The Secret

[Stackys]

AIBU to give “the secret” any thought?

I toyed with it years ago. Asked “the universe” for a £10 note. Walking through York the night after, found a wet soggy £10 note on the floor in a graveyard.

Played with it again a few weeks later. Asked the universe for a red balloon. Immediately afterwards I put YouTube on to listen to some music and the first recommended video was a song called something like “10 red balloons”. I’d never heard of the song before.

When I was a child, before I knew of “the secret” we were moving house and I desperately wanted a garden with steps in it. That would have been highly unusual in this area but I kept on thinking about it obsessively. The house we moved to had steps in the garden (the only house in the whole street that did).

My friend goes on about the secret all the time, I put all my “successes” down to coincidence as the alternative sounds batshit but some people truly believe it works, intelligent people!!

I watched the movie yesterday and I’ve decided I want £50k in my bank by New Year’s Eve 😂 ironically DH said to me this morning “we have nearly x amount in bank! The most we’ve ever had!” (Nowhere near £50k) ... maybe it’s already working lol

This is of course lighthearted but I’d be interested to hear other people’s experiences of it?! Please don’t turn it into a “you’re a fucking imbecile OP” type thread, it’s just for fun.

I did the "ask the universe" thing once - but lost my nerve.
I asked for a lodger because I'd had no luck getting one the previous 6m and money was tight. I got one on 10th Jan (who ended up becoming DH!)
I thought about some clients who I hadn't seen for months - 3 of them re-booked in January. Not necessarily a universe thing, of course - lots of people re-evaluate in January and look after themselves a bit better.
But I was thinking "ok then! Let's go for that Audi TT" - and lo and behold, I got one of those cards through with the local paper and advertising shit that had an Audi TT as its top prize! But that's where I lost my nerve and went "nah, not going to happen" so didn't follow it up.

I know some people swear by it but there can be downsides too - and that's why I'd never wish for a windfall because often it comes at too high a cost. :(

Is The Secret the author of the book? Because several have asked and nobody is actually confirming the title and author.

Rhonda Byrne, took me a second to look it up...

And what kind of Universe is it that it will respond to someone wishing for a £10 note but let someone else die of starvation or a horrible disease?

Well, exactly. It's actually quite horrible. I went to evangelical churches for a while and its common there for members of the congregation to stand up and announce the mini miracle that God had performed for them. Of course the people who never got their prayers answered never/ rarely stand up and say that. But it means that people for whom life is not going so well, despite all their wishes and prayers can feel abandoned, unloved, that they are doing something wrong. This 'universe' business is exactly the same.

Sometimes shit works out the way you want. Sometimes it doesn't. Life is like that.

A friend of mine gave me this as a present years ago.

U was actually quite offended and secretly threw it in the the bin.

@DopamineHits

Is The Secret the author of the book? Because several have asked and nobody is actually confirming the title and author.

Rhonda Byrne, took me a second to look it up...

Ohhh passive aggressive punctuation. Love it.

There are 1813 matches for The Secret on the site I use. But thanks anyway.

Totally agree smallest - and when something like that is linked to "faith" or religion, it places the added burden on someone - their "faith" is not great enough, or they have "sinned" and are being punished.

It is totally THEIR fault that they are poor, or their dad has cancer, or they can't get a job.

It's horrible - and I speak as a practising Christian with a very strong faith. I don't pretend to understand why bad things happen, but I do believe that everything in existence was created by a benevolent entity.

One thing I would say, though . . .

Don't confuse God with Santa Claus.

[quote Tapiocaisbleurgh]@Jellybeansincognito exactly- it’s just BS. Murder victims clearly didn’t want it not to happen enough. People driven to suicide clearly didn’t send their wants clearly. People in concentration camps should have tried a bit harder? Ffs[/quote]
Absolutely!

Positive thinking might have some benefits in some situations, but there is no magical 'secret'.

By the law of averages, some things we wish for will 'come true'. Psychologically, we want to feel we have as much control over our lives as possible, so it can be tempting to think we have brought about these successes through supernatural means, but success usually results from a combination of luck, opportunity, circumstance, aptitude and effort.

I really really really want my neighbours to move...are you saying if I wish for it hard enough, it will happen?! Its been 3 years now and theyve not moved yet.

Have you tried wishing for them to win £X millions on the lottery? They'd probably move then.

Isn't The Secret about a mindset which will in turn lead to the outcomes that you drive towards?

I'm confused to the links of the ten pound note or 99 red balloons... Aren't they just coincidences?

I really want to get into this! My sister read the book and she says it really changed her life! I might try it!

A really good friend did. She'd been made redundant, her relationship ended, she was so low. Someone bought her the book. Within a few months she had got an amazing new job, met her now husband and they bought a new house together. Life has gone brilliantly for her ever since.

It can't hurt to try.

@VividImagination

I’ve never heard of “The Secret” but some time ago money was very tight and I was wondering how we would get to the end of the month. I had put lots of small bits on gumtree which had sold for a few odd pounds and I had a large item that I’d had on for months with no interest.

