The Secret

Shhhhhhhhhh
Isn't much of a secret really. I mean, I've understood the idea of “The Secret” for some time...think I watched a show on Oprah about it or something. In case you haven't heard of "The Secret", it's something along the lines of visualizing one's goals to the extent that you believe it will happen. The power of faith. Believing in yourself. Whatever.
I'm not a very spiritual person, neither is my husband. In fact, he makes fun of me whenever I talk about astrology or “nonsense” like that cause it’s all superstition as far as he’s concerned.  We were talking one afternoon about my writing goals and some decisions that were pending...decisions that were out of my control. I said something negative (which is typically the way I roll when talking about myself) and he surprised me by saying that I needed to believe in my goals if I wanted them to happen and that speaking negatively about it went against the principles of “The Secret”. I think my mouth actually dropped open and I thought about checking his forehead for fever. The Secret? Really? That's bordering on spiritual in many ways. The power of faith? Restricted territory in our world.
He went on to say that he'd been watching a documentary about “The Secret” and although he couldn't finish watching it cause it got too preachy and boring (this is when I knew he was still the same level headed man I married) he did find it intriguing that the idea of believing in your goals could have such power. When I tried to argue about track record he said, "you can't base what's going to happen in the future on what has happened in the past, not when you're talking about things that are out of your control". Hmmmmmmmm....now, that made sense to me, it really gave me something to think about. Nothing that has happened in my past could impact the decision that was coming, at least not luck or superstition or anything like that..
So, that night, while reading in bed, I started thinking about what he said. I closed the paperback I was holding and looked at the cover. Of course it was the genre I write and it just so happened that the author’s last name name starts with a capital A...so you know what I did? I covered all the other letters in that author's name except for the A, and then I envisioned myself holding my own book, tracing that embossed A over and over again. It felt good. It felt powerful. So that’s my secret. ;-)
It will happen. I will hold my own book in my hand. One day.