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- Herausgeber: David De Angelis
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
This book should be marked, HANDLE WITH CARE! It is loaded with power that can give you complete control of your destiny if you make up your mind to let it! Within 24 hours after you begin reading, you will be tuning in on a new source of energy inside of you, a “million dollar partner” that will begin influencing your life and your daily activity . . . begin helping you acquire more selfconfidence, self-reliance, and self-expression in dealing with your problems! You will begin to live every hour of the day to the utmost, with
no blank spots!
You ordinarily use only a small fraction of this vast store of subconscious power . . . most of the energy of this veritable dynamo inside you is wasted! This book, the product of 25 years of testing on thousands like yourself, reveals what science knows about your subconscious, gives effective,
specific step-by-step methods for getting your subconscious power into ACTION, for making it an important part of your daily life.
Just imagine bringing these unused energies to bear on every one of your goals! Imagine what you could do with the problems that face you at this minute, with what relative ease you could overcome them!
Right in the first chapter you take a careful, objective self-inventory, to learn more about yourself and what
specific actions to take to make the most of your life. You find yourself being guided into the selection of realistic life goals, with practical deadlines for meeting them. You discover the 6 motives underlying all human behavior—a priceless key to understanding and anticipating the actions of others important to you.
As you read chapter after chapter, you progress stage by stage through a long succession of “accomplishment days” to your ultimate goal: POSITIVE SELF-INFLUENCE . . . making a
habit of success in big things and small.
To support you in your program, the author also explains the “why” of your day-to-day plan, including the scientific background of the subconscious . . . with a workbook of Practice Progress charts that offers you a unique, effective way to really live with these power principles, to really make them yours!
NOW is the time to begin! There are no plodding schemes to follow . . . no gimmicks, no flashy shortcuts. Prove to yourself that success and positive achievement is not for the privileged few, but for YOU. Discover in this sound, authoritative volume how you and your subconscious work together as partners in action . . . as partners in faith . . . as partners in health . . . in love . . . in solving problems . . . in creativeness and self-expression.
Your life is what
you make it! And the book you now have in your hand can positively shape every minute of your life from this time forward!
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
Ähnliche
YOUR
SUBCONSCIOUS POWER
HOW TO MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU
Charles M. Simmons
Edition 2022 by ©David De Angelis
All Rights Reserved
This book should be marked, HANDLE WITH CARE! It is loaded with power that can give you complete control of your destiny if you make up your mind to let it! Within 24 hours after you begin reading, you will be tuning in on a new source of energy inside of you, a “million dollar partner” that will begin influencing your life and your daily activity . . . begin helping you acquire more selfconfidence, self-reliance, and self-expression in dealing with your problems! You will begin to live every hour of the day to the utmost, with no blank spots!
You ordinarily use only a small fraction of this vast store of subconscious power . . . most of the energy of this veritable dynamo inside you is wasted! This book, the product of 25 years of testing on thousands like yourself, reveals what science knows about your subconscious, gives effective, specific step-by-step methods for getting your subconscious power into ACTION, for making it an important part of your daily life.
Just imagine bringing these unused energies to bear on every one of your goals! Imagine what you could do with the problems that face you at this minute, with what relative ease you could overcome them!
Right in the first chapter you take a careful, objective self-inventory, to learn more about yourself and what specific actions to take to make the most of your life. You find yourself being guided into the selection of realistic life goals, with practical deadlines for meeting them. You discover the 6 motives underlying all human behavior—a priceless key to understanding and anticipating the actions of others important to you.
As you read chapter after chapter, you progress stage by stage through a long succession of “accomplishment days” to your ultimate goal: POSITIVE SELF-INFLUENCE . . . making a habit of success in big things and small.
To support you in your program, the author also explains the “why” of your day-to-day plan, including the scientific background of the subconscious . . . with a workbook of Practice Progress charts that offers you a unique, effective way to really live with these power principles, to really make them yours!
NOW is the time to begin! There are no plodding schemes to follow . . . no gimmicks, no flashy shortcuts. Prove to yourself that success and positive achievement is not for the privileged few, but for YOU. Discover in this sound, authoritative volume how you and your subconscious work together as partners in action . . . as partners in faith . . . as partners in health . . . in love . . . in solving problems . . . in creativeness and self-expression.
