
Rhonda Byrne reveals the hidden mechanics of manifestation that turned her from bankruptcy to global phenomenon. She shares why most people fail at attracting what they want and the specific techniques that create effortless results—including the "vacuum method" and the power of knowing versus believing.
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Lewis Howes
Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Rhonda Byrne in the house. I'm so grateful that you're here.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh thank you so much for having me here.
Lewis Howes
We were just talking about this right before that. You have sold with the secret. Almost 34 million copies are in print around the world, translated in over 50 languages and I believe this is one of your first sit down interviews in person since you did Oprah about 16 years ago.
Rhonda Byrne
That's true.
Lewis Howes
You've done a few virtual interviews over zoom. We did one that got millions of views around the world and you are back in person. I'm so grateful that you're here because there's definitely an energy about you in person that brings a different element. And I'm excited to talk about the things some things that we covered in the previous interview, but even more because you have this incredible piece of art that you've come out with called these manifestation cards. The Secret Manifestation Cards which are beautiful. And I want to go through a number of these today and talk about this. But you have received so much celebration over the last 16 years since the Secret came out. But you've also had criticism of the Secret and what this is.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And so for people that don't know what the secret is, if they didn't see our previous interview and this is their first time hearing about you, and it's their first time saying what is the law of Attraction and the Secret.
Rhonda Byrne
Right.
Lewis Howes
Can you explain what the Law of attraction and manifesting actually is in simple terms before we dive in deeper?
Rhonda Byrne
Sure. Gee, it'll be interesting to see what Interesting to see how I describe it now, after all these years. Basically every. Not basically, actually every human being is a creator and they are creating their life. And we don't know, for many of us, we did not know that that was the case. And we are creating our life through our thoughts. So it's not that our thoughts are powerful, it's that we are powerful. And so when we focus on a thought and we really hold that focus, that thought will manifest in our life. And so we create our own life through our thoughts and through the mind. The mind. Our mind is super, super, super powerful. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
For good or for worse.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes. So, for example, we can talk about what we want and we will manifest that, you know, and so some people, they just see the abundance in the world. That's all that they see. They don't see any lack, they just see abundance. And everything seems to go right for them. Everything falls into place for them. They invest in this and it skyrockets. And they buy a house in this place and that suburb goes crazy. And it's like everything they touch turns to gold. But it's because they have the mindset that is toward wealth and abundance. And they don't have a mindset toward lack. And we have a lack mindset when we say things like, I'm broke, I don't have enough. I don't have enough to pay my bills. And you see, whatever we say is what our life will be. And so if we are saying, I don't have enough money, then by law of attraction, we will not have enough money. We will continue to not have enough money. So what we have to do is we need to speak about what we want and we need to talk about, for example, if it's money or if it's health or if we're not feeling really great, then we can talk about what it feels like to be really well instead of talking about not being well. Right. Because if we're talking about not being well, we're attracting more of that, more of that, more of that.
Lewis Howes
Right.
Rhonda Byrne
And so that's basically Law of Attraction. I mean, it is so wonderful and it's so intricate and the more that you. The more that it becomes a part of your life, the more you say the little kind of twists and turns, synchronicities. Yeah. Like for example, if you're saying you. Yeah, I'm so overwhelmed. There's just so much going on at the moment and I can't get on top of things and I'm just overwhelmed. Guess what? Guess what's coming. More overwhelming, you know, so when we.
Lewis Howes
Speak about things that are frustrating us, that are overwhelming, that are stressing us out, that we're in lack of when we speak about them, or we're constantly in a loop of thinking of those thoughts and then speaking them to ourselves or to others, what I'm hearing you say is it's going to be a lot harder to get beyond those struggles than to speak in a different way or think in a different way. Is that what I'm hearing you say?
Rhonda Byrne
That's the case. And in fact, until we think differently, it won't change, really. It wouldn't matter. All the action in the world. All the action in the world will not override a belief that we have. And usually when we speak, for example, if I'm saying I'm so overwhelmed, so much is happening. And when we're saying I'm so overwhelmed, we believe it like we're saying it with conviction. Right. And so the fact that we believe it, it's not going to change. We're going to keep. More things are going to come. More things are going to come.
Lewis Howes
And even if someone, let's say they. They did work hard for a long time and they're feeling this overwhelm, and all of a sudden they started to make a lot more money. But it's not going to change the overwhelm if they keep thinking it.
Rhonda Byrne
That's right.
Lewis Howes
So come. Because you spent more time in this world and worked hard and it's just your time to make more, but you still might say, well, I'm still overwhelmed. It's not enough. Right. This is not enough feeling. Even though you have more, you're still stressed and overwhelmed.
Rhonda Byrne
You're still stressed.
Lewis Howes
And that's why you see people with money, some people with money who aren't fulfilled or happy, they're still overwhelmed.
Rhonda Byrne
That's right, yeah.
Lewis Howes
So how do we shift it so that when more comes our way, we're actually not feeling more overwhelmed, but more in abundance and grateful for that.
Rhonda Byrne
It's so simple. It's so easy. We just have to talk about, think about what we want and do we want to feel overwhelmed and. No, we don't. So what do you want? I want all of the success, but I want it to be effortless and easy and I want to have lots of spare time and I want to really be enjoying it. And I want, like, talk about what you want and talk about what you want until you have what you want.
Lewis Howes
When people talk about what they don't want consistently, what typically happens?
Rhonda Byrne
They get that. That's what they get more of, what they don't want. Yeah, they get more of what they don't want. If we could just talk about what we want, our life would be incredible. Incredible, amazing, spectacular. That's it. Just to talk about. But we are so. We have a world that's very beautiful, but orientated towards drama. And, you know, news is negative, and so, you know, it's challenging for people, but we're all in it together because we're all dealing with the mind. And the mind that might be delivering a whole lot of negative thoughts, but not one of us. It's not harder for one or easier for another. We all have this mind that can be like a flatmate. And chatter, chatter, chatter, nonstop chatter, keep going on, you know, so we're all dealing with that. And the mind, it's just a program. It's not an entity. It's just a program. And so through. I think, because certainly through my experience, through the Secret, you can totally train your mind to be positive so that it is not leaning toward the negative all of the time. And positive is just what you want.
Lewis Howes
Right?
Rhonda Byrne
Right.
Lewis Howes
When someone is thinking or speaking about what they want, does that mean that they are in lack of it? Or how do they speak about it where it's not from a place of lack?
Rhonda Byrne
Right. It's a good question, because you know what I mean?
Lewis Howes
If I'm like, I want this, I want this, but I don't have it. So how do we speak about it where we're in gratitude and positive around it as opposed to, I really want this thing, but it's not in my life right now, but I really want it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, but the problem is you just canceled out the manifestation when you said, but it's not in my life. Right? Yeah, because if you're saying that I, you know. Well, you could say it like This, I would really love to have this. It's a little bit softer. Right. Than I want. But to manifest something that you, to deliberately manifest, you have to want it. But then you can't have any thoughts of, well, it's not here yet. Because the moment you say it's not here, what does Law of Attraction do? It's not here yet.
Lewis Howes
And it's constantly not here yet. So say this again. How do we really manifest something? We put it out there, we speak it, or we think it, but then we detach from it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. And, you know, here's the thing. We so don't realize our own amazing power that we can just ask for something and it will be given to us.
Lewis Howes
Now, here's what. Here's what the criticism online is for the secret.
Rhonda Byrne
Okay.
Lewis Howes
Or the Law of Attraction or anyone talking about manifesting.
Rhonda Byrne
Okay.
Lewis Howes
This is what I'll see people. And this is typically people in lack, or maybe people with more of a negative frustration because they don't have what they want. They will say, or these are comments that I'll see. You can't just think something and expect it to appear without putting in the hard work, without action, without consistency. It's just the world just doesn't work like that. When you see comments like that or people say this, how would you respond to someone saying, thinking that or saying that?
