For any lasting transformation to take place, we must first admit into the mind the possibility of change.
Simple as that seems, it is the first place we get hung up. Whether we are looking at our spiritual depths or trying to improve some exterior aspect of ourselves, we are unable to move if we cannot imagine the possibility of movement. It is even an understatement to say this applies only to transformation; we cannot do anything unless we can find mental congruence in the possibility of doing it. If I cannot entertain the vision of washing the dishes, I guarantee I will not wash the dishes.
Now maybe here is the gap between "the secret" and reality: simply imagining does not make it so. Imagining the dishes sparkling in the cabinets will invoke the powers of the universe to cut through grease and dirt. But maybe the real secret is that accepting the possibility -- experiencing the possibility not merely as a wish and a dream but as a genuine felt sense of a conceivable future -- maybe the real secret is that is the hardest part.
Our minds have evolved to identify desires and form plans of action, or bodies have evolved to act, and in postmodern western society resources and opportunities are not scarce. But that culture is also jaded; it has been there and done that and it knows that the individual is impotent against the powers that be. Science has shown us the limits of reality and religion has taught us the reaches of god; and in the narrow space between we have left but little space for possibility.
Maybe before we can change anything in the world, we need to find in our hearts the real possibility of change and hold on to that like the fate of the world depends on it. Because it just might.
