I wrote this book to show a flip side to “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne. Her material is wonderful, but she misses an important point: there is a dark secret that prevents us from experiencing all the good we so rightfully deserve.

My book is partly a self-help guide and partly an inspirational tool. Most importantly, it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the profession of Social Work and to the new field of Life Coaching.

We can have a healthier, happier life if we are willing to choose the Positive. However, this process poses significant challenges for us and our culture.

We are living in times of wondrous opportunity and great folly. The world still looks to America for hope, direction, and solutions. America remains a land of majestic beauty, a beacon of unlimited opportunity, prosperity, and abundance.

But America stands before us transfixed by the rhythm of automobile engines, entangled by a war of liberation and retaliation, surrounded by a haze of unnatural vapor and murky waters, mesmerized by the soothing images on color television sets and personal computers.

See the flashing lights; hear the wailing sirens of ambulances racing through our city streets to remove the bodies of children playing drug war games. Look at the women unsafe from attack while jogging in city parks or strolling through neighborhood parks or even office corridors. Youngsters are assaulted by gunman in schools, airport terminals, and McDonald Restaurants. Robbers steal and prey on the unsuspecting in subway stations, private homes or parking lots.

Meanwhile, numerous high school graduates can’t read or write, and many college graduates can’t find decent jobs. More of the clergy break their vows and end up in court or prison. Half of all eligible voters in our country rarely vote.

Millions of Americans who work, struggle to meet their basic needs for food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Forty-four million Americans don’t have healthcare insurance. More than half of our bankruptcy claims are due to overwhelming healthcare costs; yet our political system passes laws to make filing Chapter 7 even more difficult.

In the last year alone, a million people have joined the ranks of the poor. The mentally ill and our homeless continue to overwhelm local social service networks. Medicaid and prison costs threaten the solvency of state governments. Furthermore, mass media floods us with the uneasy images of emaciated third-world children, assassinations, terrorist bombings, casualties of war, looming pandemics, natural disasters, and fear.

The good news is that life doesn’t have to be an experience of constant pain and unhappiness. Unfortunately too many people, after initially trying to make some healthy changes, simply give up and return to their old ways of living. And life does appear to be very negative for so many of us.

By profession, I am a social worker who has learned to believe in our right to heal and find peace. This book will try to convince you of these facts: we can learn how to make changes or improvements in ourselves as well as our culture.

For the last 30 years of my adult life, I have reached out a loving hand to countless many that suffer and hurt. In spite of all the pain, sorrow, human misery, and hardships that I have witnessed, I am awe-struck by the incredible spiritual growth I see, including miracles that have appeared in my life’s journey.

Do you need a miracle? Are you facing a challenge of sickness, loneliness, pain, loss, excessive habits or lack? Surely you will agree that living in today’s world is exciting, but you also know there is so much that is wrong, destructive, and harmful.

Spend some time with me and we will talk about healings, happiness, miracles, and social reforms. My healings can be the start of your miracles; our miracles can begin to transform social ills; our culture dedicated to social healing can take its rightful place in the service to the needs of the world.

This is a book about personal healing, social work treatment, and the need for social healings; but above all else, it is a message of hope. Yet, my approach requires that ultimately each person find their own inner pathway to healing. Along these lines I am reminded of a story from the Talmud: (4):

“A young Rabbi talked to his master: ‘During the time when I am studying I feel filled with light and life, but as soon as I cease to study this mood disappears. What should I do?’ So the Rabbi replied: ‘It is like a man who walks through a forest on a dark night, and part of the way is accompanied by a companion who carries a lantern. Soon they come to the point where their paths divide, and they must go on alone. If each carries his own lantern, one need fear no darkness.’”

What I will share with you is not new but old and it is a lantern. If we are to survive in this world, I believe it is time to wake up and look around. Let us choose to see the Light. Let us sing the song of Light, and search for our emotional connection to the Light that flows inside and through us all. With this knowledge of spirituality firmly in place, we can claim our in-born right to healing, happiness, and freedom.

Like the ancient Greek philosophers emphasized; “Knowledge is not what a man has been told, shown, or taught; it can be only what he has found out for himself by long and rigorous search.” (5). Absolute Knowledge—the Light, is subject to many different styles and modes of interpretations, just like music can be expressed in an infinite number of modes.