Rhonda Byrne
Well, I don't. I always kind of feel that everybody has the right to think what they want and believe what they want. And I know it's not the case. I remember Lester Levinson said something so incredible. He was a wonderful teacher. He's not alive anymore, but he was very simple in the way that he talked. And he told these students that if you want something, I could lock you up in a room and padlock that room. And you ask for that and you know you have it. Right. You know you have it now. And it will come.
Lewis Howes
Really.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, it will come. And nothing in this world can stop it.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Right?
Lewis Howes
What are some examples in your life where you've. You've thought or spoken about something you've desired or wanted and it has come effortlessly? Or maybe an example of people that have written about their success stories. Is there anything you can think of, Right. Where maybe for a long time they'd struggled in manifesting or attracting what they wanted, but they started to apply this and really believed it and that thing came to them.
Rhonda Byrne
Right. Well, when I did a book signing and I had. I got to talk to all of these different people and every single person at that Book signing told me about how their life had completely changed. And what was amazing was so somebody would say that they wanted to have their working, I don't know, cleaning a bank or something, and they wanted to have their own sound studio. And that is what they decided to manifest. And they visualized and visualized and they felt it, and they wouldn't allow any thoughts of doubt to enter their mind. And they are now running one of the top sound studios in la.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
But not just that. They met their perfect partner. They bought their dream house. They have, you know, two children, or they travel. Every. Every single thing that they wanted, they received. And that was what was so amazing about all of these people. When I was signing books, it wasn't just one thing in their life, but these people were amazing. They did gratitude all of the time or they did affirmations all of the time. And they had a complete change within themselves, you know, to be kind, you know, to other people. And so they would think positively. They were aware when negative thoughts came, and they would stop them in their tracks. And so for me, I think the biggest manifestation for me was the secret.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Rhonda Byrne
Because I was a mother of two children in Melbourne, Australia, I had this night where Henny, Penny, the sky fell in. Everything in my life completely collapsed. Right. And I had a huge awakening that night. Pardon me. And realized how. I realized all of this and how incredible we are and what we can do and what mastery we have over the world. And there and then I looked out at the world and I'm like, no one knows this. No one knows this. And so I was determined that I would find a way to take this to the world. I had no idea what shape or form it would take or. But that night, I determined that that is what I would do. And so eventually, a whole team were gathered. I had a production company at that point. And everybody might think, oh, if you had a production company, it's so easy for you to make a documentary. Aha. But let me tell, ah, there's a snag. I was $2 million in debt.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Rhonda Byrne
That production company was $2 million in debt. And my accountant told me, you're going to be broke in 30 days and lose everything. Lose everything. And to this day, I don't know how it didn't happen. I do know, because I didn't allow that thought. I only allowed the thought of taking this to the world and nothing else mattered. Wow. But getting this out into the world. And so, yeah. But getting back to your point, I would like. I don't want to. I remember when, when I did time 100 and they had all the cameras. That was an interesting experience. Wow. Red carpet. And walking down and they were all like, what do you say to the naysayers? And I said, good for them. Good for them. Because I think one problem we have in the world is people wanting other people to believe what they believe. You know, I discovered something incredible. I absolutely know it's the case through my experience. Through tens of thousands and millions of people's experience, I know it's the case. But if there's somebody that isn't ready for this in their life, that's fine. Yeah, right, right. That's totally fine.
Lewis Howes
Well, because a lot of people feel like they might be in a breakdown. You know, during that moment of your life, you were struggling with, you know, business, different things in your life that were happening, relationships. It sounds like there were some challenges boiling up.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
But then this wisdom within you came out and you decided to act on it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And one of these cards, again, this is. This is a beautiful piece of art. These cards, these manifestation cards. And I want people to get this. We'll have everything linked up. And I've gone through a lot of these already. They're amazing. I wish I would have created this. This is incredible. It says, this card is great for this point in the conversation where it says everything is always on track. Always. No matter where you are in your life currently, and no matter how difficult things might appear to be in this moment, you are always being moved toward magnificence.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes.
Lewis Howes
So why are we moved toward magnificence? Even when we're in breakdown, stress and feel like we're suffering, how are we on track when we're in that moment?
Rhonda Byrne
Well, we are, though. We are. And I mean, if I use myself as an example and sometimes, excuse me for doing that, but that night that I talked about where everything collapsed in a heap and I was going to be broke, my health was really bad, my relationships were in a mess. My father had died really suddenly. He was. And he had died really suddenly. And my parents just had the love affair that I've. Most beautiful love affair I've ever seen. So my mother was in terrible grief, and so I had all of these things. And then I was going to be bussed in 30, 30 days.
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Rhonda Byrne
So I was able to turn all of that around and if that hadn't happened that night and I've thought about all of the things that led up to that night. And you know, I was making six documentary films about murder. Can you imagine?
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. A subject like. And it was heart wrenching because these were unsolved murders and talking to the families and everything like that. But it was perfection, the way that all of these things lined up, that I was making these movies and then that I plummeted into grief with my father, that I was so stressed about my mother. And all of these things led to this Incredible Night on the 9th of September at 9:30 at night and where everything fell in a heap. And I. We could all say, oh, but that was so terrible. All those things happened. And not long before that, you know, years before that, I'd been fired and never imagined I'd ever get fired. But if any of those things hadn't happened, I would never ever have discovered the secret. And so. And I've been through lots of tough things since.
Lewis Howes
You know, it hasn't been perfect.
Rhonda Byrne
When, no, when we're human, you know, we're going to have things. We're going to have things that will come, that will have us go further, reach further, be more magnificent, be more understanding, be more compassionate. You know, when you lose somebody really close to you, you become very compassionate. You know, it helps to instill all of that. And so absolutely, I say that we are all on track. The first thing people always ask me is, what do you feel about the world? Do you know, oh my gosh, it's a mess. And I just say everything's unfolding perfectly. It really and truly is. It's unfolding perfectly and the same for everybody. And somebody might be going through a really rough diagnosis, but from where I am, there's no end for any of us, really. No, we are consciousness. There's no end.
Lewis Howes
Right, Right.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
So it's not gonna end. Even if there is a bad diagnosis.
Rhonda Byrne
In our life, this is just the vehicle. This is just the car, you know, that we're using to travel around in the world. And so.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, this is another one of your cards that I love that speaks into this. And I hope you don't mind me reading some of these.
Rhonda Byrne
Not at all.
Lewis Howes
This one says, be grateful for your challenges. And you wrote all of these from your wisdom, which I think is amazing. Be grateful for your challenges. It's all of the hard things and apparently negative things that happen to us which give us deep desire to change our lives. Be grateful for them because they have given you the strength and determination to manifest something different and you will change your life. And we were talking about this beforehand, about how hard it is to watch people suffer, how hard it is to watch people you care about suffer. People struggling in the world that you don't know about and seeing suffering happening. It's very challenging to witness, especially if you have a lot of compassion in your heart, if you have. If you're empathetic towards individuals and if you felt pain yourself.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes, yes.
Lewis Howes
Very challenging. So how can people be grateful for their challenges? Even though we know, I know you know, and I know that our biggest challenges of our past got us to where we are today?
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
It's like those moments of complete pain and suffering taught me my biggest lessons, which have given me strength and courage today.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
But how can people fully understand that when they have a horrible disease, when they've lost someone in their life too soon, when there's an unfortunate war in their individual life or in their country, they're going bankrupt? How can we empower people to be grateful for their challenges when there's so much pain and suffering in their life?
Rhonda Byrne
Because being grateful is what will change their lives. And so the difficulties that they're facing. I mean, we have a lot of stories on our website about people with health challenges and how those health challenges just disappeared with love and gratitude. So. And just being grateful. Being grateful is. I mean, that. That is just number one, that's the fastest way for anybody to change their life. And I think if. If you went out and asked most people, they would be. They would say, oh, yeah, I. You know, I know it's important to be grateful. I think most people would agree with that. Grateful isn't spiritual or, you know, it's just being grateful. And I just. If you want to see the power that you have to change your life really fast, then start doing gratitude, and it will just blow your mind.
Lewis Howes
It changes everything. Again. Next card I just turned to, it is gratitude is the great multiplier. Set the universal forces in your favor for tomorrow. Tonight, before you fall asleep, go back over your whole day in your mind and replay each good moment, feeling genuine gratitude for each one. This practice ensures the universe will make your tomorrow a day filled with good moments and plenty to be grateful for for the next day as well.
