Mindhacks

An inspiring story based on the Wright Brothers. Armed with nothing more than a high school education, they rose above all obstacles and achieved the impossible.
Be inspired by this lesson about attaining success even if the odds are against you!

WINGS. . .

“If GOD had intended that man should fly, he would have given him wings”- George W Melville, Chief Engineer of the US Navy (1900)

Here’s Their Rollercoaster Ride

This is proof that nothing is impossible.

What Do You Think?

Everyone’s talking about the Law of Attraction ever since the movie “The Secret” was released to the world. Even Oprah did two shows on the subject in Feb 2007.

But according to Jose Silva, the famous mind researcher and founder of the Silva Method, there are specific “Rules” that help you get better results.

The Most Important Rule is…What You Seek to Manifest, Will Come Faster if You Seek it to Benefit Humanity, instead of for purely self-satisfaction.

Ed Bernd Jr, one of Jose Silva’s Friends and Instructors shares this piece with us.

Rather than thinking about what you want and how you will feel when you get something or achieve something, it is far better to think about how the success will correct problems, will relieve suffering, will help someone to achieve their purpose in life and correct more problems and make the world a better place to live.

If you need a new car (not want, but need) then don’t think about how you will feel when you get it, how proud you will be, etc. Instead, think about the problem you will solve by having the new car:

Your family will be safer, you will get places on time, you will be able to help other people, etc.

The more people who will benefit, the easier it will be to achieve your goal.

We were not sent here on a 70 year vacation, Mr. Silva told us. We were sent here with a job to do, and that job is to correct problems and to make the world a better place to live… to finish the creation and convert the world into a paradise.

It is not about us and what we want and how we feel. We can have everything we need to do our job, plus more, provided that we are doing our job – provided that we are doing what higher intelligence sent us here to do, and that is to correct problems, relieve suffering, and make the world a better place to live.

So focus on doing that, not on yourself, and you will get much better results.

He included a line at the very end of the conditioning cycles, (read to students while the were in meditation) the most powerful place in the conditioning cycle, that we should:

 Strive to take part in constructive and creative activities to make this world a better place to live, so that when we move on we shall have left behind a better world for those who follow.

 When I saw Mr. Silva in the office on Monday, I mentioned it to him. “That’s a statement of unselfishness, isn’t it?” I asked. He didn’t answer directly. His eyes lit up and he looked at me and said, “If it weren’t for that attitude, we wouldn’t have the Silva Method today.”

Not everyone wants to accept these ideas, and they certainly have the right to accept or reject anything they choose. But if you look around you can sure find plenty of evidence to support this.

Look at the man they say is the wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates. I complain a lot about his heavy handed tactics – I don’t use Internet Explorer and I don’t like the fact that I am still forced to have it on my computer anyway. But I sure can’t argue with what Bill Gates is doing with all that money that he made off of all of us. He is not just handing it out to make himself feel good either, he is working very hard to make sure that the money does as much good for as many people as possible.

And the wealthiest investor in the world, Warren Buffet,  is joining him, giving his money to help people in desperate need rather than giving it to his own children.

I don’t think it is any accident that a couple of people who have that kind of attitude have been so successful in their lives.

Jose Silva wrote:

“The other side will only help me when I am asking for something that is needed to improve conditions on planet earth,” Mr. Silva explained.

“Like we said, they are not going to help me if I want another million dollars when I already have a million dollars, when I want a Rolls Royce when I have a Rolls Royce already. That I want a girlfriend when I already have a wife. Some people ask for something like this.

“They are not going to help you. You are on your own. If you make a mistake, you are going to suffer for it, you are on your own. You don’t get help from the other side.

“You only get help from the other side when your intentions are that whatever you are doing is to help improve conditions on the planet for more than yourself, not just yourself.

“If you only consider Me, me, you have to do it on your own. If it is for Us, then you get help, if whatever you do is going to help more than you.

“The more you are going to help, the more help you get for it.

“We always say, ‘Don’t ever ask for more than what you need, but do ask for no less than what you need.’

“So what your needs will be, depends on how big your plans are. That’s what your needs will be.”

He went on to explain that “how big your plans are” means “how many people will benefit.” The more people who benefit, the better.

My Big Question (from the Editor)

When I first read this, my immediate question was…welll If I’m trying to heal a bad back — can I do that? Surely that’s not benefiting anyone else? But my Silva instructor at the time, answered like this. Of course it is! Remember, with a better back, you could take your kids for walks more often. Spend more time playing sports with your teenage son. Carry stuff for your wife. Of course you can help others more. So when you visualize for a better back – see your wife, teenage kid and son all benefiting too. This accelerates the Law of Attraction!

Bret Carr moved to Los Angeles and began work as a street artist painting pictures on rice grains for tourists. But his real ambition was to make movies that change people’s lives.

And the movie that he created, RevoLOUtion – is now changing people’s lives.

In April 2006 the transformational epic movie Revoloution was released to the general public.

Filmmaker Bret Carr stars in and directs the movie and his inspirational story both on and off the screen is stuff only dreams are made of.

RevoLOUtion is the fictional story of Lou, a stuttering ex-boxer who can only speak normally when starting trouble protecting the Brooklyn neighborhood in which he lives. Lou transforms from violent, extreme stutterer into a great, powerful communicator.

It is structured around an ancient rite of passage, and creates powerful transformational effects with numerous members of viewers. 

Awareness magazine note:

“The viewer so identifies with Carr’s Oscar Caliber performance, that they are taken on a near death psychological journey with “Lou”, and come out having had their own awakening.”

Check out the YouTube video below for the trailer and audience reactions.

The phenomenal impact the movie has had on real people’s lives:

check out the revoLOUtion website>>

Following the huge reaction to the Oprah show on the Secret, Oprah did a follow up show on Feb 16. Here is the transcript from the show..

One Week Later:

The Huge Reaction to The Secret

On February 8, 2007, millions tuned in to The Oprah Winfrey Show to learn the mystery of The Secret. Sincethe show aired, our message boards have been buzzing with people who want to know more.

The Secret is defined as the law of attraction, which states that like attracts like. The concept says that the energy you put into the world—both good and bad—is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day.

 To help answer your burning questions, two teachers of The Secret, James Arthur Ray and the Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, are back. Michael says he thinks The Secret is alluring because it helps people stop feeling like victims. “I think us talking about the law of attraction, talking about these universal spiritual principles, allows them to see that they can begin to govern their thoughts and their way of life,” he says.

