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Thanks, The Power.
Submitted by: Adela G.
Paramus, NJI'm pretty young; not yet drinking age. But I have been greatly affected by The Secret, so I thought I'd share.
I guess this is a success story, it’s kind of success in the making, or progress. See, there had been this issue among members of my family (minor issues, for which I’m grateful). Though small, they literally restrained us from being a happy family. Every moment was constant arguments and yelling between the four of us, myself, my dearest cousin, whom is as close to a sister to me, my aunt, and my grandmother.
Keep in mind that all the people in this story live together, including me, due to the awkward hours my mother works. So, my grandmother or my aunt would tell my cousin to do school work, pick up her shoes she left in the middle of the living room, wash the dishes she left in the sink, or basically any task that would be expected of my cousin. These requests, to which my cousin would simply reject or laugh at, were seldom fulfilled.
Here’s where I come in. I considered, and still do consider, myself a good kid. I participate in school and club-based soccer, lacrosse, marching band, the youth group at my church, and have gotten straight A’s all my life (almost).
Seeing my cousin act this way (as a result of having been tended to by a maid and body guard and chauffeur, as she lived in a Central American vacation spot for three years of her early teenage life) caused anger to build up in me consistently for two years. Of course, this caused my aunt and grandmother to be irritated the majority of the time I saw them. And this, I would not have.
Thus, being the naive teen I was, I took my anger out by feeling sorry for myself, and doing everything BUT shunning some of my dearest family members (all the while, thinking it was not in any way my fault).
However, this action backfired on me, when my family just became mad at ME. When I finally broke down, (somewhere in the middle of 9th and 10th grade) I felt so stuck, that I would never be able to change my cousin, my grandmother, or my aunt.
What’s ironic was that we had all seen The Secret. Anyway, what I later realized, while reading The Power was this: it was not them I had to continue to try to change, it was myself.
On page 171, Rhonda Byrne writes, “Relationships are your biggest channel to give love, and so you can change your entire life just through the love you give in your relationships. At the same time though, relationships can be your biggest downfall, because they are often your biggest excuse for NOT giving love!”
This was EXACTLY what I was feeling. From The Power and Relationships, I realized my family did not need another cause to be angry; we needed love. I quickly began following the amazing principles of The Power.
I started with my cousin. Although I had previously seen her as being phony and inconsiderate, I was just nicer to her in general. This gained me some laughs. Though not as authentic as I would have pleased, they were something, and something worth continuing. Well, though this helped the other two members and our relationships, it lightened me up, and them a little, as well. (I’m excited to get to the good part of this story.)
I continued with my grandmother, who I love dearly. I imagined the feeling of joy we shared before my cousin and aunt returned from Central America. I used to sit in her room, as we would watch TV and discuss just everything, from life morals to the differences between butter and margarine. Every time I was with her, I was happy, and I longed for this feeling again.
So, next time I saw her, I made small talk. It started off like that, and ended in a talk about treating others with love and respect; and I loved every minute of it. For this I am eternally grateful, every day since then has been progress, and it hasn’t been long. It has felt a lifetime since the days when I would trudge into my aunt’s house with a gloomy look on my face, not looking forward to small disputes between me and my aunt, as a result of the accumulating anger she felt for the lack of relationship between me and her, and my cousin and her.
Now, I look forward to sitting in her room, me on her footstool, and her on her rocking chair, talking and talking with Grey’s Anatomy in the background. It fills me with love just thinking about it.
And lastly, my relationship with my aunt. She had done something my inexperienced teenage-self thought unthinkable: read my diary. Boy, was I blowing steam. Long story short: after being angry at her for like 3 weeks straight for that, I filled my heart with love and now I want to spend much more time smiling with her.
While these relationships are not yet as happy as I would like them to be, I cannot wait for the journey that will take us there. And for this, I sincerely thank Rhonda Byrne and all the people that helped to create and share The Secret/The Power.
I feel good. 🙂