The Secret...

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

I don't worry about money. They make more every day.

I don't worry about little things, I can get more little things or fix the broken ones.

Sure, I worry and fret sometimes... get it out of my system... but really... it's a thing, made of plastic... Why the hell would aI let it ruin my day.

unless i loose it... nothing gets me more upset that not being able to find something.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Having just watched it, its definitely a good reminder about what is an age-old of the power of the mind as a positive or negative influence in our lives. If we generalize the message as "positive thinking leads to a positive lifestyle and tends to open up and attract us to opportunities and relationships of the same" and "visualizing your positive future and goals will help you achieve them" then its fucking awesome and I'd suggest everyone try to live their life in some sort of accordance with these ideas.

Its just a starting point, the first step would be the good intentions, and "the glass is half full" viewpoint about life, and visualizing or listing of goals and ideals. Then you have to work to make them happen, not just wish for them and wait for them to come which is where the hard part comes in as sustaining that, idea and ideals/goals.

This first step is one that some people never even get to, so its a good road to be set on even if some may argue with the marketing techniques. There's endless personal development literature that covers this first step and a lot of the follow-up details that i used to read a lot of but have since just sort of let fall to the back of my mind, of wich The Secret was a good reminder... specific books that i've read that cover similar topics that i can think of:

Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki

The Power Of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

Success Though A Positive Mental Attitude by W. Stone

How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnagie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnagie

Honoring The Self by Nathanel Branden (close associate aka lover of Ayn Rand)

How to Raise Your Self Esteem by Nathanel Branden

The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Classon

The Heat Of Buddhas Teachings by Tich Nat Han

The 7 habits Of Highly Effective People People by Steven Covey (probably the best amalgamation of all of the above, but also a hard read)

I know there is more than this , these are just the ones i can think of at the moment that i've actually read. Some with a view toward my career before the car accident and some after the accident when i was depressed and needed something uplifting.

The ancient practice of Buddhism is very heavy on a lot of these ideas. Even the bible "As a man thinketh, so shall he be." from proverbs. (although the context here is against materialism, and generally The Secret focuses on material wealth) Not that it dulls this any, just trying to pre-empt any negative criticism of the biblical minded against my use of that quote. The underlying "idea" is the same, regardless of the application might be different. Any claim to the single absolute truth should be viewed with healthy constructive criticism, and we should do our own research and not accept any single source as some mystical purveyor of the whole story.

The inetivable however brief lapses of our willpower can be crushing and we need to not let that be an excuse to say either the effort is not worth it or we are not worthy. We need to realize we are fallible and cannot keep it up 100% of the time and when we fail have compassion for ourselves and our fellow human beings and not shun them due to it being "their own fault". Also we are not always to blame when something goes wrong, thousands of dead victims of a tsumani come to mind, and we cant just "wish" cancer or diabetes away. It wasn't their lack of faith in the positive that killed them. No none of this is "negative" in the sense that its "defeatist" to sccueed we need to know the limitations and realistic goals.

If nothing else, hopefully The Secret will gain a larger audience of people that would have otherwise spent no time thinking about such things, my hope is that they will view this as a starting point, not as a destination. Maybe our conclusions wont all agree, but anything that gets people away from MTV and thinking about living the Socratic "Examined Life" on balance is a good thing.

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don't.

If you like to win, but you think you can't,

It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost,

For out in the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow's will.

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man.

But soon or late the man who wins,

Is the man who thinks he can.

[hunhee]

Thank you Troy, well put.

[pomba gira]

What Troy said.

I haven't seen the film but from the reading I've done, and talking with a friend who's into it, the ideas being espoused are good ideas, especially if taken as a starting point rather than a destination, but nothing that hasn't been said by many different people at many different times in the past. I am however quite leery of anyone who tells you that their "way" has to be followed to the letter if one is to have any hope of success or happiness. Also a lot of the Secret marketing just rubs me the wrong way.

BTW Troy, a good addition to your list would be just about anything by Iyanla VanZant... I've worked through a couple of her books and they definitely moved me to change my outlook and actions for the better.

And... I may not be a Secret convert, but my understanding is that Prosper was started by Secret types... and I'm profoundly, deeply grateful for the loan I just got through Prosper that enabled me to pay off all my high-interest plastic debt.

[jadnifer]

I have the book, The Secret. I have not read it yet but was thinking about it. I think that I will read it so that I can post more of my thoughts on it in this thread

Troy: I really liked the poem that you had in your thread. Quite inspiring. Did you write it?

Another good book is Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I can't remember the name of the author right now, but it's all about explaining how NOT to let little things that happen in your day to day life affect your overall happiness. I highly recommend it.

BTW: Please excuse my ignorance, but what does amalgamation mean?

[hunhee]

I have the book, The Secret. I have not read it yet but was thinking about it. I think that I will read it so that I can post more of my thoughts on it in this thread

Troy: I really liked the poem that you had in your thread. Quite inspiring. Did you write it?

Another good book is Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I can't remember the name of the author right now, but it's all about explaining how NOT to let little things that happen in your day to day life affect your overall happiness. I highly recommend it.

BTW: Please excuse my ignorance, but what does amalgamation mean?

Amalgamation is a mix of many different things.

[jadnifer]

Amalgamation is a mix of many different things.