The Science Behind the Secret

According to James, there is scientific evidence to back up the spiritual practices and laws defined in The Secret. “Science tells us that everything is energy, and so your thoughts are energy. Your body, your cash, your car—everything you think is solid, if you put it under a high-powered microscope, it’s just a field of energy and a rate of vibration,” he says. “And so are we. So if you think you’re this meat suit running around, you have to think again.”

One way to describe this energy is by comparing it radio waves, “The frequency you give out through your thoughts and your emotions is what you have a tendency to manifest in your life,” Michael says. “Whether those thoughts and emotions are conscious or unconscious, it doesn’t matter.”

This means that if you are sending out the same negative energy over an over—whether thoughts or feelings—you will attract like energy back to you. James says that when bad things happen people might ask, “Oh, God, why me?” “Because it is you,” he says.

Mending a Marriage

 After 16 years of marriage, Amanda and Mark say they were at a breaking point in their relationship. “I was exploding with anger and had just had enough,” Amanda says. “Neither one of us felt in love, or really loving to each other.”

Neither Amanda nor Mark was willing to go to counseling to deal with their issues. Mark says he felt his needs weren’t being met and there was no room for improvement. Both felt they were headed for a separation. “Our emotional barriers at that point became a physical barrier. We put the pillows in between ourselves, so that was the fence,” Mark says.

That’s when Amanda heard about The Secret

Amanda’s life took a dramatic shift when she saw Beverly and Carlton discussing their marital problems on The Oprah Show. Within 24 hours of watching the episode on The Secret, Amanda says her entire outlook on life changed. “I had to step back and look at myself and realize I didn’t like myself. I was an unhappy person. And I was putting that out there and polluting my environment. I needed to change my focus,” she says.

When the couple sat down to discuss their problems, they realized at their core they were both “achingly sad.” “One thing just led to another and [a] dam burst and there we were just talking and talking,” Amanda says. “I think that we have a miraculous chance of moving forward and having a great life together.”

James says an important lesson for everyone is to stop focusing on things that are wrong in your life. Instead, use that energy toward things you desire, like a happy marriage. “Energy flows where attention goes,” James says. “We have attention surplus when we are focusing on the things we don’t want—I don’t want to be broke. I don’t want to be unhappy. I don’t want to be fat,” he says. “The mind can’t process a negative.”

What About Religion

Maureen has a question many people want answered: “[My family puts] our faith in God, and it seems that The Secret teaches you to put your faith in yourself. And so I was wondering, is God anywhere in this?”

Michael says The Secret involves the laws of the universe and they, in turn, describe the nature of how God works. “[Jesus] said, ‘Pray believing that ye have that ye may receive.’ That’s The Secret in a nutshell,” he says. “Pray believing and feeling and sensing that you already have it, and then you’re available to receive it.”

Michael says The Secret isn’t about contradicting religion—it supports it. “It actually goes underneath the culture and explains to you the sacred laws that these wonderful teachers have brought to us,” he says. According to James, The Secret is about supporting the great spiritual traditions in a more modern form. “It really is just putting Christianity, Judaism, all the great teachings into a current vernacular,” he says.

How Do Heaven and Hell Come into Play

As a Christian, Maureen says she believes in heaven and hell, and she’s concerned that The Secret’s promotion of free will and personal choice imply that you do not face a final judgment.
James says that while he honors Maureen’s Christian belief system, he suggests looking at the concepts of heaven, hell and judgment in a different way. “Jesus the Christ said the kingdom of heaven is within. He didn’t say it was out there somewhere—[he said] within. And so is it possible to consider that the kingdom of hell is within as well?” he says.

“The kingdom of God is actually in us, and what comes out of your mouth, what you think about, how you express—you’re either participating in the realm of ever-expanding good or you’re cutting yourself off from the realm,” Michael says.

Michael suggests that instead of living a life preparing for some ultimate reward, you should live in the now. “When you’re anticipating some future good, you’re preventing that good that is all around you from expressing through you,” he says. “[Don't] put life on the layaway plan and try to anticipate that it’s going to get good in the future.”

Rediscoving a life worth living

Angela says she has understood the principle of The Secret for years and was living the life she wanted, but everything changed on September 11, 2001. One that tragic day, one of the hijacked airliners crashed into Angela’s office building. For the past five years, she says she’s been struggling to keep her head above water. Her life was no longer filled with purpose and she had a hard time “just surviving.”

“What I was bringing to the table was a tired, worn-out survivor, and I knew that,” Angela says. “I was shut down, but I was moving.”

A reawakening

After watching the show, Angela says she had a reawakening. “Everything made sense again, and I’m ready to get my life back on track,” she says. The first thing Angela did was to start journaling and focusing on all the gratitude she felt in her life.

Michael says this is very important because nothing new can come into your life without being thankful for what you have already been given. “The moment you began to focus on gratitude, you create within yourself the condition for more things to be grateful for to come into your life,” he says.

“Basically what you’re saying is, ‘Thank you so much. Give me more of this,’” James says. “The most powerful magnetic attractive force in the universe is the power of gratitude.”
Angela says she created a sense of peace inside herself by focusing on this energy. “That peace was already there,” Michael says. “But the filters of the way you were looking at life were blocking you from experiencing it.”

Overcoming tragedy

In 2003, Lisa says she was living her “dark fall of the soul.” She was single, severely in debt and unemployed.

For years, Lisa struggled with a tragedy from her childhood. When she was 12 years old, her two sisters were killed in a tragic accident. Since that fateful day, Lisa says she has carried a lot of pain with her.

“For a lot of my life, I’ve struggled with feeling guilty that I’d survived. And so I wouldn’t allow myself good things to happen because I didn’t necessarily feel that I deserved them,” she says.

Lisa discovers the law of attraction

After years of living in depression, Lisa started reading about the law of attraction and decided to put it to the test! Lisa started to visualize the life she wanted to live—she wanted to be her own boss, find true love, have children and create a home. “A big part of the change was opening up to whatever the universe was going to throw at me,” she says.

In less than a year, Lisa successfully created the life of her dreams. First, she started her own business. In January 2004, she met her future husband. In May, they bought a house. In June, they got a dog. In December, Lisa gave birth to their son.

“I think that our mind is a very powerful thing,” she says. “I think anything is open to you if you believe that you can have it.”

Living up to your potential

Michael says that Lisa used the power of choice to change her thinking—the important first step in turning her life around. “She had to come out of the ‘poor me’ victim consciousness,” he says. “She had to come out of repeating the same old patterns, and actually open herself up for another possibility and the universe matched that.”

James agrees that Lisa’s altered thinking changed her life. The reason, he says, is that humans are spiritual beings. “The mind is the bridge between the two most powerful forces in the universe, which are spirit and form.”

