So
I just finished reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, the
best-selling worldwide phenomenon touted by Oprah Winfrey and even turned into
a movie. The basic premise of the book is, “If you think it, it will happen.” For instance, if you want to be rich, think
of yourself as rich and miraculously something will happen to make you rich. Want
to be successful? Think that you are. Healthy? Trust in the positive power of
your mind. It’s all about sending out the kind of energy you want returned to
you. It’s the law of attraction.
Byrne
claims that great men throughout the ages have known this secret. Socrates.
Plato. Shakespeare. Beethoven. Sir Isaac Newton. Too many others to name.
It’s
a fascinating, uplifting and very positive book. Byrne believes you can have
anything you want. As to whether the secret actually works, well…
I’d
like to be – no, wait, not ‘like’ to be, I AM a bestselling author. There. I’ve
said it. I’ve put that positive thought out into the universe. (Byrne herself
is still a top seller on amazon.com, even seven years after the release of The
Secret.) So I’ve been secretly envisioning my books as worldwide
successes. I see myself at book signings, picture myself speaking to legions of
fans. I’m writing the next book with a movie version in mind.
But
I suppose if I can’t be a bestselling author, I’d settle for being rich. So to do
more than just imagine my success, I
went to The Secret website and downloaded this nifty blank check they have there. Byrne suggests making the check out for
whatever amount would make you feel rich, and then looking at that check first
thing every morning and believing that you ARE rich. If you send out rich thoughts,
theoretically riches will come to you.
So
I made the check out for 10 million dollars. It’s been three days now, and
nothing has happened yet. But looking at that check every morning sure makes me
feel rich, if only for a moment.
Which makes me smile. Which starts my day out right. Does that make me rich in
spirit, at least?
I’ve
followed the book’s advice and sent that vibration out into the universe. The “I
am rich” vibration. I’ll check in with
you next month and let you know what happens.
Best,
Leighwww.leighcourt.com
11 comments:
I ocassionally purchase a lottery ticket and stare at it, chanting, I am a winner, over and over again. It hasn't worked. I can't even tell you the last time I won even the $2 'you are a loser but thanks for playing' prize. Sure hope you have better luck with the $10M check. Keep me informed. If it works, I may forgo the lottery and try your method.
As for the best-selling author thing - that's only a matter of time. You have what it takes, we just need convince a few more people!
Hi Leigh - I'm a believer. But I didn't get it from any book. I've always had this inner spiritual feeling. It happened first when I saw my husband in junior high. We'd never met. I envisioned a life with him, and then years later in high school, he asked me out and I wasn't surprised. I thought, okay...yes this is what supposed to happen. It's strange, but that's how it works. Same thing happened to me with my kids, wanted a boy first, then a girl..got it. My work in childbirth education, my house etc. When I walked into my first RWA chapter meeting, I glanced around all the writers, and knew it's what I was meant to do. I knew I would be published. Soooo, the secret is out. It's your inner spirtual guide. When I get discouraged with my career or with my place in life, I know it's because I didn't dream big enough...that can be corrected. Keep staring at that 10 mil and really believe!
I read the book when it first came out, and I crack it open every once in a while. I'm a believer of you are what you think about, and thoughts are energy. We need to phrase thoughts in a positive way to draw back positive energy. : )
Great post! If you haven't seen the DVD yet, I'd recommend it because it brings the whole concept to life more vividly and dramatically. I watched it instead of reading the book. Although I also have the book on audio. It worked for me but it took time. The reason was that I had a hard time truly believing things could happen or that I could have what I wanted. So that's the trick... believing so strongly that you KNOW. That was when it happened for me and I achieved/received almost everything on my original list. Now I've made a new list. :)
Thanks, Vonda! I've just ordered The Secret DVD. The book was incredibly positive, but it's hard to believe success is as simple as "Ask. Believe. Receive." Still, the more people I talk to about it, the more people swear by it! Glad it helped you, too!!
Leigh
I'm a fan of anything that creates positive feelings in my day. And I have noticed that people who generally look on the bright side of things tend to have more bright things to look at.
I'm torn on the rich thing. I love the fantasy of sudden, unearned wealth ('cause if I have to earn it, then it's probably work and I'm probably not up for that), but then, again, my other spiritual guru, P.Diddy said, Mo Money, Mo Problems." (And he should know).
