The Secret

The Secret is the hot newcomer in self-help circles. Available on DVD and paperback, The Secret is really not so secret anymore. The Secret is, in a nutshell, the law of attraction. The film says that there are no coincidences in life, and we attract everything by the energy we put forth, and in this way we can bring about anything that we want.

"What we think about and thank about, we bring about," says one of the film's wide-eyed gurus. "Ask. Believe. Receive." These one-liners sound like something from the basement of a Sunday school, but the film's messages have received a following that rivals the Chicken Soup for the Soul fan club.

Simon and Shuster, publisher of The Secret, had to order a 2 million copy re-print last month, the largest in the company's history. It's even made it's way into the heart of Oprah Winfrey, a woman who can bring you to fame or put you to shame (re: James Frey).

I watch the DVD one snowy, yes snowy, April morning, tucked into bed. I am in awe. At times I find myself nodding in agreement with the film's gurus. "Yes!" I whisper out loud, my fists clenched with excitement. This is good stuff. I can feel the film sub-consciously working its way into my porous brain.

Later that day, I go to a yoga class. At the end of the session, when I'm supposed to be relaxing, I run through my mind a checklist of random things that need be done. Suddenly I think about a ring that I lost a while ago. I have no idea when I lost it or where I lost it, but I can see it in my mind: silver, with flecks of turquoise stone.