I first came to know about this film called “The Secret” a few months ago, and I’ve been hearing about it a lot in the last month or so from various sources. Last week, I finally got to watch the film. If you don’t already know about The Secret, it’s a ’self-help’ documentary film that talks about the power of positive thinking and the “Law of Attraction” — a law which can be roughly stated as, “You attract to you what you think of the most”. There is nothing new and there’s nothing secret about the concepts discussed in this film. Everything said in the film has been publicly pronounced by great thinkers and successful people all over the world from time to time in some form or the other.
Personally, I got into all this ‘positive thinking’ stuff (and spirituality) eight years ago when I read the book “Thought Power” by Swami Sivananda. That was a time when nothing was going right in my life, I can say it was the lowest point in my life, the book was a real life saver for me in that kind of a situation. Ever since, I’ve been reading and learning more and more about positive thinking and applying these principles in my life, it’s been a fascinating journey and the results have been excellent so far. But still, I won’t say life has become perfect for me, far from it. It takes lifetimes to become a master and attain perfection. I’m still playing around with ‘positive thinking’ and ‘law of attraction’, I’m still evolving, and along the way, I’ve had this wonderful opportunity of watching The Secret. Let me share a few things emphasized in the film.
Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Is there something that is not right in your life? Forget about that something that’s not right, think about how your life would look like when everything is set right. Think about how good you’ll feel when things are perfect, close your eyes and bring those nice feelings, live those feelings in your mind right now. That’s the way to attract what you want and let go of what you don’t want, not by mulling over what’s not right and figuring out ways of how to set things right, that way, you will keep figuring out, and that something that’s not right will remain that way. You should think (and know) that you are already on your way to having right things in your life and prepare yourself to feeling good 
.
For example,
- do you hate war? Now, stop thinking about war and it’s destructive effects, stop participating in anti-war rallies. By focusing on war and being anti-war, you only give more and more energy to a strife filled world. The right way is to focus on a peaceful world, be pro-peace. Do whatever you can do to ignite peace and love in the minds of people.
- Worried about global warming? Stop thinking about CO2 emissions, stop worrying about cutting down of trees. You can think about Carbon-di-Oxide if you are a scientist, but you are not going to bring about a green, pure and healthy environment by speaking to people about the dangers of CO2 emissions, rather talk about the alternatives like fuel cells and cleaner energy sources, talk about planting more trees and the love you feel when you grow and nurture greens. Emphasize on the beauty and joy of living in a green, clean and harmonious environment.That’s positive thinking for you, and that’s the only way you can bring about change.
Watch your feelings — this is another thing emphasized in the film. Continuous monitoring of your thoughts can be an amusing past time, and it’s a process that can actually help in your meditation and knowing about thought patterns. But if you want to know quickly whether or not or you are thinking and acting the right way, monitor your feelings. When you feel good and have feelings of love, compassion, peace, etc., know that your thoughts (and actions) are in alignment with your purpose, and you are on heading in the right direction. When you have negative feelings and emotions like fear, anger, jealousy, sorrow, etc., know that you are not thinking right and it’s time to introspect and change your thought patterns.
I very much enjoyed watching The Secret and learnt a few things from the film, I would recommend it to anybody. But It’s not as if you watch the film, apply what’s said in it, and suddenly you get everything you want in life, no, it doesn’t happen suddenly. There could be fantastic results in the beginning, but there will also be mistakes and some frustration along the way. Thinking is an art that takes time to master… it takes time to learn, internalize and apply the law of attraction to perfection. But the film itself is a good start, it drives home the point of positive thinking and law of attraction very well…. One thing I find a little annoying in the film is too much talk about attracting money and wealth. I don’t deny the importance of money in today’s materialistic world, but money can take you only so far… money is only a means, not an end in itself. Agreed, money and material wealth can make you feel good sometimes, but not always, not eternally. There are much higher things worth pursuing as a human being.
Learn more about The Secret from The Secret official website and The Secret article at Wikipedia.
surjit says:
Profound thought:
11 November 2007, 11:57 am‘…Think about what you want, not what you don’t want…’
Thanks Srini, for sharing such a valuable post.
You have a wonderful blog.
God bless.
Srini says:
Thank you Surjit
. I’ve been following your blog for quite some time… I’m very glad you’ve visited my blog and like it here.
11 November 2007, 12:16 pmJoe Leighton says:
Hi Srini…My compliments on a great site.
Check out the new Law of Attraction Lessons IQ pop-quiz we just launched — it can be very helpful to increase your success-IQ. You can even add your own questions & we’ll add the answers… http://www.secretnextstep.biz .
21 November 2007, 2:26 pmTJ says:
Great post.
25 November 2007, 5:06 amThis is what I have to say about the law of attraction, http://psidude.com/blog/?p=16
Kishore says:
Hi Srini,
I have read mixed reviews of The Secret initially and was holding off watching this to a later time. Reading your review prompted to watch it immediately. It is a good one. Once you experience the law of attraction, you will start believing in it. Thanks for your detailed post on this.
Kishore
3 December 2007, 11:30 amSrini says:
Thanks for the comment Kishore.