Rhonda Byrne
Absolutely.
Lewis Howes
And when we are ungrateful, when we are not in appreciation for the good, the bad, the ugly, what happens in our lives when we lack gratitude, we're.
Rhonda Byrne
Taking things for granted, which means things will be taken from us.
Lewis Howes
Oh, yeah.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. When we take things for granted, they get Taken from us. Yeah. Gratitude will hold absolutely everything to us in our life. It will stick everything to us.
Lewis Howes
How do we be grateful when we're in suffering or sadness or loss?
Rhonda Byrne
I know it's really hard, but there's. I guess there's like. There's like suffering, sadness and loss that continues in that way. Or there's suffering with gratitude and the suffering gets easier.
Lewis Howes
Right.
Rhonda Byrne
Or there's sadness with gratitude and the sadness begins to lift. Or the loss with gratitude. I know because of. My mother was so grief stricken with my father having died. And what brought my mother right out of it was gratitude. She was just so grateful that they got to have all of the years together that they had. That they had five children. They're five of us and they had five children that they had an incredible life that they loved. They loved each other. Was love at first sight. And they loved and adored each other until the last moment. And she was so glad that he didn't suffer her. She just found so many things to be grateful for. And this was the love of her life. But from doing that gratitude, she just lifted herself up and began to live a new life, you know, so. So what happened was she reduced the, you know, reduced the pain. The pain and the grief because eventually it will lessen, but she. And she just felt absolute love for everything. That I remember her saying to me. She's not alive now, but I remember her saying to me, you know, I've had such a blessed life. I was like, wow, you know, you went through a war, you went through, you know, they didn't have, like. I came from very humble beginnings that my parents did not have much. And yet she saw her life as rich and blessed.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
You know, that's beautiful, isn't it?
Lewis Howes
A lot of it is perspective, you know, and if we hold on to resentment or lack of forgiveness in our life.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Are we able to manifest and attract beautiful things? If we hold on to resentment and anger and don't forgive?
Rhonda Byrne
I think we can still. Because we're attracting every day. So I think we can still attract things. But will those things bring us peace and happiness? Not when your heart is full of resentment. Because if you are full of resentment, what you will attract is more people, circumstances and events that will cause resentment.
Lewis Howes
Oh, my gosh.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. And that's just to show you that there's something to let go of. You know, everything's very beautiful. Everything's beautiful.
Lewis Howes
Can you explain that? What does that mean? Something to let go of.
Rhonda Byrne
So it's time to let Go of that resentment that. Because that original resentment is attached to some story or another that we have about somebody did something to us. And, and, and isn't it crazy that maybe somebody did? But. But then that we would carry that for years. And by carrying it, we keep attracting more of. And more and more of it. So that just, it just shows you how all of those religious texts and everything, they got it really right.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, of course.
Rhonda Byrne
When they said not to, you know, love thy enemy and all of those things that were said, all of those things make total sense. Don't carry those things with you.
Lewis Howes
Well, that lack of forgiveness, that resentment is an energetic force that's almost attracting more of those things and resisting the abundance. It is peace and harmony. It is when you're carrying and holding onto to that anger, you're resisting peace.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
This is another card again, I'm just in the flow right here that says feelings are powerful manifesters. Remember that worry attracts more worry. Just what you said, unhappiness attracts more unhappiness. Fear attracts more fear. And remember that joy attracts more joy. Happiness attracts more happiness, Love attracts more love. And it's the times, what I'm hearing you say, the times when it feels like it's the hardest is the times when it's the most important.
Rhonda Byrne
That's right.
Lewis Howes
To be in a state of gratitude, happiness and love.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Because holding on to anger, unhappiness and worry only attracts more of that.
Rhonda Byrne
More of it. And I think everybody experienced that. Right. During COVID Yes, right. With all of the worry about COVID which then turned into fear and people became more fearful, more fearful. And then things seemed to get worse and then more fearful and things got worse and things got right. When you got the whole world, when you got the. When you have the majority of the world in so much fear, it's going to get worse.
Lewis Howes
It is, yeah. Should we be thinking more about our thoughts or our feelings when it comes to manifesting and attracting abundance?
Rhonda Byrne
Good question. You know what I would say? I would say for people to choose whatever's easiest for them. I did thoughts. I became very aware of my thoughts. But two, I have to say, I also became super, super sensitive to what I was feeling. So much so that if I wasn't feeling good, I would not open my computer or any emails.
Lewis Howes
Why is that?
Rhonda Byrne
Because if I'm on a frequency, if I'm on a frequency of frustration when I open up those emails, in comes frustration, in comes problems. And so I wouldn't answer my phone if I wasn't Feeling good. And in fact, the whole Secret team knows very well if you can't get a hold of Rhonda for them, I said to them, if. If you don't feel well, please don't touch the secret. And if you had an argument with your spouse or you got really, you know, fell out of bed the wrong way, take the day off. Don't touch the Secret unless you can.
Lewis Howes
Shift out of it quickly.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. If you're unable to shift, which they all can now. But this was early days, so. Yeah, so I. I was really, really careful to. So feeling good. I guess if you ask people how they feel, they might say, oh, yeah, I feel. You know, I feel pretty good. Or they. But what I want to know is, do you feel happy? Because if you're not feeling happy, then you're unhappy. Like, we could say there's just a too, you know, too much black and white. Right.
Lewis Howes
Happy or not happy.
Rhonda Byrne
Exactly. Yeah. And so if you're not feeling. And if you think about a time in your life when you felt happy, and I don't mean overexcited or what I mean is just happy, you know, just feeling full and happy and it's a great day and you're really positive and friendly to everybody, yeah, that's happy. And the other. That kind of numb feeling or, you know, it's another day kind of. That's unhappiness.
Lewis Howes
I will say, Rhonda, I. I grew up not thinking that I was very smart or intelligent. I struggled in school, so I had this belief that I wasn't smart enough for really anyone or anything. And I was never going to be able to figure things out because I had this kind of belief based on testing poorly. Just struggling in school, it was hard to read and write, and I just felt like everyone around me was smarter based on kind of school system and tests. Now, I learned later that that wasn't true in other areas of life. I had more street smarts rather than school smarts. But I remember in my early 20s not thinking I had skills to go into a career because I lacked success in school. And early on, I was trying to figure out, how can I start to make money? How can I get opportunities for me when I don't have these skills? And what I said to myself early on was, I'm going to bring joy and happiness everywhere I go. When I would enter a room, I would think about, okay, this is a pathway to joy. And I would smile as I would cross the doorway. I would cross it. I would just open My heart to joy and smile and enter a room and smile at people. And when I would smile at other people and just ask them a question, how's your day? They would smile back and bring that mirroring energy. In this next card here, you say, live in joy. Humanity needs your joy. Planet Earth needs your joy. The universe needs your joy. And that's why you are here. Find what brings you joy, start living it, and you will have a fulfilled. You will. You will have fulfilled your purpose. And when I didn't know what my purpose was, I just said, I'm going to be joy, and that is purpose. And things started to unfold in my life. Financial opportunities. People wanted to be around me more and they wanted to help me. I didn't know why, except for that I brought joy and happiness. So I want people to know that, you know, when you bring joy, even if you don't know what direction you're heading or what, what should I do next to the next chapter of my life? Joy unlocks opportunities, like you said. And I love this message in this card here.
Rhonda Byrne
Well, that, that was just such an insight that you received. You know, that's like a divine message to you to do that. Because on the frequency of joy is everything that you could ever want.
Lewis Howes
Really.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Everything. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
It's not when you're in anger, joy.
Rhonda Byrne
No. I mean, people must notice. You know, I just think it's so obvious. Look at your life and you can see how you're creating it. Like you get angry and then one thing happens and then, oh, no, something else happens. And then something else happens and something else. You know, I mean, we've all had.
