MY SECRET STORY

By: Karen A. Cira

I first learned about The Secret in May of 2007. At the time I was employed as a Sales Trainer for a builder. I was at one of our sales offices with Deva when I received an email newsletter that spoke about how everyone was talking about The Secret. I asked Deva if he had heard about The Secret and he said that he had and that he owned the movie. I remember being so excited about this wonderful phenomenon that I immediately left the sales office and went and bought the movie. I couldn’t wait to get home that evening and watch it.

After dinner that night my husband and I sat down and watched it together. When the movie was over I asked my husband what he thought about it, and being a man of few words he said, “Hmm”.

When I woke up the next day The Secret was the very first thought that popped into my head. I was consumed by it and spoke about it with everyone that crossed my path. I spoke about the movie with my boss and he agreed to let me show it to our sales staff at our next sales meeting which was to be held two days later.

When I got home that evening my husband, who can be very skeptical at times, asked me where the movie was that he wanted to watch it again. Much to my surprise he was very disappointed when I told him that I had lent it out to one of the girls at the office, and he told me to make sure that I get it back from her the next day.

The day of the sales meeting finally arrived and by this time I was bursting at the seams with excitement. Now imagine this, we are in the executive conference room with 23 sales people who love to hear themselves talk… well, after viewing The Secret movie everyone was awe struck and had looks of amazement on their faces. Suddenly out of nowhere I announced to everyone that if they wanted the book to send me an email and that I would buy the book as my gift to them. I ended up purchasing 20 books (I even bought one for the owner of the company), and wrote a personal message on the inside cover of each book that said, “Please accept this book as my gift to you. Now that you know The Secret may you have everything in life that your heart desires”. At the next sales meeting I gave everyone The Optimist’s Creed and The Gratitude Page that I had inserted into a plastic sheet protector.

Those individuals that studied and continued to read The Secret book not only saw their sales increase, but their lives were beginning to change for the better. I received many phone calls and emails from the sales staff thanking me for sharing this wonderful information.

Well, little did I know that this was just the beginning. At this point I am going to fast forward to December 2007 (I’ll save the other information for my book).

I live in New Lenox, IL and on December 4, 2007 we had a snow storm. My son who lives with my mom ever since my dad died in November of 2006, came home from work at 4:30PM and called me frantically saying “Grandma’s not home, the garage door was left wide open and the house was unlocked”. The search for my mother began.

She was last seen at 1:45 PM where she left a hospital in Hammond, Indiana, after visiting her brother to go home. The trip should have taken her no more than 30 minutes (at that time it was not snowing). To make a long story short, my mother was finally found at 10:45PM. She had been driving around lost for 9 hours and ended up approximately 45 miles from where she should have been. A good Samaritan saw her car in a ditch with her in it bleeding profusely from her mouth. I’ll spare you the gory details of her injury, and just say that she had to have plastic surgery on her lip and chin.

Since the accident, my mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. There are seven stages to the disease and my mother is in between stages 4 and 5. Yes, I did take her car away from her and for a few days she would not speak to me. It’s called tough LOVE. To those of you who have put an orange tennis ball on the radio antenna of your parent’s car so they can find it, it might be time to practice some tough LOVE for the safety of your parents and others..

Over the next several weeks there were trips to the doctor’s office, and issues with my uncle’s health (he passed away on January 9, 2008, my mother is the executor of his estate and his sole beneficiary) that required my assistance, which meant there were times when I had to leave work early or take a day off. I was told by the human resources manager that “they” are getting upset with me and that “things are coming to a head”. Talk about stress, I could not believe that my employer could be so insensitive and was making me choose between my job and my mother. The HR manager also told me that “it’s not personal”. Irregardless, my feelings were really hurt.

On January 14, 2008, I left a job that paid me an average of $75,000.00 per year, plus a company car, and began my Family Leave. Since then I have not looked back. As a matter of fact, my life has gotten even better. Not only am I able to take care of my mother’s needs, my needs both spiritually and financially are being more than met.

Since that day my mortgage payment has been lowered, my budget payment on my gas bill was reduced, the interest rate on my home equity line has been reduced by 2%, and I have received cash that equals almost one and one half times what my gross income was last year.

Like the song says, “DON’T STOP BELIEVING, HOLD ON TO THAT FEELING”

Thank you, Rhonda Byrne for sharing this great Secret.