The Secret - Law of Attraction & Positive thinking

I first came to know about this film called “The Secret” a few months ago, and I’ve been hearing about it a lot in the last month or so from various sources. Last week, I finally got to watch the film. If you don’t already know about The Secret, it’s a ’self-help’ documentary film that talks about the power of positive thinking and the “Law of Attraction” — a law which can be roughly stated as, “You attract to you what you think of the most”. There is nothing new and there’s nothing secret about the concepts discussed in this film. Everything said in the film has been publicly pronounced by great thinkers and successful people all over the world from time to time in some form or the other.

Personally, I got into all this ‘positive thinking’ stuff (and spirituality) eight years ago when I read the book “Thought Power” by Swami Sivananda. That was a time when nothing was going right in my life, I can say it was the lowest point in my life, the book was a real life saver for me in that kind of a situation. Ever since, I’ve been reading and learning more and more about positive thinking and applying these principles in my life, it’s been a fascinating journey and the results have been excellent so far. But still, I won’t say life has become perfect for me, far from it. It takes lifetimes to become a master and attain perfection. I’m still playing around with ‘positive thinking’ and ‘law of attraction’, I’m still evolving, and along the way, I’ve had this wonderful opportunity of watching The Secret. Let me share a few things emphasized in the film.

Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Is there something that is not right in your life? Forget about that something that’s not right, think about how your life would look like when everything is set right. Think about how good you’ll feel when things are perfect, close your eyes and bring those nice feelings, live those feelings in your mind right now. That’s the way to attract what you want and let go of what you don’t want, not by mulling over what’s not right and figuring out ways of how to set things right, that way, you will keep figuring out, and that something that’s not right will remain that way. You should think (and know) that you are already on your way to having right things in your life and prepare yourself to feeling good .

For example,

• do you hate war? Now, stop thinking about war and it’s destructive effects, stop participating in anti-war rallies. By focusing on war and being anti-war, you only give more and more energy to a strife filled world. The right way is to focus on a peaceful world, be pro-peace. Do whatever you can do to ignite peace and love in the minds of people.
• Worried about global warming? Stop thinking about CO2 emissions, stop worrying about cutting down of trees. You can think about Carbon-di-Oxide if you are a scientist, but you are not going to bring about a green, pure and healthy environment by speaking to people about the dangers of CO2 emissions, rather talk about the alternatives like fuel cells and cleaner energy sources, talk about planting more trees and the love you feel when you grow and nurture greens. Emphasize on the beauty and joy of living in a green, clean and harmonious environment.That’s positive thinking for you, and that’s the only way you can bring about change.

Watch your feelings — this is another thing emphasized in the film. Continuous monitoring of your thoughts can be an amusing past time, and it’s a process that can actually help in your meditation and knowing about thought patterns. But if you want to know quickly whether or not or you are thinking and acting the right way, monitor your feelings. When you feel good and have feelings of love, compassion, peace, etc., know that your thoughts (and actions) are in alignment with your purpose, and you are on heading in the right direction. When you have negative feelings and emotions like fear, anger, jealousy, sorrow, etc., know that you are not thinking right and it’s time to introspect and change your thought patterns.

I very much enjoyed watching The Secret and learnt a few things from the film, I would recommend it to anybody. But It’s not as if you watch the film, apply what’s said in it, and suddenly you get everything you want in life, no, it doesn’t happen suddenly. There could be fantastic results in the beginning, but there will also be mistakes and some frustration along the way. Thinking is an art that takes time to master… it takes time to learn, internalize and apply the law of attraction to perfection. But the film itself is a good start, it drives home the point of positive thinking and law of attraction very well…. One thing I find a little annoying in the film is too much talk about attracting money and wealth. I don’t deny the importance of money in today’s materialistic world, but money can take you only so far… money is only a means, not an end in itself. Agreed, money and material wealth can make you feel good sometimes, but not always, not eternally. There are much higher things worth pursuing as a human being.