Your life is what you make it! And the book you now have in your hand can positively shape every minute of your life from this time forward!
CHARLESM. SIMMONS
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE YOUR PLAN
Chapter 1 What Is Life?
Chapter 3 The Dynamic Factor which Master-Controls Your Life
Chapter 4 Self-Influence Is the Key to the Pattern of Your Life
Chapter 5 Is Life a Mystery?
Chapter 6 Is There a Superior Race in the Making?
PART TWO YOUR PRACTICE
Chapter 7 The Latest Models in Human Beings
Chapter 8 The Subconscious Mind Is the Key to Self-Influence
Chapter 9 A Trip into “Inner Space”
Chapter 10 The Subconscious Mind: a “Garden of Eden” or a “Purgatory”
Chapter 11 The New Positive Concept of Self-Control
Chapter 12 Science and the Subconscious Mind
Chapter 13 How to Use the Power of Your Subconscious
Chapter 14 The Subconscious Mind and Your Past
Chapter 15 The Subconscious Mind and Your Present
Chapter 16 The Subconscious Mind and Your Future
PART THREE PERFECTION
Chapter 17 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action
Chapter 18 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Your Everyday Life
Chapter 19 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Faith
Chapter 20 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Knowledge and Learning
Chapter 21 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Goals in Life
Chapter 22 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Success
Chapter 23 ou and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Happiness
Chapter 24 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Heredity and Environment
Chapter 25 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Health
Chapter 26 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Problems
Chapter 27 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Love
Chapter 28 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Security
Chapter 29 You and Your Subconscious Mind as Partners in Action . . . in Relation to Creativeness and Self-expression
PART FOUR A NEW LIFE
Chapter 30 A New Model of You, a More Important Person
Chapter 31 A Plan for Living for this New You
PART FIVE PRACTICE PROJECTS
INTRODUCTION
How to Make This Book
Work for You
Money and financial security can be yours!
Zestful living and happiness can be yours!
Glowing health and lots of energy can be yours!
• Tell me how!
We have been training men and women in all walks of life for twenty-six years. I have seen miracles happen to wonderful men and women. Miracles will happen to you too—when you start using your Subconscious Power!
• All results are mental in origin!
All of us accept the fundamental principles that progress is mental in origin. It first must have the approval of the mind. Then the Subconscious Power takes over.
The construction of your home was mental in origin. Either in your own mind, or the builder's, or both. Your car and all its modern improvements were mental in origin. The conveniences in your kitchen were mental in origin.
• You control your future
We don't want to wait until something happens—we must make it happen! That is the whole purpose of this book—to make our future to order.
Experiences of thousands of people lead me to believe that most of us want:
1. Money and financial security
2. Happiness and peace of mind
3. Health and zestful energy
I am a firm believer that we can make these goals come true in our personal lives. When we start thinking right—things happen! They have to happen! Powerful fundamental laws are in operation!
• Right thinking and you
When we start thinking right it is easy to put our Subconscious Power to work for us on a 24-hour basis. These laws work with mathematical accuracy. They will work for you, for me, for anyone who will stop long enough to investigate and to go into planned action.
Before the laws will work for us, we must become aware! You will become aware as you read the first few chapters of this book. You can't miss! They aren't my laws—they are yours—they belong to those who will stop long enough to think, analyze, and act!
• Why do some people fail?
It is a modern tragedy to see fine people fail to make their plans come true. I see thousands of them every year. From outward appearance they seem to have “everything”—and yet they fail.
People fail because “things” aren't working right on the “inside.” When our thinking and feeling are wrong—then we make it absolutely impossible for “things” to work correctly on the “outside.” Just a little thinking and investigation will prove this point beyond all doubt.
• Three reasons!
There are three reasons why people aren't fully productive, happy and secure. Think with me now—as I give you these reasons:
1. Negative past experiences. Experiences that hurt—set us back—disappointed us, put questions in our minds about our ability— our future. Many of our lives are filled with negative experiences. Experiences that have been forgotten to the conscious mind—but are still exacting their toll in indecisions, in lack of confidence, and in uncertainty.
