So... Do You Know The Secret, Negative One?

I was on a flight recently and thought I'd give it a go after having heard so much about it. For those of you unaware, The Secret is a book come film written by Rhonda Byrne stating you can control the universe and ergo your own personal wealth, health and happiness with nothing but your thoughts, and can have anything you want using the power of positive thinking and absolute belief. This is why a tiny percentage of people earn almost all of the money made in the world, supposedly, because they follow the secret.

Without wanting to make this article a review of the book, I will say I found it interesting for the most part, enlightening in many places, aligned to several views I already believe to be true, particularly parts discussing conservation of energy and laws of attraction, plus a few raised eyebrow moments, one in particular being when the author 'fixed' her sight in 3 days purely by willing it so.

Whether or not you believe you can manifest your own riches, eternal life etc by thought alone is entirely up to you to decide, who is anyone to judge? What really hit me was how the book illuminated an abundance of negativity trying to attach itself to me, internally and externally.

I had a scan of Google to see what people were saying and had said about the book; the result was a wash of total and utter negativity, outrage and outright aggression even, that someone could sell millions of books across the world with this drivel (quote/unquote) and described its followers as nothing more than delusional morons (quote/unquote).

OK I thought... Starting to lean more towards the author and her followers now if I had to choose...

Then there were the 'believers' and their responses to such articles. Exclaiming that such negative idiots are/were mere closed-minded fools who will remain in their negative spiral never to escape. Happy dying.

OK I thought... Starting to feel a sense of hypocrisy now...

Then I gathered my own thoughts, and as stated earlier in this article I felt there was much to learn from the 'ask (of the universe), believe, receive' mentality and the focus on positivity and love as catalysts to getting what you want in life. I don't think anyone could honestly oppose that way of thinking, could they?

As someone who is generally optimistic but chipped with doubt as most people who are honest enough to admit it are, I couldn't help but start to notice just how much negativity existed in and around us, I mean, we're all aware of negativity, but the extent of its plague seemed tenfold after reading the book, its literally everywhere, listening to the radio presenter on the school run condemn cyclists who ride on pavements, the person complaining about having to hold the door open for more people than they had expected to, and that got me thinking - what would life be like with ZERO negativity both inside the mind and out?

In practice I think that's a bit like saying a circle with infinite radius is a straight line, the point being it is borderline impossible to remove 100% of negativity from your life without becoming an isolated, meditative spiritualist atop a mountain no one has ever set foot on before, though one might say that that is actually an option should you be brave enough.

Assuming not for now, the conclusion is this, you can remove a good 80-90% of the negativity that surrounds you, both internally and externally, alas the remaining 10-20% that can't be eradicated will exist outside of your control, and it is an absolute fact that existence without negativity is infinitely better than existence with negativity. But we can't ignore the fact this does leave a gap in your general consciousness.

This initial 'gap', created by the 'binning off' of negativity (including certain people around you who exude it) which up till now consumed a lot more of your awareness and surrounding than you first thought true or yourself believed, I believe, will be met with feelings of loss, emptiness and anxiety, which is natural, you are after all mourning the loss of a great big part of your life up to now. But I can promise you that it is temporary.

There is another book called 'Who Moved My Cheese?', another self help text advising you to realise when a situation is becoming stale, has become stale or has ended entirely (largely metaphorical of the workplace) and to accept the mission to 'find new cheese' without delay and with vigour, thus getting you back to 'fresh cheese' sooner rather than later, 'later' serving no purpose or benefit to anyone or anything accept the voice of doubt, indignation and entitlement, all negatives of course. I've personally read that one three times.

The buzz and excitement that floods your world and swiftly follows the short-lived anxiousness of going after what you really want in life without fear is a great feeling, but it demands that you focus on the positive, with positivity you realise you are worth more than you realised, you realise you are more effective this way, you realise you are happier, you realise other people around you are happier, you realise that you've grown as a professional and as a human more in the last few hours/days/weeks than perhaps you have in last x decades, you earn more money, you have more free time, you are fitter, faster, sharper and better, you have friends, you have more friends, people respect you, people trust you, and you make the world a better place.

So to close, does The Secret by Rhonda Bryne hand me the keys to the universes back door so I can help myself to happiness, love, health and ￡100m for my family and I? I think it does actually.