Why is The Secret such a phenomenal bestseller? Written by the Australian Rhonda Byrne and published in 2006, the book about the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction is still No 1 in the New Thought category on Amazon.com. The New Thought movement originated in America in the 19th century and stresses the importance of positive thinking among other things.

“The Secret can give whatever you want,” Byrne claimed in the foreword to her book, which is available in 50 languages with over 20 million copies in print, according to The Secret website, devoted to the book and the movie. (The Secret was also made into a movie.)

The Secret was so popular that Rhonda Byrne appeared on the Time magazine list of 100 people who shaped the world in 2007.  She hasn’t looked back. Byrne, who began her career as a radio producer before moving on to television, has come up with more bestsellers since The Secret.

Of course, Rhonda Byrne has her critics. Sceptics doubt the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction, which she calls the “great secret of life”.

Still, for what it’s worth, here’s the gist of The Secret. The words are taken from the summaries at the end of each chapter.

The law of attraction

• The great secret of life is the law of attraction.
• The law of attraction says like attracts like.
• Your current thoughts are creating your future life.
• Your thoughts become things.
• Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts.
• It is impossible to feel bad and at the same time have good thoughts.
• Expect the things you want, and don’t expect the things you don’t want.
• Be grateful for what you already have, and you will attract more good things.
• Giving thanks for what you want in advance turbo-charges your desires and sends a more powerful signal out into the universe.
• Visualization is the process of creating pictures in your mind of yourself enjoying what you want. When you visualize, you generate powerful thoughts and feelings of having it now. The law of attraction then returns that reality to you, just as you saw it in your mind.
• To attract money, focus on wealth. It is impossible to bring more money into your life when you focus on the lack of it.
• It is helpful to use your imagination and make-believe you already have the money you want.
• Feeling happy now is the fastest way of bringing money into your life.
• Make it your intention to look at everything you like and say to yourself, “I can afford that. I can buy that.” You will shift your way of thinking and begin to feel better about money.
• Give money in order to bring more of it into your life. When you are generous with money and feel good about sharing it, you are saying, ”I have plenty.”
• Visualize cheques in the mail.
• Tip the balance of your thoughts to wealth. Think wealth.
• The placebo effect is an example of the law of attraction in action. When a patient truly believes the tablet is a cure, he receives what he believes and is cured.
• Laughter attracts joy, releases negativity, and leads to miraculous cures.
• Disease is held in the body by thought, by observation of the illness, and the attention given to the illness. If you are feeling a little unwell, don’t talk about it – unless you want more of it. If you listen to people talk about their illness, you add energy to their illness. Instead, change the conversation to good things, and give powerful thoughts to seeing those people in health.
• Beliefs about ageing are all in our minds, so release those thoughts from your consciousness. Focus on health and eternal youth.
• What you resist, you attract, because you are powerfully focused on it with emotion. To change anything, go within and emit a new signal with your thoughts and feelings.
• You cannot help the world by focusing on the negative things. As you focus on the world’s negative events, you not only add to them, but you also bring more negative things into your own life.
• Instead of focusing on the world’s problems, give your attention and energy to trust, love, abundance, education and peace.
• We will never run out of good things because there’s more than enough to go around for everyone. Life is meant to be abundant.
• Praise and bless everything in the world, and you will dissolve negativity and discord and align yourself with the highest frequency – love.
• The universe emerges from thought. We are the creators of not only our destiny but also of the universe.
• Let go of difficulties from your past, cultural codes, and social beliefs. You are the only one who can create the life you deserve.
• A shortcut to manifesting your desires is to see it as absolute fact.
• Your power is in your thoughts, so stay aware. In other words, “Remember to remember.”
• You get to fill the blackboard of your life with whatever you want.
• The only thing you need to do is to feel good now.
• Do what you love.