by Rhonda Byrne
– Mrs. Abundant, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Create a Vision Board for Wealth
A vision board is a tool to help you create the image in your mind of what you want. As you look at the vision board, you are imprinting the picture of your desire in your mind. And as you focus on your vision board, it stimulates your senses and evokes a positive feeling within you. Then you have the two elements of creation – your mind and your feelings – working in full force.
– The Secret Daily Teachings
In the next story, Natalie used a vision board to help her focus on what she wanted to bring into her life. One of the things on her board was a check from the Universal Bank. As you will see, the bank gave her just what she asked for – even though, at the time, she didn’t realize exactly what that was.
CHECK THE DATE
I first heard about The Secret back in 2009, while I was deployed to Iraq. I had just ordered a Kindle and was able to download the book from the website. I finished it in two days. Immediately, it was as if a light had been turned on in my mind. I had been praying to God to send me some answers, because I had believed that He was pure love and wanted me to live an abundant life, but nothing seemed to be working out. There had to be something I was missing, and I prayed that He would reveal it to me.
At first I attracted small things, and over time I attracted big things, like a great-paying job as a civilian, three major salary increases, and the love of my life. Once I had become comfortable attracting things, I decided to ask the Universe for the largest amount of money I could realistically imagine myself having. I sat down and asked out loud, “How much money do I really want to have?” I sat in silence for a while, and a figure just popped into my head. I knew it was the amount of money I should ask for. On New Year’s 2010, I created a vision board for what I wanted to attract that year. I downloaded The Secret check from the website and filled it in. By December 31 of that same year, I had attracted every single thing on my board except the large amount of money.
I just moved the check over to the next year’s board and continued mentally shopping and thinking of all the ways I would spend the money and how I would help those around me. This cycle continued for a couple of years. I would attract everything on my board except the money.
As 2012 drew to a close and we were coming up on yet another New Year, I started to look over my vision board; once again I had attracted just about everything except that large amount of money. I said to myself, “I know that the Universe will provide when I am ready to receive it.” I continued saying my affirmations and meditating and reading the stories posted on The Secret website.
Now I can finally say that this New Year’s Eve EVERYTHING will be coming off of my vision board, because for the first time ever I have attracted EVERY SINGLE THING that was on my board, including the very large sum of money. It was completely unexpected, and at first I thought it was some type of joke, but it wasn’t. I decided to go ahead and start working on my new vision board for 2013, and when I looked at the old check, I noticed for the first time that I had written the date on it as December 31, 2012!
It must have been a typo or something, but even in my error, the Universe was obedient. I know that my “mistake” was divinely orchestrated, because if I had gotten the money when I first wanted it, I was not financially responsible, and I would have blown it. Since then I had taken control of my finances and was in a much better place to receive it.
ASK. BELIEVE. RECEIVE. The Universe is always listening and always providing. Be blessed. I know I am.
– Natalie F., Savannah, Georgia, USA
Feel Grateful in Order to Receive
When you ask the Universe for something – whether it’s money or anything else – you must believe that you already have it, which means that you need to feel gratitude for having it right now. In other words, be grateful before you’ve received.
When you direct gratitude’s power toward any negative condition, a new condition is created, eliminating the old, negative condition. This means that when you get yourself to the place where you feel grateful for money even if you don’t have enough of it yet, a new condition is created, eliminating the lack of money and replacing it with more money.
AN INCREDIBLE SURPRISE
In December 2007, I urged the board of directors for the charity of which I am the executive director to purchase a building for our nonprofit. The building I found needed a lot of work, and we would have to take a new mortgage, which was making all of us very nervous, but we proceeded on faith and trust.
While we were traveling over Christmas, my wife and I were in an automobile accident and totaled our car far from home. Over the past several months, many of our friends had urged us to read The Secret. After our car accident, we knew we were attracting something that needed to change, so we purchased the audio version of the book and listened to it as we traveled back home. I was so excited about the concept of the Gratitude Journal that I purchased one for both of us. On January 1, 2008, on the first page, I listed all the things I already had for which I was grateful, and on the opposite page, headed Gratitude Intentions, I wrote, “I am so grateful for the $75,000 my charity received for our new building on March 31, 2008.” Note that this was on January 1, so I was indicating in the present tense my gratitude for a monetary gift we hadn’t yet received.
On March 15, 2008, I was contacted by a local foundation that had heard about our plans for the new building. The foundation wanted to help and asked that I arrange a meeting with my board members on March 25 to discuss the matter further. Keeping in mind that we did not solicit any help from this foundation but rather were sought out, we met on March 25 and were presented with a letter indicating that the foundation wanted to pay off the mortgage on our new building so that we could focus all our attention on our fund-raising efforts. Even more astonishing, they would be making two payments: we would be receiving $75,000 on March 31, the last day of their fiscal year, and the balance on April 1, the first day of the new fiscal year!
