It all may seem random, but everyone you deal with on a daily basis you attracted to yourself somehow. This includes everybody from the cute kid who smiled at you at the store to the jerk that cut you off on the highway. The same goes for your soul mate, the person you’ll spend the rest of your days with.

Why is it so hard to use the Law of Attraction to attract the love of a lifetime? Romance is especially tricky to manifest. Here are some tips to make it easier for you.

Love Yourself First

Start by loving yourself the way you want others to love you. When you’re loved by somebody (even yourself), this naturally attracts more love to you. Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a relationship, people seem attracted to you; but when you’re alone, nobody is? This is why. Fall in love with yourself and don’t be afraid to be a little narcissistic.

Practice Gratitude

When you’re lonely and looking for love, you dwell on past failures rather than successes. Instead, look to the past with gratitude for all the love you’ve gotten. Doing this, you prove to yourself that you’re worthy of good, fulfilling love. You know that you can attract others to you. Focus on your successes in the past.

Examine Your Negative Thoughts

Usually what keeps us from manifesting what we want through the Law of Attraction is negativity. We all have self-limiting thoughts, believing that somehow we don’t deserve a happy, fulfilling love life. You probably have serious mental blocks like these right now without realizing it.

Take each negative thought about yourself and examine it. You’ll find that you’ve simply chosen certain experiences from the past as evidence to back them up. Instead, start with a positive thought like ‘I’m attractive to others’ and search for evidence to support that thought.

Work on Your Relationships

Finding love isn’t the end. After that, you’ve got to keep it alive, and this is an even bigger challenge. You also need to improve your existing relationships with the Law of Attraction. In just the same way, focus on the positives of your relationship rather than the negatives. Recognize your partner’s intentions and find a way to work with them rather than change them. Learn to recognize negative thoughts and keep them at bay.

Learning from the Past

When you have a bad experience, the natural tendency is to place blame. You may blame yourself or the person who broke your heart, lied to you, etc. Instead, realize that your thoughts, intentions and desires have somehow attracted this situation to you. Let yourself or others off the hook and instead try to discover these negative thought patterns and eliminate them.

Knowing What You Want

Finally, be clear on your romantic goals. What exactly do you want out of the person you’ll share your life with? The clearer you can make these goals, the easier they’ll be to manifest.