This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
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It’s a question everyone asks: what is the secret to success? How can you find love, success, and happiness?
The Secret steps to a better life can help you reach your goals by showing you how to work the creative process, and harness the law of attraction to get what you need from thee universe.
The Secret: 3 Steps to Live Life to the Fullest
Everyone has something they want to either change or improve their life. Maybe it’s a better job. Maybe it’s more security. Maybe it’s love. Changing your life may feel impossible. Where would you even start? With the principles of The Secret steps, you will learn to use the power of your mind to make what you want a reality. Through practical steps and guidance for how to shift your feelings and behaviors to a stronger, more positive place, you will learn how to harness the Law of Attraction to create a better, happier life.
The basis of The Secret steps is the Law of Attraction—use your thoughts to attract the things you want. Everyone is a creator. The power of your mind is akin to the power of a magnet. When you look at your current life, you can trace everything back to one thought or a series of thoughts. Your life is a reflection of your thoughts, and you can use them to create your future self.
The Creative Process at Work
The Secret’s 3 steps teach you how to use the law of attraction. By following The Secret steps, you’ll learn to harness the power of the Law of Attraction involves three steps, known as the Creative Process. You can use this process to bring about a change to any aspect of your life. You can improve relationships, find the perfect partner, get a great body, improve your health, age gracefully, and help inspire goodness in the world.
The Secret Step 1: Ask
The Law of Attraction is similar to your very own genie in a bottle. Each time you rub the bottle, the genie pops out and says, “Your wish is my command.”
The same is true for the Law of Attraction. Like the genie, the Law of Attraction never questions your thoughts. If you think it, no matter how big or small, the Law of Attraction will begin the process of making your wish come true.
When you ask for something, you must be clear in your mind about what you are asking for. If you aren’t clear, the Universe will receive mixed frequencies, and The Secret steps won’t work. The Universe won’t know what to attract back. Getting clear is the same as deciding, and deciding is the same as asking.
The Secret Step 2: Believe
To trigger the Law of Attraction to begin conspiring on your behalf, you have to believe you will get what you want.
Maybe you’re a writer. Maybe you want to win an Oscar for a screenplay. You form a clear picture in your mind of winning an Oscar. You’ll be more likely to achieve success as a writer.
Believing is the act of having utter faith that once you’ve asked, you will receive what you have asked for. You must know it is true. You must know it is in your future simply because you sent a clear signal to the universe to make it so. You may not understand the how yet, but that is not your concern. You’ve asked. Now, believe the genie will grant your wish. Believing is difficult, but is extremely important to The Secret steps.
But believing works in the other direction too. Say you believe winning an Oscar seems far-fetched and unlikely. Guess what — if you believe that, the universe will too. The universe is a mirror, reflecting your thoughts back to you. If you believe it is unlikely you will ever win an Oscar, those are the thoughts that will be projected back to you.
The Secret Step 3: Receive
Last in The Secret steps is receive. After you have asked and believed you will receive, the next step is to feel the joy of receiving. More simply, feel happy about getting what you want.
When you feel the joy of receiving, you have triggered the frequency of receiving—the frequency where all good things will come to you.
What would it feel like to win an Oscar? Sit quietly and focus on that feeling. You’ve just won. Your life is about to change. Find the sensations of that moment, and hold them in your mind. The Law of Attraction has no other choice but to reflect those feelings back to you. The Secret‘s 3 steps can help you turn those feelings into a reality.
Ways to Super-Charge Your Power of Creation
After mastering The Secret‘s 3 steps, you can work on increasing your power. To bolster your power, become hyper-aware of your thoughts. Thoughts have a way of getting away from you, and you can get stuck in a whirlwind of confusing thoughts. Bringing your awareness back to your thoughts helps you get clear on what you’re thinking and feeling.
Show gratitude for your current life and feel happy about what you have. If you only focus on your discontent with the way things are, you will only attract more of the same. The universe will mirror your frustration, and you will block all the good waiting for you to receive. For instance, if you only focus on how much debt you owe, you will attract more debt. If you are grateful about what you do have, the universe will bring you more to be grateful for. The Secret steps are just one part of the process; next, you need to work on practicing them and fulfilling your needs.
Act as if you already have what you’ve asked for. If you want your partner to move in, make space in your environment for them. Actions are the effect, thoughts are the cause. You can believe and feel the joy of receiving, but if you act as though you do not expect to receive, you will not receive.
Have Faith in Yourself and Your Power
You must love yourself before you can bring love to you. When you don’t love yourself, it is impossible to feel good. But negativity cannot exist in a body full of love. The Secret steps only work with true self-love.
Believe you are worthy of all the good things life has to offer. There is no time or size limit for the Law of Attraction. Anything your heart desires can be yours. A future where you have it already exists. Your future self exists as a possibility in the universe. Use your power of creation to call if forth.
Start small, attracting things you believe are possible. Once you see the Law of Attraction at work, you will have more faith. The stronger your faith, the stronger your ability to attract. You are the master of your own universe. Create the life you want, and be happy because you deserve it.
The Secret steps are designed to help you see your goals clearly, and learn how to manifest them using the law of attraction. These three steps can help you
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- How to visualize the future you want to increase your success
- Why visualization works, according to the laws of the universe
- Why thinking about negative things sabotages your success
This is so helpful for me. It is written in a way that has never been presented to me before. I have struggled with self-love. I have sabatoged most everything that could have been good. I grew up feeling very unworthy. Therefore, I created that life. This book and the others give me a different perspective on how to begin the journey to loving myself. The past doesn’t have to dictate your future. Thank you.