Sunday, June 15, 2008

I Feel Good: The Secret

I'm sitting in my garage, in the relative cool, chillin', enjoying my Sunday night.

We have had a nice weekend--low-key but nice. Friday night with friends and a good d.j. at O'Dwyers, Saturday night visiting friends (Ginger & Louie), and today while Ken watched the race, I ventured to the book store with my dear friend Jackie. I limited myself to one book....more on that later. We had a late lunch at Champs after our browsing at Barnes & Noble, and I have to admit (apologies to Jackie) I didn't "feel" so good while at lunch. I've had a cold. Not the worst cold I've ever had but aggrevating nonetheless, and that's probably all that was holding me back. I did enjoy visiting and the food was pretty good :-)

Bookstores have traditionally gotten me in trouble. It is so hard resist everything that catches my eye, and as an avid reader, everything catches my eye! I started with the New Release section, intending to select a title that would prompt me to write a Book Review for my HubPages. But I can grab a good novel at the library. While I used to collect novels, especially signed copies written by Southern writers, I now prefer to check things out at the library first, and then buy them if I'm sure I'll read them again. So I browsed back and forth between the novels, the self-help section, the New Age titles, and the bargain books. Eventually I stumbled across a copy, 30% off, of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I've had a copy of the DVD for over a year, and while I love the movie, I cannot always hog the living room tv where the DVD player resides. I've wanted a copy of the book for a while. I got back home today and devoured every word, finishing the book in about 4 hours, with a few breaks to check in on the race, eat some dinner, and put a few dishes in the dish washer.

The Secret has had a lot of hype and accommpanying criticism since it's release. Too bad. It never ceases to inspire me. I know the impact it has had in my life in the last year, and the impact of similar works and focus on the Law of Attraction for longer than that. I know the signicance of how good I feel--right now--this second--and how good I came to realize I felt as I was reading.

Feeling Good is a good thing! It leads to feeling EVEN BETTER. Everyone should find a tool that works for them. If you don't have one of your own already, I highly recommend The Secret.

2 comments:

Dr John Curtis said...

The Secret is the latest and by far the worst example of a HIGHLY profitable trend where self-help gurus with fabricated new age titles and little relevant education, credentials or legitimate expertise brainwash us into believing that they know what is best for us, our marriages and our families.

Often their only contribution to society is introducing some exotic sounding, new age philosophy. However, they often cleverly form an incestuous group of like-minded “experts” who cross-promote each other by swearing their success is due to following the beliefs of another member of their “cult!” All the while, they ply the airwaves jockeying for an ever-larger audience by appearing in the national media to garner third-party endorsements.

The Self-Help Movement has become the Self-Destruct Movement by diminishing or destroying our critical thinking skills to choose and evolve on our own. We have given up the freedom to build healthy lives, marriages and families based on our unique history and life experience. Instead many victims, blinded to the value of their own life experiences, are attracted to the latest secret in self-help, in an attempt to find out what they should think, feel and how they should act... this is the definition of a cult.

The solution is a return to our (common) senses! The best way out of this learned “self-helplessness” is to go cold turkey. Stop following ALL self-help gurus now. Begin, instead, to reclaim your natural, God-given ability to think for yourself. The common sense that was once readily available to all of us is still there free of charge and waiting to be applied to just about any challenge we might face in life… all you have to do is use it.

Please, let's all work together to stop the flock of "sheepeople" who blindly move from one UNPROVEN concept to the next, looking for the answers to life's challenges that you already possess and that is the OBVIOUS!

Dineane said...

As I said in the blog, The Secret has had it's fair share of criticism. I'm afraid I don't share your perspective, but that's what makes the world go 'round. I try to keep an open mind, but I have yet to understand what people find so threatening about such "gurus". Diminishing or destroying our critical thinking skills? If anything I feel I've been encouraged to use the power of my own mind to take responsibility of my own life. But as I said, you're not alone in your skeptisim. To each his own.