I have been living with The Secret my whole life without knowing so. My mum always reminded me: “Use the power of the mind, you can achieve ANYTHING.” But the things I wanted the most would never appear and I just grew tired of hearing my mum talking about that “power of the mind”. I just thought it was make-believe.

I moved to NZ in 2008. And while I was shopping anywhere, I saw the Secret book. I love books. I could spend a whole day just reading. When I saw the book, I took it off the shelf and read the summary. The first words that struck me were: “The Secret of Life”. “That’s it!” I told myself, Another person trying to teach us that there is such thing called “the power of the mind”. So naturally, I put the book back on the shelf and ignored it wherever I would go shopping.

I will always remember how I finally got introduced to The Secret. My course is held on the 3rd level of a big shopping mall in town. One day, my friend and I went into a book store in the mall. I wanted to show him the next book I was going to buy. That’s when he spotted the book. He took it off the shelf and asked me if I have heard of The Secret. I said no and he started telling me incredible stories about things that have happened to people that have applied the Secret to their lives. I remembered asking him, “Is this stuff real?” and he just nodded. He advised me to check it out for myself. The next day, I bought a copy of the book instead of the one I was supposed to buy. I devoured that book in 3 days. I couldn’t believe it. I even remember leaving the book aside for a while I was so scared.

I was scared because I realised that everything that has happened in my life, happened because without knowing it, I had applied the Secret in my own way. So I decided to put it to the test. In NZ, you don’t find Hibiscus flowers. The climate here does not allow that kind of flower to grow. So in my head, I imagined me holding a hibiscus flower in my hand. Not just imagining that but also the joy and the excitement of holding it in my hand. For days, I would be thinking about the hibiscus but nothing happened. No flower! So I just forgot about it.

Three weeks after that, one of my class mates had a fake hibiscus in her hair. Her aunty brought it from Samoa. And I was looking at it but didn’t take much notice. Later in the day, my class and I we were sitting in the computer lab doing our portfolio. My classmate with the hibiscus came up to me and she put the flower in my hair and told me to keep it because she knows I love flowers. I thanked her without clicking about what just happened to me.

When I got home and I was about to take a shower I took the flower out of my hair and held it in my hand. That’s when I realised it. I HAD MY HIBISCUS IN MY HAND! I sat down, tears in my eyes just holding the hibiscus in my hand. I couldn’t believe it. I actually had what I’d asked for. For the first time in my life, I actually had what I wanted. I was still breathless and scared… but impressed. I keep the hibiscus in a place where it will always remind me of how I got it.

To make a long story short, The Secret does work. It is just knowing how to use it – and The Secret also tests our faith in the unknown. Just ask, believe and be ready to receive in a moment you expect it the least. A few things have happened to me since that day, small things but they still happen. I still lose faith sometimes but my hibiscus always reminds me that no matter how small or big or IMPOSSIBLE, if you put your mind to it, you can achieve it.