Some Secrets Of "The Secret"

In my line of work, I have no lack of clients and students seeking to manifest more abundance in their lives. Better finances, better health, better relationships. Everyone wants something, and the universe encourages people to ask and receive. From The Prayer of Jabez to the Abraham-Hicks publications to Absolutely Effortless Prosperity to The Science of Getting Rich to Abundance through Reiki to The Secret (both book and movie), abundance certainly exists in the realm of abundance teachings! The week Oprah featured The Secret on her show, no less than eight of my coaching clients wanted to discuss the principles of prosperity consciousness. Anytime something secret goes mainstream, misunderstandings can occur. I based this article on the most common frustrations and questions my clients and students have shared.

1. Accept your dream. People recite the idea that we need to “know what we want and get our feelings behind that desire,” but I find that people sometimes get so caught up in the dreams or goals expressed in The Secret that they begin to judge their own. I asked a medical intuitive client what she most wanted from life, and she replied with an enthusiastic voice and huge smile that if she could do anything she wanted, she would quit her job, sell her expensive house and go “live with all the hippies near Burning Man—maybe rent a small trailer and write a book.” Within the next breath, her face and attitude completely shifted: “But I know this is wrong because I’ve read The Secret. I need to focus on all the money I can be making, not thinking I want to live like a hippie, or I’ll wind up in a trailer.” Intrigued by this tremendous shift in energy, I replied, “You mean the trailer you want to live in? How’s your money now?” “Oh, I get paid ridiculously well for what I do.” “Are you happy?” “No, I’d like to chuck it all and just live simply with all the artists and hippies. That’s who I am.” She confessed this with a huge smile and energy flowing freely from her heart chakra, followed by a sharp contaction: “But I’m afraid of what would happen if I gave up my house and job.”

I’ve had similar conversations with so many others, and what strikes me most is that people try to change their dream. Your dream is your dream! If your dream does not match the societal idea of abundance, examine that dream. See areas in which you actually sell yourself short, but also recognize areas in which you judge the dream itself. Abundance does not always mean more money: sometimes abundances means you have only what you need financially while you get to live your dream. Often, the money comes anyway, but only by first living your dream.

2. Utilize all your resources. Because The Secret can seem like magick, people tend to focus so much on intention that they forget to look at the resources in hand and coming their way. In anticipating some kind of energetic shift of finances or health, they overlook that all of life is energy! This means the answer to your intention may arrive disguised in a series of seemingly simple and unrelated steps to fulfillment. It might mean your answer cloaks itself in synchronicities, meeting the “right” investor, teacher, or financial guide at just the “right” time but not seeing how it all fits together yet or even that these meetings relate to your intention. Energy acts immediately on your universe, but that does not mean you will recognize the actions immediately. Because the universe will approach you through your lens of reality, it will utilize resources and tools you already have—just in a different way. Pay attention! The Secret is not about prosperity in a vacuum. It’s about co-creating your life in a way that nurtures your soul’s growth. Even though we can create from “nothing,” most people have a difficult time believing that concept, so effective manifestation usually begins in the realm of what we know. The word “know” connotes things learned through experience. As we allow our experience to shift, then we can know in different ways, but in the beginning the universe gets our attention in ways we’re able to receive.

3. Stay present in your spiritual or creative practice. I tend to attract clients and students interested in metaphysical and spiritual ideas. Many of them meditate, are spiritual artists, or practice yoga or tai chi. These are all powerful connections to creative (read “manifestation”) energy. The universe constantly creates, so any time we create, visualize or feel energy flowing through our chakras, we become more in tune with the universe. In these moments, our influence grows even more powerful. And yet, I find people don’t bring their dreams into their spiritual practice. The practice seems sacred—another word for separate—and therefore like it should remain untainted by desire. (This attitude usually stems from reminder number 1: “Accept your dream.” If you judge your dream as not worthy of a meditative, yogic or creative process, then you miss out on the tremendous energy those practices afford.) One client had a devoted chanting practice and desperately wanted to change her finances, but when I asked if she’d ever brought an intention of prosperity to her chanting practice, she confessed she’d never even considered that idea. The next week, she chanted with intention, and things began to shift. They did not completely turn around, but a job suddenly opened for her husband, even though he’d been looking for work for months. You are a powerful creator and manifestor—particularly when you feel most “in the flow.” Embrace this time with the universe and let your hopes and dreams ride the waves of your creative energy.

4. Remember to focus on service. Yes, it’s about intention, but the universe also wants to nourish and expand itself. Your dreams, hopes and goals will receive extra oomph if a need exists for what you have to share. Again, The Secret is not about prosperity in a vacuum. True abundance occurs when we recognize how intimately we interconnect with everyone and everything in the universe. We realize we have access to everything when we realize that as part of a larger whole, in some sense we already are everything. Look at your gifts, those things you can offer to the world. How might these gifts express themselves in a way that inspires or nurtures others? How might your dream really be the deepest longing of the universe?

5. Have fun! Remember that you’re hoping to manifest your dreams into reality. If you don’t enjoy the process, then what’s the point? It’s your life now as much as it will be your life when manifestation occurs. Joy sends your energy out and up. Laughter is the best medicine. In the Biblical and Hebrew traditions, even God rested on the seventh day after he created the entire world! Take time to rejuvenate and play. Your energy will be the stronger for it.