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The Secret DVD by Rhonda Byrne has been a massive hit since it’s release back in April 2007. I actually stumbled across it only a few weeks ago, it was one of those hugely popular things that seemed to completely evade my personal development radar!!

You know, I strongly believe that we tend to come across resources in our lives when they are most relevant, like the  dusty old book that we purchased long ago, suddenly catches our attention and ends up containing answers to some of our most present needs.

Well coincidently, I was discussing the power of intention with a friend of mine, actually after listening to the Deepak Chopra, Syncrodestiny audio course. We were talking about how we tend to manifest the things that we think the most about and how some people attract success and others failure. It was a few days later that I came across The Secret on the Tesco DVD rental site , It was a chance occurance, something about it just made it pop out at me amoungst the hundreds of other DVD’s. I added to my list, and it turned up through my shiney silver letterbox 4 days later. Result!

It’s worth pointing out that many people see personal development materials as prohibatively expensive, and indeed some are… but with a little effort you can find gems a reasonable prices, and DVD rental is a good way of saving some money, although you can buy the secret for about £11 online, which seems very fair.

Onto the DVD itself, which upon first glance is very impressive, with it’s slick graphic design and logo’s which don’t give much away about the content, building up a bit of intrigue in the process. I was hoping for something much much better than Snakes On A Plane, the last drivel I had unfortunately watched, and to my pleasant suprise it surpassed my expectations..

This is ‘documentary vs. The Da Vinci Code’, great personal development wisdom presented with the styling of an opulant cathedral. It’s visually beautiful, and really created an entertaining package through which to engage with the core message, the secret if you will. The colour scheme was fresh and appealling, in golds, yellows and browns. Whilst the interviews had all the professionalism of a newsnight special. It’s also worth mentioning the soundtrack which is actually really good, and worthy of a big-budget feature.

Onto the nuts and bolts, ‘the secret’. For those that don’t know, it’s about the law of attraction, the idea that by focusing on the things that you want in your life, they are more likely to manifest. This really is a core factor in many personal development programmes and it’s good to see it here as a product in it’s own right.

The fundamental concepts of the law of attraction, along with many actual examples of it in action, are presented to the viewer, as are some really solid interviews with a range a guest speakers, listed below.

John Assaraf, Michael Beckwith, Lee Brower, Jack Canfield, John F. Demartini, Marie Diamond, Mike Dooley, Bob Doyle, Hale Dwoskin, Morris E. Goodman, John Gray, John Hagelin, Bill Harris, Ben Johnson, Loral Langemeier, Lisa Nichols, Bob Proctor, James Arthur Ray, David Schirmer, Marci Shimoff, Joe Vitale, Dennis Waitley, Neale Donald Walsch & Fred Alan Wolfe….

Quite a cast! I think this is one of the reasons why this movie works so well, with a range of opinions on offer from some really respected people, it kind of makes it feel like you are being let into the secret… almost like your joining a secret society! This is quite a feat when you consider that the law of attraction itself has been around for centuries, and is the basis for many of today’s personal development products.

It was the interview sections with Michael Beckwith of Agape International Spiritual Center, that really resonated with me the most strongly, I found his manner very warming and could easily have listened to his views for much longer than this DVD permitted, which I should mention is a runtime of around 90 minutes.

I won’t talk too much more about the content, as it’s definitely one to watch. But it’s unlikely you’d be disappointed with what’s on offer here. The Secret has really set a standard for ‘personal development media’ production values, and that’s a good thing, there’s way too much low quality material around these days, and I found this to be  refreshing change.

Having subsequently done a little research on other reviews of this product, it’s fair to say they are quite mixed. Sure, there are a lot of really positive views on this movie, but there are also some concern around the implication that just because you intend something, it will be so. I can understand this point, and the secret does come quite close to suggesting this, in fact it even shows a boy wishing after a bike, day after day, until inexplicably it manifests itself as a gift. But lets be honest, hopefully we are intelligent enough to realise that the secret presents an ideal, something to aspire for. Just because it vaguely implies we only need to think of gold coins, to have them turn up in our palms without any additional effort, this would be a misjudgement of the movie. With a little common sense, I think we can move past those concerns and focus on the secret as a really inspiring movie, with a positive message, and enough little gems of knowledge to fill many a rainy day.

You can find out more about The Secret DVD using the amazon.co.uk link (right)