What distinguishes the people who are living their dreams and those who are not? Thoughts, nothing but thoughts.

Here it is, 4:30 my time, and the day has gotten away from me. Like every day, miracles have lined up to greet me and blessings have called out my name. As I get ready for next week’s South Pacific adventure to the Cook Islands, I’d like to share this quote from Rhonda Byrne who was interviewed earlier this month by bookish.com, a new outing by USA Today and six U.S. publishers.

Daniel Lefferts, the interviewer, posed a question that many people ask.

What advice would you give to people who have a hard time believing in the law of attraction but want to?

Here’s what she said: “Our thoughts seem so insignificant but, in truth, they have created and continue to create our world and our individual lives. Try and find a single thing that has not been created by thought. The way we feel about other people and interact with other people comes from our own thoughts. We can’t speak without thought. Any action we take, even to lift our arm or to stand up, comes from thought. Cars, planes, railways, buildings, cities, ships, technology, music, art and all things created by human beings not only began with thought but were created and materialized through thought. We accomplish our work through thought, and live every moment of our day through our thoughts. If you really examine everything in the world, you will realize that it was thought that caused it and created it. And so then ask yourself, if human beings have built everything there is from thought, how can I say that thought is not powerful? What distinguishes the people who are living the life of their dreams and those who are not? The ones who are living the life of their dreams thought they could do it, and those who are not, didn’t think they could do it.

And here’s what I say in E-Squared: Okay, just say it: “How can something as simple as a thought influence the world?” Let me just point out that a hundred years ago nobody would have believed songs sung by a bunch of American Idol contestants could pass through brick, glass, wood, and steel to get from a transmitter tower to your television set, either. Nobody would have believed a cell phone no bigger than a deck of cards would allow you to talk to your sister 2,000 miles away.

Your thoughts, like the 289 TV channels and like your voice on the cell phone, are vibrational waves. When you hear Eminem rapping about his daughter Hailie, your eardrum is catching a vibrational sound wave. When you see Brad Pitt’s cane or Madonna’s single leather glove (accessories they wore to the 2012 Golden Globes), you’re seeing patterns of vibrational light waves.

And that’s what your thoughts are—vibrational energy waves that interact and influence the Field of Potentiality (FP). Every thought you have, have ever had, or ever will have creates a vibration that goes out into the FP, extending forever. These vibrations meet other vibrations, crisscrossing in an incredible maze of energy. Get enough energy together and it clumps into matter. Remember what Einstein said—matter is formed out of energy.

The field of potentiality simply follows the energy you send out. And your thought vibrations draw similar vibrations. Here’s one small example: A few years ago, I remember thinking I wanted a potato masher. I didn’t mention it to anyone. I just made a mental note: Next time you’re at Walmart, buy a potato masher. That very night, my friend Wendy, who was cleaning out her drawers, stopped by with a couple of no-longer-needed cooking utensils, including a potato masher.

Another time, I decided I needed more laughter in my life. Within a couple weeks, I began dating Todd, a funny co-worker who eventually became a comedian.

The coincidences we see in our lives are just energy and the FP at work. Most of the time, we employ energy inadvertently, totally oblivious to the fact that what we think, say, and do makes a difference. Consequently, we constantly activate this power to follow the patterns we already believe in.

People think Jesus is the be-all and end-all, because he was so good at manipulating energy and matter. But, as he so poignantly pointed out (although these aren’t his exact words), “You, too, are da’ man.”