It is best to state up front that I am not a believer in self-help books. Also I steer clear of any publications which promise to bring about a sea change in the way you live, work, eat, sleep or breath. So it was nothing short of a minor miracle when I asked one of my friends to lend me her copy of The Secret – by Rhonda Byrne. For years, two of my closest friends had tried every trick in the book to make me read it. I am sure they must have fainted or fallen off the chair when I informed them about this :-)
Okay, so about the book. As I started reading it, some of it did begin to make sense. After all, it was not for the first time that I was reading about the power of human thoughts. We have all heard of the Placebo effect, right? So I agree 100% that we need to keep all sorts of negative thoughts out of our lives and start thinking only positively. At the very least, it will keep us cheerful and that's a lot in today's world.
The sum total of the book is the 3 step process – Ask, Believe and Receive. Basically, you ask the Universe whatever it is that you want. And you need to ask only once. That's easy, I said. What's next? Next step is to believe that you have already got it – because if you don't then you are sending a signal to the universe that you don't have it. And so you will end up not having it as 'like attracts like'. I am not still sure about this one. It's very hard to summon this belief because the fact that you asked for it means you don't have it. Make-believe is what we did when we were children, eons ago. It is hard to do that when you have grown up. The book quotes someone who imagined getting lots of cheques in the mail. And that person claims that the cheques did come. I am not sure how that's possible. If no one owes me any money, where will I get cheques from even if I visualize it every waking moment of my life? I am sure this 'Believer' step has me all stumped. Okay, if you can cross this hurdle, then the last step is ' Receive' – feel the joy that you would feel when you get what you asked for. Again, a leap of faith for which I am ill-equipped.
And that's precisely why the very idea that you can shape your life just the way you want by using your thoughts sounds a bit far-fetched to me. Maybe not impossible, but definitely pretty hard.
As for the book, some of the material sounds a bit repetitive after a point. It feels as if 6-7 people are saying basically the same thing using different words and examples. The whole idea could have been condensed in a slimmer volume.
So am I using the secret? You bet I am - if not fully, then at least partially. I must confess that I never knew how much negativity I had in my life before I read this book. I would always think of a worst-case scenario first. But I am trying to change it now. It's not going to be easy and it will be even more difficult to keep at it. But I am taking baby steps like asking for my bus to come to the bus-stop 5 minutes after I reach it. Sometimes it does that, sometimes I see it leave before I reach the bus-stop and sometimes I have to wait for 15 minutes.
Well, I guess I will have to speak a bit louder so that the Universe can hear me :-)
Okay, so about the book. As I started reading it, some of it did begin to make sense. After all, it was not for the first time that I was reading about the power of human thoughts. We have all heard of the Placebo effect, right? So I agree 100% that we need to keep all sorts of negative thoughts out of our lives and start thinking only positively. At the very least, it will keep us cheerful and that's a lot in today's world.
The sum total of the book is the 3 step process – Ask, Believe and Receive. Basically, you ask the Universe whatever it is that you want. And you need to ask only once. That's easy, I said. What's next? Next step is to believe that you have already got it – because if you don't then you are sending a signal to the universe that you don't have it. And so you will end up not having it as 'like attracts like'. I am not still sure about this one. It's very hard to summon this belief because the fact that you asked for it means you don't have it. Make-believe is what we did when we were children, eons ago. It is hard to do that when you have grown up. The book quotes someone who imagined getting lots of cheques in the mail. And that person claims that the cheques did come. I am not sure how that's possible. If no one owes me any money, where will I get cheques from even if I visualize it every waking moment of my life? I am sure this 'Believer' step has me all stumped. Okay, if you can cross this hurdle, then the last step is ' Receive' – feel the joy that you would feel when you get what you asked for. Again, a leap of faith for which I am ill-equipped.
And that's precisely why the very idea that you can shape your life just the way you want by using your thoughts sounds a bit far-fetched to me. Maybe not impossible, but definitely pretty hard.
As for the book, some of the material sounds a bit repetitive after a point. It feels as if 6-7 people are saying basically the same thing using different words and examples. The whole idea could have been condensed in a slimmer volume.
So am I using the secret? You bet I am - if not fully, then at least partially. I must confess that I never knew how much negativity I had in my life before I read this book. I would always think of a worst-case scenario first. But I am trying to change it now. It's not going to be easy and it will be even more difficult to keep at it. But I am taking baby steps like asking for my bus to come to the bus-stop 5 minutes after I reach it. Sometimes it does that, sometimes I see it leave before I reach the bus-stop and sometimes I have to wait for 15 minutes.
Well, I guess I will have to speak a bit louder so that the Universe can hear me :-)
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