I took the dog for a walk to his usual field and half way round there was a large, pure white butterfly just sitting on the grass. I walk my dog in that field several times a day, most days and have never seen a butterfly there,, ever. I stopped and looked closely and it didn’t fly away. After a while I walked on and when I circled back round it was gone. I really felt it was some sort of sign and thought to myself, perhaps it means that I will sell that large item today. When I got home there was a message from someone wanting to buy it. I have never seen a butterfly in that field since.

I don’t believe that was coincidence.

What an amazing story, Vivid Imagination. I am sure cynics would say that seeing a butterfly and selling a sofa are two pretty mundane incidents but now you have explained how these two remarkable things happened on the same day they will admit that this could only have happened by the interaction of Strange Forces About Which We Know Nothing.

If only those that are destitute, modern day slaves, sex trafficked individuals if only they followed this BS then they’d be ok, is that it??

Why not? It either works or it doesn't. If I read the book and find out I can't resurrect the dead and create my zombie army, I'll be really disappointed.

LMAO. I would totally do it for a zombie army.

A friend of mine got into this when he was unhappy. I think it was his third or so cult-like attempt to fix his life the wrong way. As usual it was brilliant for a while and I was such a cynic discount his experience, but the false confidence and bravado never lasts.

Fortunately on the come down from The Secret he was finally able to be a bit more self-critical and do something positive about his difficulties. It was lovely to catch up with him recently and see him genuinely happy- he didn't spout bollocks once.

It can't hurt to try. It really can.

@poppypoppet2020

Who is the author of The Secret?I'm trying to look for it.

Just googled it: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhonda_Byrne

It can because it sends the message that if you’re the trafficked child, the modern day slave, the rape victim, the catfished then you just didn’t wish for nice things enough. It leads to a victim blaming mentality

YANBU I live my life by this and have manifested large sums of money, business opportunities etc even yesterday I absentmindedly set an intention about my ex then went on FB only to see that he had posted. He never comes up on my feed and I have not seen or spoken to him in forever - he was the first post

@IMissMenthols

YANBU I live my life by this and have manifested large sums of money, business opportunities etc even yesterday I absentmindedly set an intention about my ex then went on FB only to see that he had posted. He never comes up on my feed and I have not seen or spoken to him in forever - he was the first post

Again, this example confuses me. Isn't the whole 'Secret' about having a mindful approach to setting cogs in motion for things to happen for you. Not about magically summoning your ex to post on FB?!

THIS IS SO FAR BEYOND BOLLOX THAT IT IS ACTUALLY PITIFUL!!!

Do it I have watched the secret a few times on Netflix and I want the book to go with it. I am part of an LOA group. I need to get my bum in to gear though and start doing it again. Just remember “Thoughts become things”. Good luck with it all.

Is this part of the "everything happens for a reason" school of bollocks thought?

So I, as an infertile woman, can't have children because I don't want them enough??

I can see how a bit of faith in oneself could help with, for example, a job interview or a negotiation at work, but anyone who believes that wishing to find some money and then stumbling across a stray £10 note is a result of 'The Secret' rather than sheer coincidence is seriously deluded and worryingly credulous.

@022828MAN You've contradicted yourself 'Isn't the whole 'Secret' about having a mindful approach to setting cogs in motion for things to happen for you', isn't that exactly what I did? I didn't say that it was purely for manifesting exes it was an example.

The law of attraction is in relation to the law of vibration, everything in the Universe is made from the same material which is energy. That's a fact that even a cynic can't argue. Your thoughts and feelings can result in manifestations, I simply used an example - seems you only took notice of one of the three?

The Secret and similar products reminds me of is the TV evangelists I grew up. My Catholic-raised mother loved so many of them.

Plenty of testimonials going on that joining in the prayer or donating or buying their books/courses/videos made their prayers come true, leading others to buy them.

Those who failed aren't shown and are often scolded, said that they didn't have enough faith, needed to pray/donate/pay more, or god was teaching them a lesson and they needed to listen more, repent more and be less 'stony soil' by donating/paying more. Far too many people wasting far more money than they should and doing fuck all about their life situations because 'they'd planted a seed and were now awaiting the harvest' (one would think they'd know more about how farming works, but no...). So I struggle to find it fun.

As pps mentioned, confirmation bias fuels this and repeated studies shown sound evidence that spending a lot of time dreaming about something leads people to take less action, something I saw a lot growing up. One can be self-confident, take positive action, and not think there is a secret power out there deciding whether to make things happen for you based on whether you've thought positively enough. That's just magical thinking - the universe can't care what we think about and personally I find that far more freeing towards my goals than any 'laws' of attraction.

@DollyDoneMore

Sorry, but there’s no point posting “don’t call me a fucking imbecile” when you’ve just posted the kind of stuff a fucking imbecile would say.

No, there is nothing in this. It’s bollocks. You can’t wish the universe into line.

Ah ☺️ Mumsnet never disappoints 😂