How the Secret Changed My Life: Real People. Real Stories. Read online

  I started carrying the stones in my jeans pocket so that every time I touched them, I thought about the list of things I had written that night.

  And guess what happened! A girl called me about five days before I was going to leave, saying that she wanted to move into my apartment. And she even bought my washing machine, which I couldn’t take with me and wanted to sell. My boyfriend and I moved into our new apartment on the weekend we had planned, and we had two weeks to feel at home in our beautiful new city before we both signed contracts for new jobs on the same day!

  I am so grateful for getting to know The Secret and myself better. It does work; all you need to do is believe, especially in yourself. It continues to help me every day. Thank you, Rhonda, for sharing The Secret with us. I’ll keep on sharing it too.

  – Nia, Germany

  You must know that what you want is yours the moment you ask. You must have complete and utter faith. You must act, speak, and think as though you have it now. That is what it means to believe.

  Nia used the pictures of her new house with the move-in date written on them to reinforce her belief that she already had it. Whenever you get yourself to this place of believing, the Universe must move all people, circumstances, and events for you to receive! How it will happen, how the Universe will bring it to you, is not your concern or job. Allow the Universe to do it for you. When you try to work out how it will happen, you are emitting a frequency that contains a lack of faith – that you don’t believe you have it already. You think you have to do it, and you do not believe the Universe will do it for you.

  A GREEN CARD MIRACLE

  In January 2011, I bought The Secret at a tiny bookstore at the airport while I was waiting to board my flight back to the USA from my hometown in Kerala, India. Reading it on the plane back to L.A. changed my life forever. I had struggled with negativity my entire life, but the teachings of The Secret helped me to change my outlook and take control of my future.

  But I still fell off the wagon many times. I often overlooked the blessings of my new job, beautiful new home, and great new relationship, and focused on the things I did not have – in particular, a permanent green card that would allow me to continue living in the States.

  I had a temporary green card based on my short-lived marriage, but to get a permanent one I would have to prove that the marriage was real and still valid. The marriage had been real enough – I had the emotional scars to prove it – but my husband and I had separated barely a year after our wedding and were on our way to finalizing the divorce.

  I had to hire an immigration lawyer, which was expensive, and all I did was gripe about how much all this was costing and the fact that I was going to be deported. As a result, the law of attraction ensured that my problems continued.

  Things were going from bad to worse when I decided to visit The Secret site and read some of the testimonials to change the funk I was in. I was inspired by the many people who had written about their personal miracles and decided to get back on the wagon right away. I printed two color copies of my current green card and changed the expiration date from 2011 to 2021. I pinned a copy to my corkboard at work where I could see it and put the other one in my wallet.

  And then I did something that ensured the success of my wish: I forgot all about it! I did not spend another minute thinking about the process, what the lawyers were up to, whether I had given enough supporting documents – not a single negative thought. I also did not try to “help” the process along, as I normally would have done. I did not imagine my interview with the immigration officer going well; I did not spend any thought on my lawyer providing brilliant arguments in my favor. I quite simply let it go. Whenever someone asked me how it was going, I shrugged and said my application was being processed. I refused to follow up with my lawyer’s office or fret over the date by which I should have heard back about an appointment with the immigration officer.

  With my understanding of how the visa process works, logically, I would have at best envisioned a brief interview, a successful meeting with an immigration officer who was inclined to like me, and so on. But the law of attraction gave me more than I could ever have imagined! On the first day of June, two months before my current card expired, I received my new green card in the mail. No interview, no immigration officer, no meeting, no follow-up, just the card with the expiration date 2022 printed on it: one year MORE than I had written on my inspiration copy!

  What I learned from this experience is that often the answer is not to strive constantly to think only positive thoughts about something we want; it’s the ability to ask, believe, and then let go. Trusting that the Universe has received my wish, being confident that I have articulated it clearly, and believing that my wish will be granted are the three steps I have mastered. I am still working on resisting the urge to keep trying to fine-tune my request or help it along by adding more positive vibes.

  – Ambika N., Los Angeles, California, USA

  As Ambika came to realize, when you’re feeling good, it’s much easier to believe you’ll receive your desire than if you’re not feeling good. That’s because believing is a positive emotion, and it’s on the same frequency as feeling good. So don’t try to practice believing if you’re feeling down in the dumps. Get yourself feeling good, then do the visualizing and practices that will help you believe.

  If you are complaining about things in your life, you are on the complaining frequency, and you are not in a position to attract what you want.

  Get on to the frequency of good with your thoughts and words. Firstly you will feel good, and secondly you will be on the frequency of receiving more good.

  – The Secret Daily Teachings

  ASK ONCE AND LET IT GO

  My husband and I had decided to purchase a new home and leave our current home empty until it sold. It was a very big gamble given the crash of the real estate market, but we were feeling optimistic. However, after more than twenty open houses in seven months with no offers, I was getting very discouraged and really stressed about having to carry two mortgages.

