The international best-selling book and movie "The Secret " is beginning to draw criticism from “failed converts” in the United States, Canada, and Australia, which isn't surprising.
That is because there is a secret to "The Secret", as I found out after a teaching tour of Canada.
It has to do with your beliefs and self-doubt.
The Secret’s basic premise is that you get what you focus on, and people have been applying this to their financial or relationship problems. Some trainers have been quick to adapt the principal of the Law of Attraction to wealth creation programs.
People are complaining that the Law of Attraction isn’t working for them in the way it was portrayed in the movie.
The real problem is that "The Secret" doesn’t address our many negative feelings, old limiting beliefs or our lack of self-worth that get triggered when we focus on an area that’s been a problem for us. This creates resistance and blocks to our success.
The Law of Attraction responds to our feelings, not simply positive thoughts or visualizations.
It’s working alright – it’s giving you exactly what you're focusing on!
For example, if you have been working on attracting more financial abundance, yet you worry and have anxiety about how you are going to pay the bills, the law of attraction will match those feelings of ‘lack’ and anxiety and bring you more of it.
These feelings are often below our conscious awareness and very powerful. They can be fear, guilt, shame, anger, doubt, frustration etc.
As a movie "The Secret" has had a huge impact. However, I knew that it was only a matter of time before people who were keen on applying the concepts from the movie would experience some form of internal resistance.
When working with those concepts in a deliberate way, we are usually putting out a desire that is quite different from our current reality. Wanting financial abundance, a great relationship, better health are good examples.
It only stands to reason that in order to reach our goals and have our desires that we need to change what we currently believe about those things.
In other words, what we believe and how we currently operate in the world has to change. I’m sure you’ve heard stories of people who win the lottery and within a few years go back to the same financial situation they were in before the win. Although they were now wealthy, they hadn’t changed their beliefs about having money.
Once you remove doubt and align your beliefs, then you can begin the most important step of allowing things to manifest. It is easy to say "The Secret" isn’t working, harder to admit that you doubt that you deserve what you really want.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that positive thinking and visualization don’t work. They most certainly do, but only if what you are thinking and visualizing is congruent with your current belief system.
Unfortunately, The Secret does not give people the tools to address these issues of resistance which is why the negative feedback.
Common questions I was asked in my workshops in Canada included: "So what do I do with this stuff when I become aware of my limiting beliefs?" and "Are there things that I can do to help me get rid of this negative emotion and self-doubt?"
The answer to both is yes.
My 20 years as a counsellor has provided me with simple, user friendly tools to help people overcome their doubt and to change their limiting beliefs. I have incorporated some of those simple tools in my trainings so that people are able to deal with their resistance as it comes up.
I’m not sure how many Law of Attraction trainers do this for their participants but I find it crucial if people are going to be successful at making major changes in their lives. That’s what people love about my trainings, it is a practical approach that goes beyond the Law of Attraction.
