"The Secret" - I am truly happy

[Blue Skittles]

Awhile ago someone made a post about "the secret" so I watched it. I have to say since then, there have been so many changes in my life and I am now truly happy.

 

In the past 6 months I've gotten rid of friends who aren't truly friends. People that use me, people that are mean or have bad wishes for me, are not really friends. I then focused on the good friends that i do have and I express my thanks for them every single day. They are a blessing in my life. I have one really good friend here that has adopted me into her family and I feel good about it.

 

Financially, things started happening. I was kind of struggling before. I made one big change, I bought a new car. It was a big treat to myself, but the question of whether I would be able to afford car payments. I just started thinking over and over and over "i'm going to make this happen, its going to work out" and I started envisioning success financially. Things started happening. I got a huge tax return, I got extra money from selling my old car, our staff won a significant amount of money in our lottery pool. Not the jackpot, but a nice treat.

 

As far as relationships go, I started getting down about it. I had been dating guys that had no respect for me. I cleaned up that area of my life too and made a promise to not put up with stuff like that. As a result I would only date guys for a few weeks and never anything serious happen. Now I've met a guy who has complete respect for me. We've only had a few dates but things are different. He is doing things properly, taking me out, taking things slow, and I am enjoying myself. I don't know if it will work out in the long run but even if it doesn't I've realized there ARE guys out there that will have respect for me and I won't settle for anything less. If I would have settled for any of the "JERKS" before, I wouldn't have met such a nice guy.

 

Anyways, I wanted to share with you because I see a lot of negativeness on this board and I want people to know that things can get better and you can change your life to be happy too. Focus on the positive things and realize that you have the power to change things that are going wrong.

[fnlyfrei]

I just watched the movie and bought the book...I am looking forward to the changes that positive thinking will bring. I know it is going to take some practice to think that way. The world...can be very negative. I have one question though...how do you sheild yourself from negative energy from other people? Do you look past it and ignore it...don't let it bother you? I am very sensitive and I seem to be prone to feeling everything everyone around me feels....how did you deal with that?

[FortunateOne]

YES! I love this post. It shows the power of positive thinking. I've been doing this for a while and it really works, though I'd have to say I came about it from a relationship with God perspective. As for "The Secret" video presentation the message if awesome, yet due to my faith the new age religious angle is a bit much and as a amateur scientist it's correct about how energy interacts in the universe according to string theory. Overall it's a great paradigm shift for people to adopt.

[Shadows Light]

I am listening to the book on CD right now. And so far it hasn't said anything to me that I already did not know. Positive thinking... and good thoughts. Thinking about things in the "LIGHT" instead of all the shadows.

 

I've gone through a third of the book... and plan to use it as back ground noise later.. hopefully something will "SINK IN" to the gray matter.

 

I did notice something this morning. I got into a conversation with someone and it was all.. "NEGATIVE"... and I got an ewwwwy feeling. I had to change the subject quickly. The other person wanted to stay on the jag... so I finally made the excuse that I have to GO!!!!

 

I think the way to avoid negativity and negative people is to ignore it. Practice redirecting. Like when a 3 year old child is bent on something... you change the subject and redirect redirect redirect... after a while even the most stubbornest child will change direction.

 

I wonder how different the MOVIE is than listening to the book on CD. We are very visual and oral animals... that I can't help thinking that it sticks better when seen and heard.

[fnlyfrei]

I am not a religious person...so the metaphysical and quantum physics perspective makes more sense to me. I think that the positive thinking and faith from any religion could set these forces into motion. (Look at Buddism...karma...etc.) I go with the whole.."What you put out into the universe comes back to you." Ideal. I believe in a higher power. I also believe that everything we need to achieve whatever we dream was packed inside and is always with us. I think that is why children have vast imaginations and believe they can be or do anything...until someone ELSE tells them that they cannot. I think it is a journey back to the state of mind where there are endless possibilites.

[Dako]

I thought the movie resembled a slick infomercial in many ways.

[Blue Skittles]

In response to a couple questions:

 

First of all - how I shift from the negativeness of others:

I've found that I really haven't had a lot of negative energy directed at me since I myself have been focused on the positive. I find the positive outweighs the negativeness and shifts the direction of others. Although I did have a very negative friend and after trying to "redirect" as Shadow's light put it, she would never shift. I decided for that reason, and multiple other reasons, I didn't want to have her as a friend in my life. Its important to stay focused on the positive. For example I had a friend that called me to complain about a financial issue she was having, and I was able to focus her on the positive things she had going for her, and she was able to make her financial situation work.

