Lately, much has been made of of the runaway success of The Secret. It’s been pretty popular and pretty controversial. Me? I take it with a grain of salt. I do believe in the Law of Attraction, that we tend to attract the things we most often think about. (Ever notice how positive and optimistic people seem to always have things go their way, while the Debbie Downer in your office always seem to be inundated with an endless array of tragedies?)

I am a little put off by the hype, however. The DaVinci Code-style trailer asserts that this "Secret" has been covered up for centuries (no, not quite), and I am always skeptical whenever anyone claims that you can be, do, or have ANYTHING you ever want. Anything that seems to imply that we can be our own little gods and don’t really have a need for the Big Guy Upstairs tends to raise my eyebrows.

My ultimate take is this: glean the truth from it and ditch the rest. Underneath it all, however, does lie a very profound truth that children understand quite well: imagination and visualization go a long way towards achieving your dreams. As important as it is to dream big, it’s just as important to be really specific when it comes to what you’re dreaming about. An article I found written by someone known as Rocque spells this out quite well:

Remember when you wrote out your Christmas wish list? When you made that list you wrote down what you wanted. Did you include your wish for World Peace (humor here)? When you wrote down what you wanted were you specific?

If you wanted a Red Bike, did you ask for just a Bike? I bet you put down the details or described them so that Santa would know exactly what you wanted. Either that or Santa’s helpers knew exactly what make and model and color of bike you wanted. Think of the television commercials that children memorize when watching their favorite shows. Do they know the difference between the sugar coated fruity oats and plain Cheerios? Which to they want, the colorful fruity cereal or the plain yellow box?

Once a child makes up his or her mind that they want something, they have a fierce determination to get it. They will point it out to their parents when they see it. They will have their parents and friends look at the pictures in the magazine, or the ad on television or the person they see with it as you go for a walk or a ride in your car with them. When they shut their eyes they can see what they want and imagine what it is like to own it.

Hmmm…once again, the children teach us.  Apparently, the "Secret" hasn’t been banned from childhood circles.

Unfortunately, society, schools, and even parents do a pretty nice job of suppressing it. Seeds of doubt are planted within all of us: Maybe I’m not as smart or pretty or athletic as that other kid. How could I possibly succeed at something if my parents never did? Maybe I need to be more realistic. Maybe instead of wishing for a shiny red dirt bike with silver tassels on the handle bars, I should be happy with that 50¢ garage sale jalopy.

Am I saying that we should all strive for the best material things we can get our mitts on? No. Anyone who has half a brain knows that stuff, in and of itself, can never make you happy. What I am saying is that when we think about the things we want out of life, and make our list of life goals, we should be specific. Very, very specific.

Do you want to lose weight? How much? If you lose half a pound, do you get to check that off your list, because technically, you DID lose weight. Want a different job? What kind of job? Where? What will you be paid? Because I can get you a job at McDonald’s tomorrow that’s probably different from the job you have today.

What kids know, and what they have always known, is that the more specific you are about your dreams, the more likely you are to achieve them. Whether it’s a secret or not, I can’t say. But I do know that it’s true.

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