch nhi to atleast dua to zaroor krtay hen :) and prayers also come in efforts. I d't believe that a person dream about something but never make any effort to get it, consciously or unconsciously, planned or unplanned, visible or invisible efforts are always made.

people are free to see things as they wish.. i get vocal when such things are used as a means to make money, in forms of books, documentaries, tutoring fees etc.
nature works in a cause and effect manner. thinking positive should be followed by practical steps else you end up sheikh chilli. Just thinking wont get things come to you, you still need to pick up the cup infront of you and and drink from it, thinking positively wont pour the tea in your mouth automatically.
just look at how a brain works... its a complex network of neurons, its a massive calculating and processing machine unlike any other. but this law of attraction would also entail that if you install positive software in a computer then from somewhere a new keyboard will come and replace its old one.
sorry for my negative remarks, i am a researcher in communications engineering, and if i ever put arguments similar to the arguments put up by the law of attraction proponents in my scientific papers, theyre gonna reject it without second thought.. i might even get fired from the uni for sticking to what is popularly called pseudoscience.
to prove something beyond doubt, double blind tests need to be done... the problem is, Law of attraction and similar hypothesis are immune to the scientific method because they are inherently and implicitly non-testable. And thats where things get ugly for me... the only thing scientifically untestable that i believe in, is the deen. for me, believing anything which is not backed by any substantial proof adulterates my belief.

It is the thinking that makes changes in your life. What you will think will develop your personality. So as fas as the law of attraction is concerned, i believe it really works. There are always two aspects of everything.

Yes I so believe in it .. The way we think influence our lives but as you said there should be effort too with positive belief.