The opponents of the principles described in the movie The Secret have been out in force ever since the Oprah shows. I have to tell you–it is so entertaining! The most fun part of reading, listening, and watching the ‘naysayers’ is that with most of the arguments, they’re actually showing that the Law of Attraction, or intention/manifestation, or whatever you want to call it, is working!

For instance, in this CBS News video clip with James Arthur Ray and Scranton University psychology professor John Norcross, Harry Smith, the moderator, directs this at Norcross:”This just sounds a lot like the little engine that could: ‘I think I can, I think I can…’ Is there any harm in that?”

“Sure there is,” Dr. says. “Let me count the ways. First, if you’re reading The Secret, you’re being led away from other demonstrably effective treatments and self-help resources. Second, when it doesn’t work, people start to blame themselves and become demoralized. So when your cancer doesn’t remit [sic], schizophrenia doesn’t disappear, and you continue to be blind, you say, ‘It must be something in me’. This is just outlandish claims.”

My first reaction to hearing that was, “Oh boy. Here we go again. ‘There, there,’ he says. ‘It’s not your fault’.” He was trying to tell me, “Listen–do you not understand that you have something wrong with you? It’s not your mind that causes this condition you have, it’s not your fault, and it’s not your mind that will cure it, it’s not you that can cure it. It’s not your job to cure it. It’s mine. Only I can. The great and powerful Oz. medical doctor.”

Oops. Sorry.

The funniest statement the good professor made was this: “There is always spontaneous remission, there is always the placebo effect. We need to show The Secret does more than that. There is no reliable scientific evidence to show that the Law of Attraction or the secret works.”

Can science explain spontaneous remission or the placebo effect? Not that I know of. I suppose it didn’t even occur to him that the mind could actually be causing the remission, or causing the body to act as if it had received a drug. Nope. We can’t prove scientifically that the mind has any effect, so we can’t even entertain it as a viable cause. All we have are questions and observations. That’s evidently not enough.

Ray relates the case of a person that he’s worked with that made major changes in her life. Smith says to Norcross, “…There are instances like that where these things happen where folks sort of get their lives together from looking at a DVD or reading a book like this.”

The professor’s response? “Well, of course, but we don’t know that’s causedly the case. You know, Mr. Ray and other proponents of The Secret keep talking about ‘cases’. ‘Cases’ are not science. We need randomized clinical trials, the same thing we do in medication studies, to show this is due to it.”

Here’s another gem from another interview, again from a psychology professor: “It’s just old hot air in a new balloon.”

Scientist types can be so idiotic. Scientist types can be so blind to what’s in front of them sometimes. Reminds me of a race horse with blinders on.

Have a wonderful deliberate day!

Through the modern wonders of RSS, this article showed up in my Google reader this morning, right at the time I was needing a boost and questioning my directions. A short excerpt from: One Quick Secret to Boosting the Success of your Home-Based Business

You decided to work from home for a reason, and if you ever question whether or not you should continue to grow your business versus going back to work for someone else, give yourself a quick reality check by thinking back to your original motivations. Power punch that reality check by then being genuinely grateful for the opportunities that your home-based business has provided for you.

This post earned Wendy my thanks, and earned Aaron Potts, author of Today is that Day, a well-deserved spot on my Resources list. You should go check out what he’s written, and put him on your feed list. I have.

Do you really know what you want? Or do you just know what you don’t want?

Big difference here. Major. Profound.

You don’t want to wear the red shirt to the party tonight. What do you want to wear?

You don’t want the bills any more. What do you really want?

You don’t want to be fat. What do you really want?

Get clear what it is you do want

This is so important. You’re putting your order into the warehouse. “Don’t send me this.”

Does the warehouse ping you back and ask, “Okay, what should I send you?”. Nope. It just takes your order. But it loses the “Don’t” part. It doesn’t work on “do” and “don’t”. It just works on “send me this”.

So get clear on your goals–what you want. You have to be focused here on what you want. You want prosperity, not ‘to get out of debt’. You want fitness and vitality, not ‘to not be fat’. You want confidence and enthusiasm, not ‘to not be afraid’.

Easier said than done, but it’s vital to your success that you get it done this way. If you keep thinking in “don’t wants”, that’s what you’re still going to be getting.

Work on it. Master it. It will change your life. Guaranteed.