My wife borrowed a book from the library called The Passion Test. We are self-help book junkies, but actually what happens most often is that my wife is the reader and I gain knowledge vicariously through her.

Well friends, I do realize that if I write this here it's no longer a secret! ha ha.

I feel like I've gotten quieter and more guarded. I'm not sure if I like this state of being, but it's a result of my recent realization about how fickle my feelings are and yet how often I used to believe them and act on them.

I think I'm finally getting it.

You see my friends, it's all about control. And not just control, but effortless control. So effortless, in fact, that it becomes a habit -- requires little to no thinking. Yet you have the perfect control.

I used to practice/noodle on my guitar for hours, but you know what I did? I played faster than the rate I could control. I'd make mistakes and noises all over the place. And when I perform, I still play that way.

The way to get better is to practice playing effortlessly. Slow down to the point where I have perfect control over ever aspect. Repeat, practice. Soon the effort becomes effortless. Then, and only then, I can speed it up to a point, but only to a point where I am still maintaining that perfect, effortless control.

I've been doing the last bits of Marc Gunn's recording project -- my backing vocals.

Now, I like singing. I LOVE singing, actually -- probably as much as I love playing my guitar. But fond of my own voice, I am not. I hear/read that many other singers feel the same way -- like John Lennon.

Anyway, these days I focus on singing low because I think I sound better that way. But Marc's a baritone and has a thicker voice than mine, so naturally I need to sing on top of him to harmonize. Well, I sound really thin on top. I was grimacing as I was listening to the rough mix. Granted, when you're singing backing vocals, it's better to sing light and thin -- float on top. It blends better. Marc's satisfied with my vocal contribution, so I'm thinking that I'm being over-critical of my own performance. Which is also typical of all performers.

So according to Law of Attraction, if we think positively, we can attract positive things to us.

That sounds so simplistic, doesn't it? I had a hard time believing it at first.

For example, that sounds awefully like simply running away from reality. If the reality is tough, then escape into the fantasy land of everything being OK. Well, everytying is not OK and I don't believe in running away from it. (though I admit, taking a break is a good idea) Only after facing the reality you can learn to overcome it. Well, so I thought.

Turns out there is a fundamental difference between escaping the reality and maintaining positive image in the face of difficulty. A very big difference.

Well, apparently Oprah had a special show dedicated to the film "The Secret" last week. This is one of the two things that I encountered earlier this year that's been basically rewriting how I approach my life. The film can come across like "new age informercial" (quoting a good friend of mine) so I've been hesitant to identify it specifically in my blog. But since Oprah showed it, I'm sure the concept can now be accepted as "mainstream." ;)

The concept of Law of Attraction is nothing new. It's just being repackaged and the information has been presented to me in a few different ways. What's really gratifying to me is 1) my experiences is consistent with the theory, and 2) I see parallels/references to it all over the Bible, making it very compatible with the Christian world view, my foundation.