If you are like me you were one of the millions that watched The Secret. It was hard not to get sucked into the hype and publicity. We watched as The Secret commentators showed up on Oprah and Larry King. Their message was positive and they came across as sincere and honest. Here were people who truly wanted others to be happy and they were telling us just how to do it.
     I respect The Secret's creators and participants, fore they have shown that spiritual work can be and is abundant and prosperous. They have developed a marketing campaign that will be studied and emulated for years to come. And their message, at its core, is one of self respect, self worth and self belief. We are what we think and if we think positive, if we are positive, then positive things will come to us.
      OK, by now you know there is a "but" coming and you are right. The Secret certainly tells us that in order to live the life we want we need to think it to be it. What is left unsaid is how do we think it. Perhaps it is best that this is left unsaid since how we get there is unique to every person. Millions of people end up on America's highways every day and each one gets their from their own home, taking their own route. In this way each one of us will start from where we are and arrive at our free-way, a life free of worry, free of fear and free of anxiety.
     Wherever you are, whoever you are, you are starting your journey from right here and right now, whether you are a zen master, a housewife or a thief. We have histories, we have pasts and we have tendencies that must be looked at, dealt with and faced in an effort to heal and transcend. If we simply ignored the darker, heavier side of us, also called our shadow side, we would be condemning ourselves to living a life of ignorance. When we ignore we welcome ignorance, the intentional turning away from knowledge, in this case, knowledge of self.
     To choose happiness, to feel positive, to embrace love and life, we must not fake it, though we have heard different. We may replace one emotion with another, happiness for fear, and we would be putting a coat of fresh paint on our beat up old car. It looks great in the driveway but the engine is still cracked and the brakes don't work.  That beautiful looking old jalopy will never make it off our block, let alone to our free-way.
     Before a secret can be revealed we must first ask what is it that we are looking for? How can we discover the secret if we don't know what it is we are looking for? The secret to life? The secret to happiness? The secret to love, abundance or prosperity? Each and every one of us has the secret. In fact, we are the only ones who could possibly have it. On this path there are traffic cops to help guide us, construction workers to help build bridges and even other drivers to test us, challenge us and keep us company. But we are the ones behind the wheel, driving our own lives. If I make this sound easy or simple I apologize, because it is not. It is a difficult process and practice. I say this not to dissuade but rather to prepare.
     The shadow self will not, can not disappear through ignorance. Only the illumination of self-study and self-work can shed light and enlighten us. If you want to think it and be it, first see what you have been thinking and what you are. Start your car, turn your headlights on and begin your trip. You will arrive at your free-way, in your own time, at your own pace. The path may be long and winding, and you may even get lost, but you will never lose your way. After all, you have the map in the glove compartment.