I am jumping on “The Secret” bandwagon a little late, but if you haven’t read it yet, it’s a must read. Let me tell you, every time (and I mean every time) I picked up the book, it spoke to a situation that I was currently dealing with.
I first learned about the book on one of my favorite fashion blogs, but I didn’t think too much about it. Then, my soon-to-be sister-in-law informed me about the book again when I was trying to put together a vision board party like the one I had attended in New York.
If you are unfamiliar with it, it’s about the law of attraction and emphasizes the power of thought. According to the book, “Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it’s attracted to you by the virtue of the images you’re holding in your mind. It’s what you’re thinking. Whatever is going on in your mind you are attracting to you.”
At first, I didn’t really understand this concept. But the more I continued reading it, it began to make more sense. I thought about all of the things I wanted to do, but was scared to do or believed I couldn’t do. Because of that, I either didn’t attempt or didn’t give my very best. My own self-doubt sabotaged my ability to go after the things I wanted. And we all know that you can’t get anything that you are not willing to go after.
In addition to teaching me how important my thoughts were, it also taught me how to really channel my thoughts for a better day through various exercises. The exercises include:
– Practicing Gratitude: The book includes a chapter entitled “Powerful Practices” that illustrates ways to practice gratitude. One of the experts said, “Every morning, I do not get out of bed until I have felt the feelings of gratitude for this rand new day and all I am grateful for in my life. Then as I get out of bed, when one foot touches the ground I say “thank” and “you” as my second foot touches the ground. With each step I take on my way to the bathroom, I say “Thank you.” I continue to say and feel “Thank you” as I am showering and getting ready. By the time I am ready for the day, I have said “Thank you” hundreds of times.”
This practice really spoke to me because I know how easy it is to forget that we each have something to be thankful for. Just waking up each morning and knowing our family is safe. The ability to breath on our own or see, walk, talk and hear. We shouldn’t lose sight of the blessings we receive each day so I begin each morning thinking about all that I have to be grateful for. I also say thank you for the things that I want to occur in the day like productivity or creativity. The book also speaks about speaking things into existence. I do the same thing at night in addition to adding a slip into my gratitude jar. It has truly enabled me to start and each day in a good mood.
– Visualizing Change: We all have bad days. That is inevitable. There are days that we do or say things that we wish we could change, but are not necessarily sure how to. The book introduced the idea of “The Pruning Shears of Revision,” which was introduced by Neville Goddard. According to the book, “Neville recommends at the end of every day, before you go to sleep, to think through the events of the day. If any events or moments did not go the way you wanted, replay them in your mind in a way that thrills you. As you recreate those events in your mind exactly as you want, you are cleaning up your frequency from the day and you are emitting a new signal and frequency for tomorrow.”
I have also adopted this nightly ritual because I have a hard time sleeping if something is bothering me. And I often times drag that energy with me from one day to another and it doesn’t make me feel any better about myself or the situation. I like the idea of changing the events of the day in hopes that it will help me react to a similar situation in the future better.
– Utilizing “I Am” to your Advantage: The phrase “I am” is so common that we say it in the positive such as “I am a fast learner” and in the negative like “I am so tired.” According to the book, “when you say “I am,” the words that follow are summoning creation with a mighty force, because you are declaring it to be fact. You are stating it with certainty.”
After reading this paragraph, I realized how quick I am to utilize “I am” in the negative using phrases like “I am tired, broke, or unhappy,” but the book suggests turning those negative phrases into more positive ones like “I am full of energy, abundant and happy.” It’s almost like you have to trick your brain so that you will be all that you claim to be because by saying “I am” you are declaring it to be a fact. I am slowly trying to implement this into my every day conversation and I am looking forward to see the results.
