Rhonda was at a time in her life when she was facing challenges from every direction – business, relationships, family. That is when she stumbled across a book. Or to be more accurate, she says, it stumbled across her!

She is not exaggerating when she says that since that first night when a tattered printed transcript found it way to her (thanks to her daughter), her life has never been the same.

Once she read it and internalize its simple knowledge, her life immediately turned around. Her television production business started to go from strength to strength. Her income levels soared prodigiously. Relationships miraculously healed and marvelous new ones came pouring in from all directions.

This is a common experience for people who discover this book.

Rhonda is no other than Rhonda Byrne, the bestselling writer of the book “The Secret” and creator and executive producer of the movie of the same name.

The book literary changed her life.

The book is called “The Science of Getting Rich” and was written by
Wallace D. Wattles. It was first published in 1910.

I am a very conservative person and belong to a sceptical generation.
I wouldn’t recommend something which is not logical or without any scientific basis. The theories presented in this book more than a century ago, are mainstream now.

This book is behind my monumental change from competitive to creative mindset.

I urge you to do yourself a favour and download an electronic copy of the book here.

As you read it, be aware, as it was written almost 100 years ago. Some of the language is a little dated (or quaint) and you will need to come to it with an open mind and heart.

Rhonda got her movie crew to read and practice the teachings of the book while filming. Their collective energies to attract what they wanted made so many things possible for them which otherwise seemed impossible.

The main message of the book is:

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.

In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit. Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him.

Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man’s thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude.

This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active; and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life; and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.

The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich; and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.

Although sounding speculative, this book is pragmatical; a practical manual. Stay with it. As Wattles himself says, trust and believe, whatever you want in life is right there waiting for you.

I fell in love with the phrase “the beauty of sheer effort,” when I first read it in Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird.

I was reading Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird perhaps for the millionths time (that should essentially mean that I know every single phrase by heart, but no, something grabs me every time).

To give you the full context here is the excerpt from the chapter:

Six or seven years ago I was asked to write an article on the Special Olympics. … Things tend to go very very slowly at the Special Olympics. … The last track-and-field event before lunch was a twenty-five-yard race by some unusually handicapped runners and walkers…

She was a girl of about sixteen with a normal-looking-face above a wracked and emaciated body. She was on metal crutches and she was just plugging along, one tiny step after another, moving one crutch forward two or three inches, then moving a leg, then moving the other crutch two or three inches, then moving the other leg. It was just excruciating. Plus, I was starving to death. Inside I was going, come on, come on, come on, swabbing at my forehead with anxiety, while she kept taking these two- or three-inch steps forward. What felt like four hours later, she crossed the finish line, and you could see that she was absolutely stoked, in a shy, girlish way.

…

I kept replaying the scene of the girl on crutches making her way up the track to the finish line – and all of sudden my article began to appear out of the grayish green murk. And I could see that it was about tragedy transformed over the years into joy.

It was about the beauty of sheer effort.

Isn’t it true for all of us creative types too? We are not technically handicapped but each one of us feels inadequate in some form. Like the little girl on crunches, we move forward incredibly slowly. Two to three inches at a time.

We put in hours and hours of work into each day. Days turn into months and months turn into years, but we keep going without getting anywhere.

Sometimes we get stalled. But then we pull ourselves up and keep going.

And one day we cross the line.

That’s the sheer beauty of effort.

Photo by Ariel Pilotto on Unsplash