Thank you, I was going to point that out.
A minor hijack:
Nzinga–I know a little of what you refer to. At work (I work in a city hospital), several of the CNA’s (aides) decided to go to LPN school. 2 of the 3 have stopped because they just can’t see themselves going all the way. The fact that they all needed remedial English and math didn’t help. It was sad to see, but I can’t help but think that at least they have jobs that they enjoy and are good at. I guess it’s all relative. It’d be great if they went further, yes, but it’s not horrid where they are. Perhaps the status quo is enough for them? 
Ambition tends to beget ambition, no? Just wandering thoughts here.
Re Oprah–I don’t see why a person can’t hate on Oprah if they are so inclined. I loathe the thought of Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh and can’t find a good thing to say about either one of them. Oprah is such a mega-celebrity that she’s bound to attract strong feelings either way. It’s just a feeling, not an assassination plot. I’m meh on Oprah, but cannot deny she has done much good. She could do a lot more, but that’s up to her.
I am visualizing something.
I am visualizing James Arthur Ray, and Rhonda Byrne, and John Proctor, sitting in a small room.
Now I am visualizing angry masses of Patagonian razor monkeys swarming over them, and eating their heads.
Please join me, why don’t you?
“For I was hungry and you turned away so as to not become hungry yourself
For I was thirsty and you did the same to not be thirsty
For I was a stranger and you turned me away so you wouldn’t become lost
For I needed clothes and you passed me by so you wouldn’t lose your own clothes
For I was sick and you refused to look after me and risk catching my illness
For I was in prison and you stayed far away so I wouldn’t drag you into crime”
There’s a difference with Christianity. I’m not as familiar with Buddhism, but my understanding of a mega-condensed version of their beliefs is that it has something to do with working toward slow personal growth beyond the suffering that is life. There is a harmony there that is much more grounded than the instant gratification or failure of The Secret, which once you learn leads to easy personal material gain.
I always try to keep in mind that it ain’t just cream that floats.
There’s certainly a trend of slamming “The Secret” in this thread and big lack of people properly supporting it.
I could be that it’s bunk and you’re all fairly bashing it.
I think it’s because all the people who have really gotten behind this idea are stinking rich and don’t have time to waste posting with the likes of you on a message board.
Is this a whoosh? :dubious:
misread, never mind
Even without this ‘Secret’ hogwash some humans make strange statements like “God works in mysterious ways” and extend this logic to disasters: they say that each and every one of the casualties was meant to go at that moment because their number was up for whatever reason, and that God had engineered it so that they would all be on flight X on that particular day, or on a south east Asian beach when the tsunami hit, or wherever.
I used to be fairly open-minded about Oprah, mainly on the grounds that she was good at what she did, until I saw her concluding that the people who were killed on 9/11 were “sacrificial angels”. ::insert giant rolleyes here::
And now I’m visualizing you blowing me.
That bears repeating. Sounds like she’s got it about right.
Well, she’s still promoting it on her website, just one click off the front page, to the point of saying :
(Bolding mine.)
What’s odd is that if you’re sick, you should go see a doctor. Even if he doesn’t do a thing for you, often you will get better as a result of having merely had an office visit. I don’t know exactly how that works, but I’m guessing that it’s some sort of psychosomatic healing.
Thinking positively won’t hurt, unless it’s taken to extremes, as in, I don’t have to work, the money will come to me or I’ll just wish my cancer away type stuff.
It sounds to me like Oprah doesn’t believe the above stuff, but does believe that positive thinking can be valuable. I can’t argue with that statement. Aren’t there studies that say that participating in a belief system, no matter the specifics, has benefits in terms of mental health, longevity and “happiness”? I’m sure I learned that in either sociology or nursing. PT is not so different from a religion, really. But taken to extremes (and this holds true for religion, as we all know), it becomes detrimental.
I still don’t like Oprah, though. I didn’t like her before this thread and I won’t once this thread is long gone. 
Yeah, but somewhere around post 63 or 64, you had a little thing for her. Admit it.
If they’re all rolling in dough they should have lots of spare time to post.
I think it’s like franchising though. The people who really make out are the ones who sell the initial idea, not the rabble who buy slogans or Tastee-Freeze outlets and try to make them work.
Like I said, this is a kind of pablum that gets recycled every so often (Coue, Norman Vincent Peale, Zig Ziglar etc.) Those who can come up with attractive new packaging for the philosophy will clean up.
I missed out this time - sank all my money into ultrasonic foot bath detoxifiers. 
For about 15 minutes in the Marianas trench in 1960 with pie.
Ha! I KNEW it!
Well I agree that you should get medical attention. However, positive thinking does help in the recovery process. I’ve read about it, but don’t have a cite handy. Basically negative thinking sends inhibitory responses to the nervous system where positive thinking sends stimulatory. This can be beneficial if you are say, trying to send blood to a wound in order to help it heal.
Slight hijack, but isn’t “The Secret” basically an update of The Magic of Believing (a bestseller in the post-WW2 era) and Wishcraft (a bestseller in the 80s/90s) and other “imagine it/be it” books?
If so, the basic principals are actually fine- it’s basically “think what you want/think how you’re going to get it [and in specifics in both cases]” advice. It just irks me that they tie in the ancients and the supernatural to general common sense.