Book report on Secret

Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. 2006.

Purpose of Book

The Secret is a self-help book about the law of attraction, which is essentially the "secret" referred to in the title. According to the author, the law of attraction is something that has been referred to time and again in religious, mystical, and spiritual literature. The purpose of The Secret is to retranslate the core concepts of the law of attraction, to make it an accessible concept for modern readers.

Key Points of Advice

In The Secret, the key points of advice include focusing on the positive rather than on problems. Also, Byrne advises engendering a feeling of gratitude. Gratitude helps keep the mind focused on the positive, with the ultimate goal of attracting more positive things. The general idea is that "like attracts like." Focusing on lack, illness, poverty, or anger will only attract more of the same. On the other hand, focusing on abundance, health, and love will attract those elements. In order to achieve one's goals, it is important to create a cognitive and emotional framework based on this fundamental law of attraction.

The Secret is divided into several short chapters. The first half of the book is roughly about the basic underlying idea, that the low of attraction is the key to success. The second half of the book shows how "the secret" can be applied to various aspects of daily life including health, money, and relationships.

Critique

Although The Secret does not really seem to be "about" anything, upon reading the book it becomes clear that the core concept is really very simple. The book is less than 200 pages long, and much of it is comprised of quotations by other authors. This makes the book seem thin in places, and indeed it is. However, the concept of the law of attraction is a universal one. Byrne is not pretending to have any new ideas. Quite the opposite: the author encourages the reader to refer to other classics of spiritual literature and to perform further research. Further research is not necessary to reap benefits from The Secret, though. The book stands alone as a treatise to the power of thinking positively. The book is well organized, brief, and written in language that is far simpler than some of the "classics" of New Age literature.

Application to Stress Management

The Secret offers the tools by which to encourage the type of thinking that can create positive, healthy responses to external stressors. Although the book lacks specific techniques such as guided meditation or prayer, it does help the reader to reframe the way stress is perceived. Instead of reacting to stress with a sense of defeat, self-pity, or anger, the reader can instead focus on what can be learned and what is being learned from any challenging situations.