However, he says, too often people place their focus in the wrong places. “We’re accessed and able to do anything and everything,” James says. “And yet what we tend to do, with our mind, is define ourselves by our physical circumstances. … When you look at your current results and say, ‘This is me,’ the universe says, ‘Your wish is my command.’ But that’s not you, that’s not who you are. It’s who you were. It says nothing about who you can become and what you’re capable of.”

Intention, attention, action

To begin living the ultimate life you want, you must first describe that life in as much detail as possible, Michael says. However, don’t just list the ways that you’d like your present circumstances to change.

Instead really think about how you want your life to be. For instance, Michael suggests this description: “I see myself living a life [in which] I’m absolutely, totally healthy. Everything is working together for my good. There’s prosperity flowing through me. I’m in a place of employment that I really love. I’m really providing value everywhere I go.”
James says that this describing—”Not asking. Not hoping,” he says—is just the first step, which he calls intention.

After you’ve established your intention, the next step, James says, is attention. Here, you should feel gratitude and maintain your feeling that your intended goals are coming, he says.
The third step is action. “This is the scary part, even when you teach this stuff,” James says. “Step forward, taking action in the direction … not where you are currently, but moving forward and saying, ‘Okay, if this is who I’m becoming, then what action would I take right now if I were already there?’”

The true definition of forgiveness

Three years ago, Joan’s husband was killed in an automobile accident, leaving her a widowed mother with two sons. “I couldn’t get over the grief I was facing and couldn’t forgive him for leaving me alone with our boys,” she says.

When she saw The Oprah Show about The Secret, Joan says James’s definition of forgiveness really opened her eyes. He said forgiveness is being able to thank the person who has wronged you. “You say, ‘I don’t want it to be different because there are so many gifts that came out of that. Thank you for giving me that experience,’” James said.

The purpose of forgiveness…it’s not for them

When she heard that, Joan says, “I wept in my chair. I sat there and said, ‘Oh, I forgive you.’ I couldn’t say that before. I could not tell him that I forgive him for leaving me.”

Almost instantly, Joan says her life changed. “A friend of mine even said, ‘I can see it in your face. I can see it in your eyes.’ It was like this boulder was lifted off of me.”

Michael says that by not forgiving, Joan was enduring self-abuse. “The message to the universe is, ‘I want to keep repeating this experience over and over,’” he says.

“Being unwilling to forgive is like drinking poison expecting the other person to die,” James says. “Ultimately you don’t forgive for the other person. If they accept it, that’s great. It’s wonderful. But if they don’t, you forgive for you, because you release that toxic energy from your body and you move forward.”

A bad day turns bright

On the day that Oprah introduced the world to The Secret, Clarissa thought she was in for an ordinary day—which usually includes missing The Oprah Winfrey Show because she’s at work. But just 20 minutes into her workday, her boss called her into his office to tell her she was being fired.

On her way home, Clarissa called a friend who was fired by the same boss weeks before. “She and I were talking and we were just saying such bad things about him, just [the most] horrible things that we could think of. There was a lot of anger in both of our hearts for him because we were upset,” she says.

After she arrived home, Clarissa and her mom watched the show about The Secret. “It just made me seriously think back and think, ‘God, it wasn’t him. It was me. He was right. I was negative. I didn’t want this job. I didn’t need the job. It was just a stepping stone.’”

She immediately typed up words and phrases—gratitude, true happiness, gratefulness—and hung them on the walls of her bedroom so that she’d remember them daily. Clarissa even wrote her old boss a letter. “I was upset at your reasoning for letting me go. Then I watched The Oprah Winfrey Show and the topic mesmerized me,” she wrote. “For the things you said to me, I forgive you. And in the same sentence, I hope you forgive me. … Thank you for hiring and firing me.”

“Now I’m so much more positive on everything that has happened,” she says.
“You’re open to the possibility of whatever is supposed to come into your life,” Oprah says.

The Transcript of the Show is Available on Oprah.com >>

Related Links:

The Secret On Oprah, the First Show Feb 7 2007

Michael Beckwitt

James Ray

Steve Pavlina recently had the pleasure of interviewing James Ray of the Secret. James was most recently on the Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed the Law of Attraction.

Here’s the Intro to Steve Pavlina’s Interview with James Ray

I’m delighted to present this exclusive interview with James Ray, President and CEO of the multi-million dollar corporation James Ray International and cast member of the increasingly popular movie The Secret.

Last week James shared his insights on the Law of Attraction on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and previously he appeared on Larry King Live with other cast members of The Secret.  Most remarkable is that he credits these appearances to the Law of Attraction itself, the manifestation of intentions he set in motion six years ago.

James has devoted over two decades to studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who possess true wealth in all areas of their lives. He has studied and been exposed to a wide diversity of teachings and teachers — from traditional college and the schools of the corporate world, to the ancient cultures of Peru and Egypt, and the jungles of the Amazon. As a coach and mentor, James has taught thousands of individuals and organizations to create harmonic wealth in all areas of their businesses and lives. Because of his comprehensive and integrated background, James considers himself a “practical mystic,” and he seeks to share this unique way of living with individuals around the world.

In this exclusive interview, James shares his insights into the Law of Attraction; the relationship between wealth and spirituality; and the power that comes from creating alignment between our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Read the Full Interview Here >>

More Articles on the Secret and James Ray:

Oprah Interviews the Cast of the Secret

James Ray Articles

The Science of Getting Rich, a book written in 1910 by Wallace D Wattles is going through a big revivial all of a sudden – including being mentioned on Oprah. The reason? Australian film Rhonda Byrnes took the message of the book and used it as inspiration for her hit film, The Secret.

The Science of Getting Rich was a brilliant book during it’s time. But today, it’s old style of writing and message can be a little simplistic for those of us who are used to modern gems like the Conversations with God series by Neale Donald Walsh or The Abraham-Hicks series of books.

Still, Wallace deserves credit for being one of the first to publicly proclaim the idea that we humans, are creative beings who possess the ability to manifest our thoughts through conscious application of the Law of Attraction.

As a public service – here I am summarizing the basic message of Wallace’s book – The Science of Getting Rich. Read it and absorb it. This is a powerful idea that we should all be embracing.

The Science of Getting Rich – a Summary

There is a universal energy from which all things are made. This energy fills the entire univere.

When you form a thought in your head, you tap into this energy, and you actually create that which you are thinking about.

Mankind has the ability to create a thought and cause the subject of the thought to be created within this field of Universal Energy.

To activate this ability, we must learn to harness our creative mind. Typically, we function with our competitive mind. But to create things with thought, we need to activate the creative mind.

We can come into harmony this with Universal energy through the act of expressing gratitude. Gratitude unifies our mind with this all encompassing Universal energy.

