The past few years, with an absolute peak in 2006 as the movie ‘The Secret’ was exposed to hundreds of thousands, an ever growing number of people is slowly waking up to the knowledge that there may just be more to life than the often robot-like existence of daily routines they lead.

With movies like ‘The Secret’ and ‘What the Bleep Do We Know’, and books like ‘The Attractor Factor’ by Joe Vitale and the resurfacing of ‘The Law of Success’ by Napoleon Hill, people increasingly realize that they can have much more success in life, if only they knew ‘the secret’ that all these sources talk about.

Still, although hundreds of thousands of people have seen the movie ‘The Secret’, why are so few people living their ultimate lifestyle? Why aren’t all those people living the success they long for so bad? The success that all these movies promise them? Is there an additional secret to movies like ‘The Secret’?

The obvious answer is ‘yes’. If there weren’t, every person having seen the movie ‘The Secret’ would be living the lifestyle of their dreams, would be ‘attracting’ everything they long for, and would be ‘manifesting’ everything they desire into their lives ‘without any conscious effort’.

At least, isn’t that what you would think after watching movies like ‘The Secret’?

Let me tell you what the problem is, what is also the cause of so many people still not achieving their desires and dreams, and what is also the additional ‘secret’ or ‘edge’ to the movie ‘The Secret’ and others. The problem rests in a psychological phenomenon called ‘selective retention’.

In simple terms, ‘selective retention’ means that you only remember the things you want to hear. In other words, you filter out the things you’d rather not hear. Let’s relate this to the contents of movies like ‘The Secret’ and other films and books with regard to this subject.

What we can agree upon is that all these movies like ‘The Secret’ and books like ‘The Attractor Factor’ are about a Universal Law called ‘The Law of Attraction’. According to the Law of Attraction, you can supposedly attract and manifest anything you want or desire into your life, based on what you focus your thoughts.

That’s the secret, according to the movie ‘The Secret’.

What I can tell you upfront is that the Law of Attraction is real, but only to an extent. There are very important nuances to its application, which movies like ‘The Secret’ either don’t tell you about, or which you filter out through the psychological process of ‘selective retention’.

The actual nuances and details of the application of the Law of Attraction are a subject to be discussed at another time and another place. For now, it’s important to realize and acknowledge the one thing that most people are missing from movies like ‘The Secret’ and the whole range of other products dealing with the Law of Attraction.

You see, movies and books dealing with the Law of Attraction often overemphasize the word ‘effortless’. You are led to believe that you can attract things and manifest things into your life without any conscious effort from your side.

Quite likely, ‘effortless’ is exactly what you want to hear. Who wouldn’t like to do nothing while bringing about the most profound changes? People are hardly ever satisfied with their circumstances, so they desire change.

However, although they desire change, at the same time they resist change. Sounds like a paradox, but it’s true. Because as soon as any effort is required to actually make the change they desire come about, or to overcome the resistance experienced to make that change come about, people ‘cop out’. Do you recognize that?

Maybe you do, or maybe you don’t. But that’s exactly why so many people don’t achieve any success, although they’ve seen the movie ‘The Secret’ and supposedly know about ‘the secret’.

Through their ‘selective retention’, the only thing that they remember and engrain is that ‘no effort is required’, and they filter out the part that says they should actually take inspired action. As a consequence, many people think that if they just think positively and try to focus on positive emotions most of the time, everything they desire will magically manifest into their lives while they’re sitting on the couch watching movies like ‘The Secret’ and ‘What the Bleep Do We Know’.

They think suddenly some distanced relative they never heard of before in their lives, will leave them a legacy of millions of dollars while they’re eating potato chips and ice cream, as they keep on watching the movie ‘The Secret’.

Or they visualize themselves as a Scrooge McDuck-equivalent, swimming around in a pool of money. Perhaps they include the Money Bin too. And they expect a big bag of money to fall out the sky.

As a side-effect, they get bigger and unhealthier, and more and more miserable because nothing happens to make their lives better. Apparently, even a movement has come about that believes that you can apply the Law of Attraction to create a body they’ve always dreamed about. They think they’ll look lean and muscular without effort through ‘attracting’ their dream bodies by visualizing how they want to look. I kid you not.

