First, let me express my gratitude to Rhonda Bryne and her staff for pulling all of this information together. It makes it much easier for many of us to learn about true gratitude.

I had the perfect life. After many years of trying, we had a beautiful son, a very nice home. I knew I was lucky and thrilled my dreams had come true. But I was also fearful of losing everything. I had been an orphan and was bounced between foster homes until I was six. An elderly couple adopted me then & gave me a wonderful home but I was always afraid of losing them because of their age.

When our son was 10 yrs old, we all been severely injured by a defective product. We filed a law suit against the manufacturer (they had known for years that their product was defective and told no one.) We had very little money left as we had to spend all of our savings & retirement money for medical care.

I had first heard about The Secret on the Oprah show in the spring of 2007. I decided to give The Secret a try. For 2 weeks I thought of very little — only checks coming in the mail. After 2 weeks we received a check from an investment we had made 25 years before. It was enough to get us through the next six months until the trial.

We all kept positive thoughts about winning the trial. We could imagine how wonderful it would be to have our health back and be able to try to get back to a normal life. Because of our injuries, both my husband and I are not able to work any longer. Our total medical expenses by then were over 4 million dollars.

What I didn’t understand at the time, just thinking positive wasn’t enough. I needed to feel like it was already true. But I was still in fear of losing, I didn’t know how to believe with gratitude. The fear was there, I wasn’t thinking about it, just feeling it. We had the best doctors and experts in the country testifying on our side, other lawyers saying we had a airtight case. But before we could finish our litigation, the company went into bankruptcy.

Everything that I had feared all my life came true. We lost everything — including our home this year.

My sister died 2 years ago and left us her small condo. It was taking my son and I a long time to fix it up as it was in really bad shape. So many friends gave us help fixing up the condo – I am very grateful to them. The timing was right, we had a home after we lost ours.

Shortly after moving, I decided I needed to do something to get out of a horrible depression that I had slid into. I dug out my CD of The Secret and started watching it each morning. Somewhere, I don’t know where, I had heard about The Magic. I found the website and started reading the stories. After a few weeks I decided to take $12 out of our very tight budget and purchase The Magic. I read it twice the first day. I knew then I had to start living a life of gratitude, not living in fear constantly.

I wrote out the checks. I made my vision board. Everyday I take my gratitude walk — I say my 100 ‘thank yous’ and talk to the Universe as I walk. I list all the things I’m grateful for each day.

This last summer taxes were due on the condo, we didn’t have anymore money, we were broke. If they weren’t paid we lose the condo at a tax sale. I decided to leave it to the Universe to help us. Each day on my gratitude walk, I thanked the Universe for the money for the taxes. Within a month I got a letter saying that there were some stocks in my sister’s name that were unclaimed. I immediately got the paperwork together to get the stocks. The check came a week before the deadline for our taxes — it was more than enough. We were also able to pay off a couple of other bills.

Christmas is coming soon so I asked the Universe for some extra money so I can buy a stove and running shoes for my son. Last Wednesday I went to the mailbox and there was a check. It would pay for a stove, running shoes and pay off a couple of more hospital bills. Again, from an investment we made in 1978 and had forgotten about. It wasn’t a good investment considering the amount invested and time to payout, but at this point, it looked like gold to me. This check will help make our first Christmas in our new home much nicer.

I am trying to write a book — so many people who hear our story have encouraged me to write it. They say it sounds like a cross between the movies Erin Brockavich and The Civil Action. I’m writing, but I have no idea what to do with it when I’m done. I’m asking the Universe to step in and show me the path to getting my book published.

I still have a lottery jackpot request out there with the Universe, but until then, these smaller checks are like lottery wins to me.

To me, the most important part of The Secret is to be mindful of your feelings. Let go of the fear, replace it with overwhelming feelings of gratitude and joy. Joy will come as your gratitude increases.