When I was told about The Secret I remember thinking to myself “Who is crazy enough to believe this nonsense”. I’m proud to say that I proved MYSELF wrong.

About 6 years after learning of The Secret, I came to a point in my life where I felt like it was falling apart. My once promising relationships were developing into sudden, painful break ups. How much betrayal can one person really take? Relationships had become a distant desire and I had convinced myself that I would not look for or accept any possibilities of being vulnerable. As a result of the break ups, my financial burden increased drastically. I was paying my rent, utilities and other bills alone on top of my school loans which in themselves, were a burden. It seemed impossible that there would be a conceivable way to live my life without living paycheck to paycheck or getting another job.

I was reminded of The Secret when a friend was giving another friend advice. He had referenced the book and suggested her to read it. At that point, nothing was going right for me so I decided to look into it with an open mind. I had matured and my perspectives were not so narrowminded. In any event, I read the book in hopes that something would motivate me to make a change.

The empowering words in The Secret not only taught me how to practice it, but it changed my perspective on life. To this day, any advice I give or opinion I have is rooted from what I learned in “The Secret”. My friends will look at me like I have two heads at first and then after they actually take my advice, come back to me ranting and raving about how my advice had helped them and made them feel better about their situation. The Secret has been imprinted in my thought process in every decision and opinion in my every day life.

Relationship: I approached the suggestion in the book about attracting what you want by knowing what you want and believing in it; even seeing yourself having it, before you actually do. I took a piece of paper and I wrote down all the qualities I wanted in a man. I did not let myself focus on the negative but rather positively expressing something that I wanted in my life. Five months later, I met my amazing caring, trusting, compassionate, loving, thoughtful boyfriend. I met him as a result of obtaining a second job (the money problem still wasn’t fixed here obviously).

When I first met him, I was scared to open myself up to another person and let my guard down. Soon I started to notice things in him that drew me to him so much that I found myself thinking about him all the time. He asked me out for dinner on my birthday and ever since that day, I have been lucky enough to share my happiness with him.

3 months after our relationship began, I was cleaning my room. I came across “The Secret” and picked it up to move it back to the bookshelf. As I picked it up, a piece of paper which had been hiding in the pages fell out. To no surprise, it was the list of qualities I was looking for in a man. I looked at the list and could not believe what I had read. I did not even remember some of the things I had originally noted and when I finished I realized that my boyfriend had every single one of those qualities and MORE. I did not exaggerate one of the qualities or make an “exception” and associate it with him. He was the composition of all of the words on that piece of paper. I know that our relationship was not just a coincident and I am positive that he was brought into my life as a result of what I wanted, reminded myself, and envisioned having.

Money: I worked at a law firm so I was already making great money, but it just wasn’t enough. I printed out the “check” from The Secret website (far before I obtained the second job) and taped it to my desk wall. I wanted to put an infinite amount of money on there but decided to focus on a particular amount because I could always change it at any time I wanted. After all, we can have everything we want. A month later, I had an intuition to buy a scratch ticket on my way home from breakfast. I am not a gambler and I had not even thought of buying a scratch ticket in years. I got out of my car and walked into the store of the parking lot where I had the intuition. I asked for a ticket (the first one I saw) and the clerk handed me one that had already been ripped off as it was the last of the book. I said, “No, I want that one, the one that is still connected to the rest of the book.” He said. “What’s the difference”, to which I replied, ” the difference is that that is the one that I want”. He shook his head and gave me the ticket. I threw it in my purse and went about my day.

The next day I met up with some friends for dinner and as I went to get my wallet to pay the bill, I found the ticket. I took out a penny and meaninglessly scratched across the indicated area. I won, and the prize was $500.00! The first thought that came to my mind was that this was The Secret at work. Obtaining a second job was also supported by this belief. I hadn’t considered it but knew I wanted more money and the opportunity fell on my lap. I created my own schedule and the people were great. I didn’t go searching for multiple jobs, it kind of just maneuvered its way into my schedule. Soon, I was making an extra $1,000 a week. At this point, I am convinced I have “cashed” my check made out to the universe.

My job had become discouraging and I wanted more. Eventually, 4 months later a confrontational event with a co-worker motivated me to look again. I found a job that intrigued me but was afraid that I did not have enough experience. I bookmarked it and went home for the weekend. I took some time to update my resume and that Monday (around 3pm) submitted it and applied. The end of my work day had come and it was time to go home (5pm). I left the office and walked onto the train when my mobile e-mail notification went off. Habitually, I opened my e-mail expected to be deleting yet another message full of spam. NO. Not this time. It was the manager of the job to which I applied expressing interest in setting up an interview. I decided to respond when I got home and could check my calendar schedule.

As I walked up to my front door, my phone rang, was yet another inquiry about my application, the recruiting manager. After interviewing for 3.5 hours, I was offered the job on the spot! Not only was there a SIGNIFIGANT increase in salary, but there was an abundance of benefits, one of which was tuition reimbursement, something I had wanted to pursue but did not have the means. This job resulted in me attracting not only my financial aspirations, but my hopes to go back to school, more importantly, at no cost to myself.

On my last day, I removed my pictures and references from the wall and as I finished, I picked up the check from The Secret. I looked at it smiled. I had attracted that which I had asked for, and more. At a second glance, I looked at the amount that I made the check out for. The amount was the EXACT AMOUNT of the addition to my salary.

The power of believing and positive energy is shocking at first, and eventually gratifying. Once one can realize the abundance of possibilities TheSecret can provide, the consequences are neverending.

Ask. Believe. Receive.