The
Secret of Life
If you
have ever come across such inspirational movies as "The
Secret" or books like "Think and Grow Rich" and "The Law
of Attraction" - this documentary must be pretty
interesting for you as it reviews this phenomena from
different points of view.
Why are self-help books so popular? What are we looking
for? Are we all desperate? Alan Yentob goes in search of
self-help.
Starting with a look at the
latest self-help phenomenon, The Secret, Alan Yentob
sets out to learn from the big hitters in the self-help
world: Susan Jeffers, author of the bestselling Feel The
Fear and Do It Anyway; David Burns, whose book Feeling
Good, The New Mood Therapy has sold over 5 million
copies, and Anthony Robbins, who fills stadiums with his
can-do performances. “Most people see things worse than
they are so they never have to try,” says Robbins.
“People say to me ‘I’m sceptical’ and I say no you’re
not, you’re gutless.”
Robbins has been the personal coach to a raft of
celebrities including Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill
Clinton. At last year’s Wimbledon, Serena Williams,
another Robbins follower, was spotted with her own
self-help notes: “My good thoughts are powerful. Any
negative thoughts are weak. You are number one. You are
the best. You will win Wimbledon.”
“But let’s face it, none of us are going to win
Wimbledon,” says Yentob. “And anyway, we keep being told
it’s not all about winning, so why do we need these
books?” “I think we all have pain,” says Amy Jenkins,
writer of This Life and a self-help fan.
|
