Well, the secret to good knitting is good yarn:
Knit Picks Shine Sport in "Sand" - I can't tell you how much I love this color. It's a lovely caramel in real life.
And a great pattern to go with it:
The Katherine Hepburn cardigan from Lace Style.
These two will meet on my needles soon....
Now, if you're looking for The Secret, that's a little more problematic. I've read the book:
(Which is appropriately all cool & Da Vinci Code looking) and seen the movie (with the intro being appropriately all cool & Da Vinci Code looking) and I'm here to tell you I'm totally, 100% behind maybe...um....50% of what's presented.
The Secret is an amalgam of several different teachings that aren't new. In fact, the author claims to have discovered "the secret" that only the very wealthy have known and shared amongst themselves throughout history. I dismiss 90% of the "set up" of the theory as hype, pure & simple. However, there are some core lessons here that I've adhered to throughout most of my life and while I don't claim miracles, I do think the ideas work...with caveats.
The secret is the law of attraction - what you think about, who you hang around with, what you do in life - attracts more of the same. Now, I've always believed this. "What goes around comes around," "You get what you give," "If you think negatively, negative things happen to you," etc., etc. This book takes it one step further & wants you to actively visualize what you want in life - "stuff" (cars, houses, jewels), good health, the perfect partner, etc. - and through the power of positive thinking/visualization, you'll get what you want.
Obviously, since she is marketing to Americans, gaining material things is the main focus of this system. After all, you can never underestimate American's thirst for the almighty dollar. Hey - there isn't a thing wrong with that - I like my pretties as much as the next person. If having things is part of the key to your happiness, I'm the first in line telling you to go for it! But I do think the spiritual/social benefits side to this method aren't covered well in the book or movie.
However, I think it's interesting to note that as the mainstream critics take potshots at "get rich quick" New Age systems like The Secret, certain evangelical sects are promoting the idea that if you believe the "right way" (their way) God blesses you with $$, cars, houses, etc. (It's a whole movement - check it out - it makes for interesting discussions.) My point is that "new-agers" aren't the only ones targeting our wallets under the guise of spiritual awakening....so be careful that your own house isn't made of glass when you start throwing stones. ::wink::
The Secret urges us to look at the Universe as one big catalog. To just pick what we want and it'll be given to us. It does neglect to say anything about working, saving up, etc. in order to afford the stuff we want...although once in awhile things have fallen into my lap totally out of the blue - and I'll bet things like that have happened to you too.
I do firmly believe that there aren't coincidences in life and being in the right place at the right time is something you bring about through positive thought and action. "You create your own reality" and "The Universe wants to act fast when opportunity presents itself" are two VERY big concepts in the book. I kinda agree with the first and totally agree with the second.
Let's take our new house as an example. No one will ever convince me that we weren't creating this scenario all along. We had been half-heartedly looking for a new place for a couple of months and had just decided to try and "find the most place for our money" when 3 days later Doug found this house while driving through a few streets randomly after work. As a family we'd been envisioning our perfect house and this one appeared like it had a big red bow on top. The only thing we sacrificed at the time (we thought) was an investment opportunity for retirement. Now we're finding out that we'll still have the bucks for that investment also, so it really was a win-win for us...because we didn't abandon our first scenario/dream just because this house cropped up - we kept feeding it positive thought & energy.
We acted FAST. We really didn't give ourselves time to think. It was a total gut instinct to make an offer for this place & we don't regret it a bit.
Do I believe that positive thought & "believing you're healed" will heal breast cancer? (This is one scenario in the movie.) Hell no! No more than I believe a laying on of hands in a faith healers tent will deliver the same. I'm all for positive thought & mind over matter......while under the very best medical care money can buy.
I believe that negativity begets negativity. If you give your energy to negative scenarios they will, eventually, come about. The book suggests counting your blessings - the things that you're grateful for - every day and I think that's an excellent idea....as have many of the world's religions. If you focus on the good things you have, you're less likely to focus on the things you don't.
OK - I could go on & on, but heck - read it for yourself!The ideas are innocuous enough - and you just might find something worth taking with you.
(Feel free to expound in my comments if you have an opinion on it - I'm interested to hear if you've read it or just have a general opinion.)
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