– Zane G., Pueblo, Colorado, USA
We can never bring anything to us unless we are grateful for what we have. In fact, if somebody were completely and utterly grateful for everything, they would never have to ask for anything, because it would be given to them before they even asked.
– The Secret Daily Teachings
They say that money doesn’t grow on trees, but when you’re truly grateful, it may just come to you out of the blue – a gift from the Universe.
MONEY FROM HEAVEN
My boyfriend and I live in a high-rise condominium in the heart of midtown. As a result of The Secret, I started getting up every morning and standing on my balcony expressing gratitude for everything we have.
One morning I woke up and found a penny on our balcony. I decided to let it stay. Several months later, I woke up to find several dollar bills lying all over our balcony – seven in all. I looked around and saw that many other people had dollar bills on their balcony.
A month later, I got up very early, when it was quite dark outside, and saw what appeared to be two bills on the balcony floor. In the dark I could not tell the denomination, so I brought them inside. Lo and behold, they were two $20 bills! Wow. I was so excited that I went back outside to see if anyone else had money on their balcony. They didn’t, but as I looked around, I found three more $20 bills, including one in my planter! I woke up to a total of $100 and was absolutely amazed! No one else received any money, nor was anyone missing money. What a blessing!
A week later, I had a dream in which a certain number kept showing up. Although I do not gamble or play the lottery, I mentioned to my boyfriend that we needed to play these three numbers. Such a strange statement from me! My numbers didn’t come in that day, but he continued to play them for a few more days and – yup, you guessed it – the combination came in straight. Just as I’d envisioned it! I made a whopping $290.
After that I received a notification in the mail saying I was getting money
in a class-action lawsuit I knew nothing about. I do not have to do anything but wait to receive it.
Without a doubt, The Secret works. Gratitude is such an integral part. I expect more will be coming any day and every day.
Blessings to all!
– Pat, Georgia, USA
Imagine Having Whatever You Want
If you want to attract more money, make lists of the things you will buy with the money. Surround yourself with pictures of the things you would like and always feel the feelings of having those things now. Imagine sharing those things with the ones you love and imagine their happiness.
– The Secret Daily Teachings
Don’t limit your life by thinking money is the only way to get something you want. Don’t make money your only target, but make your target what you want to be, do, or have. If you want a new home, imagine and feel the joy of living in it. If you want beautiful clothes, appliances, or a car, if you want to go to college or move to another country – imagine it! All these things can come to you in an unlimited number of ways.
HOW THE SECRET MOVED US – LITERALLY
My family lived in our former home for fourteen years. We were not happy there at all. It needed many repairs and we didn’t have the money to fix it, but mostly we all wanted to move away from the neighbor, who was making us all very miserable. It was a bad situation, a totally negative environment. I would rather be at work than in that house; it felt like a black hole of depression. For almost fourteen years we kept telling ourselves, “We can never move,” “Nobody will ever want to buy this house,” “We can’t afford to move.” We didn’t know about the Universe’s “Your wish is my command” thing, and that we were holding ourselves back with that kind of negative thinking.
We had our eye on a house that, when it first went up on the market, was way out of our league financially, but we wished for it anyway. My husband was the most determined of us all. He would point to it and say, “That is going to be our house.”
We all watched The Secret, and our lives changed drastically for the better. All four of us used the power of The Secret together. Now we had the tools to properly visualize living in that beautiful house we dreamed of owning: picturing where our new furniture would go, looking out the window from the inside, how it would be decorated, cooking meals in the kitchen and breathing in the scent of the meal, sitting peacefully on the patio, landscaping, waving to our new neighbors from afar. Feeling the feelings. We believed we already lived there.
And within five weeks, we really did live there. We put our house on the market “as is” and received an offer of nearly our asking price within two days. The house we wanted had been on the market for eighteen months, and the price had been drastically reduced to sell. We got a mortgage quickly and without any problem and had plenty of money left over to buy new furniture. Now I can’t wait to come home from work. I even come home for lunch. I thank God every day and enjoy living there every single second. We are all so happy!
– Gina, Plymouth, Pennsylvania, USA
Gina and her family did something very powerful in their visualization – they used all of their senses. They didn’t just see the home of their dreams; they felt it and even smelled it! The more senses you involve in your visualization, the more you believe what you’re imagining, and the faster it will materialize.
NEGATIVE NANCY NO MORE
I have always been sort of a Negative Nancy, although I liked to look at it as being realistic. I always saw both sides of the story but always leaned toward the negative, thinking that things were “too good to be true.”
From the time I was very young, I dreamed of living an adventurous life, traveling from country to country. Looking at the pictures of ancient monuments, temples, and landmarks in my school textbooks, I would think how amazing it would be to see those places with my own eyes.
