Damn You, Law of Attraction, Damn You

Be careful what you wish for, especially in how you frame your desire with words.  Sometimes I think the Universe is sitting back, howling, slapping its all-powerful knee, and saying, “Hey, the Law of Attraction always works!  You received exactly what you asked for!”

One of the things I’d put on my list of intentions for myBurning Bowl ritual at Winter Solstice 2010 was a new dress size, one I hadn’t seen since my pre-motherhood weight of 113 pounds– a size 10. Yep, I was wearing sizes 8s and 10s when I was still light enough to walk on football players’ backs in college.  Within 30 days of setting that intention, I’d lost 20 pounds, with more to follow over the course of the year  (upcoming book on that, of course!).

At my 2011 Burning Bowl gathering, I was comfortably in size 10’s, some even too loose to keep on my shoulders.  I’d started wearing 8’s and even a couple of size 6’s.  I decided to fine-tune my “look good naked” intention a little and said, “Okay, I want more 8’s in my closet this year.”

Well….

The brand new pair of size 8.5 heels I bought in mid-December looked like they’d be just perfect for a New Year’s dress…until I walked right out of them.  Huh?  Same thing with another pair of 8.5’s.  My squeezy-tight size 8’s, though, were a perfect fit.  Perfect.

How odd, I thought.  I’ve been wearing 8’s since I was 12 years old, and 8’s and 8.5’s since my first baby.  I have great arches and I don’t have fat feet!  Plus, I’d lost and kept off over 25 pounds for almost a year.  Why the sudden change?  (Yeah, yeah, Law of Attraction.  I know.)

After a bit of research on whether feet shrink with weight loss, I discovered that yes, they can, though usually not by more than a size. The bone structure doesn’t change but you can have fat deposits on your feet as well as on your hands and fingers.  Hmmmm.  I never would have thought, but there’s a correlation there between a specific food group I gave up entirely over the autumn and inflammation in the body.  I have had to buy new shoes for both work and athletics in the past week.  So yes, my shoe size shrank from 8.5 to a nice 8.

To a nice 8.  Yes.  Of course.  My closet suddenly has a lot more size 8’s.

Oh, damn you, Law of Attraction.  Damn you.  I didn’t know I needed to specify Size 8 DRESSES.