Thank you, Hunhee.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I have the book, The Secret. I have not read it yet but was thinking about it. I think that I will read it so that I can post more of my thoughts on it in this thread

Troy: I really liked the poem that you had in your thread. Quite inspiring. Did you write it?

Another good book is Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. I can't remember the name of the author right now, but it's all about explaining how NOT to let little things that happen in your day to day life affect your overall happiness. I highly recommend it.

Its a poem that i read a few years ago. I tried to hunt down the author of it but there seems not to be one that is agreed on. A company called i think "ketone" or "keystone" (a bit tired at the minute to go google it) seems to have used it in inspirational posters and such, but it also was attributed to like 3 different authors.

Oh...Don't Sweat The Small Stuff is by Richard Carlson he and Anthony Robbins were on that wave of self-help books during the 90s they both are similar to The 7 Habits and came in the wake of it. Many people that have read one of these three tend to recommend the other two as well. I had "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff For Couples" but never got around to reading it, probably just as well, because if i had, i might have used its advise to stay with the girl i was with at the time, and wouldn't have been available to be with the sexy Asian goddess i am with now.

Jad I "read" (or rather skimmed) most of the book (The Secret) online in about 90 minutes granted i skipped a lot of it since its almost just the movie in a breezy written format , its really just re-telling the exact same message as the movie with a bit more focus on the mystical and pseudo-scientific stuff. From a learning standpoint, I'd probably just watch the movie again, not that there isn't anything to be gained by reading it, just that the time spent i think could be better spent elsewhere. You probably are fully versed as much as the film or book is going to tell you in the idea of "If you believe you can or you believe you can't , your right" type stuff at this point. Not that there's nothing to be gained, just we all have limited time.

Peale's book "The Power Of Positive Thinking" is interesting, but his underlying message that "the message" is that the Christian god is the answer to the worlds problems might turn a lot of people off. Its not disguised in new age language , hes actually talking about the traditional Christian god. The traditional idea of the Christan god one not the idea that the "universe" is god. People like Einstein occasionally used the term "god" this way, and later in life had to clarify what they meant about a thousand times so as not to confuse people others use it intentionally to sell books (god rather than "the world" or "the universe") while still others use it to sort of sidestep the issue as to not alienate their readers, but often people later turn sour and feel they were mislead. I learned a few things from this book, but i think its a dangerous one due to it being clear he feels he has "the" answer , not just an answer and there's no need to look beyond the bible particularly and some might be tempted to treat it as gospel, rather than just a step in a long journey.

Rich Dad Poor Dad is probably the best one for "how to stop thinking like a follower and think big about your material goals". Some of the stories in it (which is his preferred way of making his points) end with you putting down the book and just thinking "whoa" for like 10 minutes before continuing.

Nathaniel Bradens books are the best ones of that group about getting rid of depression/low-self esteem but are written like "workbooks" and are intended to actually be followed as a course, rather than just a read though.

The best mix of all that stuff is probably 7 Of Highly Effective People (widely touted as the best self-help book in print) but its a pretty hard read, especially if your not used to reading dense non-fiction. I'd not suggest it as a first book. Its sort of Dale Carnegie 2.0 + the last 50 years of this stuff that has followed in Dales wake. I've not read it in like 10 years, i keep meaning to re-read it at some point. Its clear from reading it hes blending a huge amount of previous thought into a single formula.

Overall we could get everyone on the planet to switch to the "humanist" versions of Buddhism i think that'd be best, but it wont happen as people rarely want their "goal" to be "I'm content/happy with my life, and have moved beyond the basic nature of suffering, i don't need material wealth to "make" me happy, i make myself happy/content not by passing psychical milestones or gaining more stuff.. we are all one" is probably not going to fly in the materialist-bent west very well.

I'd probably suggest the two Dale Carnegie books listed above as well. I wish they were both required reading for Jr. High school students, we wouldn't have all this rudeness in the world. They aren't particularly focused on the "positive thinking" part since its just sort of assumed. He is a bit brash in making his points but it was written like 90 years ago. Sort of the grandaddy of modern self help books.

Everyone is going to have their own take on what is the best way for them. But assuming anarchy is not good, and a combination of happiness over suffering and survival over annihilation are the key issues, these above point to a good general direction.

Unfortunately the problem with ALL this stuff is the same. It all requires the real "secret" which is:

We have to be like the Nike commercials and just DO IT. Funny i seem to know this, yet have yet to be able to put it into practice. But i'ma keep tryin! *points up up and awayyyyy*

Holy fuck that turned into a novel.

[sass_in_the_pants]

The Secret is...

If you want to make alot of money write a book telling people they can get anything they want by asking the universe for it.

That's the REAL secret.

In theory, I think it's super annoying and lame. However, there is something to be said for 'putting it out there'. I mean, sulking in your bedroom and eating Girl Scout cookies because your job sucks does not get you a new job. Talking to people about how great a worker you are and that you're looking, however, might.

So, I'm all about 'putting it out there'. I just think this particular book treats the universe as your personal ATM and I think that's setting people up for disappointment.

But, the basic point I think is indeed an 'old truth', but like all of the old truths, we forget, and like to see it with a new book jacket every few years.

[jadnifer]

Thank you for all the info Troy!