To manifest something new, simply hold an image of what you seek in your mind. And express gratitude to the Universe for having granted this to you. To achieve wealth, apply this same principle – hold a clear vision of the wealth you hope to attain. Then express gratitude that this wealth is coming to you. You must have unwavering faith and devout gratitude.

All that you include in your mental image will come to you through the physical realm – through the process of natural ways such as trade and commerce.

To claim this wealth, you must be active. You must do all that you can do each day to make this vision a reality. Especially strive to deliver to others something of value greater than what they paid you for.

Those who practice these instructions will get rich. And the riches they receive will be exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixitiy of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude. 

Modern Systems that Build on Wallace’s Work

If you’d like to master the message contained in Wallace’s work, I would recommend the following modern works that do a far better job of conveying the message.

First, to understand the nature and idea behind the Universal Energy Wallace talks about, you might consider the following books.

• The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart
• Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) by Neale Donald Walsch
• The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot

Next, to understand  the Laws of the Universe – such as the Laws of Attraction or the Science of Deliberate Creation, I would recommend the following books and DVDs.

• The Secret
• The Law of Attraction by Abraham Hicks

Finally, to understand the best ways to apply these laws to gain the best results – I recommend the works of Jose Silva. I would also suggest that you watch out for the new seminar being launched by Bob Proctor, of the Secret. The seminar is based on the Science of Getting Rich books. Bob Proctor is the modern-day Wallace D Wattles. Here are the relevant links.

• The Silva UltraMind System
• The Science of Getting Rich Seminar

It looks like the “Law of Attraction” is finally becoming a house-hold word. On Thursday, Feb 8, Oprah, the queen of talk-shows, interviewed select cast members from the hit documentary film, the Secret.

For those of you living in a closet the last few months – the Secret is a phenomenal movie that interviews key authors, speakers and lecturers about the Law of Attraction – the idea that everything you think about comes into your life, good or bad. It’s become a motivational force for millions and is spreading like wild-fire across the globe.

Below is the Full Transcript of the Oprah Show.

People around the world have been talking about a movie so powerful that it can change the course of your life. This movie, The Secret, was created by Australian Rhonda Byrne, and she says that if you follow its philosophy, you can create the life you want—whether that means getting out of debt, finding a more fulfilling job or even falling in love.
Rhonda says she stumbled on what she calls The Secret at the end of 2004. At the time, everything in Rhonda’s life had fallen apart—physically, emotionally and financially—and she was in “total despair.” Then her father died suddenly, and she was worried about her grief-stricken mother. “I wept and wept and wept, and I didn’t want my daughter to see me sobbing,” Rhonda says.

That’s when Rhonda’s daughter gave her a copy of The Science of Getting Rich, a book written in 1910 by Wallace D. Wattles. “Something inside of me had me turn the pages one by one, and I can still remember my tears hitting the pages as I was reading it,” Rhonda says. “It gave me a glimpse of The Secret. It was like a flame inside of my heart. And with every day since, it’s just become a raging fire of wanting to share all of this with the world.”

After that first discovery, Rhonda read hundreds of books, listened to hundreds of hours of audio tapes and scoured the Internet for more information. She says she traced the idea of The Secret through history—all the way from 3500 B.C. to the present day. “Since I discovered The Secret, every single moment of my entire life has changed, and I am living my life for the first time,” Rhonda says.

Rhonda defines The Secret as the law of attraction, which is the principle that “like attracts like.” Rhonda calls it “the most powerful law in the universe,” and says it is working all the time. “What we do is we attract into our lives the things we want, and that is based on what we’re thinking and feeling,” Rhonda says. The principle explains that we create our own circumstances by the choices we make in life. And the choices we make are fueled by our thoughts—which means our thoughts are the most powerful things we have here on earth.

To help teach the philosophy, Rhonda created the DVD The Secret, which features experts including the Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, James Arthur Ray, Lisa Nichols and Jack Canfield—who not only teach other people about The Secret, but say they are successful in their own lives because they know and use the principle.

The Experts

Left: The cast of Experts Discuss the Secret  the Oprah

The Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith says he was a drug dealer in college—until he was arrested in a deal gone bad. Michael says he had a spiritual awakening during his trial and decided to turn his life around. Today he leads the Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, where he teaches thousands of faithful followers the path to reaching their highest potential.

James Arthur Ray was insecure and awkward as a teenager until weight lifting helped the self-described geek gain confidence in his 20s. He says that surviving a near-fatal motorcycle crash and almost going bankrupt forced him to focus on the life he truly wanted. Now he runs a multimillion-dollar corporation dedicated to teaching people how to create wealth in all areas of their lives.

Lisa Nichols grew up on the tough streets of South Central Los Angeles. She admits that as a self-conscious teenager, she often used sex to feel loved by men. After hitting rock bottom at age 19, Lisa prayed for a better life. Now, she has made her fortune by motivating more than 60,000 teenagers to make better choices in their own lives.

Chicken Soup for the Soul creator Jack Canfield was deep in debt before he made it big. Now his best-selling books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, and Jack travels the country teaching the secret of his success.

The law of attraction means that everything that happens to you—good or bad—you attract to yourself. Lisa describes it as if you’re placing an order. “If you were at a restaurant and you ordered something, you fully expect it to come served that way. That’s how the universe is. You’re putting out orders—consciously and unconsciously,” Lisa says. “So if you say, ‘I’ll never have a great relationship,’ you just placed an order.”

Jack says everything you focus on can have an effect on your life—from books to magazines to thoughts. “All of that affects how we feel, and the feelings actually send out a wave into the universe, and anything that’s vibrating in a similar level gets attracted into our life,” Jack says.
“Most people focus on how it is. We talk about our current reality—’I'm in debt. I’m overweight. I’m not happy. I’m sad. The world’s not working. We’re at war,’ whatever. And the more you think about that and focus on that and talk about it, the more you attract that [negativity],” he says.

Three for three

Although thoughts are powerful, Jack says the feelings that the thoughts generate are what actually attract things into our lives. “Too many times people are thinking a thought like, ‘I want to be my perfect body weight of 185 pounds.’ But they look at the scale and they see 205 and they think, ‘But I’ll never make it,’ … so they feel bad,” Jack says. Instead of wallowing in those negative thoughts, you need to find the positive in the situation. Jack says you should stop feeling bad about the weight, and instead feel positive that you are willing to do something healthy to make your life better. Carrying with you those positive feelings is one key to your success.

James says that in order to attract the things you want into your life—to place the right order—you have to do what he calls going “three for three.” “Your thoughts, your feelings and your actions all have to be firing simultaneously in the same direction,” he says. Visualizing your future life can help to hone your thoughts and feelings toward the things you want.

