The Circle covers material that will seem familiar to those who have read Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich and others), Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking), Deepak Chopra (Creating Affluence), and Anthony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within). Readers who found those books helpful will find that The Circle brings their understanding of the power of focus to a new and more refined level. The Circle is especially good for clarifying the psychological states that lead to accomplishing important desires. Although the book refers to concepts that many associate with spiritual beliefs, Ms. Day encourages you to see the book as independent of any particular religion or set of spiritual beliefs. She also says that it is just fine to reframe her words here to fit into your own religious or spiritual beliefs.
The book's key point is that "what you perceive, what you conceive, and what you create are one . . . ."
The concept is developed in three parts: initiation ("In your initiation, you discover your one true wish and put it into the language of The Circle."), apprenticeship, and mastery. These three parts are broken in turn into a total of nine steps:
(1) Intention -- You pick a single wish that is "specific, positive, passionate, and present."
(2) Embodiment -- You create "reality" tales and songs, and meditate in ways that make the wish more real to yourself.
(3) Ritual -- You follow new rituals that you create to help you achieve your wish and eliminate old habits that would undermine you.
(4) Finding Luck (or Synchronicity) -- You learn to look for meaningful coincidences and tap into them. Often, opportunity will look like a problem, a setback, or a distraction. Pay attention!
(5) Make Room for Your Wish -- "Open your hand and let go of things that you have onto out of habit for years . . . ."
(6) Achieve Coherence -- Eliminate overt cross-purposes that pull you away from your wish.
(7) Eliminate External Roadblocks -- See each one as an "inspiring challenge" that brings you closer to achieving your wish.
(8) Eliminate Subconscious Roadblocks -- Let go of unconscious and outdated wishes, and hidden agendas. In attempting to deal with these other intentions, you may realize that your wish needs to be changed to better reflect what you really want.
(9) Create and Expand a Community to Support You -- "Give what you have. Ask for what you need."
The epilogue is especially good at bringing these ideas together. I especially liked the argument that both the past and the future exist now in the present. By re-examining the past in the present, you can give the past new meaning that can power the future fulfillment of your wish.
Each of the nine steps contains assignments to help you apply the book's thinking more accurately. I found these assignments to be very brief, but highly effective.
As I read the book, I applied its process to one of my favorite wishes. What I realized from this experience is that I have some issues in step 8 that I need to deal with. That was a very helpful insight to me. Prior to reading this book, I would not have realized all of the inner conflicts that I need to resolve before I can make the fullest progress. For me, that was a highly beneficial realization. I have no way of knowing what you will learn, but I suspect that you will gain value from seeing new issues that you can deal with in at least one area.
If the book's main strength is that it explains the psychological states of implementing intention very well, the book's main weakness is that it does not explain all of its concepts. You are left hanging with some of the same statements that bother people who read Napoleon Hill. For example, you are a "sender and receiver." I take that to mean that we share our intentions with people, and we receive questions, suggestions, and support that we must be ready to notice and employ. In the context of the way the concept is used, you feel like some sort of metaphysics is being described without any detail or support.
Anyone who wants to create more coherence in their life will find this book to be very valuable, if they do the assignments in a conscientious way.
After you begin to experience mastery in applying The Circle, think about how you could introduce this information to others in ways that will make them more effective in achieving their deepest wishes. After they are having success, ask them how you can build your mastery to a higher level.
Pick worthy goals, and commit to them with integrity!...