Later, going to school and working office jobs, I was drained and tired. I thought, Is this all life has to offer? Sitting in a cubicle all day long on the phone and computer? I relished my mini-breaks when I would go outside and sit on a bench, dreaming of traveling the world. I knew in my heart that somehow it was going to happen and pictured myself working in exotic locales, globe-trotting constantly. Little did I know at the time that my wish would come true. I started reading The Secret and, little by little, began to practice what I was learning.
I ended up quitting my job, but after a few months, I was getting discouraged because no one was hiring anyone to travel the world. Then one day a friend, who was also unemployed, told me about a position her ex-coworker had offered her. It involved sailing on various cruise ships, doing trunk shows, and selling high-end jewelry. As soon as she finished, I said, “That is my dream job!”
A month later, I was cruising the world. What most people pay a lot of money for, I was doing for free. I stayed in passenger cabins, mingled with the guests, and wore expensive jewelry – all for work! In ports, I always had time off and traveled all over South and Central America, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. I finally got to see in person the very landmarks I’d discovered all those years ago in my schoolbooks. I even made it to Egypt to see the pyramids!
What really made me a believer of The Secret was when, on that cruise to Egypt, I asked the Universe to let me make a certain amount of money in commissions. I wanted it to be an odd number but one I could remember. The magic number was $5,432. Every night and day I thought of that number and pictured a check being handed to me for that amount. My commission for this particular cruise: $5,400. I’ve been a 100 percent believer ever since.
– Angie, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Make Sure Your Actions Are in Tune with Your Desires
When you want to attract something into your life, make sure your actions don’t contradict your desires. Think about what you have asked for, and make sure that your actions are mirroring what you expect to receive. Making room to receive your desires is one way of sending out that powerful signal of expectation.
HOW TO SELL A HOUSE
When I moved in with my boyfriend, I rented out my own flat, and when the tenant vacated, I decide that it was time to sell. It had increased quite a bit in value since I bought it, and my boyfriend agreed that we should put it on the market and transfer his flat into both our names.
Initially, I was certain that it would sell very quickly. I had been practicing The Secret since the beginning of the year and thought that if I wanted it enough, it would happen. The weeks went by, however, and the flat still wasn’t selling. I went to The Secret website in search of inspiration. That’s when it hit me – my actions weren’t reflecting my desires. I wanted to sell the flat, but I wasn’t actually doing anything to make it happen! I hadn’t even been there since the tenant moved out, because I had started to think of it as a burden, which, of course, ensured that it would continue to be a burden.
Once I had this realization, I went round to the flat, made sure it was attractive to prospective buyers, and met with several other estate agents to verify that it was being offered at the right price.
One great tip I found on the website was to think about everything you loved about your house, thanking it, then imagining a new buyer living there happily. After reading that, I sat in the flat and thanked every room for the happy memories, explained why I was selling it, and had a very clear vision of a new buyer being very excited about living there.
Another technique that helped was to hold the keys in my hand, imagine handing them over to the new buyer, and then say as I put them away, “Thank you for the sale,” and feel that I had released the flat and already sold it.
Within a few weeks of starting these practices, I received competing bids even though the market was very slow, and I actually wound up selling for more than I was expecting. As soon as I got the offer, I thought, I really wish the buyer would want to buy the furniture as well to save us having to move it. And what do you know, he did!
My boyfriend is now my husband, and we ar
e currently selling our flat to move to a house because we’re expecting a baby – all of which I have helped attract by using The Secret principles!
– Rebecca, London, England
In the next story, the members of a band also acted in a way that reinforced their desires when they were giving a concert they feared no one would attend.
EMPTY CHAIRS
I’m in a Celtic band. We’re becoming more well known, but at the time of this event, we were not. We were putting on a benefit concert in a very small town. We had teamed up with another band we hoped to perform with in the future, and we were terrified that no one would come. We had tried to perform there in the past and only four people (at the most) showed up. Also, there were several other big events in the same area on the same night. We had spent money to put on the show and had advertised it as a benefit for the fire department, so there was a lot riding on it.
One week before, we had sold only six tickets. I kept picturing a tiny audience, and I knew I had to change my thoughts immediately. I prayed for the ability to BELIEVE that people would come. I immediately had the idea to go to the small town myself to put up more posters, even though other bandmates had already plastered it all over. So on a rainy morning, I drove out there. I put up more posters but, more importantly, I infused the place with my positivity that people would come.
The day of the show, we still had only six tickets sold. We put out ninety-six chairs, and my bandmate laughed at how we’d be playing to empty chairs. I smiled and said, “We’re going to need more chairs.” I truly believed it.
Then, an hour before the show, people just started flocking in. We had ninety-six people there and some standing. It was a great performance, and we raised money for the fire department. It was truly magical!
– Kathy, San Francisco, California, USA