The more I share with others, the more I discover that Light is everything I know and feel plus more than I know and feel—the mystical element. Follow that which is positive, wholesome, and good.

Today I choose to share what Light means to me in the hope that you will find your own truth-vision. This is an exercise that will take patience, faith, and practice. What will soon become clear to you, from reading my book, is that the pathway to healthy change
overflows with peace, joy, and “bliss” as the mythmaker states.

I have divided my book into two parts. Part I will focus on: face stressful feelings and think positive thoughts. Part II will conclude with: take positive action and turn to Positive Power. This is a healing formula. One can use it to facilitate personal healing, to help others, and to make improvements in our country. It begins with the best we can humanly do in steps 1 through 3, and then requires our complete surrender in step 4 to the power of Light however one defines It.

I see my message as a beacon of Love-Light to those who want and need to have a better life. My book illustrates that when find the power to unlock our dark secret, we can all become more effective change agents, which will help our nation heal too. And then one can super-size “The Secret,” to get the results we all are want and need.

More information is available at

Over the past few weeks a common theme in my articles has been to stress the importance of telling the Universe what you want. Simply put, the concept of “like attracts like” is the fundamental premise of the Law of Attraction.

No matter if you are looking to improve your financial status, the quality of your relationships, or better health, your first step is to focus on what you want. You will still need to work hard, manage setbacks and make adjustments, but if you are fully committed to reaching your goal(s), and your daily actions and attitude complement your commitment, you are putting yourself in the best possible position to get what you want. Sometimes setbacks occur because the Universe is asking “how badly do you really want it.” If you give up when you encounter your first obstacle, the answer is “probably not very much.”

However, if you keep moving forward with your daily actions and commitment, the Universe will respond and will reward you. To help jump start you with living this philosophy, please consider these 7 Essential Lessons to Learn How to Attract What You Want:

1.) Gratitude. Be grateful for everything, everyday, all day long.

2.) Choose Good Feelings. What you give out to the world in feelings and energy will attract back to you, so choose positive, peaceful feelings. Try to eliminate feelings of anxiety or doubt.

3.) Law of Polarity. Every thing has an equal and an opposite – similar to magnets. Remember: Like attracts like. What are you magnetic to?

4.) Attention. Whatever you place your attention and focus on, you will bring it into your life.

5.) Intention. Make specific affirmations of your intention to have whatever it is you want. Tell yourself, each day what you want. Write it down and say it out loud. Believe in yourself and believe it’s possible.

6.) Ask for what you want. Give yourself permission to ask for whatever it is you really, really want.

7.) Allow yourself to receive. This is the most difficult lesson for many people, because we live in an “it’s better to give” society. However, receiving is actually giving, in reverse. Simply open up your heart and allow it to happen.

The quality and state of our lives is defined by the choices we make. We are responsible for what we have, and for what we don’t have. Make the choice today to begin asking for what you want. If your past history suggests to you that you are not deserving or capable of receiving what you want, I suggest you stop being a passive passenger of the past, and begin to reclaim your life today. The best place to start is to ask for what you want. Do it now, today.

Alex Blackwell is the author of The Next 45 Years – a website dedicated to sharing and creating happiness, life balance and success for the rest of our lives. To read more inspirational stories and articles, please visit: thenext45years.blogspot.com thenext45years.blogspot.com

Are you looking to inspire your mind on a daily basis? Are you looking to try to improve your mind without cutting into your daily schedule?

Do not worry, you can now get self-help audio books. What is an audio book you may ask? It is a book that someone has read and recorded their reading. Therefore you can listen to them reading the book!

If you own a modern day house you probably have a computer and a MP3 player, both are common items today. There are a couple of benefits from audio books rather than regular books. Some of these are:

-You are able to hear the book. Now you don’t have to drop what you are doing so you are able to read the book. You can now clean the house, play with your kids, take a walk or a drive, and still be able to be listening to the book. This will take away all reasons why you are unable to read the book. There is no ends to the self-development you can now have!

-You are able to zone out everything else in your life and just focus on the book. If there are noises around you that are distracting to you, you have the option of putting headphones into your ears and just listening to the book.

-With all the great, enlightening, inspiring, and educational books that are now available as audio books it is great for listening. It has also been proven that people remember information better if they hear it compared to if they read it.

The great thing about audio books is you can listen to them anytime. If you forget something from a book you can easily fast forward the book until you get to where you want to hear. This allows you to easily brush up on the book, helping you to remember whatever you want to remember.

