I have always been a skeptic. Of everything. All the time. I have rejected all forms of faith my entire life. From religion to humanity. I’ve struggled to maintain an attitude of gratitude in my often cynical worldview. My line of work leaves me close to disease and death, thus on many levels I would’ve even considered myself cold. I write dark poetry, but leave a hopeful twist on the end. Hope I could usually muster, but faith? Well, I was never a keeper of the stuff.

I’ve dabbled moderately in Eastern philosophy but the dual nature of my western upbringing always seemed to get in the way of everything I wanted to trust in from the east. Concepts of unity and love, of oneness and peace have faded and expanded in my life throughout much struggle. I left an abusive marriage and raised my three children on my own for over half a decade and with this came a great deal of strife but none so great as I would’ve faced had I chosen to stay where I was.

An old friend introduced me to The Secret many years ago. I used it to procure my perfect mate. I wrote down a list of the attributes I wanted in a man, and simply left it to collect dust, fully believing that this would work as it had worked for my mother. Of course, she did this unaware of The Secret, the law of attraction, or any other type of universal principles.

In any event, it worked for her the same as for me. A year later, the man possessing all of those attributes showed up in our lives and stuck around with a profound love. That was all I used it for, until last week.

I was sitting home alone while the kids were at school looking for something to watch while I was knitting. I was flipping through amazon when I remembered The Secret was in my library. As it played I imagined having the needles I needed for my next project. 24″ size 15 circulars. My grandmother called within five minutes of this short activity from a craft store, asking if there was anything she could get for me. I had the needles in my hand before the sun went down.

The next day, just for fun, I watched again. This time as the scenario about the cup of coffee played out I paused the film and visualized it. I stopped short thinking “This is stupid, I could just go make a cup of coffee right now.” That evening we were rushed, so we stopped by McDonalds for dinner. I won a free photo coffee mug from Shutterfly on a monopoly game piece. Not even kidding. I was floored by the coincidence, and knew where it came from.

That’s leaving out the best part though. I’d been explaining to my fella about The Secret all day, and he was in full support mode. I was telling him how much of a hard time I was having finding the necessary faith to make this stuff work on a larger scale, and how I was hoping we could guide each other on a lighter, and more positive path. Just as these words were escaping my lips a FULL double rainbow appeared in the sky. A much needed sign of hope and good fortune for many in our area, but for us, it felt like magic. The free coffee mug was won, just after the rainbow dissipated from the sky, as if the universe was imploring me to trust it.

The following day at work, our unit was pulled from for staff. I looked at my coworker and told her that I wasn’t worried. I said, “Help is on it’s way. I believe that someone will show up here to help us today.” She agreed with me whole-heartedly.

Before we had even finished in the room we were in, someone had unexpectedly shown up for work who wasn’t on the schedule!

THIS NEVER HAPPENS. NOT EVER. But it did, and I’m certain that The Secret is to blame.

Through that exchange I discovered my coworker is a practitioner of The Secret and we manifested two beautiful days of work together. Then finally, yesterday, when it looked as though I would be mandated to stay for an additional 8 hours at the end of my 12 hour shift, our on-call person showed up and we had three volunteers to stay. I was physically exhausted and glad to be able to leave on time. My coworker helped me to stay positive when the news hit that I might have to stay and lo, it really worked!

So, there you have it, days upon days of small proofs. I fully believe that I can manifest a much brighter reality for myself, and for those around me. I see clearly how my one drop in this giant ocean impacts the current of air around me. I am forever going to be more cautious of my thoughts and words, and actions. I will be forever grateful for this understanding and I, me, the skeptical “atheist” will continue to “pray” for more wisdom and understanding, by which I can share these incredible principles with others and help them to live a more harmonious, happy, and grateful life.

I am forever very deeply grateful to Rhonda and her team, as well as all of the story sharers. Every story I read is an encouragement, which is why I’m sharing my baby steps with you now, before things get even bigger and better. I’ll be back soon with more stories, because I’m not just going to study the roots, I fully intend to pick the fruits!