Edensor, a popular Indonesian novel by Andrea Hirata, tells about the author’s life reflection in attaining his dream. The story begins in a little village in Belitung, Indonesia. There lived a boy who had strong will in which his life journey led him to end up in France to study his master higher degree. France was the place of his dream, inspired by the old picture of Eiffel Tower hung in the almost-broken class room wall during his early school days.
Through his effort, he got a scholarship for his post graduate program. This was his starting point of his life adventure. A boy who previously lived in a low-level-society district, who thought that going overseas is only for someone economically capable, eventually just started to experience the world thousand miles away from his village. He learnt lots of things from his journey. There he realized that whatever he dreamed about during his early days, it would come true. Even by chance he found the most beautiful scenery of Edensor, a place that he could only see and imagine from a book given by someone important in his life when he was just a kid.
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This novel of Edensor inspires me to write this essay, an essay about having dreams in our life. Many people don’t want to realize their dreams. They think that the world is such a threatening place. That's why it’s better to be secure by not taking possible risks to chase what they really want to do, what they really dream about. Once you have a thought like this, then that is your world going to be. (Coelho, from the Alchemist)
It is very true that in realizing our dream, there will be lots of obstacle blocking up our way. But the essence behind that is how we learn to overcome such blockage by applying patience, hard work, effort, and persistence, so that we become a better individual. Unfortunately, most people give up in that situation. They don’t want to live their “personal legend” in making their dreams come true.
The picture of Snowflake here is published with permission from Nancy Hamlin-Vogler of Eastern Sun Printworks. Thanks a lot Nancy for sharing your beautiful master piece to me :-) 
We’ll never know what will come to us in the next couple second: news, occurrence, etc. It could be something good or bad. Those things can influence our mood significantly. Good thing is good for us. But bad things can affect us worse and worse. Bad things in the beginning of the day can really spoil the whole day. Bad mood EMITS negative vibration. Be aware of it!
That’s why it is important to identify something that can turn our mood better. People call it as mood booster. Mood booster has a significant role in controlling our energy. Mood booster could be things that make you relaxed, happy, warm-hearted, smile, laugh, peaceful, and other kind of good feeling. It could be memories, music, sport, hobby, pets, foods, nature, and many more. Different individuals have different choice of mood boosters. Environment is also a very influential factor in applying which mood booster is the most effective to use in a particular situation.
For me, I notice several mood boosters in different stages of my life:
Kindergarten: going to the beach swimming with my family, walking to explore the block around my house
Elementary school: get together with my musician friends
High school: sitting on a quiet beach enjoying my self alone looking at the horizon
University in Indonesia: going to China town for shopping and eating, praying in the old temple
University in Australia: going to the Strand and Sunday market, cooking, salsa night, going for trips
Working in Tuban: talking for hours on the phone to my close friends, reading self-management books accompanied with relaxing music, and for sure, playing tennis!
Doing some exercise might also release mental pressure, uneasy feeling due to stress, and all sort of negative energy, hence improving our mood. When I wake up in the morning, if my mind is drawn into too much worry, then I just push my self to jog, get sweat, and release all tension. After that, I feel much fresher and stop thinking such unnecessary worry. To relieve stress from work, I play ping pong, tennis, or practice taichi. It does help me to get out from such depressing situation.
However, like I said before, we’ll never know what will come to us in the next second. When something suddenly comes and makes us feel bad, then we need an instant mood booster. What I normally do when I face such situation is talk to my best friend. A suggestion from them on how to overcome the problem would be very helpful and such a precious gift. Nevertheless, that they are being available to listen to me is already an enormous blessing.
Another instant mood booster of mine is listening to music. I have prepared a bunch of good music in my mp3 player. They’re all the cheerful, funny, soft, relaxing ones. No hurt feeling, disappointment, nor broken heart kind of song; It’s all with positive lyrics. I just set my mp3 player on and simply enjoy it. It makes my mood better at anytime. So, find out what will your mood booster be :-)
Recently I read a book called "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle. He proposes that only with the Power of Now we can gain our liberation from any unconscious thought that causes our negative feeling. To access the Power of now is basically to be fully aware on the present moment by observing our breathing or emotion. Simply just observe, be a silent observer.
I have been practicing the Power of Now and I’m in progress to get more familiar about it. Like the author said, keep practice until it is rooted into your habit then you can start to experience the joy of this power. Hmmm, I am inspired to write another essay regarding this technique.
What I understand from this book is that an Alchemist is basically a person who gets fully awakened spiritually. The main character, Santiago, seems to have this “talent” which allows him to become more aware on things he deals with.
He learns thing very fast from his surrounding. That is why through his journey he eventually understood the Alchemy principle which is the basic philosophy of life. It’s a deep understanding he got from his learning that was inspired by his sheeps, the sea, crystal, fire, dessert, and other things he encountered in his journey. When he got inspiration, he became silent and impressed by the aura of each element around him. Such a trance condition he experienced!