 

I too have a very traditional faith and yes "the secret" is very new age. How i adjusted it to my own life was by thanking God every day for the blessings in my life and realizing that every positive thing that happens is a blessing from God. I don't get down when bad things happen but rather focus on these blessings and realize that everything that happens is part of his plan.

[Shadows Light]

I thought the movie resembled a slick infomercial in many ways.

 

LOL... ya know... listening to the audio book I thought the same thing. The first half hour was a tease... "and now we will tell you about the secret" "and just wait until we reveal the secret" "and boy ohh boy won't you be amazed when you learn what its all about... just wait..."

 

all kept thinking was.. yeah ok... get to the flippin point already....

 

and when they got to the...

 

"Its all in positive thinking" and that was the magic key... I thought... yeah ok... now tell me how to shut my brain off and change the filters.

 

lol. My brother thinks its like a "STEPFORD WIVES" reprograming...

 

Cool... is there an easy way to do it??? Like a labodomy.... a new computer chip in the noggin or something??????

 

Does this mean that I can't listen to the lament of good blues or jazz anymore and truly feel the music down into my soul???????????

[shes2smart]

This is nothing new.

 

"the Secret" is just the latest re-packaging spin on some very, very old ideas.

 

I was first introduced to similiar concepts via a book called "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay back in 1989....and they weren't new ideas then. I've been living my life using these principles since the early 90's. Long enough to know it does work.

 

Dako, the reason it feels like an infomercial is probably because they are trying to sell this particular flavor of old ideas to folks who may not have run accross 'em before

[Dako]

I don't mean to knock the concept, because I've absorbed it from earlier more traditional incarnations years ago, but the film did have a pretty melodramatic bent.

If it gets people to take off the poo-colored glasses and seek happiness, it's a good thing.

[Shadows Light]

Shes2smart...

 

Exactly.... I thought the same I idea.... that it was a re-packaging of the same ol same ol song and dance.

[shes2smart]

Tony Robbins covers a lot of the same material that Peter McWilliams covered.

 

Tony Robbins marketed himself much harder than Pete.

 

My ex was going on and on and on about how wonderful Tony Robbins was, so I was subjected to his tapes, videos, books....all the while thinking to myself, "This is all the same stuff I read in my beloved Peter McWilliams books."

 

Somehow, I have more respect for Peter. He seemed more sincere about helping people instead of helping himself to their money.

 

He put most of his books online to read for free before he died. He didn't quite complete the project, so some of the books sort of stop after a few chapters. link removed

[HealingHandsWarmHeart]

i have to say this... i have a friend who is very negative.. in fact, i sometimes need to take a step away from the friendship because she is so negative.

 

well, she's been reading the secret and practicing what she has learned..and i have to tell you .... the difference is remarkable...... and the secret is the only change she has made.

 

yeah ..it may not be a secret and yeah ..they are trying to sell a book a movie, a tape..etc... but ... what is the harm in thinking more positively if it makes this wack world we live in a little easier to bare?

 

i dont think that people should be discouraged from making an attempt to better themselves... no matter which means they use to get there...i say .. go for it!

[shes2smart]

yeah ..it may not be a secret and yeah ..they are trying to sell a book a movie, a tape..etc... but ... what is the harm in thinking more positively if it makes this wack world we live in a little easier to bare?

 

i dont think that people should be discouraged from making an attempt to better themselves... no matter which means they use to get there...i say .. go for it!

 

No, I absolutely wouldn't discourage them from making those changes.

 

What I would discourage them from is thinking that "The Secret" is the Source for these concepts and elevating (in their own minds anyway) the authors/movie makers to some sort of guru status because of it.

[HealingHandsWarmHeart]

well they were the ones that decided to write this stuff down and get a good marketing company ...and advertise on oprah....that alone has sky rocketed this to the top. Perhaps they applied some positive thoughts to it. =)

 

i'll be honest... my mom has been pushing this book on me for months ..and i was like .yeah yeah ..another self help book...i'll feel good for a week..and then its back to the same old same old...

 

i have been fighting it...LIKE CRAZY... well EVERY single one of my friends...from completely different circles at different times in the past week have all said or have talked to me about this secret..and EVERY single one of them are doing really good.

 

for instance.. my friend the negative one...in the years i have known her has had problems at jobs... i dont think she's held a job for more then 2 months in the last 3 years.... she's been temping and has never been offered the position. She is currently at a company that she has been talking about getting into for the last three years.. she's been temping there .... she said that every day she tells herself.. i'm getting offered the job..and i'm getting paid what i want..and i'm going to keep this job and i'm going to do REALLY well..

 

well she got offered the job with a $5,000 increase... and they LOVE her.

 

is that a coincidence? when that was the very thing she focused her positive thoughts on?

 

it is NOT common knowledge that you should "think" positive... not everyone has that awareness. to some this is a completely new experience.

