The Secret

(Originally published Apr. 11, 2007).

I’m reading The Secret.

Like many of you, I had heard the buzz about the book and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Yesterday, a friend lent it to me, and I’m almost finished (it’s a quick read).

The book is reinforcing everything I have learned through personal growth programs and inspirational books: that is, that as sentient beings, we are magnets — we attract what we put out. If we feel negative emotions, we will attract more negativity, more of what we fear and dread, into our lives, and if we feel positive emotions, we will attract more positive things, people, and events into our lives.

The idea is, therefore, to cultivate a positive attitude — not just to think positive thoughts, but to visualize what we want so strongly, we actually feel the associated emotions, exactly as if we had already achieved our goals.

Some people reading this entry — and you know who you are — will dismiss this concept as ‘hocus-pocus’ and ‘mystical bull****’.

I disagree.

I do believe that our attitudes and thoughts determine the direction our lives take. Being human, I often forget.

So, starting today, I work on one of the book’s suggestions. I will cultivate an attitude of gratitude. One of the The Secret’s tips was to keep a ‘gratitude stone’ in your pocket, and every time you touch it, take the time to enumerate all the things you feel grateful about. I love the idea, and have my stone in my hand.

10 minutes later:

I am not going to itemize everything I feel gratitude about. Suffice it to say, it is a long list. I intend to type it up and study it every time I touch my ‘gratitude stone’. When I think of other things to be grateful for, I will add them to my list. I will start and end my day with this exercise, setting positive intentions for my life. And nobody will know my little secret, except me — and those of you who have read my blog.