The Secret is a book and a movie released in 2006 that focuses on the principles and laws of attraction. In simplest terms this means that matter is attracted to like matter. The main message in the book and movie is that the energy, messages and thoughts that one puts out into the universe will eventually return, or as the author Rhonda Byrne put it, "thoughts become things."
While I do agree with some of the principles in the book and movie -that one needs to replace unhealthy habits with healthy habits, and to be grateful and express gratitude and so on. I do feel there are many inconsistencies when the law of attraction is stretched to the limits.
For example, the infomercial like movie really sends the message that the reason bad things happen to people is they are thinking about the bad thing. Their example is debt, and that if you focus on "I want to be out of debt," debt will still arrive. However, if you start thinking about "I want money," money will then arrive. Again, while there are slight truths to this principle of finding helpful thoughts to replace unhelpful ones, this theory doesn't hold for the following two reasons.
First, bad things happen to people regardless of their thoughts. I think of tragedies and trauma. Someone has their house burn to the ground or is flooded. Should we tell them that if they just thought about a happy, sturdy home it would still be standing? Or that it happened because they were thinking that they didn't want their house to burn or flood? While our thoughts have great influence, the universe, in particular Mother Nature, can't just be thought away. Also, think of those who have been physically or sexually abused. Are their thoughts to blame for their abuse? No, other people make decisions, and in this case very poor ones, that have influence on our lives.
Second is that effort needs to be taken for a positive change to happen. Positive thinking alone doesn't work. There was a study conducted by the University of California where participants were asked to take a few minutes each day to daydream, or fantasize about getting an "A" on an upcoming test, and trust the universe to produce the results. What this study revealed was those 2ho fantasized, daydreamed, about getting an "A" spent less time putting in an effort to study and therefore had poor results on the test. Visualization, which is different from fantasizing, with effort or action, will produce results.
Again I note it is important to replace unhealthy habits and unhelpful thoughts with healthy habits and helpful thoughts. It is for those two above mentioned reasons, bad things happen and action needs to be applied, is why the "secret" isn't really a secret; that action needs to be taken to maintain those healthy habits and helpful thoughts.