Lewis Howes
Those days, like a snowball of bad things.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. And we just keep creating one after the other.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
But yeah, on joy. Because joy is at the same frequency as love. So it's right up there. And it is incredible. And that's why in the secret documentary and in the secret why I say nothing is more important than that you feel good. Because when you feel good, you're on a feel good frequency. And absolutely everything you encounter in the day, all the people, all the circumstances, all the events will be feel good. They will be things that make you feel even better. Even better. Even better. Even better.
Lewis Howes
So, yeah, there's a quote from a famous football coach in America. His name is Vince Lombardi, who passed away, but he was a. He won a number of championships for the Green Bay Packers. I believe it was his quote that he would say to his, you know, his team, his. His athletes, was that you'll he. What did he say? He said either be fired up with enthusiasm or you'll be fired with enthusiasm. Right. It's like you either gotta bring the joy is what he was saying. Bring the energy, bring the positive excitement or you'll be fired. Fired passionately. Because it's hard to manifest or excel at a high elite level in sports or something. If you're not bringing passion and joy in a loving, happy, joyful way, it's hard to maybe you could have some success, but to kind of maintain that level of opportunities and flow. It's hard to do that without it. Right.
Rhonda Byrne
Wow, that's really interesting because that's the same with life too, right? It's really like, for example, when you're in joy, you will manifest so fast. It's a really high frequency and you will manifest really, really quickly. The thing is, if you're in grief and despair, it's very slow.
Lewis Howes
Right.
Rhonda Byrne
And that is, that's a protective mechanism for all of us. Because I had one time in my life where I hit depression and because I was extremely worried about my daughter and there was just like this black cloud and I thought, I have completely thought myself to here. I could see all of the scary thoughts that I believed. And I am here now. Here is where I am. And I knew I was here because to experience it so I could help people out of depression. And so.
Lewis Howes
So no one else created you to get there?
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, I did it.
Lewis Howes
You created yourself?
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, yeah, yeah. Because I just believed all these thoughts that I was. All these scary thoughts, I was just believing them all. And my daughter's fine and well, today, you know, they were just all thoughts and. And yeah. So now, I mean, I'm really, I guess, really fortunate. I tried everything that I knew, which was to be grateful and to think positive thoughts. So I tried thinking positive thoughts. I could feel how weak they were.
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Lewis Howes
Complicated than the last.
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Lewis Howes
What do you mean by that?
Rhonda Byrne
Like, they didn't have a lot of power behind them.
Lewis Howes
So they were like, I'm happy, but I'm not really happy. Not feeling it.
Rhonda Byrne
Because the depression was, you know, strong. It was strong. And so what I did was I decided to not resist the depression, but to love it.
Lewis Howes
Tell me more.
Rhonda Byrne
And it melted away.
Lewis Howes
What does that look like if someone's going through three to six months?
Rhonda Byrne
I had to imagine this. I had to create, like a picture of this. But I kind of like, I could feel the sensation of it because depression is just a sensation. All of our feelings are just sensations, and they're not actually us. They're just a sensation. But I would get that sensation and I would feel that sensation of depression. And then I just imagined putting my arms around it and pulling it into me. And that was hard to do.
Lewis Howes
Not pushing it away or resisting it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes. That's what we do. You see, we push away bad feelings because we don't want to feel the pain. Right.
Lewis Howes
We numb them. We try to escape from them.
Rhonda Byrne
Exactly. We do everything. But I did the opposite because I knew what you resist persists. Right. And so I just imagine putting my arms around the moment that I did just evaporated, that whole feeling of depression. And then a couple of hours later, it started to come back. Not nearly that same level. Did it again in three days, was totally gone.
Lewis Howes
How long had you been experiencing the depression for? Was this weeks? Was this months?
Rhonda Byrne
It was like a couple of weeks.
Lewis Howes
Couple of weeks. And if you would have resisted it or numbed it or tried to escape it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, I'd still be there.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
So what I'm hearing you say is that you embracing the sadness, the pain, the grief, the loss, whatever it might be, but embracing it and creating a relationship with it as opposed to pushing it away, allowed it to flow through you and leave you.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. It can't stay. Because nothing negative can remain in the face of love.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Love is the light. And everything negative you could say is darkness is one way to look at it. And so if there's Love, the darkness just disappears. And that's why it just evaporated was the most incredible feeling. And I knew I'm experiencing this so I can share it with people.
Lewis Howes
How does someone. I mean, the secret. 34 million plus copies. You know, tens of millions of people have watched the movie. All the other books and programs and products that you have, have been, you know, sold by millions of people have been bought these things. How does someone believe they are worthy of great things? The way you have been able to do great things in your life and impact the world in such a magnitude that you have done. How can someone know and trust that something is destined for them? Maybe it's not at this level, but something is great is destined for them. How do they know that? And did you know this your entire life leading up to this, that something like this was supposed to happen?
Rhonda Byrne
No, I didn't.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Rhonda Byrne
No. But the moment I discovered it, I knew it. Absolutely knew it. I knew this is why I was here. I knew it with every fiber of my being. Yeah. So. But prior to that, I didn't. I was really ambitious. Okay, you were driven.
Lewis Howes
You had a business.
Rhonda Byrne
I was driven. But when I say ambitious, I was only wanting to perfect, be great myself. I wasn't in competition with anybody. I wasn't trying to be better than that person or. I just wanted to be the best that I could be. And so I didn't. But after I discovered the Secret and my whole life turned completely around 360, I looked back on my life and I saw that every single thing in my life was leading to this.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Rhonda Byrne
Yes. Because just even things like I worked in the newsroom in a radio station. And so when the Secret went crazy, like, crazy. And I just had every news media outlet in the world, in every country coming at us, and I did very little. And because I knew that what happens, what can happen, is that the media will build you up to tear you down.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
And I knew that because I had worked in news and I'd worked in media, and so I had seen it.
Lewis Howes
Is that why you did very. You did Oprah? And that was really.
Rhonda Byrne
I did Oprah and I did Oprah because I knew Oprah lived this. And you see, I didn't want to go onto anything where I didn't want to have arguments with people, because I'm not trying to convince you to do anything. I discovered something and I wanted to share it. And if you find that it's incredible for your life, then I'm so happy if you. If you don't want to hear about it. That's fine too. So I didn't want to get into situations with people where they're like, oh, this is, you know, as if the mind can do this. This is all there is, is mind. You know, they don't even realize, like, it'll be hundreds of years before it is realized what the substance of the universe really, really is. But right now, we can use this knowledge to completely create the life we deserve to have. And what you were talking about, about being this great greatness, I think some of us were born to do something like this, but then there are others. And I think about this with my mother, right? My mother stopped working when she was like 19 years old and she had five children. But my mother achieved greatness because she was an incredible mother and she was an incredible wife. And so her. Her level was different. And I think, you know, what you did or what I did. Not everybody is prepared to take the risks. You took risks?
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
You can't do it without the risks. Yeah, I took huge risks. I put everything on the line. I would have been on the streets. I like mortgaged, overdraft. I did everything possible to get the secret out to the world. And I didn't care, honestly, what happened to me after it. I just wanted to get it to the world and that was it. And. And so you have to have. There's something within you that really pushes you. But then there are people that they might love what they do, you know, and they don't want to be running a company. They don't want the stress of that. They love their family. They want to spend as much time with their family as possible. They just really love to have a better house or, you know, and I think. And I think, honestly, if you can live your life and you can bring joy to other people just by your presence, Just by your presence, if you can do that, oh, my God, you've lived the greatest life possible. You really have. Because every single person, their true nature is joy and their true nature is love. And that's why you feel so good when you enjoy.
Lewis Howes
Right?
Rhonda Byrne
Right. And that's why we feel so good when we're loving. And being loving is smiling to that person like you did, you know, I'm opening the doors and I'm in a smile.
Lewis Howes
Yes, absolutely.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
I mean, you talk about kindness, this is the next thing on top of here. You just said kindness. We're in sync right here.
Rhonda Byrne
We're in sync.
Lewis Howes
Kindness changes everything. Want to see your life change for the Better today then be the kindest you've ever been to every person you encounter. When you do that, it's hard to have a bad day or you can't.