The panel says the thoughts and the feelings are often easy for people to grasp, but you still have to do something about them. “A lot of people watch The Secret and they say, ‘Well, I’m sitting around visualizing my millions coming into my lap.’ Well, they’ll come take your furniture away. And then how are you going to visualize [when you're living] on the curb?” James says. “You’ve got to act on it. Make decisions on where you’re going versus where you have been.”

Taking control of your destiny

Jack says that everything in the world is made up of energy, which is controlled by thoughts and feelings. According to Jack, thoughts can travel long distances, so you are sending out signals to many people without even knowing it, and these signals attract like energy to you.
Jack and James say that this means there is no such thing as a coincidence. “Everything happens by principles and laws in our universe. And so consequently, we have an absolutely unlimited power within us,” James says.

Michael says that thoughts—which turn into experience, speech and behavior—become the “feeling tone of your life.” “An individual can actually begin to generate a certain feeling of gratitude, of love, of peace and of harmony, and the universe will begin to match that feeling tone—and what will flow into your life will match the feeling that you’re holding,” he says. “It means that everyone…can release themselves from being a victim and begin to take control of their life’s destiny.”

The gratitude conveyor belt

Gratitude is one example of the magnetic force of the universe. “Basically, nothing new can come into your life unless you open yourself up to being grateful [for what you already have],” Michael says.
“If you think about it, the universe has a conveyor belt of presents lined up for you, and until you receive the one and fully are grateful for it, the next one can’t come out of the chute. It’s all lined up,” Jack says.

Lisa says this perspective applies to weight, family, friends and other aspects of life. She says too many people who want to make things better focus on what’s wrong with the present. “Instead of wanting to change it, appreciate what’s there,” Lisa says. “Find the things about it that work … and by doing that, you create a space for it to get better.”
For example, Lisa says she would like to lose some weight. But instead of focusing on the negative—that she hasn’t dropped the pounds yet—she loves and appreciates the present moment. “I accept it. I love it. I embrace every inch, every pound,” she says. In this way, Lisa is creating the space to “celebrate the now” and then invite better things into her life.

The conscious versus the unconscious

According to the panel members, much of the energy that people project into the world is done unconsciously. “People aren’t walking around thinking, ‘I want a bad thing to happen to me,’ but there’s an unconscious fear. There’s a doubt. There’s a worry. There’s a sense of separation there that’s running them,” Michael says. He adds that spiritual growth is “allowing that which is unconscious to become conscious.”

Michael says that spiritual growth does not mean religion but our “real identity.” “The love, the peace, the joy, the wisdom, the harmony—these are all qualities of the spirit that it’s seeking to express through us,” Michael says. “And so as we become more awake, more aware of that, our life is filled with that kind of vibration, that kind of feeling tone. To grow spiritually is to actually become more aware of who you really are.”

Using The Secret to improve dire financial straits

Ryan Bell (below), a single mother of a 4-year-old, is currently $43,000 in debt. “I’m just in over my head,” she says.

Ryan says her financial woes started back in college when she took out loans. After college, Ryan got a job, got pregnant and got married. To cope with the new bills, the couple opened more credit cards, and Ryan helped put her husband through school. Then the unthinkable happened: She and her husband got divorced—and Ryan’s debt worsened. “I went from living on two incomes to living on one income, but I kept the same bills,” Ryan says.

To support herself and her daughter, Ryan works long hours at a high-end clothing store. After her daughter goes to bed, Ryan works at her second job, a home-based Internet business. “It could be huge, but I can’t spend the amount of time on it that I need to to make it successful,” she says.

Now, Ryan sees every day as a struggle and won’t even go to the mailbox because she knows there are bills waiting for her. “I’m sick and tired of being a victim,” Ryan says. “How do I get out of this endless cycle of debt?”

Achieving financial freedom

Ryan’s choices have attracted debt to her, the panel says. To attract a solution, Jack says Ryan should turn her focus from her debt to what she knows her life will be like when she’s financially free.
Simply changing her language can also start to make a dent in her debt. When asked how she is, Lisa says she shouldn’t respond with phrases like “I’m surviving.” “That’s not the kind of life you want to live,” Lisa says. “When people ask me how I’m doing, [I say], ‘I’m phenomenal. I’m great’. Even in the midst of all—I’m great,” she says. “I’m great because I made it through.”

James, especially, can relate to Ryan’s troubles, having been on the edge of bankruptcy twice himself. He urges Ryan to take an “action step” toward her dreams. For Ryan, that’s starting a debt retirement program to pay a certain amount of money toward her credit automatically so she can focus every bit of energy on financial freedom.
Still, the most important stride toward a debt-free life, Michael says, is forgiving her ex-husband and to stop feeling like he owes her something. “Let him know in consciousness, in your awareness, that he cannot determine your destiny. You’re not leaving him unaccountable, but you’re severing those emotional vibratory tonalities so that you can be free.”

How do you forgive?

True forgiveness, James says, is when you can say the following to the person who hurt you: “Thank you for giving me that experience.”
But how can you forgive when something truly tragic or terrible happens? James says you should grieve, but eventually you need to look for a hidden gift. “Here’s what I encourage people to ask themselves: How does this serve me? … If you’re really willing to dig, there’s a lesson in there,” James says. “And secondly, what can I learn from this situation?”

Even if you can’t identify the gift now, Rhonda says to remain positive in order to benefit from of the law of attraction. “You can say, ‘There are so many gifts in this for me. I can’t wait to see what they are,’” Rhonda says.

In chronic situations with no end in sight, Michael says you should ask yourself another important question: “If this were to last forever, what quality would I have to grow to have peace of mind? Now, as my attention goes to the quality I have to grow, that quality starts to emerge,” Michael says. “The issue that I’m resisting and fighting against becomes less and less intense … it begins to dissolve because it doesn’t have your attention any longer.”

Lisa’s struggles

Panel member Lisa Nichols says her life was spiraling out of control before she learned The Secret. She grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where there were gangs, poverty and violence.
In fifth grade, Lisa was in the first class to be bused to the Valley—a predominantly white neighborhood—where she thought she would be welcomed. Instead, she was met with name-calling. “My self-esteem went way down,” she says.

Although she eventually became a popular student, Lisa struggled with depression. “At 17, when my best friends were thinking what college to go to, UCLA or USC, I was contemplating suicide and trying to figure out how to do it without getting blood on my mother’s carpet because I knew they couldn’t afford to move,” she says.