  I first learned about The Secret while watching The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly after that, I encouraged my husband to watch the movie with me on our computer. That was on a Friday. On Sunday I had to go over to the empty house and clean out the garage, and at that point I decided to use what I had learned by watching The Secret. I asked once for the sale of the house, I visualized a sale-pending sign, I felt grateful, and I let it go.

  As I was closing the garage and about to return to my car, I saw a gentleman picking up a flyer from the for-sale sign on my lawn. The next day my Realtor called to let us know that we had three offers on the house. We closed escrow 45 days later.

  – Tricia, Brentwood, California, USA

  Ask, Believe, and You Will Receive

  LIFELONG DREAMS OF TRAVEL

  For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to travel. In my opinion, there is no greater blessing than to see the world and experience everything the earth has to offer. I remember journaling about it when I was in high school, basically declaring that I was going to travel someday. I realize now that back then I was using The Secret but just didn’t know it. My first goal, however, was to finish college.

  Living during the recession in the USA was very spirit-crushing and at times very frustrating. I never would have guessed that I would be graduating college during the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression! I had no money, I had student loans, and I couldn’t find a job in my little college town to save my life. Either nobody was hiring or my school schedule didn’t fit with the job. I was starting to feel really discouraged.

  I had read The Secret and applied it to some things, but I don’t think I really and truly believed in it with all my heart. So I decided to read it again, and this time it really hit home.

  I had three and a half months before graduation to manifest traveling while the world around me screamed, “You will never be able to travel!” Even my parent
s, who are amazing and supportive people, told me, “Get those dreams of travel out of your head . . . it’s not going to happen for a long time. You have no money, and we aren’t paying for it!” At times it was hard not to just give in and say, “Oh, they’re right.” Instead I shook my head and decided to stop talking to them about it, because they were being so negative. Meanwhile I kept telling myself every single day, “I am going to travel. I don’t know how or when, but it will happen.”

  I made a vision board with pictures of places I wanted to go. I journaled every single night, listing everything in my life I was grateful for – things I loved about people, things I loved about myself, etc. I would write about how grateful I was to get the opportunity to see the world, and what great things it would do for my soul. After weeks and weeks of journaling, it really helped me to feel as if I had already received it. I honestly believed with a full heart that it would happen for me.

  Then, about a month and a half into practicing this, I got an email from an old friend offering me a position in Italy – a cultural exchange to live with a family! The family then contacted me and offered to pay me to live there. I couldn’t believe it. This opportunity literally fell into my lap.

  After that I thought, Okay, so once I am there, I’ll have money. Now I just need to figure out how to get there! I kept telling myself I was going for sure; I just needed money for my plane ticket.

  A few weeks later, I graduated college, and lo and behold, people started sending me graduation money. All the money added up to the exact amount I needed for my ticket.

  After that, I realized that I couldn’t go all the way to Italy and see only Italy. I wanted to see a lot more of Europe. So I decided that I would spend my last month backpacking around. My friends and family were concerned, asking, “How will you save that much money? Are you going to go alone? Who’s going to go with you?” But I kept insisting, “I will figure it out when the time comes. I will have someone to travel with, and I will save enough money. I just know it!”

  So I booked my return ticket based on staying that extra month, and the very next day my best friend, who was living in another state, called me to catch up. We hadn’t talked in a long time. When I told her about my plans to travel in Europe, she immediately said, “I’m going with you. I am booking my ticket now . . . See you in Rome!”

  My entire trip was manifested through using The Secret. It’s a beautiful feeling to know that something so wonderful can happen to you just by changing your own thoughts! My trip was a life-changing experience, I had more than enough money to do it, and by the end, I even had money left over!

  It really is true: Ask, Believe, Receive. It really does work.

  Thank you, thank you, thank you! Good blessings to all.

  – Ashley S., Seattle, Washington, USA

  Ask once, believe you have received, and all you have to do to receive is feel good. When you are feeling good, you are on the frequency of receiving. You are on the frequency of all good things coming to you, and you will receive what you have asked for.

  A fast way to get yourself on that frequency is to say, “I am receiving now. I am receiving all the good in my life now. I am receiving [fill in the blank] now.” And feel it. Feel it as though you have received.

  That’s what Ashley did with her journaling, and acting as if she had received made her both a believer and a receiver!

  Ask for Something Small

  Most people can manifest the small things quickly. This is because they do not have any resistance around the small things, and because they don’t think thoughts that contradict them. When it comes to the bigger things, however, people often emit thoughts of doubt or worry that contradict those bigger things. This is the only difference in terms of the time it takes for something to manifest.

  Nothing is big or small for the Universe.

