By Christy Whitman

Have you ever wished you had your boss’s wealth? Your best friend’s fit body? A colleague’s air of confidence and ease? If you have, the reason is simple: The qualities you admire in them are those you want to experience more of within yourself.

That we are drawn to certain qualities in people in particular is not random. Our senses may tell us that the experiences of those around us are completely unrelated to our own, or that the reason others have achieved more success, vitality, influence or joy than we have is because of things like hard work, luck, circumstances or status. Beliefs like these hold us apart from the very things we want by distancing us from the people we admire. Fortunately, however, there is one simple universal principle that – when understood and applied – will forever alter the way you set out to create anything you want in your life.

We know from quantum physics that the universe we live in is holographic, which is to say that everything that was, is, or ever will be in the future also exists within each and every one of our cells. Like a thumbnail shot of a larger picture, every small part contains the whole. Because each of us has access to virtually everything, anything that has been experienced by one can also be experienced by another.

Like a hologram, we all contain the potential to be, do, and experience everything, and yet each of us is born hard-wired with particular desires that are unique only to ourselves. The outer world acts like a mirror that allows us to see our inner desires, and when someone comes into our lives that evokes within us the experience of desiring more of what they have, they are merely showing us a place in our lives where we are ready to allow ourselves to have more of what we want. Let me give you an example.

About fifteen years ago, when I was just starting to learn about the universal laws that guide the process of effortlessly magnetizing the experiences we desire, I was unfulfilled in a lot of areas of my life. One primary area of discontent was in relation to my body. Although I have now created my ideal body (and teach others how to do the same), at that time, I was very much out of shape and thirty pounds overweight – the heaviest I had ever been. I had just begun dating someone that I was really interested in and was desperate to lose the weight, but nothing I tried melted off even a single pound.

One day after an unsuccessful outing to shop for clothes, I went to the grocery store to stock up on an even more limited selection of proteins and vegetables. In the check-out line, I saw the beautiful actress Selma Hayek on the cover of a magazine. I had always admired the fact that she had the exact body that I wanted and that I hadn’t been able to create, despite all my effort.

I bought the magazine and looked at her pictures again later that evening. I began thinking about the principles I was studying at the time – and specifically the one I’m sharing with you now – that because the universe is holographic, the feelings experienced by one are accessible to all. I started to imagine what it would feel like to live in a body like Selma’s, and I asked to become open to receive her energy.

In that moment, I was flooded not only with what it would feel like to have a body like that, but also the specific thoughts, values, actions and beliefs that would help me to create it. It was as if on an energetic level, I had tapped into the experience of having already fulfilled my desire. I received information on what to do and not do; what to focus my attention on; even specifics on what foods to eat and avoid.

Of course, there is no way of knowing whether the information I received that night actually came from Selma Hayek – but that is entirely inconsequential. I had accessed the source – the feeling state – of what I wanted. I had always thought that I wanted to lose weight so I would have the ability to wear cuter clothes or be more attractive to men. What I discovered from this process is that beneath all of that, what I wanted was the feeling of freedom.

As I allowed that feeling, the essence of my desire, to become my new point of attraction, I naturally made different choices. I no longer focused on limiting food intake, but on making choices – in food, in clothing, in movement – that evoked within me the feeling of being free. That essence feeling led me, gradually but steadily, toward creating the body I had always wanted – and always knew I was capable of having.

Despite what our senses tell us, we are not separate from others. Because our universe is holographic, all the genius, inspiration, freedom, passion or joy that has ever been experienced by anyone is available to anyone who chooses to tap into it.

So the next time you meet someone who has achieved something you desire, celebrate! Know that they are giving you a glimpse of your own potential – in relation to your finances, your physical wellbeing, your happiness, or some other area where you desire to grow. Open yourself to their energy and imagine how you would feel, how you would think, how you would stand, walk, and talk from the state of already having what you desire. If you can allow that feeling to thrive in even one cell in your body, you are well on your way. Start with that; nurture it, and it will begin to expand. When you connect with the essence of how you will feel once your desire is attained, you become a magnetic force every bit as strong as gravity.

View those you admire as your guides and study them, for they hold a piece of your hologram. They came into your life for a purpose, and that purpose is to accelerate your evolution and lead you to the fulfillment of what you desire. In the words of the 13th century mystic and poet, Rumi, “What you are seeking is also seeking you.”