Follows are several quotes I like from this book:
It is "old and wise" to learn lessons from any thing you experience in your life (Santiago's thought, pg 73)
"If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man" (phrase from camel driver, pg 85)
"The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering it self" (phrase from the Alchemist, pg 130)
Don’t be scared, coz when you are, you won’t be able to listen to your heart (paraphrase from the Alchemist saying, pg 141)
Paulo Coelho, a very famous writer, seems to understand The Secret well. Many phrases in his books are the manifestation of The Secret concept. In his book, The Alchemist, he keeps emphasizing that, if you want something, the whole universe will conspire to make it true. He refers that in Alchemy discipline, the universe will unfold all things for you, this principle is known as "the Soul of the World" i.e. when you want something with all your heart, your soul will be the closest to the Soul of the World (the Universe), and it is in the form of positive force (the Alchemist, pg 78). This positive force will attract anything that corresponds to it.
Another book of Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept, he also highlights a similar phrase, "The universe always conspires to help the dreamer" (pg 53). In this book, he also proposes that in realizing your dream, you must tackle all forms of your own worry and fear, which he refers this as "the Other" of yourself. Thus, by controlling the Other, your motivation to achieve your goal will be synergic between your thinking and your heart. There is no more paradox within your self. It's all pure motivation with faith. He suggests that even tiny faith as a grain of sand can move a mountain (pg 82). Hence, your goal your dream will definitely be fulfilled.
I realize that blocking our negative thoughts is not an easy thing to do. It requires lots more practice. The more we practice will be the better. The animation movie, Kungfu Panda, also inspires me that the most powerful technique to learn to be the greatest kungfu master is to be able to conquer our self. It's how we can control our fear, worry, and all sort of negativity. That's all reflected in the forbidden parchment: nothing except the shadow of our own. The truth of the greatest power we can achieve is simply within our self.
Even in Harry Potter, the scariest nastiest creature in the wizard world, the dementors, can be defeated using the warm-happy spell Expecto Patronum, simply by concentrating to the thing that makes you happy, then the spell will work effectively. This idea is the analogy where any form of fear and worry must be directly expelled by shifting our mind using mood booster which makes us feel better. The mood booster is something that makes your mood better and happier. Mood boosters could be any memories that make you laugh, favorite things you enjoy to do, or anything that can alter your mood into a better stage. (See my other essay on Mood booster).The Secret really affects my life. After reading it through, I feel that I become more optimistic in dealing with anything in my life.
I suggest anyone who has not experienced the outcome from reading The Secret, DO read it one more time! Try to understand the essence and apply it into daily practice. It's easy to understand though. The most important thing is that you must read it open mindedly! It's not discrediting God, any beliefs, teaching, nor any religion.
I'm sure that The Secret is not against any beliefs. Even in Christianity and Buddhism, the two teachings which are so different, The Secret seems to include both phylosophies appropriately.
Christianity emphasizes on faith. Simply, you must believe in God. God is everything related to positive things!
At first, I was a bit difficult to accept the "you must believe" kind of teaching. But now, I can understand the concept of having faith to ourselves. We are creators of our universe. God is living within our selves. When you have affirmative faith on yourself, then everything will work to fulfill what you want to achieve positively. So, trust yourself, believe in your own capacity. Accordingly, you'll have no more negative sequel in your life dictionary.
This is just like in the Christian teaching, "You believe in God (positive), your sin will be washed away". Or I can say in other words: Once you do things positively and live yourself in a positive attitude (as they call it "to live in God's way"), then you are not going to think of doing sin nor to live your life with sin, hence no more sin (or "washed away").
Whereas Buddhism is more into "Ehipassiko": come and see you'll know (You'll prove it by yourself). There is no such doctrine to insist on people to believe in 'something'. Just prove it (the teaching) by your self! This is the reason why Karma becomes a very famous teaching in Buddhism. Whatever you do, it will fruit to you.
The bad things happened to us were simply the result of our own Karma. You were the one who created that scenario of bad thing. It WAS your OWN THOUGHT which you can't control in the past, creating negative thinking or imagination or visualization or even just a pretense, which eventually fruited to you. That's why how the bad thing happened to you.
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In practicing The Secret, I realize that sometimes I can't concentrate well, my thought goes deep melancholically, my fear or worry comes especially when I'm tired physically or mentally. Thus, the ways I practice The Secret are:
*) Samatha meditation focuses on cultivating high levels of concentration. There are 40 different themes you can choose. Each person has their own suitable theme. I always focus on the white light that enlightens my body and mind. Thus, whenever my mind thinks something negative, it will be burnt down by the very bright white light.
Some people may comment that what The Secret tells you is just something persuasive. I think, as long as this can lead to a better mood and positive energy, then what's the big deal?! It brings more positive aura, more confidence, eventually rises up your energy! Once you are on your optimum energy, everything is going to be much easier to achieve!
The essence of The Secret book is simply to keep you doing affirmative thought, thinking, attitude, imagination, inspiration, and positive aspect to look at things in our lives. Simply like that! No discrediting God, any beliefs, teaching, nor any religion.
Thank You Rhonda Byrne for sharing The Secret.
