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Professional News Articles : : ON PRACTICE MANAGEMENT by Janyce Hamilton : 'The Secret' for dentists

'The Secret' for dentists

June 2, 2008

According to biologist and keynote speaker Bruce Lipton, PhD, public speakers who tell their audience "Think positive!" are received with silence and blank stares. Why? It's something everyone has heard before. In one of his books, Dr. Lipton wrote that from using willpower and positive thinking himself he found he had “only limited success in making personal changes in my own life. . . . It seems my sophisticated audiences had, like me, already tried [and found the same result].”

Who hasn't tried to change negative behavior by having a good attitude? We all have. The fact is that many of us have experienced limited results doing so. For example, I tried thinking that I positively love fruits and veggies and positively hated brownies and chips, but I never did believe it 100%.  No wonder why the motivational speakers with nothing more to say than “think positive!” see attendees nodding off in their chairs.

With the popularity of Oprah's Book Club (to the point where she has live classes with cameras broadcasting students’ questions in real-time via the internet), people taking daily cell phone psychoanalysis sessions during their commutes to “live their best life,” and so forth, it is challenging to sort through what’s out there and if any of it works.

Let me help by summarizing one New York Times bestseller and how it can be applied to your life. I chose The Secret because it is wildly popular now with marketing and sales gurus, organizational leaders, business owners, consultants, trainers, financial advisors, entrepreneurs and transformational speakers and writers.

What is The Secret?

The Secret is a film and a companion book to the film produced and written by Australian Rhonda Byrne. She calls these works “gifts” to humankind because she believes their philosophies (with examples in action) will bring wealth, health, happiness, romance and career success.

What is the gist of the book and film?

The concept is something termed “The law of attraction.” In The Secret, multiple authors and speakers explain it this way: whatever it is you are thinking, saying or doing draws more of the same into your life—no exceptions. Famous thinkers and inventors, such as Albert Einstein and Alexander Graham Bell, are quoted with their own words in support of knowing and living this law of attraction—the alleged secret to life.

How can dentists use these concepts?

The Secret tells readers that thoughts become things, as if we are magnets. This means that if you focus on what you don’t want (debts, crabby patients, subpar employees, relationship dissatisfaction, etc) you, in effect, call it into being. Thus, just by thinking over your problems, you draw more of these and other problems into your life. You create whatever manifests into your lifeGot the idea so far?

Good.

Alternately, if you wake up, as one of the film’s contributors, James Arthur Ray, explained, saying “thank” when one foot touches the floor and “you” when the other foot hits the floor, you set the tone for the feelings that will run throughout your day.

Going into work, focus on how easy and effortless the dental procedures will go that day, and how grateful the patients will be. If you do, The Secret holds that it will be brought about.  Thus, think in your mind about how your staff will be cheerful and helpful, and point it out when they are, with appreciation. On your lunch break, call your loved ones (family, friends) and tell him or her how you were just thinking about them and how much you like something about them. And, then Rhonda Byrne’s work holds that they will think of you and what it is that they value in their relations with you. When you yawn and seem tired, instead of thinking “I am so tired,” say to yourself, “I feel rested” and—voila!—you will have ample energy.

How does The Secret differ From ‘Think positive’?

“Think positive!” is a saying that gives us no further instruction, akin to “Win!” “Just do it!” and “Don’t worry, be happy.” These are all fine and good, but The Secret book and film are such best sellers because they are full of irrefutable examples and analogies. Coauthor of Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, Marci Shimoff, MBA, says in The Secret that there are 60,000 thoughts that run through a person’s mind each day. She said it would be impossible to monitor all 60,0000 to make sure they are aligned with our desires, so the idea is to replace thoughts of depression, fear, guilt, hate, anger, helplessness, blame, annoyment with thoughts of excitement, joy, gratitude, love, fulfillment. To facilitate this, we are told to work on our emotions. Elevating our emotions by listening to music, playing with our pets, playing games—whatever it is that brings you joy—helps to keep those good thoughts present in our minds.

In the film it is stated that whatever you are thinking and feeling today are creating your future. This is more specifically creative than merely “thinking positive.” The idea is that bad days at work don’t just randomly happen—you play a role in it—and that you can change a day that is not going well and prevent more of those kinds of days. So if you break an endo file in a canal or have a patient who is miserable to deal with and an employee who is late (“traffic was jammed”), how does the day typically go in the office? How do you react? Most dentists feel frustrated, disappointed and doubtful that there’s much they can do about it. Instead, they brace themselves: “Uh-oh, it’s one of ‘those days’.”

How can dentists use the creative process?

According to The Secret, we are instructed to simply to follow three steps (write it down for extra clarity):

• Ask (whatever you want).
• Believe (feel thankful that you have already received what you asked for in step 1).
• Receive (begin to feel wonderful of having what you asked for in step 1 as if it is already here). Several minutes each day, visualize having it. Close your eyes and see it.

How do I make a vision board?

A vision board is a tool. Denis Waitley, PhD, trained Olympic athletes and NASA astronauts using a technique called visual motor rehearsal. He found, for example, that if you practice your sporting event in your mind, the same neurons fire in your brain in sequence for muscles used as they do when you actually run the race. Dr. Waitley likes to say it this way, “If you go there in the mind, you’ll go there in the body.”

To have a vision board, you “rehearse” what you will see once you get things you want. Cut out photos or illustrations of what you want in your life, and glue them onto a poster that you can look at each day. (To be a good sport, I tried this and mine has a cabin on the water, pictures of Italy, a hybrid SUV, people laughing, people tossing a beach ball in the tidewater, people writing and speaking.) 