Let’s reintroduce some common sense. Butt sitting never got anyone anywhere. The Law of Attraction that the movie ‘The Secret’ and other sources are about is real, but to reap its benefits and seize its fruits, you need to know how to apply it in your life, and you need to know the nuances to its application.

You can’t just start thinking positive thoughts and feeling positive emotions and wait for all your desires to magically pop up while doing nothing. That’s the missing link to achieving your success from the knowledge of the movie ‘The Secret’ and other films and books. The true secret is ‘inspired action’.

Doing nothing doesn’t help you. You need to act. You can get clear on your intention and then go do something else to get your mind off it. It’s during those moments of ‘silence’, the moments that you’re not obsessed with what you want, that you suddenly get ideas, inspirations, hunches and so on. You must act on those inspirations.

The ‘act of acting’ alone will make you turn on the switch of the Law of Attraction, so to speak. Then, through an interplay of other Universal Laws that the movie ‘The Secret’ and a whole range of books on the Law of Attraction forget to mention, the Universe will start rearranging itself according to your thoughts, emotions and actions. You’ll get new ideas, meet new people, stumble upon new knowledge, and so on, all of which you can use in your actions that lead you to your envisioned goal step by step, through a chain of events.

And that’s how the changes you desire come about.

Your job is to recognize what exactly to act upon. For that, you need to know exactly how the Law of Attraction works in reality, in conjunction with other Universal Laws, and how things actually manifest into your life so you actually recognize your opportunities. There’s not a great number of other Universal Laws, only a few main Universal Laws that automatically cover all minor and subsidiary Universal Laws.

By understanding the nuances of the application of the Law of Attraction in conjunction with some few other universal principles (or Laws) as boundary conditions, you can make all your dreams come true. You just need to overcome your ‘selective retention’ and acquire the knowledge of just the few additional nuances you must understand to really achieve the things that the movie ‘The Secret’ and others talk about.

True enough, it does require some effort, but by applying these Laws correctly you make the Universe work with you, instead of against you. And as you ‘get the hang’ of this application, the conscious effort required from you will keep on decreasing.

But you’ll always need to act. Nothing is going to happen if you don’t act. That’s the additional secret to the movie ‘The Secret’. You just need to learn how to bring those inspirations about, how to recognize them, and then what to act upon.

And there are simple ways to do that.

Welcome to the Revolution.

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Nicholas P. Kidd and Henk J.M. Schram are the instigators of the alleged ‘Great Revolution’, which provides the members with truthful instructions regarding the universal principles of life.

The Revolution is receiving increasingly widespread attention for its straightforward explanations and instructions with regard to complex issues, which are made understandable for people from all walks of life. In essence, the true secrets of the ‘Law of Attraction’ and the other ‘Universal Laws’ are explained in much clearer and practical ways than the ‘enigmas wrapped in riddles’ that usually characterize the descriptions of the Law of Attraction and its application.

More information on the Great Revolution, on joining and on the ‘universal principles of life’ (the true ‘Universal Laws’) can be found at Revolutionize.

That little true story was the root of my insecurities, lack of self confidence, that had been instilled in me since I was a child.  Each of us has a story like that, even if we had forgotten about it.  Some authors I have read suggest we must go back to those “beginnings” and as an adult, change the way we feel about those incidences, deliberately and purposefully, in order to be healed from the negative emotions that made a deep, lasting impression on us.  The problem was, HOW?  How do we even know where to look for the “beginnings”?  In my research, I found an answer.

Here is the self confidence formula.

