Takeaways from the ground-breaking 2006 documentary film that uncovers the secret to life.
For as long as I can remember, my dad has been harping me to read The Secret and for some reason I never really gave it a fair shot. A few weeks ago I discovered the documentary-equivalent and decided to watch it. Even though the documentary is over 15-years old, it surprisingly left me with a lot to think about. In the film, renowned scientists, philosophers and authors take turns introducing the secret and explaining its workings. All of their anecdotes and examples are quite engaging and compels the viewer to think differently.
What is the secret?
Simply put, the secret to everything is the Law of Attraction. I'm sure most of us have heard about this law before, but maybe don't actually know how serious its implications can be? It sounds like a nice idea, but does it work? In essence, the law of attraction is about thinking positively to attract positive things into our life. It is considered that everything we have right now, we have attracted to our lives. Our life right now is a result of our past thoughts. And, everything that will come into our lives in the future we are attracting with our thoughts in this present moment. The secret is that your thoughts become things. Your thoughts are physically manifested.
You might be wondering, if that's the case, why don't I have everything that I want? Everyone thinks about their desires all the time. But in fact, a lot of the times without realizing it we are thinking about what we don’t want or what is going to get in the way of obtaining something that we want. Thinking about what could go wrong makes our thoughts negative. For example, when you say "I don’t want to be late", the universe doesn't capture the "I don’t want" part and it just becomes "I'm going to be late", because that's what I'm thinking about. If you change your thought to "I'm going to be on time, the roads will be clear and I'll be at my desk with my coffee on time and feeling good about it", the universe changes to give you that. Envisioning an affirmative thought is a hundred-times more powerful than a negative thought.
"Man becomes what he thinks about."
Why is this important?
The idea that we can control or change our reality is incredibly empowering. It allows us to entertain and realize the thought that anything is possible. We often box ourselves into certain categories or situations based on our past experiences. We put so many limitations on ourselves, which restricts what life is capable of for us. When life can literally be whatever want. We just have to curate it.
The Creative Process
There is a clear process outlined in the documentary meant to help us successfully use this secret. It composes of 3 major steps:
Ask
The first step in the process is to actually make the universe know what you want by identifying what it is that you want or need.
Believe
Truly believe in the possibility that you will get what you want. Believe it as though it's already yours. When you can conceive it, you can achieve it.
Receive
Feel the way you would once it arrives. The key to getting results is feeling good. (And this won't work if you try and fake it.) Inner happiness is the fuel of success. By truly and thoroughly feeling positive emotions you can attract your success and your wants.
In other words, these are also the steps to visualization.
"When you visualize, you materialize."
It's important not to get deterred by how unrealistic your dreams might sound in the moment. You don't need to worry about how it's going to happen and whether or not it is possible. The hows are considered to be the domains of the universe. We can always eventually find a way of working these things out, but first we have to decide what and believe that it is possible. A great technique to visualize is to create a vision board of pictures, words, or anything that acts as a muse to your dream life.
How can we become positive?
A major component of applying this secret is turning negative thoughts into positive ones. When most people first become aware of "the secret", they become overwhelmed or scared by all the negative thoughts they have in their head. We have around 60,000 thoughts a day. It's impossible to control every single one, and that sounds incredibly exhausting. Instead, we can try to create a mindset shift by using our feelings as an indicator or feedback mechanism for our thoughts. Feeling good and thinking positively go hand-in-hand. We can't condition our happiness on something that we wish to get in the future. It's about attracting positive things by staying positive. Feeling good helps attract things that will in turn make you feel good, so it's a cycle.
A powerful process that encourages this mindset shift is practicing gratitude. The great thing about feeling grateful is that anyone can do it at any time. No matter who you are or what situation you are in, there is always something to be grateful for. It can be the smallest thing, i.e. your breath. (And then, sooner than later we realize that the small things are really the biggest things.) Being consciously grateful improves your mood and outlook, which can accelerate this whole process of using this profound secret to shape your own narrative.
"Whatever we think about and thank about we bring about."
Dream bigger than big. Create your own vision board to help you visualize your dreams actively, and it will happen!
You can watch the full documentary also, it's on Netflix.