What Chicago Tribune says...

Since its April release, "The Secret" has sold more than half a million DVDs and more than 100,000 online views. But producers estimate millions have seen the movie. Compare that to Hollywood blockbusters, and it seems paltry. But in the viral world, and in the budding genre of spiritual cinema, Rainone views it as a success -- and a phenomenon he still considers in its infancy.

That buzz is beginning to spread from niche groups and into the mainstream. CNN's Larry King devoted two episodes to the film in November, and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" featured it last month. And while the producers have no plans for widescreen cinema release, spontaneous screenings are cropping up around the country -- from intimate dinner parties to large gatherings at churches and community centers. (The producers allow such mass screenings under two conditions: that the film is shown in its entirety and at no charge.)

So just what is this big secret stirring so much commotion?

Rhonda Byrne, as Australian filmmaker whose story begins the movie, says its principles are tucked in the words of the greatest thinkers, writers and leaders throughout time -- Plato, Albert Einstein and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., among them.

It's the law of attraction. The power of positive thinking.

Like a magnet, the film says, the thoughts and images held in one's mind determine what is attracted to them and, ultimately, the quality of life they live. Go anxiously through the day with a negative loop of thoughts in your mind, anticipating bad things will happen, and they will. Approach that same day with positive thoughts, anticipating good things, and they'll be drawn to you.

Keeping the faith

It's a philosophy the 25 teachers in the film say they have seen applied successfully to all aspects of life -- finances, career, health and relationships.

"Deep down, every single person knows this. Every person knows, deep down, life is not meant to be hard," says Byrne, who came upon "the secret" after the string of misfortune she describes in the opening. In September 2004, she began reading a century-old book called "The Science of Getting Rich" and continued her studies from there.

In fact, she says she used the secret to make "The Secret." After a string of failed projects, her accountant reported her company was weeks from going broke. But Byrne was determined to launch the film project. Not knowing how she would cobble the resources for what would be a $3 million endeavor, she says she and her crew focused daily on the end result and held an unwavering faith the film would be made.

Byrne says the resources drew to her -- the finances, the participants, even the distribution method -- and the film was completed by January 2006.

It might sound like hocus-pocus to some, says Mike Dooley, one of the film's speakers.

"But these principles, these laws of the universe -- some would call it quantum physics -- are as predictable as gravity," says Dooley, an author and international speaker who owns an inspirational Web site and retail business, Totally Unique Thoughts (www.tut.com).

"There's no society on Earth that doesn't talk about the benefits of visualization and positive thinking," he says.

It's a powerful, if controversial concept, considering we have tens of thousands of thoughts each day, says author Hale Dwoskin. Those thoughts, he says, literally create our daily existence.

"Most people are living life as victims -- victims to life, victims to their inner landscape," says Dwoskin, who has taught his Sedona Method for 30 years. (www.Sedona.com). "But you don't have to be a victim. "

Thinking negative thoughts about mounting debt or a dead-end job, these teachers say, will only ensure more debt and more years of unfulfilling work. The antidote is to visualize what it would look, feel and be like to have checks come in the mail or to have your dream job -- and to believe with absolute faith these things are headed your way.

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

The Secret about the Secret 6/20/07

I think the bottom line is you only need one step. And that is to be happy in this moment. But most of us can’t succeed at that, most of us are waiting for the next moment, or waiting for the next deal, or waiting for the next book, or waiting for the next seminar, or waiting for the next teleseminar, whatever it happens to be.

It’s very rare for us to truly be in the moment and appreciate it and be grateful for it, because when we are in this moment, our guidance system is showing us what needs to be done next, the miracles that are happening are happening in each moment, they are not happening in the past or in the future, they are happening now. So you can reduce all of this to one step: be in the moment, but that is usually challenging for most of us.

I found that I and others needed five steps, that’s what I talk about in The Attractor Factor.

The first step is to know what you don’t want.

Now most of mankind, human kind whatever you want to call the world at large, is stuck on step one. They are just complaining, they are just gossiping, they are victims, they are blaming, that’s where they are, that’s step one. A certain awakening is necessary to go to step two, but it’s very empowering.

Step two is to declare what you do want.

That’s all about the power of intention. I’m a great believer that when you declare what you want, you rally the forces within you to go in the direction of what you want, but you also get the Universe to wake up and take the order of what you want. It starts to work on your behalf.

So step one is to know what you don’t want, and that’s useful information because you use it to declare what you do want in step two.

Step three is very important. It’s the getting clear step.

I say this is the missing secret to all the self-help books, personal development processes that are out there. A lot of people know about visualization, or meditation, or the power of positive thinking, and they go only so far very often with that. They start getting frustrated wondering, why isn’t it working? Why aren’t I achieving the results? Why aren’t I attracting the car, the spouse, the health, the wealth, whatever it is that they are going for.

And often it is because there is an internal block, sometimes it’s called self sabotage, but usually there is some sort of belief system that cancels out the very thing they say they want.

In step three you want to get clear of that so that you are in alignment to have, do or be whatever it is that you declare is right for you in your world.

Step four is also very powerful; it’s feeling right now what it would be like to already have the thing you want.

Whether that’s a product or person or experience. It’s important to feel as if you already have it. Most of us know about the power of the imagination, and we can role-play what it might be to have our perfect health or whatever down the road. But the secret in step four in The Attractor Factor is to feel what it would be like to have it now.

Step 5 is to allow things to come into your life.

Many people want things but they may don’t feel worthy to receive. Open yourself up to receive what’s yours!

Joe Vitale