Rhonda Byrne
It's not possible. That's why. Just do that, you know, like, I'm like, just do that one thing. And you don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself and just see for yourself what happens. I remember this person contacted us really early on, and he said he decided that he was just going to be happy. I think he was a hairdresser. And he said, I'm just going. I'm making a decision that I am going to be happy, and I'm going to see what happens. And it was incredible what happened in his life. Got his own hairdressing salon and all of. Just because he made a decision to be happy. What. What's on the happiness frequency? Everything that you want to make you happy.
Lewis Howes
Absolutely. You know, so I'm curious about after the Secret came out, and every news outlet in the world wanted to hear more about what you were creating. You do Oprah, which that, you know, blows up everywhere. You're TIME 100 Most Influential Person in the world. You're selling tens of millions of copies within the first few years. This message was everywhere. You could not go into a store without seeing this book.
Rhonda Byrne
True.
Lewis Howes
How did you navigate the success and not let that weight or pressure break you? Because some people want the impact, the success, but then they're not ready for it. How did you prepare yourself? And was that a conscious decision not to do a lot of interviews after that, to not be picked at or try to be pulled down in certain ways?
Rhonda Byrne
That was a conscious decision. It was.
Lewis Howes
But, like, did you feel ready for the success? Do you feel prepared? Or did you feel like this was a little overwhelming?
Rhonda Byrne
I never felt it was me.
Lewis Howes
What do you mean?
Rhonda Byrne
I just. I just. It was the message that was the star, and I never felt that it was me. Like, even writing the secret book, I absolutely knew that. And making the documentary like, it was a miracle. What happened, making that documentary. The way everything that we ever needed just landed right at our feet. It was so spectacular. It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. And I just knew the universe, you know, just putting that in that most affectionate way. I knew the universe was with us. And so. And writing the book, it was the same thing. Like, I felt such a rush in writing that book. I couldn't write it fast enough. All the things that I'd learned and practiced and I Wanted to share with people. But, you know, I had, like. I got a burst blood vessel in one of my eyes. I had. My feet got all cracked. All the skin on my feet got cracked from the high frequency in writing that book.
Lewis Howes
Really?
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Because you said. You were telling me before off camera that you wrote this book in Santa Monica in an apartment.
Rhonda Byrne
I did.
Lewis Howes
I was just a few miles from.
Rhonda Byrne
Here with my laptop on my lap.
Lewis Howes
With your laptop on your lap in a small little apartment. Were you on the beach? Were you off the beach? Were you. What was your environment like off the beach?
Rhonda Byrne
It was a very simple little corporate apartment. The documentary had been released, and I was writing the book, and I had. It was just the perfect situation. I knew exactly everything that I wanted to say. It was really just rushing through me.
Lewis Howes
And because of the frequency you had, like, you know, so you had. Your body. Was feeling my body.
Rhonda Byrne
Really? Yeah.
Lewis Howes
That is fascinating.
Rhonda Byrne
After it, I. It was a wipeout.
Lewis Howes
You were, like, exhausted. You were, like, energetically drained.
Rhonda Byrne
Energetically drained, yeah. And so then with each. Then with each book that I wrote was. I tried to manage that more, you know, that I wasn't so wiped out now I could write a book and not at all.
Lewis Howes
Right? Yeah, but were you a writer before this?
Rhonda Byrne
No. Do you know what?
Lewis Howes
Was this your first book? The Secret is your first book, and you sold 34 million copies. That is crazy.
Rhonda Byrne
I know, right? I remember when Beyond Words contacted me and said, we want you to do the secret book. Well, I knew there'd be a secret book. Cause I'd seen it in bookstores in my mind, all around the world, in the front window. I'd seen it. I didn't know what it looked like, but I could feel the book. And I said, yes. I knew there'd be a secret book. And I said, okay. And they said, and we want you to write it. And I said, I'm not a writer. And guess what? I heard those words. And I'm like, yes, I am.
Lewis Howes
You switched it. Yeah.
Rhonda Byrne
Because I'm not a writer means that you will not be a writer, Right? And I'm like, yes, I am. Because I can do anything thing that I put my mind to. You everybody can do anything they put their mind to. And so I. And so I wrote. And I. I was very specific. I wanted to write to people as though with just talking to them and not, you know, any kind of incredible, huge words or anything like that. I just. I wanted to be super, super simple. Because Law of Attraction was a hard concept to get your Head around at that time. It's understood a little more these days, but.
Lewis Howes
And this is what I love about what you did, because you first said you saw it in your mind and you felt the book in bookstores when you felt it. So you were connecting the thought, the visualization of what you saw in your mind. In the first feeling you had those two things connected. It sounded like. And this is where I think some people get wrong about the law of attraction or the secret is they, you know, you had those two things, the thoughts and the feelings, as if it was already happening. But then you took action. You wrote the book. You didn't just say it's magically going to like, be in bookstores. There had to be some action somewhere, whether it was you or someone else.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, but I had the publisher come to me to say, you're gonna write the book.
Lewis Howes
You drew it in.
Rhonda Byrne
So I attracted that. But do you know what? With that book, I honestly feel like I was just the stenographer.
Lewis Howes
You were just downloading it.
Rhonda Byrne
That's why, in answer to your question, how did I manage all of that? Honestly, I never. I just felt like I was the luckiest person in the world to be a part of that journey. But I know without a doubt the universe was just there. It just. This had to come out into the world and it was there to help at every turn.
Lewis Howes
If someone is applying these principles and think they're not drawing in the person, the publisher, the right person to hire the thing to support them in manifesting what they want, does that mean they're not ready for that thing to come out into the world? Is it not the right timing? You know, because you could have wanted this 20 years prior, but it didn't happen then. It happened at the moment you were ready for it.
Rhonda Byrne
It sounds like, yeah.
Lewis Howes
So how can people let go of their frustration of really wanting something to happen now versus knowing when it's the right timing for it to come into the world?
Rhonda Byrne
Right. So the difference is just simply believe.
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Rhonda Byrne
So you have to believe you have it already. So can you. If I explain what my belief was like, my belief was a notch above believing it had already happened. Mine was knowing it had already happened.
Lewis Howes
What's the difference between believing and knowing?
Rhonda Byrne
Because one, because knowing is the highest you can get. And it's actually knowing is beyond the mind, but you can manifest with believing, too. So I didn't just believe this had happened. I absolutely knew it.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
And I knew it. And I knew what it was going to do. And I, I. How can I. It felt. I knew it so much that I felt like I had already lived the entire journey of making it and it coming out and that I had such a great time that I was reliving it.
Lewis Howes
Oh, that's pretty cool.
Rhonda Byrne
That's how. That's how it felt.
Lewis Howes
This is fascinating, what you just said. This unlocked something for me, the difference between believing and knowing. I grew up in a religion, the religion of Christian Science, which is all about healing and applying, healing, thinking and applying the mind to the material world. But really there is no material world anyways. But one of the things that I would hear over and over again when I felt like something was off in my life or I felt like I was feeling a pain or something physical in my body was off out of alignment. We would have Christian Science practitioners, spiritual practitioners that would give us prescriptions, but they weren't medications. They were spiritual medications, essentially.
Rhonda Byrne
Right, Gotcha.
Lewis Howes
And it was. And they were always called truths. And they would always say, know the truth. They didn't say, believe this. They would say, know the truth, and when you know it, it is true and it is a reality. And it was hard. It was confusing as a kid because I was like, well, but I feel this thing and there's this pain, but how can I know it? But what I'm hearing you say is believing can really help you in a big way. But knowing is what unlocks manifestation into.
Rhonda Byrne
Another level yeah, knowing it's just done. I mean, there have been times for everybody when they knew something, they absolutely knew something was going to happen before it happened. So let's say.
Lewis Howes
And how do they know that?
Rhonda Byrne
Yes, how did you know that? And you don't know how you knew it?
Lewis Howes
It's like an intuition or a feeling or something.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, right. You knew it. Like somebody's having a baby and they don't know what sex it is. But you're like, oh, I know it's a girl. I absolutely know it's a girl. And everybody thinks you're just guessing like everybody else. No, you're like, I know it, I know it's a girl. Or there's a spinning wheel. And you all of a sudden you're like, I know it's going to be number 11. I know it and it's number 11. But you knew it. Absolutely knew it.