Growing up, Lisa was also told that she wasn’t pretty and wouldn’t find love. She began having “a lot of sex looking for a little love,” searching for her own validation in men. “The sex led to a lot of pain. I thought if I was saying no to the sex, I was saying no to potential love. And I didn’t want to say no to love.”

Lisa began to gain weight in order to avoid men altogether. After gaining 100 pounds, Lisa says she was obese and embarrassed.

Lisa’s turning point

Finally, Lisa reached a turning point. “I got on my knees and I said, ‘God, if you bring me through this … I promise I will spend every moment, every breath, supporting and encouraging others to do the same,’” she says.
Lisa decided to stop being a victim. She stopped looking for love elsewhere and fell “madly in love” with herself. Now, she teaches people how to treat her. “I’m the first example of how the world is supposed to love me and I have to give them the best example ever,” she says. “We expect someone to show us our greatness when [instead] I’m supposed to show up understanding my greatness and allowing you to celebrate it with me.”

The Secret of a marriage

After 16 years of marriage, Carlton and Beverly Credelle say the passion in their marriage had fizzled. “It just felt as though our life was just mundane, really passionless, almost emotionless,” Beverly says. “Like I didn’t have his mind anymore, his soul, his heart.” At one point, the couple hadn’t been intimate in a year.

Then, Beverly watched The Secret. “For the record, I’ve seen it 62 times. But the first time is when that lightbulb went off,” she says. Beverly realized she was part of the problem. She stopped complaining and began to focus on her gratitude for Carlton. “I started telling myself, ‘I am beautiful. I do deserve passion. I am in a passion-filled marriage.’”
Things changed immediately after Carlton also watched the DVD. Soon, he started making romantic gestures, like taking Beverly out for lunch dates and calling her during the day. She began doing little things for him, too—leaving him a rose in his car and surprising him with his favorite cookies.

Michael says Carlton and Beverly are an example of how gratitude brings about change. “My marriage now is wonderful,” Carlton says. “I feel the passion. I’m loving it.”

The Secret to losing weight

Launell is successful in all areas of her life—except when it comes to taking off the baby weight she started gaining 14 years ago.
The first step, James says, is to be grateful for her health and choose to stay healthy and whole. “I want you to start every single day … saying, ‘Thank you for the health I have.’ Say, ‘I love my legs because they’re working functionally,’” James says. “Concentrate on your health and wholeness every day, and you’ll attract more health and wholeness every day.”

Lisa says Launell also has to believe she has the right to have the body she wants. “Make a decision. Do you have the right? Are you ready for it? Are you ready to look in the mirror and love every inch?” Lisa says. “Make 2007 about showing up in the now for you,” Lisa says.
Repeating after Lisa, Launell declares, “I choose today to give myself the best life ever!”

How to start living The Secret today

You can start living the The Secret today by following three simple steps: Ask. Believe. Receive.

Michael says to start making a conscious effort every day to take actions that will sync with the energy of the life you dream about. “When you’re talking about action, you’re talking about walking in the direction you want,” Michael says.

But not just any action will do, James says. It has to be one that comes from the heart and will provide a real service. “It’s not, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ necessarily. It’s, ‘If you build it and it provides value, they will come,’” he says. “It’s that heart space. Not ‘What can I get?’ but ‘What can I give and how can I serve?’ And when you’re in that moment, the universe lines up behind you and it’s at your command.”

Transcript from Oprah’s Site. Watch the video there.

More Articles on the Secret, See:

1. Law of Attraction
2. Thoughts Become Things
3. The Secret on the Ellen Degeneres Show

New: Watch out for the New Seminar by the Main Teachers from the Secret – yes, we’re talking Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield and Michael Beckwitt. Visit this link for more info >>

Editor’s Note: With the release of the movie, the Secret, the Law of Attraction has become a well recognized phrase tossed around rather freely in the new age community. But one of the best articles I wanted to share with my readers comes from Jerry and Ester Hicks. Their book the Law of Attraction was not only mentioned in the hit film, the Secret, but is one of my personal favourites on the topic.

Here is a wonderful article from Jerry and Ester’s website that  explains the Secret Law of Attraction in a wonderfully simple way. The article is an excerpt from their book, The Law of Attraction.

Everything in your life and the lives of those around you is affected by the Law of Attraction. It is the basis of everything that you see manifesting. It is the basis of everything that comes into your experience… An awareness of the Law of Attraction and an understanding of how it works is essential to living life on purpose. In fact, it is essential to living the life of joy that you came forth to live.

The Law of Attraction says: That which is like unto itself, is drawn… When you say, “Birds of a feather flock together,” you are actually talking about the Law of Attraction.

(left: Ester and Jerry Hicks)

You see it evidenced when you wake up feeling unhappy, and throughout the day things get worse and worse, and at the end of the day you say, “I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.” You see the Law of Attraction evidenced in your society when you see that the one who speaks most of illness has illness; when you see that the one who speaks most of prosperity has prosperity… The Law of Attraction is evident when you set you radio dial on 630AM and expect to receive the broadcast from the transmitting tower of 630AM, because you understand that the radio signals between the transmitting tower and your receiver must match.

As you begin to understand—or better stated, as you begin to remember— this powerful Law of Attraction, the evidence of it, which surrounds you will be easily apparent, for you will begin to recognize the exact correlation between what you have been thinking about and what is actually coming into your experience. Nothing merely shows up in your experience. You attract it, all of it, no exceptions.

Giving Thought to It Is Inviting It

The more you come to understand the power of the Law of Attraction the more interest you will have in deliberately directing your thoughts—for you get what you think about, whether you want it, or not.

Without exception, that which you give thought to is that which you begin to invite into your experience. When you think a little thought of something that you want, through the Law of Attraction, that thought grows larger and larger, and more, and more powerful. When you think a thought of something you do not want, the Law of Attraction draws unto it, and it grows larger and larger, also. And so, the larger it grows, the more power it draws unto it, and then the more certain you are to receive the experience.

When you see something you would like to experience and you say, “Yes, I would like to have that,” through your attention to it you invite it into your experience. However, when you see something that you do not want to experience and you shout, “No, no, I do not want that!” through your attention to it you invite it into your experience. In this attraction-based Universe, there is no such thing as exclusion. Your attention to it includes it in your vibration, and if you hold it in your attention or awareness long enough, the Law of Attraction will bring it into your experience, for there is no such thing as “No”.

To clarify, when you look at something and shout, “No, I don’t want to experience that; go away!” then what you are actually doing is calling it into your experience, for there is no such thing as “No” in an attraction-based Universe. Your attention to it says, “Yes, come to me this thing I do not want!”

