One of the greatest things that can happen to a person - - and it happens to only a few - - is to produce something that becomes a best seller. It can be a product, a service, or in its most familiar sense, it can be a book, a song, or a recording. 

No one can say exactly what makes a best seller, but when it happens it is one of the world’s most exhilarating experiences. I know because it happened to me. And it happened almost by accident.  

It was in the month of March 1956. For many years I had been planning to retire on my thirty-fifth birthday. I’d made up my mind to do this as a kid, when thirty-five seemed like a pretty venerable age. But I’ve already told you about this.  

On the month of my retirement, I was asked by the sales manager of a business I owned if before I left on the extended trip I had planned, I would write and record a message he could play for the men at the weekly sales meetings.  

I thought this was a pretty good idea, and went to work on it. In capsule form, I wrote my ideas on what it takes to live successfully and well all the years of a person’s life. When I had recorded it, I called it The Strangest Secret.  

It wasn’t long before people started asking for copies of the record. I did nothing at all to advertise or promote it in any way. But every month, sales of the record climbed and kept climbing. We had trouble keeping an inventory. Soon ten thousand copies had been sold, then twenty, then fifty, then a hundred thousand. For a non-entertainment type record, this was a world’s record. Then sales climbed to two hundred thousand, and kept right on going! The record was shipped to every free country in the world, I guess. It sold in large volume in New Zealand and Australia and South Africa.  

Then, the most incredible thing occurred - Columbia Records presented me with a Gold Record, for sales of a million copies - the first spoken message to ever receive a Gold Record!  

But what makes a best seller? I don’t know. But I’m sure one of the most important factors is that best sellers that last are not produced to be best sellers.  

Somebody has something to say, something he or she wants to say very much, and something he or she believes in. It might be in music, a book, a recording, a painting, a short story, or, as I mentioned, it might be a product or service. And that person says it. And does it with so much conviction, so much faith in what he or she is doing and the background to qualify him to do it that, provided the market is there, finds him or herself with a best-seller.  

I don’t think a person could produce a best seller if that’s what he deliberately set out to do. I mean, if that was his prime motivation. I could be wrong here. I’m sure there have been exceptions to this that I don’t know about. Perhaps in the motion picture business, but that’s a little different. That isn’t a one-man, or one-woman show.  

But anyone who has ever produced a best seller knows what I mean. It’s an experience you can never forget. It has a far-reaching effect on your life and the lives of many thousands of other people.  

It is given to every person to know a time during life when a great and wonderful thing happens. If fortunate, this might happen several times. If it hasn’t happened to you - - you’ve got something to look forward to.

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“The most agreeable recompense which we can receive for things we have done is to see them known, to have them applauded with praises which honor us.” Moliere

From The Desk of Diana Nightingale  

So often we hear about someone who has stepped into the public spotlight and is recognized as a huge success. Because we never heard of the person before, and don’t have the details of how many years, or how much hard work, and commitment it took to finally “arrive”, we label them an “overnight success.”  

When Earl wrote The Strangest Secret, it was a big hit!!! The recording sold a million copies and earned him a Gold Record - - Of course it had taken him twenty years, during which time he studied the world’s great religions, philosophy and any other book that contained information about life. And, it was from this extensive study that he was able to formulate the message he encapsulated.  

He said, it was amazing to him that all the while - -all those years - - it was there - -in every book he read - - the information he was looking for-- it was starring him in the face and he just didn’t see it. He said it was so “strange” that we don’t all know the “secret” of life, because it isn’t a “secret” at all. Therefore, he called the message, “The Strangest Secret”. 

It took Earl twenty years of searching to discover the formula that leads to happiness, or sadness, good or bad, success or failure and everything in between. Meanwhile, the masses never even wondered about their lives, but simply accepted them as they were, so Earl’s recording was, for them, a moment of awakening - - hope, and a way to take control of their lives. His message was simple, well founded in truth, and guaranteed by universal law to work. To top it off, he had a great voice!  

Everyone who heard the recording wanted one, and shared it with everyone who would listen, which resulted in astronomical sales, which in turn caused astronomical results in people’s lives, which resulted in more sales. . . and whew! almost fifty years later, the circle goes unbroken as The Strangest Secret continues to turn “the light” on for people around the world.  

I have met, and received letters from people from around the world telling me, and Earl when he was alive, how The Strangest Secret, has enabled them to live the life they imagine. These people say they would not be without their recording.  

They recognize that they live their lives in a fast-paced world, surrounded by negative people at home, on the job and in society in general, and because they do, it isn’t unusual for their lights to dim once in awhile, leaving them stumbling around in the dark, forgetting what life is all about, while dismissing the power they have to direct their lives in a positive direction. They say that’s when they need a copy of The Strangest Secret, in every CD and cassette player they own.  

Having been married to Earl, I shared both a personal, as well as a business life with him, so I should be immune to negativity; but there are times when my constructive thoughts get pushed aside by what’s going on around me and I get kind of muddled and forget, momentarily, the formula of how to get back, headed in the direction toward the things I want to accomplish, and places I want to go. And, guess what I do - - I listen to The Strangest Secret, too, and it reminds me that the only thing that’s muddled, or confused, is my thinking, and I take charge of my thoughts once again and direct myself back on the path.  

We all need reminding, and often.  

This poem came to mind when I was remembering and writing what Earl said about how the answer he was looking for was always there, but he just couldn’t recognize it - -he was probably looking too hard.  

It’s written by a talented artist, who is a wife, mother, and; my daughter, Jill Fressinier –

 “You’ll go mad unless you give up trying to give your sight to those who can not see already. 
They fail to see what’s not hidden,
They have eyes but do not see . . . 
Ears, but do not hear. 
All the answers we seek are there.
They simply aren’t recognizable because they are not hidden 
They are within us 
They are so real that few will ever understand. 
Fascinating . . . the souls of those who have true sight.”  

Frederic Amiel wrote:  

“When everything has its proper place in our minds, we are able to stand in equilibrium with the rest of the world.”