what is with "the secret"?

[slam]

Positive thinking is great, and can only do you good, but there’s a science behind every good thing it does for you.  Meaning, your positivity could be contagious, and spread to those around you which in turn, might cause them to do good things for you.  Or your positivity might genuinely improve your health by reducing chemical reactions in your body that release nasty by-products or free-radicals.

Every time something good happens in your life, it is not a decision god has made.  It is a decision you, or other people on this planet have made.  There’s no fate; there’s just environmental factors, a series of coincidences, or one single event that takes you through each moment of your entire life.

.... and that alone is a beautiful thing.

[FallGuy]

the secret is a positive thinking book. It's a scam and a deplorable play on human weakness and fear.

TP for nailing it exactly.

[Lucky17]

the secret is a positive thinking book. It's a scam and a deplorable play on human weakness and fear.

TP for nailing it exactly.

If you can't change reality, change your perception of reality. Problems become opportunities, obstacles become goals, etc.

It's no "secret."

[slam]

Oh, I wanted to respond to GreenFaith1819’s story about falling asleep at the wheel.  Almost the exact same thing happened to me.  I was driving home from work when I lived an hour away.  It was a fairly busy road in both directions.  I am notoriously bad about staying awake when driving, but have never had an accident, and am now thankfully only driving 5 minutes to work.

Anyhow, driving home from work, fell asleep at the wheel, woke up, not knowing how many seconds I’d been sleeping.  I couldn’t even remember the last part of the road I’d been on prior to falling asleep, and there were no cars anywhere which I’m sure I could say had never happened for that stretch of road on my way home ever before.  A few seconds after waking up, I noticed a police cruiser parked ahead on the opposite of the road.  I’ve never once seen a cruiser parked in that spot since.  I drove past him and home without further incident. Freaky.

And strangely, on the exact same spot, but going in the opposite direction on my way to work one morning, my windshield was suddenly covered in a film of moisture.  In less than one second, I went to being able to see perfectly, to not being able to see at all.  I quickly put my windshield wipers on, but nothing happened.  The film was on the inside of the windshield!   I had to pull over completely blind out the front window and wipe it off.  Maybe I should have had it analyzed!

[FallGuy]

the secret is a positive thinking book. It's a scam and a deplorable play on human weakness and fear.

TP for nailing it exactly.

If you can't change reality, change your perception of reality. Problems become opportunities, obstacles become goals, etc.

It's no "secret."

What you say is true to an extent, I suppose. Though positive thinking (which is probably good for all of us, in the face of obstacles) has limited actual impact on results.

And this book is a predatory scourge on society (authored, it might be noted, by a nondescript Australian TV producer).

[Andy Jick]

I came here looking for Victoria...boy was I let down...