Lewis Howes
How does that happen?
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, because it's above the mind. It's above the mind, so you definitely know it.
Lewis Howes
That's crazy.
Rhonda Byrne
So you don't have to be at knowing to manifest. You just have to be believing. And might I just say that you just have to be more believing than not believing. So that person who's not, you know, they're waiting and it hasn't manifested, and they're here and here. The difference is they're not believing. It is done already. The moment they're believing more that it's done than it hasn't arrived, it'll manifest.
Lewis Howes
How do we stay patient and see?
Rhonda Byrne
Well, if you need patience, you're not believing it's manifested, Right?
Lewis Howes
Interesting. So is there. Can you give me.
Rhonda Byrne
So you're done for right there.
Lewis Howes
So give me the example. Give me an example. If there's an example in your life personally or something you've seen from a friend or someone who's read the book where they were like, man, I've been waiting for this to happen. It's been 10 years. I feel like it's supposed to happen. I'm believing it's happening, but I haven't got the thing that I've wanted yet. Or it hasn't happened yet, hasn't come to fruition yet. Should I have more patience in manifesting? Should I expect it's already here now what should I do?
Rhonda Byrne
Okay, so I've definitely had some people do that. One in particular, she was wanting to have a baby and get pregnant. She had visualized. Visualize. Visualize. Visualize getting pregnant. She had been doing affirmations. She'd been grateful that she was getting pregnant. And she's like, still, I'm not pregnant now. I just. And I think she'd even done ivf, and that hadn't worked. And so she'd try lots of stuff. She'd given up. Yeah. And I just knew that for a woman who can't get pregnant, getting pregnant has a lot of resistance around it, because when you've not been able to get pregnant, get pregnant, get pregnant, there's, like, real resistance around that, getting pregnant. And so much so that the resistance was outweighing her resistance that I'm not pregnant yet was outweighing her visualization and all the other things. So I said to her, I don't want you to visualize that. I want you to visualize holding the baby, because that's the outcome. Right. That's the end result. You don't want to be pregnant for the rest of your life. Right. You want to be holding the baby. So I said to her, I want you to visualize holding the baby. I want you to hear the baby. I want you to feel it in your arms.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Pregnant in a month.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
And I've done that with a lot of women.
Lewis Howes
This is, you know, even you saying that I'm not a woman, but it's like imagining, you know, a child coming into my life from my partner and hearing the baby, having the baby against my chest being born, you know, feeling the heartbeat of the child next to my heartbeat, Having this beautiful moment. Like, I'm already seeing the future happening now.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
By experiencing that feeling as opposed to, like, I'm feeling it.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, I know. You better be feeling it.
Lewis Howes
You know what I mean?
Rhonda Byrne
You better be careful. You better be careful.
Lewis Howes
I know, right?
Rhonda Byrne
Do you want to have children now?
Lewis Howes
I do. At the right time. Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
At the right time. Yes.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
Okay.
Lewis Howes
Yeah. But it's like when you feel that and you really imagine and experience that feeling, it's as if it's already happened or it's happening and you're feeling it. And therefore, you're allowing that to come to you, and you're allowing that as opposed to resisting it.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
Where this person or friend of yours was like, I really want this. Come here. Come here. But. But, like, it's not here yet because.
Rhonda Byrne
There'S so many disappointments. You see. You know, women I know go through a lot who can't get pregnant, so there's just one disappointment after another. Or maybe they got pregnant and then they miscarried and somebody else. There are two. Two Australian girls volleyball players, and they're playing in the Olympic Games. And these girls were just so brilliant, so clever. They were not at all the favorites. Far from the favorites. They were way down the chart. And what they did was they filled their entire apartment with gold awards. They got everything. Gold leading up to the Olympic Games, and they had gold everywhere. They bought all these awards everywhere. Gold. Do you think anyone could have beaten them at the Olympic Games?
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
No chance.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
The ball was going to bounce in the perfect way. They were going to be in the exact perfect position, you see, because. So when we talk about action, the kind of action that you have to do for when you have used the mind, that action's effortless. That's why writing the secret book was effortless. It's effortless. But if you go out into the world and you're like, make this happen. And you want to do all the action, oh, you're going to struggle. Oh, it's going to be hard.
Lewis Howes
You might get there eventually, but it's going to be harder than it could be.
Rhonda Byrne
And you'll get there eventually. But you only get there eventually because you think it's gradually, bit by bit. That's the only reason you get there, because you had the thought, oh, things are getting better. I'm starting to see successes coming. You're having these little thoughts along the way. That's the only reason you make it. You cannot do anything in the world without thought. Nothing. You show me one invention that's happened without thought.
Lewis Howes
Right. You have to imagine it first.
Rhonda Byrne
Right.
Lewis Howes
You have to come up with it in your mind, and then you alchemize and create it in the world.
Rhonda Byrne
Exactly. Mm. You think at first.
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. So for those girls, you see, they lived with that gold and saw themselves winning gold. And so that. That. And they. I bet if you ask them, they would say winning that gold was effortless for them, that they just got the right breaks, that everything happened the right way for them because it would.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
And, you know, sports people are so amazing at visualizing winning. Right.
Lewis Howes
And then it does look effortless for them because they're in the flow. They're not working hard. They're working. They're effortlessly moving to their desired result. Right. How do we navigate the ego when. Let's say, when success comes our way, you know, whether these girls who win the gold medal, you know, an athlete, you selling millions of copies in the first year or months or whatever, and getting all these opportunities. How do we navigate the ego from not consuming us, but success actually allowing us to multiply into Greater success.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Really good question.
Lewis Howes
How did you navigate that?
Rhonda Byrne
You just. You certainly have to remain humble, you know, and humble and grateful. And I think we've all seen people that have had success and then just rob faith just find themselves in the most awful drama of, you know, terrible situation where they made one mistake and just everything, you know, the whole world turned against them. So you have to remain humble. Otherwise, truly just, you're in for a really rough ride. And you could visualize all the most wonderful things and you could, you know, achieve all of that and manifest all of that. But if you don't remain humble, because if you look at it anyway, you never did it on your own. Like, even if you just look at physically in the world. I mean, I knew we had the universe behind us. I felt it with every step that we took. But even I've got the most incredible team. I mean, we did intentions meetings at 11 o' clock every morning and where we intended. And in those meetings we were celebrating the secret, having swept the world and having become a global phenomenon. That's what we did in those meetings.
Lewis Howes
Before the book came out.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, yeah. But we danced and we celebrated that. That's what you've got to do.
Lewis Howes
You had the feeling of joy and.
Rhonda Byrne
Excitement and gladness that it was already done.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. If you want to go traveling, if you want to see the world and you're like, I don't have any money, how will I ever go traveling? Straight away, Law of attraction says, okay, done. You know, I don't have any money or. But if you want to go traveling, get out your suitcase.
Lewis Howes
This is the funniest thing you said, is because my. My fiance, Martha, she's Mexican and grew up in this Mexican traditions. And over the holidays, I don't know, this never happened to me growing up in America. But over the holidays, they would do this thing around Christmas and New Year's. Her family and I believe this is a Mexican tradition, but her family, they'll all get out suitcases during the holidays and say, where do you want to go next year? And then we leave the house with the suitcase and say, we're going to Japan. We walk out and we skip down the sidewalk with a suitcase. Me and Martha did. And then each family member does this and tells the experience of where they went. I'm going here. And this is where it's going to feel like in the experience. And it's this joy and excitement, talking about the trip. And we take the suitcase out the door and then we come back and we tell the experience, and we said this. This last year, Japan, and now I believe we literally just booked our trip to Japan happening in like a month.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, I was gonna say, you are going to Japan.
Lewis Howes
Yeah, it's happening.
Rhonda Byrne
No, it's happening.
Lewis Howes
We've already booked it. But even though I didn't know when or how, at the end of last year, we set an intention.