How will all these good things I desire come to me?

In the film, Martin Luther King Jr. is quoted as saying: “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”  Author Jack Canfield said that from inside a car driving in the night from California to New York, you can only see 100-200 feet ahead with the lights on, yet you trust the next 200 feet will keep unfolding even if you can’t see them. Similarly, The Secret says the “how” should not be your concern, your job is to ask for what you want and hold it in your mind.

How long will it take? How big should my wish be?

The film and book make no rules on speed and size of what you desire. To practice, try the technique for small things first. Test the law of attraction by intending to find, for example, a parking space in a certain area, a cup of coffee, an old friend, or to get an elevator. If you are true to the suggested processes, you should find a parking space is either open or opens after a short wait, coffee is offered to you, the phone rings with or someone mentions that old friend, or the ping is heard that an elevator is arriving at your door instead of the other five doors in the lobby first.

All I have to do Is think of what I want?

Yes, expect that what you want is on its way. Your current life is merely a residual outcome of your past, before you started practicing the law of attraction, according to the film and book. They quote Buddha: “All that we are is a result of what we have thought.”

Example of one powerful process

Gratitude: Practice being thankful throughout your day. Feel it about what you already have. Some people put a charm in their pocket, for example, as a gratitude reminder. Whether a rock, a coin, a keychain or a metal, in the morning when you put it into your pocket you are to remember you are grateful; as you empty your pocket at night and feel it in your pocket during the day, say to yourself “thank you.”

Why do we feel silly about others knowing we are trying self-empowering techniques?

In the sciences and medicine, custom is to express skepticism and scrutinize facts. Today, there is even an evidence-based dentistry journal. Thus, to admit an interest in something that is outside of the traditional viewpoint places us in a vulnerable spotlight. “What if they think I am a fool?” Yet, parents are taught to instill in their children faith in their own dreams and goals—no matter how outlandish (“I want to be president of the United States!” sibling 1 says. “Me, too!” sibling 2 says. “Okay,” responds dad, “you can both be president!”). Our own limited beliefs in our abilities to achieve great things are by far the bigger obstacle than all the combined work and the skill needed to achieve those things.

Someone may have told you that you could be a dentist. You believed you could be a dentist. You never stopped thinking about being a dentist. You maintained these thoughts. How foolish was that?

I am not into self-help books, so why would I read or view The Secret?

You can be a nonreligious person who does not believe in magic or superstitions and still take away something from reading/viewing The Secret. What is your cost? Around $24 for the book and $35 for the DVD. It would take you a week to read the book in your free time; 90 minutes to view the DVD.

Afterward, you may think it just common sense and nothing new, but still worth the time and money. Reportedly, some people exercise daily to the DVD and listen to the audio in the car to keep the principles fresh in their mind. The most zealous post thoughts on message boards and attend discussion groups.

Tips from The Secret

The film and book offer tips and suggestions for success. For example

• Surround yourself with images aligned with your goals. Instead of having sarcastic sayings about Murphy’s Law or Dilbert cartoons on the wall, cutting yourself down, why not have kind words for others and beautiful or inspiring images around you. . . a baby’s first step, a puppy’s nose touching the nose of his mother, grandpa fishing next to his granddaughter, a seed sprouting, whatever it is that you think is amazing?
• Enjoy your own company. If you don’t love being alone with yourself, you cannot expect another to want to be around you.
• Don’t fight against, work toward. The Secret expresses the saying, “What you resist, persists.” Thus, there will be pushback if you are anti-this, anti-that. Instead, be pro-this, pro-that. Reportedly, Mother Theresa wouldn’t attend anti-war rallies, but would attend pro-peace rallies. Focusing on being against something is only going to bring more of it into your sphere. Therefore, do not give your work and other problems your energy. If you have sizeable dental school loan debt, get an automated monthly payment draft set up at the bank, and then forgot about it. Instead, focus on wealth.

You, as a dentist, are curative, pain relieving, a health creator, healer, disease preventer. You, as a dentist, have good karma, so do not think “people hate dentists” but “people love me, their amazing dentist.”

Am I cursed (as if not continuing a chain letter) if I don’t view/read The Secret?

Absolutely not. If what you have been doing has been bringing success into all areas of your life, by all means, keep doing it. This film and book are just additional vehicles to use if you aren’t getting results that are worthy of you. The Secret is a collection of quotes, stories, tips and suggestions from postmortem people famous in history and living speakers/authors of today—from physicians to philosophers. It’s all about using your mind to intend and thus manifest your success. Take it for what it is worth, set aside where there is none.

Summary

Keeping grateful and success-oriented thoughts or “good vibes” in your mind will pull the things you desire into reality, according to The Secret’s law of attraction. Meanwhile, feeling bad for chunks of your day will propetuate goal inertia: your life stays changeless, fraught with day-to-day challenges and frequent disappointment.

Constantly put yourself into a state of joy, and you will be primed to keep thoughts of what you want in the here and now. This is the fuel to create the real result you desire. And remember author Jack Canfield’s philosophy, “If it ain’t fun, don’t do it.” By following your bliss, doing more of what you are passionate about, you will only bring about more of the good stuff.

Write me to share anything that happens after viewing or reading The Secret. I want to hear from dentists who gave it a shot, and those who did not and why, and how your life is going.

Janyce Hamilton is an award-winning Chicagoland freelance dental writer and editor. Send suggestions for topics to be covered, or any comments on this column, to review@cds.org.

© 2008, Chicago Dental Society