Despite many self-help books filling my shelves with promises of health, happiness and energy, I still could not resist buying The Secret. It suddenly appeared in front of me in the bookstore, at a time when I desperately needed it. Going through a flare up of fibroymalgia, I found its promises appealing and purchased the book without a second thought.

The Secret is an easy read with numerous examples, stories and quotes. The first few chapters outline the premise and explains how to use “the secret.” Then the book is broken down into several more chapters, each focusing on different areas to improve: including money, health, relationships, you, the world and life. It is easy to refer back to any section to keep you focused on the area of interest and has a quick summary section at the end of each chapter.
There are many things in this book that are not new, if you have been around the self-help section before. Positive attitude, positive self talk, visualization and gratitude are all covered, but when used in context of “the secret,” they seemed to take on a different meaning for me, when described in this book.
Based on the law of attraction the principle of The Secret is that like attracts like, that all of your thoughts bring you like thoughts and things, either positive or negative. I felt some of the principles of “the secret” seemed like a large leap of faith. The asking and believing you have already received, without considering “HOW” is of great concern to an over planner like me. The law of attraction states that if you ask for something, then circumstances will be changed to give you what you asked for, provided you believe, have no doubts and do not need to ask how it
will happen, then ‘the how’ will present itself to you. This all seemed a little hard for me to swallow, being a planner and not having had much go my way in the past (because of this thought process possibly?) Once I moved on to
the other sections, I began to see how it could all be connected.
So I started with small steps, beginning with the gratitude section where it is suggested to show more gratitude for what you have. This shifts your mood from complaints and gives you more positive feelings, which then attracts more good things to you. As I consciously started practicing this, I realized how much I actually do complain, from the weather to my health. So I started to try switching my complaints to gratitude. I started being thankful for things, however little; like spring coming, birds chirping, my puppy playing and being grateful for previous complaints like ,
my husband doing the dishes instead of complaining that he never does them enough. As I have been doing this, my
disposition has become overall more positive, so I am seeing reason to continue, if for nothing else, but to dispel my negativity.
The chapter on health did bring up some doubt, with stories of curing ailments, from vision impairments to breast cancer. All of us living with invisible illness know there is no magic pill to take having been told to ‘Suck it up’ or ‘It’s all in your head’ and we definitely know there are no easy answers. This seemed a little too good to be true for me, until they started talking about how “the secret” can affect you and I started considering how circumstances in my own life may be keeping me in this current flare.
In the context of the secret, health can also be affected by thoughts, and complaining of ill health or even listening to someone else complain about it, can lead to more problems. I have experienced listening to another person tell me all about their ill health, only to come down with the same symptoms the next day, whether that be a headache or a cold, etc. I have also found that while trying to ‘prove’ my disability to others, such as for a disability claim, the longer it remains open I do not improve, possibly because I am constantly focused on how bad I am feeling in an attempt to prove I am really sick. These two things for me personally made me consider “the secret” a potential tool for my health.
With quick and easy steps to follow and outlined simply, The Secret was one of the easiest self help books I have read and rang the most true to me, even though I had heard much of it before. It has made me open my eyes and consider how I may negatively be contributing to various aspects of my life and has definitely impacted me enough to actually make changes, which no other self help book has done in this capacity and for any length of time.
My shift in thoughts and feelings since focusing on the positive, have seen things happen and whether they can be attributed to this process is another question, but I am beginning to believe or you would not even be reading
this article. I ‘asked’ for my dream of becoming a writer when I first started reading The Secret and a week later, in my in-box was a request for writers for butyoudontlooksick.com. Fate? The law of attraction in action with the universe listening, as The Secret would proclaim? You might say so, but I am starting to believe! It is open for interpretation, but I’m taking it as a sign to keep focused on my goals, and attempt to use these methods to improve my health. The Secret is making a believer out of me and if you are looking for a way to change your thinking, it could help shift your perspective, and possibly bring you all you desire.
Article written by Lydia Houghton, © 2007 butyoudontlooksick.com