Rhonda Byrne
He did.
Lewis Howes
We celebrated it, we talked about it, and we allowed the universe to open up to see when is this possible? How is this possible? What are we gonna be doing right? And things are coming to us in a way that's going to create a beautiful, magical experience.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, so fantastic.
Lewis Howes
But we took our luggage out, and so I don't know if this is like, a Mexican tradition, but it's amazing. So literally what you said they do every year is really cool because it sets that intention.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes. Acting as if is what it is. It's acting as if you already have it. Like, I remember there was this lady who wanted to be in the audience on the Oprah show when I was going to be on there, and the audience was completely full. It was booked out. But what she did was she got her suitcase out and she got a flight to Chicago. I mean, this is somebody really, really game. And she gets a call, a message on her phone when she lands in Chicago to say, come to the studio. We've got a seat for you. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
But she had already intended it and went there.
Rhonda Byrne
She had to get a seat. This is fascinating because she really, like, she really believed in you. So acting as if, like, I know I wrote this in one of my books, but there was this woman who wanted a horse. She couldn't afford to buy a horse, so she went and bought the bridle. And she put the bridle on her table in front of her and looked at that bridle every day.
Lewis Howes
Is that the saddle? Is the bridle?
Rhonda Byrne
The saddle?
Lewis Howes
The bridle.
Rhonda Byrne
I think it's the.
Lewis Howes
I'm not a really great mouthpiece.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. The. The straps that go around the head kind of thing, I think. And within a couple of weeks, she. Through actually the most extraordinary set of circumstances, she got offered a horse.
Lewis Howes
Oh, my goodness.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Through someone. Through someone, through someone, through someone. And she got offered a horse. But of course, she was acting as if she already had the horse. She bought the bridles. So. And I always say, the universe abhors a vacuum.
Lewis Howes
Say it again.
Rhonda Byrne
The universe abhors a vacuum. So abhors is a B H O R S Abhors. The universe dislikes a vacuum. The universe can't tolerate a vacuum. It has to fill it. So if you create a vacuum, which is why like, for all the people who want to meet their perfect partner and you go to their house and their wardrobe is totally full and there's no room for their partner's clothes. Right. And they sleep in the middle of the bed. Where does their partner sleep?
Lewis Howes
Right, right.
Rhonda Byrne
So you've got to create a vacuum. And so you're going to sleep on that side of the bed so the partner sleeps there. You got to make room in the bathroom.
Lewis Howes
Interesting.
Rhonda Byrne
You need to make room in the closet. You've created a vacuum. Then the person can come into your life.
Lewis Howes
That's so. This is so funny you say this as well because Martha, my fiance, she, when she was single, before we started dating, she bought herself a home and she was going to buy a queen size bed. But her coach was like, well, are you trying to, you know, what type of man are you trying to attract? She's like, well, you know, a king. You know, I'm trying to attract my king in my life. Right. Not saying that I'm a king or whatever, but like I'm trying to attract. And she was saying, explain, what's he look like? Is he, is he short? Is he tall? Is he, you know, and she was like, nah, he's like six four. And you know, he's an athlete and he's. He needs space. Right. And her coach was like, well, you can't buy a queen or full size bed if you want to attract a bigger guy. You need space. Like you said, you need to have a big. So for a number of months she had this big king size bed and she's tiny, she's like five two. Right. So she was. But she was sleeping on this big bed. She's like, ah, is this weird? Because I have this extra space, but she allowed room for me to be there as well.
Rhonda Byrne
How amazing.
Lewis Howes
And you hear this with your life.
Rhonda Byrne
Is full of these stories. It's so good.
Lewis Howes
And you hear a lot of, I'm assuming, you know, mothers to be. They create rooms with a crib and they have the room ready for the. That's like creating a vacuum, right?
Rhonda Byrne
Right.
Lewis Howes
It is for the baby to.
Rhonda Byrne
Then, yeah, Good observation, right?
Lewis Howes
A lot of mothers do this nesting or whatever it might be, right?
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, great observation.
Lewis Howes
That's another example of like, okay, I'm struggling getting pregnant, but let me just intend and set the intention that there will be a child here.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes.
Lewis Howes
But I gotta do it before it comes.
Rhonda Byrne
Yes. And you know what people might say? Some people might say, oh, no, you might jinx it. Come on. Come on. Are you gonna believe that, that thought?
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
Don't believe that thought. Don't believe any thought that you don't deserve things. You deserve everything you want. Everybody deserves everything they want. And there's no shortage.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
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Lewis Howes
How do we. This is a. This is a card you talk about with negative thoughts. How do we. When we want something, how do we learn to navigate the negative thoughts that come and go? Because not all of us, you know, are going to be able to have perfect positive thoughts all day long, Especially when there's challenge or breakdown or maybe some financial strain or pain. Physical pain.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah.
Lewis Howes
So how do we navigate negative thoughts based on what you've talked about?
Rhonda Byrne
The secret really is to become more aware of what's going on in your mind. And you might, to begin with, just become aware of your feelings, you know, and all of a sudden you're not feeling very good. And I promise you, if you're not feeling very good, it's because you've had a whole lot of negative thoughts that you've been giving your attention to. And that's why you don't feel very good. And so you need to become more aware. And so I just had somebody yesterday say to me that they spiraled downward in a particular situation and then they kind of came out of it. And they were like, why did I do that? Why did I let all of those thoughts get me down like that? And I said to her, but you know what? What you did is amazing because you saw it. You know, even if you went down with it, you still saw it, you came out of it and you're like, look what happened. That was all negative thoughts. So.
Lewis Howes
But you caught it. You were aware of it, you caught it, you caught it.
Rhonda Byrne
And so for me, like, really early on, you know, I would only realize a couple of days later or. But the more that you do it, the faster that you catch it. And a negative thought feels so alien now, or negative thoughts feel so alien.
Lewis Howes
That they're foreign to you now. Yeah, well, most people, negative thoughts are so familiar because that's all they know is negative thinking. I know you get in a trap or in a cycle of thinking, you wake up negative, you wake up frustrated, resentful, and you follow through and you go to sleep frustrated. And negative thinking. And it is a familiar feeling. I've been there in the past. It just becomes a familiarity of just everything is against me, the world is against me. This person is trying to take advantage of me. Negative, negative, negative. And it can feel like you're in a trap or you're stuck. It can feel extremely hard to get out of it. But the more we practice what I'm hearing you say, the more we practice catching it and being aware of it and practicing having, replacing it with a different type of positive, empowering thought.
Rhonda Byrne
That's right.
Lewis Howes
Then the more familiar that will start to feel as well.
Rhonda Byrne
That's right. It's just a pattern. That is, the mind's just a program.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
You know, it's just a program. So it's programmed right now based on what each of us have been putting into it. And you know, I lived like decades with, you know, caught up in dramas. I mean, I'm really grateful to the universe that it didn't wipe me out, you know, because, oh my gosh, you know, if I think about different negative, you know, things that I get caught up in and talking about and you know, gossip, like for example, is just such a negative, awful thing.
Lewis Howes
It's a low frequency energy.
Rhonda Byrne
Very low frequency. Yeah. Really low frequency.
Lewis Howes
So gossip. Yeah, it's one of the lowest frequencies I feel like, Right?
Rhonda Byrne
Sure is. Yeah. Yeah, it sure is.
Lewis Howes
It doesn't empower you to attract what you want.
Rhonda Byrne
No. And you know, for the law of attraction, like there's only one you. There's only one. So it is responding to your thoughts, to your words. But there's only one. There's only you. And so whatever you say about another, you're bringing to you.
Lewis Howes
Can you say that one more time?
Rhonda Byrne
Okay, so for Law of Attraction, it's responding to thoughts, Right? And so your thoughts, and you can't think thought for me, and I can't think a thought for you. Right? So Law of Attraction is just responding to my thoughts, and it's responding to your thoughts. And so what. What it is doing is if I am talking about, oh, she's, you know, she's this. I saw her do this. I saw her, you know, and she did that to somebody else, you know, too. Blah. Da, da, da, da, da. This big story you're saying, all of that, all that blame, and Law of Attraction's giving it to you.
