Shhhh.....its a Secret!

Recently, I was in a conversation with a friend of mine who asked if I had ever seen "The Secret." I had not thought about that dvd in a few years, so it was interesting to reflect on it again.

The initial premise makes complete sense. That is, if you think positively and keep an optimistic outlook, good things will happen. Conversely, negative thinking seems to bring about negative results. I can attest to the fact that when I start off the day in a bad mood and if I am unable to change that, it seems as though everything that happens that day is negative. Now, the real question here is this: are the events actually better or worse depending on our moods or is it that we are more open to perceiving positive things when we are in a positive mood and negative things when we're having a bad day?

Where the dvd really lost me was when it asserted that simply wishing for something was enough to bring it about because the "universe would provide" whatever it was that you desired. That sounds like magical thinking. To keep your sights focused on something you want is essential, but then you have to roll up your sleeves and get to work on it in order to make it happen. Thomas Edison once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Yes, there are things that just seem to appear in our lives as though by magic and these things may be exactly what you may have wished for, but that doesn't mean that you summoned them forth from the ether by the sheer force of your desire. If it was that easy, then most sporting events would end in draws, since both individuals, or teams, really wanted to win.

Belief is essential in success, but it needs to be paired with working hard in order to achieve consistently positive results.