Fortunately, here in your physical time-space reality, things do not manifest into your experience instantaneously. There is a wonderful buffer of time between when you begin to think about something and the time it manifests. That buffer of time gives you the opportunity to redirect your attention more and more in the direction of the things that you actually do want to manifest in your experience. And long before it manifests (actually, when you first begin to give thought to it), you can tell by the way you feel whether it is something you want to manifest or not. If you continue to give your attention to it—whether it is something you want, or something you don’t want— it will come into your experience.

These Laws, even if you do not understand that they do, affect your experience even in your ignorance of them. And while you may not be aware of having heard of the Law of Attraction, it’s powerful effect is evident in every aspect of your life experience.

As you consider what you read here and begin to notice the correlation between what you are thinking and speaking and what you are getting, you will begin to understand the powerful Law of Attraction. And as you deliberately direct your thoughts and focus upon the things that you do want to draw into your experience—you will begin to receive the life experience that you desire on all subjects.

Your physical world is a vast and diverse place full of an amazing variety of events and circumstances, some of which you approve of (and would like to experience) and some of which you disapprove of (and would not like to experience). It was not your intention as you came forth into this physical experience to ask the world to change in order to accommodate your opinions of the way things should be, by eliminating all things that you do not approve of and adding to the things you do approve of.

You are here to create the world around you that you choose, while you allow the world—as others choose it to be—to exist, also. And while their choices in no way hinder your own choices, your attention to what they are choosing does affect your vibration, and therefore your own point of attraction.

My Thoughts Have Magnetic Power

The Law of Attraction and its magnetic power reaches out into the Universe and attracts other thoughts that are vibrationally like it… and brings that to you: Your attention to subjects, your activation of thoughts, and Law of Attraction’s response to those thoughts is responsible for every person, every event, and every circumstance that comes into your experience. All of these things are brought into your experience through a sort of powerful magnetic funnel as they are vibrational matches to your own thoughts.

You get the essence of what you are thinking about, whether it is something you want or something you do not want… That may be unsettling to you at first, but in time, it is our expectation that you will come to appreciate the fairness, the consistency, and the absoluteness of this powerful Law of Attraction. Once you understand this Law, and begin to pay attention to what you are giving your attention to, you will regain control of your own life experience. And with that control you will again remember that there is nothing that you desire that you cannot achieve, and nothing that you do not want that you cannot release from your experience.

Understanding the Law of Attraction and recognizing the absolute correlation between what you have been thinking and feeling— and what is manifesting in your life experience—will cause you to be more aware of the stimulation of your own thoughts. You will begin to notice that your own thoughts may be stimulated from something you read, or watch on television or hear or observe from someone else’s experience. And once you see the effect that the Law of Attraction has upon these thoughts that begin small and grow larger and more powerful with your attention to them, you will feel a desire within you to begin to direct your thoughts to more of the things that you do want to experience.

For whatever you are pondering, and no matter what the source of stimulation of that thought… as you ponder that thought, the Law of Attraction goes to work and begins to offer you other thoughts, conversations, and experiences that are of a similar nature.

Whether you are remembering the past, observing the present, or imagining the future, you are doing it right now, and whatever you are focusing upon is causing an activation of a vibration that Law of Attraction is responding to. At first you may be privately pondering a particular subject, but if you think about it long enough, you will start to notice other people beginning to discuss it with you as the Law of Attraction finds others who are offering a similar vibration and brings them right to you. The longer you focus upon something, the more powerful it becomes; and the stronger that your point of attraction is to it, the more evidence of it appears in your life experience. Whether you are focusing upon things you want or things you do not want, the evidence of your thoughts continually flows toward you.

Welcome, Little One, to Planet Earth

You may be feeling that it would be easier to be hearing these words if they had come to you on the first day of your experience upon this Planet Earth. And if we were talking to you on your first day of physical life experience, this is what we would be saying: Welcome, little one, to Planet Earth… There is nothing that you cannot be, or do, or have. You are a magnificent creator, and you are here by virtue of your powerful and deliberate wanting to be here. You have specifically applied the wondrous Law of Deliberate Creation, and by your ability to do that, you are here.

Go forth, giving thought to what you want, attracting life experience to help you decide what you want, and once you have decided, giving thought only unto that.

Most of your time will be spent collecting data—data that will help you decide what it is you want… Your real work is to decide what you want and then to focus upon it, for it is through focusing upon what you want that you will attract it. That is the process of creating: giving thought to what you want, so much thought, and such clear thought, that your Inner Being offers forth emotion. And as you are giving thought, with emotion, you become the most powerful of all magnets. That is the process by which you will attract (what you want) into your experience.

Many of the thoughts that you will be thinking will not be powerful in their attracting, not in the beginning— not unless you stay focused upon them long enough that they become more. For as they become more in quantity, they become more in power; as they are becoming more in quantity, and more in power—the emotion that you will be feeling, from your Inner Being, will be greater.

When you think thoughts that bring forth emotion— you are accessing the power of the Universe. Go forth, (we would say) on this first day of life experience, knowing that your work is to decide what you want— and then to focus upon that.

But we are not talking to you on the first day of your life experience. You have been here for a while… Most of you have been seeing yourself, not only through your own eyes (in fact, not even primarily through your own eyes) but through the eyes of others; therefore, many of you are not now currently in the state of Being that you want to be.

Is My “Reality” Really All That Real?

We intend to offer you a process whereby you can achieve the state of Being that is of your choosing so that you can access the power of the Universe and begin attracting the subject of your wanting, rather than the subject of what you feel is your actual state of Being. For, from our perspective, there is a very great difference between that which now exists—which you call your “reality’— and that which your reality really is.

Even if you sit in a body that is not healthy or in a body that is not the size, shape, or vitality, that you choose; in a lifestyle that does not please you; driving an automobile that embarrasses you; interacting with others that do not bring you pleasure—we want to assist you in understanding that while that may seem to be your state of Being, it need not be. Your state of Being is the way you feel about yourself in any point in time.

Your words will not bring you immediate manifestations of what you are asking for, but the more often you say them, and the better you feel while you are saying them, the purer or less contradicted your vibration will be. And soon your world will be filled with these things you have spoken about… Words alone do not attract, but when you feel emotion when you speak, that means your vibration is strong—and the Law of Attraction must answer those vibrations.

What Is the Measure of Our Success?

The achievement of anything that you desire must be considered success, whether it is a trophy, money, relationships, or things. But if you will let your standard of success be your achievement of joy, everything else will fall easily into place. For in the finding of joy, you are finding vibrational alignment with the resources of the Universe.

You cannot feel joy while you are focusing upon something not wanted, or the lack of something wanted; therefore, while you are feeling joy, you will never be in the state of contradicted vibration. And only the contradiction in your own thoughts and vibration can keep you from the things you desire.

