"If you count your assets, you always show a profit."
Robert Quillen
You may have heard about the book, or documentary, called The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. If you haven't, check it out here. The idea behind The Secret is based on the philosophy of the law of attraction which says that everything we have and everything we are is the result of what we have attracted into our lives through our thoughts, feelings and actions.
I remember watching the documentary with family friends some 8 years ago and I had a huge problem with it. My problem was that it's all well and good to think what we want, but how will it manifest in our lives unless we do something about it? How will we reap the rewards of our intentions and visualisations unless we act on them as well? To me the concept was logical but it lacked a guide towards implementation. For instance, I could sit on the couch all day and visualise being a writer and author of a book, but until I would write something down or get off the couch, how would I attract this desire into my life? On its own, for itself, the concept of The Secret and the Law of Attraction, made no sense to me.
So I started the journey to find the missing link, and after 8 years of working, learning, growing, travelling, reading and developing, I have found my personal 5 secrets to The Secret and I would love to share them with you.
1. Visualisation: Figure Out What You Want and Literally Write it Down
Imagine this: you want to get to a 5 star restaurant in the centre of Paris but you have no idea where it is, what it looks like or how to get there. It can be quite challenging to get there without a clear guide, directions or visual cues. Likewise in life, how can we get what we aspire to achieve or get to the place we want to be if we don't have a clear picture of what it is that we want or where to find it? Thus the process of visualisation is paramount to manifesting our greatest needs, wants and desires in our reality.
My favourite visualisation technique is the one I learnt from Ian Spicer at a PSYCH-K workshop. It's called VAK into the Future. VAK stands for Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic and this is a particular visualisation that clarifies to the subconscious mind the exact details of the goal you want to achieve. I used this process to manifest everything from moving into the apartment I wanted, to publishing my first book Unmasking Depression and even money management. If you want to learn more about PSYCH-K, you can check it out here.
2. Meditation: Rewire the Hardware of Your Conditioning
Last year I finally read the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and absolutely fell in love with the concept of meditation. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to learn how to meditate and because of various excuses, didn't ever make time to learn or practice. What I found by reading Gilbert's book is that meditation doesn't need to be complicated and it can be as simple as sitting still, focusing on our breathing and smiling! So every night for a month or two, that is exactly what I did. I would turn off electronics, lights and sit cross-legged and smile with my heart, soul and liver (as the medicine man taught Gilbert on page 252). This simple practice manifested many positive changes in my life including various job opportunities, new friendships, and a huge shift towards focus and peace from an otherwise distracted, anxious and overwhelmed mentality.
3. Gratitude - Say "Thank You" For What You Have and What You Want To Have
In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned that while I was experiencing a depressed period in my life, my friend, Dawn, reminded me to count my blessings instead of focusing on my suffering and pain. Over the past year and a half, the practice of gratitude has become a daily habit. It started when my girlfriend, Adela, sent me a Kikki-K Gratitude Diary as a Christmas present in 2013. However, I only started using it in June last year. Then, within the space of 2 months, I had finished the diary and counting my blessings during a time when I was without a job (and still had rent and expenses to pay), helped keep me focused on thoughts and feelings of abundance and grace. So instead of stressing out about what I didn't have, which was stability and income, I was focusing on what I did have, like the support of family and friends and also visualising the moment when I start working at the perfect job. Mind you, stressful emotions did creep up from time to time, but it was much easier to keep the monsters at bay by counting my assets.
Another friend of mine mentioned the sequel of The Secret is a book called The Magic which explains that the secret to the Law of Attraction is actually practising gratitude. I haven't read the book yet, but when I do, I will share more about it. Dr Dispenza also explains that by being grateful and feeling grateful for something we wish to experience, we are transmitting a signal to the world that the event has already occurred and it's only a matter of time before you see it. You'll find this information on pages 25 and 26 of his book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself.
I once listened to an Anthony Robbins talk about habits. He had an auditorium full of listeners and he asked everyone who exercised daily to raise their hands. Then he said something along the lines of; "I didn't even need to ask, anyone who looks at you can see what you exercise." This example shows that our habits are quite easily seen in our physical appearance and they make us stand out without even saying a word.
With regards to The Secret and the Law of Attraction, I found that ever since I started keeping 4 daily diaries (on top of all my other diaries, journals and notebooks - I honestly keep one in every handbag I own), daily miracles and 'coincidences' started occurring.
When I wake up every morning, I start the day with the 5 minute journal. It's one of the best presents I've ever received! Unfortunately for all my Aussie readers, you can only buy it from America at the moment but trust me, the investment is worth it. In the morning section of the journal, I list 3 things I'm grateful for, 3 things I can control and action that will make my day great and 2 self-affirmations. This takes roughly 3 minutes. At night before I fall asleep, I pick up the journal again and reflect on 3 amazing things that happened and something I could have done differently to make the day even better. I also reflect in my Kikki-K gratitude journal and again list 3 things I'm grateful for - whether they happened in the past, present or something I look forward to happening in the future. And just for fun, I answer my two one sentence diaries.
These habits have become so ingrained in my daily ritual, it doesn't matter how late it is or how early it is, every morning and night, pen in hand, I write. And because my focus is on gratitude and counting blessings, this reflects in my life as abundance and surplus of miracles that have become a daily occurrence, everywhere I go and with everything I do. So when people ask me how I met someone or how something wonderful happened, all I have to do is show them my journals. These daily habits helped manifest the most interesting occurrences, meetings and miracles.
5. Implementation - Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The last secret I would like to share to in this blog (which has turned out to be quite long and for all those troopers who are still with me, thank you so much for your patience and focus and time), is the power of action and implementation. You know how a director yells "aaand ACTION" on set? Well before they do that, they have an army (yes, an army, not a team) to get the film from just an idea, to pre-production, to a set, to an editing room and this is all before it hits distribution or the screens where we, the audience, watches it.
Before the director gets to call out 'action', her or his crew visualise the story-line and write a storyboard, they work together on manifesting the idea, preparing the script, auditioning actors and preparing the set. However all this pre-production work would be completely useless unless it was used on set and captured in 'action'. Likewise, all the preparation we do with visualising our goals, meditating on them, being grateful for them, and having habits in place to continually reinforce them means absolutely nothing without acting on them.
One of my favourite dance pioneers is Martha Graham and her father was a doctor who taught her that, "Movement never lies, it is the barometer telling the state of the soul's weather to all who can read it". While it may be difficult to reach the final stage of The Secret and the Law of Attraction without the previous 4 points, we cannot achieve all those wonderful creations and manifestations without acting on them. And like Martha Graham’s father told her, our movements and actions never lie. They show us and others, exactly what we want, who we are and what we are achieving.
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So there you have it, my personal 'secrets' that have helped me better understand The Secret and how to implement the Law of Attraction in my life. Thank you for reading the whole post and if you are feeling inclined, I would love to hear how you have attracted, manifested or created a goal, need or want in your life through meditation, gratitude, daily habits, actions and/or visualisation.
To infinity and beyond.
And always with gratitude.
(That's the secret).
