The Secret
January 6, 2008

I have been hearing alot lately about The Secret and on my latest visit to the bookstore this weekend, I thought about buying it. Instead I got a chai frap, got comfortable, and let my fingers do the walking through the book. From what I understand it's not really that much of a secret. If you want something, you draw it to you by thinking about it in a positive way..as if you WILL have it. There is supposed to be kinetic physics involved, and all sorts of theories to back it up.

I have to admit, just from the evidence I saw this past holiday season, there is some validity to the premise. You can walk into any Wally World and see children (and some grown-ups) practicing The Secret with great skill. The success rate, although not perfect, is still pretty high and if you got what you wanted for Christmas this year, then you know may know The Secret. Give it to me Santa Baby!

You may also think you might know The Secret if you pray. Ask and ye shall receive, right? People light candles and pray for a miracles to touch this or that thing in their lives. Have you ever prayed for something so intently, that you just knew it would be granted, eventually? Or on the flopside, have you ever prayed for something, only to find yourself changing the prayer to something else?

"Dear Lord, please give me X. I cannot LIVE without X. Please. Please...but if X is not in stock...I'll settle for Y. Yeah, Y would be okay...I guess".

If you have done this, then perhaps, deep inside of our souls, we have a faith that someone above knows better than we do. Like childen in a department store, we ask, and our parents, if they are good parents, know which gifts to give us, and when.

Yup, after thinking about The Secret, and thinking of the way we might think we are practicing it in our daily lives, I can see how people might believe it is a little bit of both. We know in our hearts what we truly want - right?

Hmmm. Even after having all we want, we may find ourselves thinking that something doesn't seem quite right. Maybe it's the timing, or the circumstances we think. Things aren't perfect. Then we do and say things to change the outcome and find ourselves asking, "what happened?"

So I found myself thinking that perhaps The Secret has more to do with what we need. In time, and with guidance, we can learn to

want what we need, and not just need what we want.

But as beautiful in its simplicity as this sentiment may seem, or how convenient it might fit on a bumper sticker, I don't think that it has to do with our needs either. I think that The Secret is even simpler.


The Secret is not focusing on getting what we want, but on being thankful for what we have, and then giving what we have to others. It is only by this audaciousness of giving of ourselves that we find true happiness in life.

In the illuminating book The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree gave of himself. Piece by piece during the different seasons and trials of the boy's life, The Tree gave what was needed, no more, and no less. Now ask yourself:

How often do we seek to be consoled, when the gift we have been given is the ability, the divine chance, to console?

How often do we seek to be held, when we miss the very chance to hold?

How often to we seek our hearts' desires, when our heart truly desires to fulfill the need of another?

How often are we the outstretched hand of the little boy, when we need to be A Giving Tree?

I think that by asking ourselves these questions, we are on our way to finding the secret behind The Secret. So before you run off to by the book in the self-help section, perhaps you should stop by the children's section first. The Secret is so simple, even a child can understand.