Yes, it’s all about ‘belief’. Some may find it hard to believe in things like ‘law of attraction’, but once you experience it, it almost becomes a part of your life. And, most of the things shown in the film cannot be taken literally, but the crux of what’s said in the film is, in my opinion, very much consistent with what we read from Swami Vivekananda and others. As Swamiji says, “Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha.”, as simple as that!
3 December 2007, 7:38 pmThe Secret Gathering says:
Very interesting!
4 January 2008, 6:20 pm_________________
http://thesecretgathering.com
Michael says:
The Law of Attraction will always be critizid and denied. But lately i got proof that it’s working even amongst animals.
You can verify this yourself. Just browse over to this url
http://www.emarketscout.com/10/the-law-of-attraction-is-working.htm
and watch the embedded video …
2 February 2008, 11:28 amLaw of Attraction says:
Just wondering if anyone has heard what is up with the sequal to the secret? There was some talk about it being in the works last Novemeber, but not a peep since then. Anyone?
17 April 2008, 3:52 amDonna says:
I personally have never been a positive thinker, i have always looked on the bad side of things, then when the bad happens you dont get disappointed.
12 May 2008, 9:19 pmHowever having lived this way for far to many years it started to have a very negative effect on me. It actually made me very depressed.
I never saw the good in anything, never looked forward to anything and always expected bad things to happen……and because i thought that way, most of the time bad things did end up happening. I dont know if i was subconsciously willing them to happen.
In the end i made myself seek help for my depression from a Dr, who just gave me pills to take and sent me on my way.
But i needed to change my whole way of thinking, the way i lived my whole life. Easier said than done though when you`ve been thinking a certain way for over 30 years!
I have never been a believer in spiritual things or positive thinking, but i was at the end of my tether and would consider anything at this point, i had to change!!
I started reading self help books, scouring the library in my home town for anything that might help steer me in the right direction. I must have read dozens of books and did learn a few useful things from them.
I then moved on to looking on the internet for help. Again i read numerous e-books and paid out several £`s in the process.
One day i was getting bored of looking and was just about to give up and then i saw an advert for the secret of the key. It got me interested so i clicked on it, read it and ordered it.
Im telling you my story as i was near rock bottom, i tried everything i could to change the way i thought about everything in life. Once i started to read the secret of the key i really only then started to believe i could change. Im not saying im perfect now, but im on the right track. Its taught me how to look at things differently and to go forward and achieve what i want from life, im starting to have success in my life instead of failure because im approaching life in a different, more positive way.
Dallas Lawyer says:
Great article, and I can’t wait for the sequel but have not heard anything about it.
13 May 2008, 5:56 amRaymond Chua says:
I begin to attract what I want in my life after I shift my focus from focusing on what I don;t want to focusing on what I want.
The result is simply amazing!
30 May 2008, 9:56 pmLorelei F says:
I also utilize the power of attraction and was very moved by the movie. What I have noticed in the last 7 or so years of working with The Science of Being, or ontology, is that a negative view or outlook is often associated with our past. So when we can’t seem to shift to the positive, and it occurs like icing on a mudpie to try to ‘be happy’ we probably have some past experience in our way.
6 June 2008, 10:32 pmWhe we deal with the past powerfully, it becomes like ‘falling off a log’ to be positive.
martin says:
What a waste of time, the personality development sham has evolved in the 20th century and it is the age where most people have lost lives in wars than any other time in our civilization. it is also the age of rampant materialism and decay of values in people. all of this is because of our want to change things around us. wanting and craving for things will cause more misery and more desires than anything else. only Hinduism,Buddhism and taoism seem to address this problem so deeply. it is so closely embedded into the philosophy. leaving things as they are is always good for everyone and onself
read the
10 June 2008, 3:24 pmSham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
by Steve Salerno
you will understand the other side of the story.
Srini says:
I absolutely agree!
But there is nothing wrong in wanting to change things in and around you. After all, you think the self-help movement to be a curse to the society and you want this scenario to change, is it not? You have commented here because you want a change to happen around you. There is nothing wrong about that. But what we want to avoid is craving for change, the feverishness, the anxiety, the fear that what you want to happen may not happen. This fear serves no purpose and if you look deeply into the state of things, you will see that this fear is the root cause of all the problems in the world.
Accepting things as they are and being aware of the harmony of things as they are — this is a grand idea, and he is a great person who can really live this way. But this idea also includes accepting the harmony of things as they change, it also includes accepting the desire inside you to change things in and around you.
Introspecting oneself, finding out areas where one can improve, and applying methods that will help bring the desired improvement is what personality development and self help is all about. This introspection can really be a blessing if it’s applied with the right intention. But unfortunately, we live in a society obsessed with materialism, and whatever good you give to people, they seem to use it for their own ends. You speak about the grand ideas in Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. But not everyone who calls them a Hindu recognize these grand ideas. To a vast majority, Hinduism is all about performing some rituals for material wealth, or going to a temple and praying for a better job, more money, better health. The same thing is happening with the Self help movement and the ‘Law of Attraction’. There is nothing wrong with any movement, but to what ends people use them. It’s the attitude that has to change. The ability to discriminate between real and unreal — that’s what is needed.
10 June 2008, 9:07 pm