The first time I saw the book a few years ago, I had just emerged from devouring “The Da Vinci Code.” I was so spellbound with the storyline and the heart-stopping suspense that I vowed never to read another mystery/suspense novel. Looking at the cover of “The Secret,” even its title alone, I dismissed it as just another author joining the “Da Vinci” bandwagon, trying to cash in on the trend. Talk about judging a book by its cover.I was only last year when “The Secret” was brought back to my consciousness by a visiting relative. She said that it was nowhere near “Da Vinci Code.” It wasn’t even fiction. And if I correctly read between her lines, “The Secret” was the best non-fiction book she’s read by far, she’d guarantee it with her own life…Alright, maybe I over-read a little bit, but the gist is virtually the same.
So the next chance I had, I went to National Bookstore, grabbed a copy and willingly parted with some seven hundred pesos or so of my hard earned money. It was christmas season then, so I figured I ought to at least get myself a present…aside from the two pair of jeans, two pair of shoes, several blouses and accessories that I had earlier bought.
I immediately began reading it when I got home. For one reason or another, I forgot all about it and just set it aside. It was only recently when I saw the book again that I decided to deal with it, once and for all.
So what is the Secret? It’s nothing more than the law of attraction, having what you want through positive thinking. It features excerpts on the topic by well-known and successful people, most of them authors of their own multi-million selling self-help books, each of them learned in the ways of the law of attraction. I was a bit perplexed, however. How could it be called a “Secret” when, apparently, lots of people have already discovered it? In any case, I read on.
How does one channel the power of the universe so much so that everything you desire will come to you at the mere cost of thought, you may ask. Fortunately, that is also provided in the book.
The author provides three simple steps…or is it that simple?
First: ASK. Ask for whatever it is you truly want. In my case, I want to have the perfect swim suit bod. Amazingly enough, that is also the example given in the book, i.e., losing weight. The author says that in order to attract positive things, one must necessarily think positive. So instead of thinking “losing weight,” think “gaining the perfect weight.” And so I say to myself: I am going to have the perfect weight.” But wait, what is the perfect weight? The book then instructs the reader to visualize the perfect body you desire. I thumped on my head and racked my brains as to whose body I must emulate… hmm, perhaps Beyonce’s will do. After all, I figured I’d rather be bootylicious than a skinny waif runway model.
Second: BELIEVE. The book says “believe that you will receive what you have asked for and that it is yours already.” The first part is easy enough. I believe that at some point in time, whether by hook or by crook, I’m going to attain the perfect balance between boobs and booty. But it’s the second part I’m having trouble with. Because right after I envisioned my bootylicious bod in a skimpy two piece suit, I looked at the mirror and it felt like a douse of iced water to my face (with some ice cubes included). Judging from what I saw, there’s no way in hell I can believe that I have already received. Nevertheless, I read on.
The third and final step is to receive. The author explains it as accepting one’s body and feeling good about it as it is now. This one is just a reiteration of the underlying principle of the law of attraction: think positive. So I think to myself, all right. Maybe I’ll give it a try. But how long would it take before positive things actually manifest themselves? To this, the author has a profound reply: “TIME IS JUST AN ILLUSION…” Automatically, as if with a life of its own, my left eyebrow jumped out of my forehead, accompanied by a shrilling sound of “Whaaaaaat?!”
I so desperately want to believe this principle. Because if it were true, then I wasn’t 30 minutes late to work this morning and that I would be justified in writing in an earlier time of arrival on my DTR (If there is anybody from the civil service reading this, please, I AM JUST KIDDING. =). But I have digressed.
The author explains further:
“If you understand that there is no time and accept that concept, then you will see that whatever you want in the future already exists. If everything is happening at one time, then the parallel version of you with what you want already exists.”
Great. I have the perfect bod, wearing the most expensive outfit and shoes, partying like it’s the end of the world and I’m not even there to enjoy it! Life can be so cruel. I started feeling worse than I actually did when I began reading the book. So before I got even more depressed and decide to kill myself, I put down the book and kept it away from my sight.