1. I KNOW I have the ability to achieve the object of my definate purpose and I DEMAND of myself persistant, continuous action toward it’s attainment.  I promise to myself I will do it.
2. I know the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward physical action and gradually transform themselves into physical reality.  I will concentrate my thoughts for a half hour a day on the person I intend to be, and creating in my mind, a clear mental picture of that person I am becoming.
3. I know that consistently affirming my desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression in some outward form, through some practical means to attain that desire.  I will devote 10 minutes a day to demanding myself the development of Self Confidence.
4. I have clearly written down a description of my chief aim in life, and I will never stop trying intil I have developed sufficient self confidence for its attainment.
5. I fully realize that no wealth or position will last long unless founded on Truth and Justice so I will not engage in anything that does not benefit all whom it affects.  I will succeed by attracting to myself  forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people.  Others will serve me because of my willingness to serve them.  I am eliminating all negative emotions like hatred, jealousy, envy, selfishness, and cynicism, by developing love for all humanity, because I know a negative attitude will never bring me true success.  I am causing others to believe in me because I believe in them and myself.

Write this down, commit it to memory, say it aloud every day with FAITH (please check one of my previous articles if you don’t know how get more faith).  It will gradually influence your thoughts and actions so that you will become a self-reliant and successful person.

FAITH IS A STATE OF MIND THAT MAY BE INDUCED BY AUTO-SUGGESTION

All down the ages, religionists have admonished struggling humanity to “have faith” in this, that, and other dogma or creed, but they have failed to tell people HOW to have faith.  Thay have not stated that “faith is a state of mind, and that it may be induced by self suggestion.”

In a language that any normal human being can understand, we will describe all that is known about the principle through which FAITH may be developed where it does not already exist.

Have faith in yourself;  Faith in the Infinite.

Before you begin, you should be reminded again that FAITH is the “eternal elixir”, which gives life, power and action to the impulse of thought.”  The foregoing sentence is worth reading a second time, and a third, and a fourth.  It is worth reading aloud!

FAITH is the starting point of all accumulation of riches.

FAITH is the basis of all “miracles” and all mysteries which can not be analyzed by the rules of science.

FAITH is the only known antidote for FAILURE.

FAITH is the element, the “chemical”, which when mixed with prayer gives one direct communication with Infinite Intelligence.

FAITH is the element which transforms the ordinary vibration of thought, created by the finite mind of man, into the spiritual equivalent.

FAITH is the only agency through which the cosmic force of Infinite Intelligence can be harnessed and used by man.

EVERY ONE OF THE FOREGOING STATEMENTS IS CAPABLE OF PROOF.  …

It is a well known fact that one comes. finally, to BELIEVE in whatever one repeats to one’s self, whether it be true or false.  If a man repeats a lie over and over, he will eventually accept the lie as truth.  Moreover, he will BELIEVE it to be truth.  Every man is what he is, is because of the DOMINATING THOUGHTS which he permits to occupy his mind.  Thoughts which a man places in his own mind, and encourages with sympathy, and with which he mixes one or more of the emotions, constitute the motivating forces, which direct and control his every movement, act and deed.

Comes now a very significant statement of TRUTH:

THOUGHTS WHICH ARE MIXED WITH ANY OF THE FEELINGS OF EMOTIONS, CONSTITUTES A “MAGNETIC” FORCE WHICH ATTRACTS, FROM THE VIBRATIONS OF THE ETHER, OTHER SIMILAR OR RELATED THOUGHTS.  A thought thus “magnetized” with emotion may be compared to a seed which grows and multiplies itself over and over again, until that which was originally one small seed becomes countless millions of seeds of the SAME BRAND.

Now back to my own thoughts;

Can you get the idea of just how powerful your thoughts and words are?  What you think about (in your heart or subconscious) is who you are.  Out of that, comes your words, which are a creative force in itself.  You must take EVERY thought captive to the TRUTH…get rid of those that are not!

What does that mean?

All that means is that you’ve completely thought through whatever it is that you want.  You’ve got it pictured in your mind exactly how it will be, how you feel about it, how it will change your life.  You’ve created your plan on how to obtain your desire and have begun implementing that plan.  That’s pretty much all you think about, being grateful for all ready having received it.  That is a perfected desire in a nutshell.  Can you honestly say that you’ve thought it through to the end?  Most people don’t.  If you haven’t, take a moment, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and THINK about it.

This is but one of the 7 emotions you should live in, dwell upon, to move you forward into your very bright future.

