The Secret is the worst Personal Development book I have ever read – there, I have said it aloud. Shoot me. (No, don’t, please. I like being alive)
I remember the first person that recommended the book to me and raved about it, and I thought, ok. I read it, and my reaction was like… ‘mmm ok’. I get it, and I see how it might work for you on one aspect, but I can also see through the massive gaps in the Law of Attraction theory. That didn’t go down too well within the conversation, so I played along. We sat in the dark and visualised for great things to happen and sent our positive energy out into the world so we could attract happiness. We split up after that.
My personal battle with thinking positively and the struggle to keep on a positive message is a daily internal monologue that has to be managed. You are most likely the same. It is not easy to stay ultra-positive as my brain can defer to the questionable aspects of a curious mind and an argumentative tongue. But hey, I manage them both to be stoically respectable. As you most likely do.
I am up for the challenge of managing that positivity, and I believe that the mindset that I do create helps me stay positive and look for opportunities with an open mind. If staying positive means that I am more inclined to take risks, work through my problems and look and feel in control so that I can attract money opportunities, a partner or people to me, then – yeah, it works. And so, the message contained in the book works on one level.
It is important that your actions are in sync with what you desire, it says in the book. If your wish is for a perfect partner, then you have to act like that… blah, blah, blah. If your wish is to be rich, you have to think like this and visualise every aspect of that, and the money will flow in. Yeah, aye, give me a friggin break.
YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK.
YOU HAVE TO SET CLEAR, ACTIONABLE GOALS.
YOU HAVE TO BUILD AN ACTION PLAN TO SUCCEED.
YOU HAVE TO BUILD OUT YOUR HABITS TO GET YOU TOWARDS THE GOALS.
YOU HAVE TO GET DOWN AND DIRTY WITH THE DETAIL TO ACHIEVE RESULTS
YES THINK POSITIVELY
YES, THINK THAT YOU CAN SUCCEED
YES, YOU CAN BE THE THINGS YOU WANT TO BE
YES, CREATE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
YES, BE KIND TO OTHERS AND LIVE A LIFE OF GRATITUDE
DON’T RESIST POSITIVE THOUGHTS
DON’T TAKE THE MEDIA AND NEWS AS GOSPEL
DON’T ASK; YOU WON’T RECEIVE
DON’T IGNORE THE POWERFUL MORNING HOUR
DON’T IGNORE YOUR PERSONAL ENERGY
The person that first recommended the book to me is still exactly where they were all the years ago. Sitting in the dark and trying to muster up a lottery win by thinking positively about how it feels to be that winner. The moment that they win is manifested into their body language, and they are alive at the thought of it. They are thinking about how it would feel to be a millionaire. Staring into a vision board of dreams and working hard at tuning their antenna into something in the energy field that will bring all their wildest riches to their feet without physical effort.
They have not yet won!
The book is wildly successful in the same way that fifty percent of Americans believe Trump was anointed by God kind of way. Speaking of God, file This book on the shelf alongside the other spiritual books because that is what it is. It is an easy read, makes the reader feel good and gives them another source to deflect on to. It is a placebo of a personal development book, and well done to the author for doing the whole Keyser Söze trick on the lucky readers that ran with the teachings that it contained.
I understand the irony of my negative review for what is a positive book, but I want to sell the book for what it is. I apologise for the negativity – I think.
Yes, it is an uplifting read, and it can give you some principles to be living your life by, but it is a book of pseudo-science and spiritual beliefs. It is a book to fill your head with desires and what-if stories. It has a straightforward narrative with some nice convenient little anecdotes that suggest all of this can happen to you if you just think that it can.
My Mother, who has worked hard all her life, is 93 years old and has brought up twelve children and is still actively producing her arts and crafts to this day has a phrase for this type of mindset…
Wishful Thinking!
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