We are amused as we watch the majority spending most of their life seeking a set of rules against which they can measure their life experience, looking outside of self for those who will tell them what is right or wrong, when all along they have within them a Guidance System that is so sophisticated, so intricate, so precise, and so readily available.

By paying attention to this Emotional Guidance System, and by reaching for the best-feeling thought that you can find right now from wherever you are, you will allow your Broader Perspective to help you move in the direction of the things that you truly want.

As you sift through the magnificent contrast of your physical timespace reality, consciously aware of the way you feel, and deliberately guiding your thoughts toward those that feel better and better, in time you begin to see your life through the eyes of your Broader Inner Being. And as you do so, you feel the satisfaction of being upon the path that you have chosen from your Non-physical perspective when you made the decision to come forth into this wonderful body. For, from your Nonphysical vantage point, you understood the eternally evolving nature of your Being and the promise that this Leading Edge contrasting environment held. You understood the nature of your magnificent guidance system and how, with practice, you could see this world as your Inner Being sees it. You understood the powerful Law of Attraction and the fairness and accuracy with which it responds to the free will of all creators.

By reaching for the best-feeling thought you can find, you reconnect with that perspective, and you shiver with exhilaration as you reconnect with your purpose, with your zest for life—and with You!

Excerpted from Abraham’s New York Times Best Seller, The Law of Attraction. Full Article on this Page.

To Learn More about Abraham-Hicks -visit their website.

To Learn about the hit film the Secret, and the upcoming seminar on the Law of Attraction, based on the Secret, visit this link to get on the announcement page.

by Dikki Jo Mullen

Editors Note: I found the following article on seeding the prosperity bank thanks to a link in the Silva UltraMind online community. It’s wonderfully written and helps remind us of a few important universal truths.

While reading through the stack of magazines at the neighborhood coin laundry recently, I came across an especially provocative and interesting list. It was a study of each of the world’s nations in terms of desirability and standard of living. Of course, the United States was number one, with Canada and Australia as two and three respectively. Way down at the bottom were the poor, miserable African nations of Afghanistan and Chad, while the USSR and other Eastern European nations hovered near the middle of the list. The study included a sort of graph, showing how just owning a pair of shoes can make one a wealthy man or woman in some countries, while the wealth we take for granted, such as hot and cold water, plenty of food, and 24 hour TV and radio entertainment are perhaps not fully appreciated by many of us.

It is important to remember spiritual teachings regarding the prosperity bank. What we focus on we make real, and it is very dangerous to fear not having enough or to repeatedly state that we’re “broke.” What we imagine we can make real, and the sophistication of our minds can make our thoughts more powerful and more energized than we might consciously realize. Thinking and speaking in a positive way about our lifestyles, jobs, etc… is an essential step in metaphysical wisdom. As the Bible says, “What I have feared, hath come upon me.”

To develop prosperity consciousness, first remember that prosperity adores a prosperous attitude. Instead of complaining about writing checks for monthly bills, start by giving thanks that you have the funds to cover them. Arrange the bills in your wallet with the highest denomination on top, ones at the bottom, then fold them toward you saying this simple but effective blessing: “Divine Love through me blesses and increases all that I receive.” Dollar bills are rich in metaphysical symbolism; they represent energy and effort. It can be surprisingly effective to try this little blessing technique. Experiment and see!

Meanwhile, stop thinking of yourself as broke.

Even kings and queens a few generations back lacked the comforts that we have in even a modest home in the United States and Canada. Try soaking in a scented bubble bath and playing soft soothing music in the background at the end of a challenging day. Revel in the luxury and richness of this inexpensive pleasure. Upon enjoying fresh, hot coffee or tea in the morning before work, appreciate the ease and richness of this relatively inexpensive pleasure.

Overcome the poverty consciousness that imprisons so many of us by applying a few basic steps. These are common to a variety of spiritual schools of thought and self-help courses, and will really work if you give them a chance.

1. Decide what you really want, then write down your goals.

Make a simple and specific list. Defining what we want is essential to achieving it. Statistics quoted by the Silva Mind Control teachings tell us that among a group of Harvard University graduates, those with written and defined goals were far and away more successful financially than their counterparts who tended to drift.

2. Develop faith and confidence.

 A negative attitude is dangerous. Many people who experienced lack during the years of the Great Depression became misers, unable to enjoy the fruits of their labors in later years. Charles Dicken’s classic tale of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol illustrates how Scrooge changed his life and actually became richer after loosening his purse strings. Keep the money flowing outward, within reasonable bounds of course. Use it to bring pleasure to yourself and others. Prosperity adores a prosperous attitude. One economist recently suggested that the way to avoid a recession was for all of us to spend everything we have. For example, if you spend a few dollars for a meal out and leave a tip for the waitress, she might spend the money on a new pair of shoes at the store where your brother is a clerk. Then, earning commission on the sale, he’d have extra money to circulate. You get the idea.

3. Persistence is important in building prosperity.

Focus on how this trait can enhance respect and power.

4. Use your imagination and think of ways to enhance prosperity.

Try to turn a hobby into a second income or use your insight at the office to make significant improvements. Creativity is a gift that can be either positive or negative, depending on its slant. A little research uncovers incredible success stories through the use of a creative inspiration. Maybe you can be another Colonel Sanders or Coca Cola entrepreneur.

5. Organize for prosperity.

Do some career research and planning, prepare some long term goals. Form a “master mind” group and meet to help each other imagine and envision the goals. Do this together over a period of several months and you’ll be delighted at the results. The group’s focused good will and energy is a powerful healing tool in overcoming the bonds of poverty. A few months back six friends and I began using a basic metaphysical formula for master minding with a group. We’ve all enjoyed a renewed richness and success in our lives. We sat in a circle, then each took a turn describing to the group what we wanted, while everyone expressed positive thoughts and visions of the desired result. I remember one man talking about replacing his old blue Oldsmobile with a new silver LTD. Last week he drove over in the new auto, just as we’d visualized it. The power for good in this simple technique is chilling and provocative. Experiment and see!

Poverty is not a virtue, it is a sin! Divine intelligence put the riches of the world near us to be appreciated and enjoyed. The true words of the axiom “money is the root of all evil” were really “lack of money is the root of all evil!” So use metaphysical techniques to be merry and enjoy. Carpe Diem!

Internationally noted astrologer and spiritual counselor, Dikki Jo Mullen, has authored numerous nationally published articles. See her features and forecasts in the 2002 and 2003 Dell Purse Books, the 2003 Dell Horoscope Yearbook and The Witches’ Almanac and on arielinstitute.com.