In the last article, I listed the 7 deadly emotions, all the ones to work on getting rid of.  Today, we’ll start replacing those with the right emotions:  the ones that bring you LIFE.  Of course, we’ll spend much more time on these.  After all, this is where in our emotions we will be spending most of our lives!   It’s a great place to be I might add.

OK, now what?  My perfected desire is NOT going to just drop from the sky!  You’re right, it’s not.  The next ingredient in this recipe for life is Faith.  Remember what I said about fear being misplaced faith?  I hate to say it but you’ve been trained to fear your whole life, and if you watch the news, that fear is being reinforced every day.  Let me introduce you to the option of turning the same emotion of fear into faith.  It really is very simple; you just change your perspective!

Let’s say you need some money.  You’ve lost your job, got a medical bill that’s way beyond what you’re able to pay.  Your first thought is “How am I going to pay this???”  That’s good.  You’ve got it so far.  This is probably where your thinking goes sour.  “Oh,my.  I don’t have the money to pay this!  I can’t pay this, this is impossible!”  Here comes the faith in reverse or fear.

“If you think you can, you’re right.  If you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Choose which one you will believe.  That’s it!  And then stick to it.  It’s easier to believe we can’t,  because like I said earlier, we’ve been thouroughly trained to fear.  Now we must train ourselves to the truth!  YES, I CAN!

Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen.

Faith is a state of mind which may be induced or created by affirmation or repeated instruction to the subconscious mind…

You may convince your subconscious mind that you believe that you WILL receive that which you desire and it will act upon that belief , which your subconscious mind sends back to you in the form of FAITH, followed by definate plans to procuring that which you desire.

How I affirm my beliefs, is constantly reminding myself Scriptures from the Bible.  I ask myself if I’m going to believe what I see at the moment, which quickly passes away; or am I going to believe what God says which is true for everyone at all times and forever.  Sometimes, I have to choose many, many times a day, especially in the beginning of training myself to believe the things that bring me happiness and joy are all ready mine for the asking.  Sooner or later, my subconscious mind transforms my being and then my circumstances.

Faith is the second of the 7 positive emotions.  Bet you can’t wait to read about the next one!

Look around the room.  Do you see a chair, the TV, the sofa, the roof over your head?  All of these things had their beginning in the     mind of a person.  Look around outside.  Look at the trees, the sky above with the clouds, the soil and grass under your feet….or the concrete….these all began as a thought,  the natural things started in the mind of God…the concrete, of course, in the mind of man.  Since we are made in the image of God, (we were actually made to be friends of God), He gave us the ability to create.  He wanted to share His creative abilities with someone so he created us.  This is what separates us from animals.

I’ve been going through the Six Minutes to Success series with Bob Proctor, which starts out with some lessons brought forth by Napoleon Hill’s Book, Think and Grow Rich.  An excellent book by the way. If you ever want to change your life and circumstances or even your part of the world, this is a must read.  If you’ve read any of my blogs or have seen any of my videos on YouTube, you’ve probably guessed that this is my niche and passion.  I want to teach everyone who wants to, how to be happy and fulfilled in their life, just as I am and more.  I LOVE this journey and to think it will NEVER END!

Let me share with you a little in the series.  You certainly may use this as a guide as you go through the course yourself, highly recommended, to create the life of your dreams.  The section below is an excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s book:

• First   Fix in your mind the exact amount ot money you desire.  It is not sufficient to say “I want a lot of money.”  Be definite as to the amount….
• Second   Determine exactly what you will give in return for the money you desire.  (There’s no such reality as “something for nothing.)
• Third   Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
• Fourth   Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
• Fifth   Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for it’s acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
• Sixth   Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once before you retire at night, and once after arising in the morning.  AS YOU READ, SEE AND FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALL READY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

Control your thoughts, control your future.  I sounds easy, but it takes a lot of discipline.  YOU CAN DO IT!  By the way, this works with anything you desire and remember to dwell ONLY on good things.  Any negative thoughts will thwart your efforts to manifest what you desire.  Six Minutes to Success will certainly help you establish proper creative thinking.