  – The Secret Daily Teachings

  FINDING A PENNY CHANGED EVERYTHING

  After reading The Secret, I decided I’d start with something small, like the man in the book who imagined the feather. I decided to imagine a penny, and I made sure the penny in my mind was special. My penny would be heads up when I found it, it would be very shiny and new, and most importantly, it would be dated 1996. This year is very special to me, and it was very important that this be the year on the penny.

  I imagined this penny four days ago, and I thought of it several times for the last few days. A few times I found myself scanning the ground in parking lots and on sidewalks, searching for the penny. I had to remind myself that I did not need to look for the penny because it would find me.

  I’m not sure if I thought of the penny at all today. I had not seen any penny at all since I imagined this one. Tonight I went to the movies, and as I was leaving the theater, for some reason I glanced at the ground, and there was a shiny penny. I immediately thought it was my penny, but I made sure it was heads up before touching it. Sure enough, it was. I snatched it up and literally cried when I saw that the date was 1996!

  I am so glad I decided to start small, because that was what I needed to truly believe. Now I know I can do anything and have anything, and I just want to buy this book for everyone I know! Thank you so much, I truly am so grateful!

  – Amanda, Connecticut, USA

  It takes no time for the Universe to manifest what you want. Any time delay you experience is due to your delay in getting to the place of believing, knowing, and feeling that you already have it. It is as easy for the Universe to manifest one dollar as it is to manifest one million dollars, and the only reason why one may come faster and the other may take longer is because you thought that a million dollars was a lot of money and that one dollar was not very much. When you think something is really big, in effect you’re saying to the law of attraction, “This is so big it’s going to be difficult to achieve, and it’s probably going to take a really long time.” And you will be right, because whatever you think and feel is what you will receive. Therefore, starting with something small is an easy way to experience the law of attraction working for you. Once you’ve seen it at work, any doubts you might have had will disappear.

  SOMETHING SMALL

  I first heard about The Secret through a friend. She kept telling me that everything that happened in my life was because of The Secret. I kept thinking, What the heck is The Secret? She wouldn’t tell me; all she said was, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret!” So I just kind of shrugged it off and thought nothing of it.

  A few months later, my cousin from Canada visited me. In the course of conversation, we stumbled across the same topic, The Secret. He kept telling me how The Secret had changed his life and how many wonderful things had come his way by practicing it. By that time I figured, Okay, let’s see what this Secret hype is all about. Eventually I ordered the DVD online and watched it. I thought, Hmm . . . interesting. So what can I do to see if this works? I figured I’d start with something very simple yet something I really wanted. It was my funny little way of trying to prove The Secret wrong.

  It may seem weird, but at the time I was really craving this little Chinese dumpling called har gow. I was living in a mostly Caucasian community where it was hard to find an authentic Chinese restaurant. But The Secret said to visualize what I wanted, so I did. I also searched high and low to find har gow. I didn’t mention anything about The Secret or about asking for those dumplings. I just kept thinking about it for a good week or so, but nothing was materializing for me.

  Then, one night before falling asleep, I told myself, I will eat this dish one way or another. I don’t know how, but I will. The next morning I went to work having totally forgotten what I’d said the night before. I started to do the things I normally did at work, and then my coworker came over and said, “Let’s go into the kitchen; the other department has provided breakfast for everyone.” I followed her in, and guess what I saw? My har gow! Ha-ha! Who would have thought? It was so random. And nobody eats this for breakfast! Yet it was there.

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nbsp; Once I truly believed, it happened! I asked the girl who had brought it in why she got it for breakfast, and all she said was, “It was the only thing open near my house at 6:00 a.m.!”

  After that moment, I was a true believer in The Secret!

  – Laarni R., California, USA

  It’s not unusual for people to “test” the power of The Secret by asking for something small “just to see if it really works.” In the next story, Jason also decided to start with something really small. And he chose something so rare and specific that there could be no doubt if it manifested.

  I HAD STOPPED BELIEVING, UNTIL . . .

  I had been studying the law of attraction for a year before The Secret was released. Nothing had really worked for me, but I was excited about the movie.

  When I received the movie, it was really inspiring. I watched it several times a week; I really enjoyed it!

  In one section, they say that to start, “attract a cup of coffee” to you. On the audiobook, they tell the story about a man attracting a feather to him to prove the law of attraction was real.

  I decided to “prove” to myself the law of attraction was real. And I wanted to do this by attracting something totally off the wall for me. I decided on a red thimble. Every day I would write that in my goal book. I would picture it, close my eyes, look at my finger, and imagine the red thimble was there. I even wrote an email to myself, very similar to what I’m writing here, telling the story I would submit once I attracted the red thimble.

  Two weeks went by and nothing happened. In the movie, they said that you could attract a cup of coffee in a day, and the guy attracted the feather to himself in two days. It had been two weeks, and I had nothing!

  Then one day, in an improvisation class I was taking, we were doing a skit where people had to enter and exit on a certain word. The word I was given was thimble.