Samanthe -
I have a feeling The Secret to being a successful (or rich) author is to believe that you can be successful (or rich) as an author, so you keep writing and (viola!) you eventually become successful (or rich). It may just be a simple as that.
Either way, I'll keep writing because I'm a writer, and a writer writes :)
Thanks for your comment!
Leigh
I read it a few years ago. Need to pull it out again. I do believe in the power of positive thinking. And getting rid of the negative. Good luck with your 10 million :)
Hi Leigh,
I read The Secret many years ago. I saw it on Oprah, and because I believe in things happening for a reason, I thought it might help me along with my desires.
One of the things I got out of the book was to make up a visual representation of things I wanted. I'm not the most artistic person, so it was a poster board of pictures I'd gotten off the internet. I know I had the POTUS and his wife on there (I wanted to meet them), piles of money, a pic of a hard cover book with my title on it (I wrote my title on in pen), and the words agent and publisher. I'm sure there were more things on there as well.
I'm thinking it's been at least 6-8 years since I made up the board, but not only did I get an agent, HE came to me! I haven't seen a hard cover book of mine yet, I haven't had a publisher (other than myself), but I have made a small pile of money. (Of course, the IRS get's almost half of it)
I'd gotten rid of my visualization board - I think a few months before I heard from the agent. I'm not sure The Secret always works, but it sure can't hurt!
Does The Secret work. Yes. I was raised in Unity which is a school of thought that believes in the power of prayer and the power of your thoughts to create your life. The Secret is a bit simplistic in some ways. What do you do if you keep looking at that check but you don't get "the wealth" you are creating? Is the universe really simply created by our own thoughts and if that is the case, then what does the world look like to people with thoughts that are opposite from your own? Does it look differently to them?
The ideas of good, bad, positive and negative are man made labels for experiences. As humans, we tend to label things that inconvenience us or cause us pain or frustration as bad. I'm simply not sure that is true. Often the best things that have ever happened to me started out from a place of pain or frustration. It's as if I am far too lazy to move out of my rut without those things to start me on my way.
I believe it's our job to take life as it comes and to experience it from the best viewpoint we can find. Yes, pain hurts and frustration is, well, frustrating, aggravating, and just down right irritating. All of those things move us forward in our journey and perhaps they wouldn't be so hard to embrace if we actually moved forward before they came to a boiling point.
On the other hand, some days road rage is the only thing I've got left. Plus, there's a new theory out that states humans are actually wired to see the negative. It's how we survived as a species. In the article that I read there was an example that talked about our ancestors crossing a field of grass with beautiful flowers. The ones who noticed the flowers and blithely skipped through it missed the lurking tiger and got eaten. It was the ones that searched out the tiger that made it across the field. We are descended from the ones who saw the tiger and ignored the beautiful flowers.
This makes me happy because when I fall into the old rut of "poor me" I just blame it on the ancestors who saw the tiger and survived. The survival part was good.
Hi Leigh,
It’s interesting that you posted this, because I just spent the weekend with Bob Proctor, one of the main teachers in The Secret! He was here in LA for the conference, along with 3 other experts: Gay Hendricks (relationship guru), Peggy McColl (the Best Seller Maker!) and Mary Morrissey (amazing transformational speaker and my mentor). What a weekend it was!
I’m certified as a transformational success coach, so I’ve been studying this. Most of what the others above said works, but Bob Proctor said that he thought The Secret was a little misleading in that the Law of Attraction is only part of the Secret, there’s a lot more to it.
Leigh, you are not very likely to get $10 million anytime soon for many reasons, besides the ‘logical’ ones. For this process to work, you have to want it, but for a good reason, a specific reason. It has to align with your core values. You also have to give to receive. But most of all, you have to believe it is possible. It takes a bit of time and study to do all of this well–the course I teach is 90 days because it takes people that long to develop consistent skills to turn their lives around in any area where they feel a lack, whether it’s love or money, health or happiness.
If you want to seriously try this, the best advice I can give you is to start with an amount that is around double what you’ve ever earned before, and that you want for a specific reason. Better yet, just focus on that goal that you want the money for, and how you will feel once you get there, and keep it in mind every day. Be generous with the money that does come in. Keep your mind open to all possibilities, and like Maria said, don’t let the set-backs deter you, understand they’re just part of the process (just like rejection letters!). Once you get good at it, you can work your way up to the $10 million!
To your continued success,
Shelly
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