Another positive to audio books is that most of the top downloadable audio books are actually cheaper than there hard copy books.

There is simply no limit to what you are able to accomplish with self-help audio books. You can learn a new hobby, get ahead or back up to date on your profession, get empowerment or self improvement!

Self-help audio books are truly inspiring and are a must hear in this day and age. You may think there are not that many self-help audio books out there but there is an overwhelming amount of them.

Below is a list of five of the top self-help audio book downloads right now:

-Awaken the Giant Within: Anthony Robbins
-Develop a Powerful Memory: Glenn Harrold
-Boosting Your Confidence: Andrew Johnson
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Stephen R Covey
-How to Win Friends and Influence People: Dale Carnegie

These are just some of the great self-help books that are available right now. If I were you, I would go get one of them right now!

Berni Scala is an established publisher of Audio Books. To find out more about this wonderful new medium and to try one FREE, just drop by youraudiobookshop.com youraudiobookshop.com

In order to free ourselves from the pain of anger and resentment we need to be able to forgive our self and others. The longer we dwell on hurtful situations from the past, the longer we keep our self from living fully in the present. Forgiveness is an act of kindness. An act of kindness to your self, as it leads to a sense of personal freedom.

Recently I had a client who had a lot of resentment towards her mother for many things that she had done to her in the past.
“I don’t want to forgive my mother for what she did in the past.” my client said. “What she did is wrong, and she has never apologized.”
I hear this very same statement from many clients who are living with resentment, whether it be towards their parents, their spouse, or their boss.

I asked my client if she felt that anyone other than herself, was responsible for, and capable of, making her happy. After a rather long and convoluted discussion, she said that when it was all said and done, she realized that she was indeed the only one that could make herself happy.

We sat there together for a while, and then I took a deep breath and suggested that my client do so as well. Here is an idea, I said. “What if as a totally selfish act, done simply for your own personal happiness, you decided to go ahead and let go of the resentment you had towards your mom, so that you would no longer need to have resentment clouding your life. What would that be like?” “You would not be saying that what was done to you was OK. You would simply be letting go of the resentment so that your own life would be happier. Would you want to let go of your resentment if it meant you would feel greater happiness?”

We sat there together for a while and my client’s face softened. She said that if she was able to let go of her resentment, it would be like lifting a weight from her shoulders, and removing a dark cloud from her heart.

“With all you have been through,” I said. “With all of the pain you have suffered, wouldn’t it be a wonderful gift to yourself if you could lift this weight from your shoulders and remove the dark cloud from your heart? Would it not be wonderful to be freed from your hurt and resentment?”

She sat there for a while, as tears formed, and she said very softly “Yes, I want to feel good. I want to feel love. I want to feel free.”

“So” I said, “In order to free yourself from pain and open your heart to love, you would be willing to go so far as to forgive your mother if this is what you felt was necessary for your own personal happiness?”
She was somewhat hesitant, but said “Yes.”
“Remember” I said, “I am suggesting that you do this purely for selfish reasons. Not because you want to actually forgive your mom at this point in time, but because you want to free yourself to live a happier life.”
My client said “Yes, when it is said like this, I have the resolve to forgive my mother, in order to free myself to live a happier life.”
“Good I said. “Hold these thoughts and feelings in your heart for a while and then we can talk about how to actually accomplish your forgiving.”

How about you? Are you holding onto any resentment? Are you ready to recapture your happiness? Would you be willing to undertake the radical act of forgiveness in order to free yourself? I certainly hope so.

And if not today, maybe tomorrow.

Charlie Badenhop is the originator of Seishindo, an Aikido instructor, NLP trainer, and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist. Benefit from his thought-provoking ideas and a new self-help Practice every two weeks, by subscribing to his free newsletter about the importance of seishindo.org/ Mindfulness in our lives. If you want to learn more about seishindo.org/anger/index.html anger
management or become involved in Practices that can help you to feel calm and centered, Seishindo is a great choice. Find out more about seishindo.org/newsletter/17-anger-management.html Seishindo
Anger Management theories and practices by reading the Seishindo Newsletter issue entitled “Coming to terms with anger.”

© Charlie Badenhop, 2005. You have permission to publish this article electronically free of charge, as long as the bylines with the active links are included and you don’t sell the article to others.