Lewis Howes
Oh, man.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. We can't think. We can't think badly of somebody else without it affecting us. It will come back to us, guaranteed. We're just not making the connection, you know, and so we attract blame. So we're, you know, we're blaming somebody, and then we go into work the next day, and we've made the biggest mistake of all time in our job, and we're hauled into the office and the boss is going right through us, and we don't make the connection.
Lewis Howes
Wow.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No kind thoughts.
Lewis Howes
Kind, yes. To others.
Rhonda Byrne
Do it for you.
Lewis Howes
Yes. You know, because when we think about others, we're attracting to us as well. Yeah, it's hard, but the universe can't make that distinction. Right? No difference.
Rhonda Byrne
No. And there's only one for Law of Attraction. In truth, there's only one, too. Overall, they don't. We feel very individual. But there is. There is only one. But for Law of Attraction, there's only one. And if you think about it, it has to be that way, that it's just responding here to these thoughts, to these thoughts. It's responding to these thoughts, to these thoughts. It's responding to these thoughts. None of it's personal. Not personal at all. It's not saying, oh, I know you don't really want that. I'm not gonna give it to you.
Lewis Howes
But if you're speaking and you want to. We're talking about the secret manifestation cards by Rhonda Byrne. Make sure you guys get a few of these decks. There's tons of different decks out there in the world that people make, but I don't think I've seen a deck this beautifully done. The design, the artistry. I know Nick was Heavily involved in this on your team.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Amazing team. Amazing team.
Lewis Howes
It's beautiful. I mean, I just want to like frame these. They're like pieces of art, so they are powerful. I think it's 65 cards. 65 cards and a 16 page booklet that is in this that will give you. In a moment, you pick it up, you take up the first one, you shuffle the deck, you're gonna get inspiration.
Rhonda Byrne
And by law of attraction, like if you wake up in the morning and wake up in the morning and draw a card, by law of attraction, that is the most important message you need to hear in this moment.
Lewis Howes
Let's go.
Rhonda Byrne
Right, let's go.
Lewis Howes
I'm excited. I want people to get this. The secret manifestation cards.
Rhonda Byrne
Oh, thank you.
Lewis Howes
Make sure you get this. I've got a couple final questions for you. But people can get this at the Secret tv. I believe it's the main page where they can get it. Everyone on social media. The Secret, or the Secret365 is also on Instagram, but pretty much everywhere. The Secret on social media and the Secret tv where you can sign up for the newsletter, get information about all the books that Rhonda has. The last book, the Greatest Secret, is incredible. We talked about that in our previous interview.
Rhonda Byrne
We did.
Lewis Howes
It's incredible. I have a couple final questions for you, Rhonda, but I just wanted to say before I ask them, I'm so grateful that we're doing this in person. There's an amazing energy about you that is magnificent in itself. The energy, the wisdom, the passion and the joy you bring. I'm so glad we're doing this in person. I hope we can do this every year or in the future again and just continue to have these conversations because I feel like there's an amazing flow here.
Rhonda Byrne
I've loved every second.
Lewis Howes
I'm very grateful you're here and I know people love hearing from you. So I'm so glad that we're doing this.
Rhonda Byrne
Thank you.
Lewis Howes
This is a question that I'm curious about because you've done so much and you've impacted tens of millions of lives. What do you see is next for you beyond this? Do you have a vision of what you're trying to create in the future, or is it more? You stay very present and you allow things to come to you at this stage. Where are you at currently in your life?
Rhonda Byrne
Certainly I allow myself to be guided and I don't kind of make up my mind. There's a book I've been thinking about for a while for the Last year, and I've been doing some research on that, so that might happen. We've been doing apps, and so I've been enjoying doing that with the team as well. My. I just. All I want to do is keep. Keep creating in the hope that. To reach more people and to help more people have better lives. Yes, that's. And so I don't even mind what shape or form that comes in. Just as long as that. Just as long as it reaches people.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. And it just. I mean, that's just what you live for. And I'm sure that is the case for you, too.
Lewis Howes
That's what I'm doing.
Rhonda Byrne
Yeah. Right. When you get that feedback, it's just absolutely amazing. And then you're like, I knew this is what I was meant to do.
Lewis Howes
Yes.
Rhonda Byrne
And isn't it a total feeling of serving is a real feeling of that, is it not? 100%, isn't it? Yeah.
Lewis Howes
And that's where we get a lot of fulfillment when we're in service.
Rhonda Byrne
Of course. Yeah.
Lewis Howes
That's beautiful. I'm so excited. Well, we're here to support you. Spread the message. Whenever you have the next book or project. We're here to do more of this. I asked you this question the last time. It's what I asked everyone towards the end of my interviews. And I'm curious if it's the same or if it's different. And we'll have to go back and hear the previous interview to see where it was at. But this question is called the three Truths. So imagine a hypothetical scenario. You get to live as long as you want in this physical world, but it's the last day for you. Somewhere in the future, it's the last day and you get to continue to create all the books, the apps, the projects, or whatever you manifest in the future. It all comes true, as it has for you in the last 15, 20 years. But for whatever reason, in this hypothetical scenario, you have to take everything with you so no one has access to the manifestation cards. They don't have access to the movie, the secret, the book, or anything you've ever created. Hypothetical scenario. And all you get to leave behind are three lessons that you've learned and everything else is gone. What would be those three lessons, or what I like to call three truths for you?
Rhonda Byrne
Well, to definitely. To love everything and everyone, to be grateful for every moment and to be the joy.
Lewis Howes
I love that. I'll make sure to link up the previous interview so we can see what you said before. It's probably similar so people can watch that. I have one final question, Rhonda, Again, I want to acknowledge you for your joy, for your light, for your creativity, for showing up for yourself fully, for living a harmonious life internally so that you're able to create effortlessly in the world and be of service. It's a beautiful thing to watch. And again, I hope we get to do many more of these in the future. But I acknowledge you for the gift that you are and I'm very grateful for the impact you've made on so many lives. So thank you for being here.
Rhonda Byrne
Thank you so much.
Lewis Howes
Of course, my final question is what is your definition of greatness?
Rhonda Byrne
This humility? That's what I would say. Yeah. Because I think if you humble then you've definitely got greatness inside you.
Lewis Howes
I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links and if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience. Make sure to subscribe to our Greatness plus channel on Apple Podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple Podcast and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at Lewishouse. I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over@greatness.com newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.
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Rhonda Byrne
O.Com what does possibility mean to you? Um, that's a hard question. Something that you can strive for. I'm able to do anything I set my mind to. You're confident in yourself and you believe in yourself. Stuff that you could achieve. I feel at Sarah anything is possible when you're more confident. Shoes are a huge part of that.
Lewis Howes
They are the most important part of my style.
Rhonda Byrne
You can like, express yourself in the right shoes. Anything is possible.
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Host: Lewis Howes
Guest: Rhonda Byrne
Date: September 19, 2025
In this engaging and heartfelt conversation, Lewis Howes welcomes Rhonda Byrne—best-selling author of "The Secret"—for a rare, in-person interview. Sixteen years after her game-changing book and movie introduced the world to the Law of Attraction, Byrne returns to share deeper insights about manifesting, address criticism, and discuss how the Law of Attraction actually works in real, practical terms. The episode explores her powerful new project, "The Secret Manifestation Cards," and covers actionable guidance for shifting mindset, dealing with criticism and doubt, embracing gratitude, and navigating success and hardship through the lens of manifestation.
[93:36]
Rhonda Byrne moved beyond the platitudes often associated with The Secret and Law of Attraction. She offered a compelling, nuanced view: Manifestation is as much about inner belief, feeling, and alignment as it is about action. The practice of gratitude, humility, and joy are not only foundational for creating abundance but essential for living a truly great life. Even amidst pain and adversity, the Law of Attraction can be used either consciously or unconsciously—so it’s up to us to focus on what we desire, act as if, and embrace the present moment with gratitude and love.
For more insight and inspiration, listen to the full episode at The School of Greatness or visit the show notes for direct links and further reading.