Do you believe everything in your life you have "attracted" just like the movie The Secret says?

Absolutely not. I was sexually abused as a child, for many years. What on earth could I have done to attract (read: deserve) that???

This is not to say that having a positive attitude and a pleasant demeanor isn’t helpful in getting you what you want, though.

No. The Secret is utter nonsense.

No, i’m not a magnet.

In some cases, yes. In @Augustlan’s case, no.

@BoyWonder So, it’s true when you want it to be true.

Right.

The Secret is the dumbest shit my grandmother has ever made me read.

It’s not much of a secret, now is it?

Like all of these fads/crazes/pop psychology and mythology – some of it will be right – some not.

As far as placebos go, ‘The Secret’ is ineffective at best. Now, actually working towards your goals, that works

I believe that you attract some things into your life.

Fuck that. Yeah, kids dying of cancer brought it on themselves. Kids who are abused brought it on themselves. This is popularized victim blaming and it’s not okay.

Perhaps the older you get you learn to control your surroundings. But there’s no controlling a lunatic ever.

I read the book (I was working at the bookstore and wanted to see what the hoopla was)

I saw lots of chit-chat and almost absolutely no substance. It seemed to be a bunch of hooey.

Only vacant parking spots I attract.
This is true.

I’d like to believe it.
But am still unsure.

Nope.

I think that’s bs, pure and simple. I worked for what I have and I have been born into certain privilege and the rest of it is just how it went down.

No. Just no.

That is true, to a very limited extent, but for Christians, our paths are ordained by God, not luck, not others, not some “Law of Attraction.”

That’s crap.

There are some things you can do to influence the outcome of some situations—how you respond, interact or say things, but there is no absolute control over any situation and in most situations, almost no control over anything except how you respond.

I abhor “The Secret” and anything along those lines—“Dr.” Laura Schlessinger, Joel Osteen, all those “blame yourself, the bad is your punishment, the good is God’s reward” ministries. shudder!

God only takes care of Christians? Interesting belief. I didn’t know that. I thought he’d got the whole world in his hands, and not a sparrow falleth.

The secret is a scam, preying on people looking for easy solutions and excuses not to care about others. After all… according to this book, all detriment befalling others is their own fault.

A very nasty piece of BS.

The Secret definitely does work at attracting…money…for the people who invented it.

@dappled leaves: I did say in some cases, didn’t I?

Absolutely not. That’s like telling a disabled kid that they’re disabled because they don’t pray enough.

The only thing that does “attract” is the way you treat other people. Be nice to others, they’ll usually be nice back. Be a jerk and they will treat you appropriately.

@Jeruba

That’s not what I said.

@downtide I knew a boy whose parents took him to a healing center at least 3 times that I know of to pray his deafness out of his ears. Each time, he would come back to school and still be deaf. He would tell me in a sad but very matter of fact tone that he was still deaf because he didn’t believe or pray hard enough. He got punished for it by his family. This was 7 years ago, not 50 years ago.

Like I said, I abhor this kind of reasoning beyond what I can safely and rationally explain.

@linguaphile : I guess his parents never read the book of Job. That’s terrible.

BS. What about people who experience natural disasters? What about people who get cancer? Did they just not think positively enough? Shakes head.

@lonelydragon

Positive thinking can carry you only so far. The universe can be rather… random.

@keobooks

God sets paths for people that may seem very harsh and uncompromising. I always wondered about the martyrs. He obviously has a very different view of death and suffering than do we.

The manifest destiny crowed drives absolutely crazy for all the reasons that @augustlan, @Mariah and others have stated.

We do have a certain amount of control over portions of our lives like choosing to be around positive people. But we don’t have 100% control over abusers. We can take precautions but even the best precaution can be all for naught.