[b2761]

I learned some of the concepts also from a Tony Robbins CD course and that course was very helpful in my life in helping me figure out what I wanted to do with it. I think the focus on positive thoughts and energy in The Secret is powerful stuff. I do think some of the melodramatic hokey stuff early in "The Secret" DVD was unnecessary (like some scenes were almost like something out of The DaVinci Code)- if they'd just had the collection of the different people talking about the power of attraction, it would've been better. One thing that I do think is necessary, which isn't touched on in the DVD but some of the participants talked about when they were on Oprah is the necessity of taking some action to help your goals be moved along.

[fnlyfrei]

Yes, I have a Tony Robbins book too...(Awaken the Giant Within) I found it hard to get into...I like the secret because like "The Four Agreements" it is simple...I think some people think that it has to be more complicated than it really is. Attitude and gratitude,and positivity are what it takes. I see examples in my life of people who choose to talk about how cruddy everything is, and they seem to stay in that rut..because they refuse to look at even the smallest positive things to build on. You can build on successes...or you can dig a deeper hole and add to negativity. Some very successful people started at their seemingly lowest points...homeless..sick...heartbroken...but they got out of it because they built on what was going right...and chose not to focus on what wasn't.

[shes2smart]

Yes, I have a Tony Robbins book too...(Awaken the Giant Within) I found it hard to get into...I like the secret because like "The Four Agreements" it is simple...I think some people think that it has to be more complicated than it really is. Attitude and gratitude,and positivity are what it takes.

 

You've illustrated a point I was trying to make: This material is available from many different teachers, however not all teachers are going to speak to all of us.

 

Right now, "The Secret" is the hot property du jour, and it is resonating with a lot of people. And it's fine if you're one of the people it is speaking to. Use the concepts to create the life you want, more power to yas.

 

What I was attempting to suggest that while it is A way it is not necessarily THE way for everybody, or is it THE ONLY way. That's a problem that crops up when someone finds a new way to market this kind of material...folks hop on the bandwagon and may look down upon those who don't believe in this particular way or may believe that this is the one true way and all other similar material is false or flawed in some way.

 

I believe all these folks have portions of the Truth....but I don't believe any one of them (even my beloved Peter McWilliams) has the whole Truth.

[fnlyfrei]

Good point. Also the way I think about different religions. I do not believe there is ONE that is the chosen one. I think there are good things we all can benefit in somewhere in each of them. I also do not think that these self-help or motivational books are gospel either...you take from it what you can use.

[shes2smart]

"I believe in all religions...untwisted by mankind." - Francis Dunnery

[captinhowdy]

Hey Guys,

 

I am new to the forum but I've reading posts from here for about a year or so. I wanna say I benefited a lot from what i read here. We seem all to have the same sort of "life issues" even if I were from a different culture than the "American" culture.

 

I wanna also affirm what shes2smart said about Tony Robbin's and other self-help stuff. I've read a lot of it. It is all the same to me. The new stuff is just repackaging of old techniques to get the author more money. I ran into Peter Mcwilliams's site more than a year ago by chance and I read most of his books. I have a great deal of respect for that author because his just so truthful and honest about what he says, his style is very enjoyable to read. I felt I became a new person, for the better. I just wished I read them earlier than now (I am 29 now). I also wished that he lived longer so that i have the chance to meet him or speak to him. Unfortunately, his dislike of hypocrisy got him into troubles.

 

Anyway, every one of us is unique and we may have different tastes, so everyone should go with what works for him/her.

[Orlander]

I echoed everyone else's comments. The Secret is not a new idea, but hopefully will bring the message to many many people that positive thinking is very powerful.

 

Buddha taught this and you can see it in his 8 Fold Path. Jesus taught this and one of my favorite authors Wayne Dyer has also.

 

Orlander

[shes2smart]

IBuddha taught this and you can see it in his 8 Fold Path. Jesus taught this and one of my favorite authors Wayne Dyer has also.

 

Orlander

 

I love watching Wayne Dyer's PBS specials...he's a great speaker. I tried reading his books, but there's something about his writing style that makes me want to have a nap....go figure. But he's very interesting when he's talking about these things rather than writing about them.

[Blue Skittles]

Wayne Dyer is also very good. He had the same kind of philosophies in his "Power of Intention". Boring book, but like shes2smart said his speeches are great.

[Dako]

I was thinking about this subject today, and although I found that movie a bit trite, I use these concepts in my life with good result.

 

Whatever the packaging, I believe looking for opportunity and positive change much more effective than collecting excuses and finding fault.

Focusing on goals will get things accomplished even at an unconscious level. I don't think it changes the world, only our relationship to it.