I first read The Secret a few years ago. I loved it but I can’t say that I practised it much at the time. I was however very intrigued by Rhonda Byrne’s intention in creating The Secret; “that it would bring joy to billions around the world.” How very inspirational I thought, and indeed very admirable. Somewhere in my mind though, I felt that these kinds of intentions were reserved for certain people, special people, not regular people like me. And I left it at that. I did however get checks in the mail. A couple in fact, and they were from completely unexpected sources. The Secret works!

Life was good for me. At least it looked like that on the outside. But I was on auto pilot. The world was happening around me. I wasn’t really making it happen for myself. As a twenty something year old I had everything I could want. All those things we’re conditioned into thinking we need to feel happy and be successful. ‘Goods,’ I’ll call them. I thought I felt happy. But external things were causing my happiness. Things that could go from my life, and some of these things did go. My happiness chased after them.

Things had changed, the climate had changed economically. I became scared. I feared an end to my prosperity. And I got it. It is the law. My vibration had changed. I was emitting a different frequency out to the Universe. It delivered, as promised. My negativity attracted more negativity. Worrying over bills brought more of the same. Like attracted like. When I look back and assess it now, it would seem that my outer world began to reflect how I really felt about myself on the inside. On some level, I didn’t want these goods, I felt I didn’t deserve them, not that way, not living on auto pilot. My real within became my without.

Jim Rohn said; “If someone hands you a million dollars, best you become a millionaire, or you won’t get to keep the money.” You see this kind of thing with many lottery winners. Their wealth is often squandered, and they are left worse off financially than before they won the money. A deserving mind wouldn’t operate in this way. A deserving mind sees abundance, not scarcity. A deserving mind wouldn’t drive the money away. Why was my mind operating like this? I know why: because I told it so. My outer world reflected my inner world.

My life, essentially, was in crisis. Not life or death crisis, but happy or sad crisis. I could see other people experiencing happiness so I knew it was a possibility. I had to do something. I returned to The Secret. It lay on my bedside table. I knew whatever page I opened the book on there would be a message for me. And there was. It came from Martin Luther King Jr. He told me to; “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” I transcribed those words onto a sheet of paper. It still hangs on my wall. And so I took the first step.

I wanted to write. I knew that much. I wanted to make a positive difference and stand for something I believe in. This is where my passion lies; in writing, I can feel it. That was my first step, I began to write. I didn’t know if I would be any good. I didn’t know what difference I could make. I just knew I had to try.

I continued my study of The Secret. Rhonda Byrne explains that; “there isn’t a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, The Secret can give you whatever you want. … you will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want.” Dr. John Hagelin confirms; “…there’s no limit, really, to human potential.” Michael Bernard Beckwith tells us; “We are unlimited beings. We have no ceiling. The capabilities … within every single individual that is on the planet, is unlimited.”

I began asking myself questions about how big I wanted to achieve and wondering whether I could actually do it. By asking myself these questions, I began to realise that anything is ‘true,’ once you believe it. So The Secret not only applies to manifesting tangible items but also to thoughts and feelings about myself; about how valuable I feel I am, about my potential, about what I can achieve, about my talent, about whether I can make a difference. Once you believe it, then it’s true. You are what you think you are. Shakespeare knew this, he said “Assume a virtue if you have it not.” Ask, believe and receive, the very same way for everything; a car, a house, a love, anything.

The Secret shows us our capabilities are without limit. There is untapped power within us all. So it must come down to what we decide we want to think we’re capable of. Of how much of this power within us we decide we want to harness. I didn’t have a deserving mind before. I didn’t become that ‘millionaire’ Jim Rohn spoke of. For whatever reason, I didn’t want to think I deserved more. I didn’t want to think I was capable of achieving more. I had decided these things.

I gave my intention over to the Universe. It delivered. I have received what I asked for with writing accomplishments, and indeed so much more. I have made somewhat of a positive difference. Writing opportunities naturally gravitate towards me now. They manifest daily. I feel like a magnet. I feel so much joy. I smile every time an opportunity presents itself because I know what’s happening, it’s The Secret working. ‘Thank you’ rings out in my head and I make sure to feel it. My gratitude for past and future opportunities ensures their constant supply. My belief secures their arrival. Whatever scale I have achieved on so far is simply down to the expectations I have believed in. I know that. And now I know to want bigger, dream bigger, and especially to believe I am capable of, and deserve bigger.

Napoleon Hill’s poem puts it ever so succinctly;

“I bargained with Life for a penny,
and Life would pay no more,
however I begged at evening
when I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
but once you have set the wages,
why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
only to learn, dismayed,
that any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.”

I have a new set of intentions now. The Universe knows what they are. I see an end coming, but it’s really just the beginning. So thank you Rhonda Byrne for dreaming so big, believing so big and achieving so big. You have inspired me to go after so much more. It would appear that as people we are only ‘regular’ to the extent that we believe ourselves to be. The Secret book will always lay on my bedside table and I know what book will keep it company. If I see it in my mind I’m going to hold it in my hand. If I see and believe myself to be a writer of great talent, making a difference and deserving of great achievement, the Universe must deliver. It is the law.

As Within, so Without.