These negative pictures—this stream of negative thinking and therefore action—can be changed. You can change it! This book will guide you in that change!
2. Lack of direction. Many wonderful people have lots of energy, ambition and drive but poor direction! Our lives become confused. Sometimes they look and feel like a mental junk shop.
As you read and study Your Subconscious Power—design, definite purpose and an all-consuming plan will come into your life. When we turn the searchlight of thinking and analysis “inside” with an outside objectivity—you just can't miss.
3. Poor human relations. Failure to understand people and get them to like us and boost us—this invariably robs success and happiness from our lives. We let people mix us up—discourage us— talk us out of action and results which might have been infinitely rewarding.
In this book, readers, we will carefully lay the ground work for complete understanding in Human Relations, as we make Your Subconscious Power work for you!
• The “facts of life” are mysteries to most people
For most people, things are always happening which they don't want to happen—causing fear, tension, anxiety. For these same people, the good things they want to happen seldom do—such as enough money, real love, achievement and recognition. For them, life is like a series of nightmares, and many take desperate means to escape them. Unfortunately, these people are running the wrong way—into the darkness where the “facts of life” are mysteries. To make sure you are facing in the right direction, this book begins with the revelation of facts about life you must know, if you are to use your subconscious power effectively.
• People you know
Among the people you know, a few stand out prominently because they have made a success of getting what they want out of life. They are outstanding in business, in the professions, in their home life, and in leading stimulating, adventuresome lives. They are fine people—but are they any better than you? Are they more deserving—or endowed with something special? NO, on both counts! They are getting what they want because they consider themselves important enough to have only the best in life. Chapter 2 shows you how to establish yourself as one of these outstanding people.
• Every move you make is the result of powerful influence
It has always been this way, and always will be this way. You do nothing accidentally. You are directed to make every move—both night and day. Even when you are asleep, you are under the spell. Your emotions—your physical actions—your mental efforts— even the value of spiritual effects, are all dominated by the power of influence. Sometimes it pulls against you—sometimes with you. You can't escape influence. What you can do about it, following the lead of outstanding people, is explained in Chapter 3.
• Who is pulling the strings in your life?
This Nation of ours is full of live puppets. They are the people who are completely influenced by others—by negative environment— and by what they call “force of circumstances.” They seldom make a move of their own choice. You can see them all around you, at any time, plodding through life on a leash. They even have themselves believing that somebody should always pull the strings in life. Here's where the book gets down to cases about you. If there are strings on your life, in somebody else's hands, now is the time to shake them off. Chapters 4 and 5 show you how to do this, and how to pull your own strings. This reveals an insight into your subconscious power!
• The “opium” of normal living
People living puppet-like lives are in the majority. The usual standard of living is “to get along as best I can” (with somebody or something more dominating pulling the strings)—and “to hope for the best” (meaning: hoping somebody will pull the right string, sometime). Since this is the way it is with the majority, it is the “normal” way of life. As a consequence, this business of being “normal” is highly over-rated. Normal living is like smoking opium—the wonderful things are all dreams! You can't get what you want—do what you want—be what you want—living “normally.” You must live abnormally—and through the power of your subconscious, you will live away above normal!
• You can't live normally and live happily
Normal living puts restrictions on high emotional experiences— and even on high spiritual experiences. It has established all kinds of taboos on love, affection, making friends—and on doing anything unusual. Normal living puts a premium on happiness— makes people expect real happiness to come rarely. This is the wrong way to live! The Creator intends us to use our emotional capacities—to love and be adventurous—not subdue them. Through subconscious power you will find the freedom to live happily— above normal!
• You can't live normally and be successful
The code of “normal” living is one of “have not”—or “have little.” That is just the opposite of success, isn't it? And among the normal livers there is that widespread disease of daydreaming and wishing for a better life. Certainly this isn't the way to have success. Not a single successful person you know, or who you have heard about or read about, believes in normal living. The fact is that normal living and success just don't go together! To help you step up to above normal living is the reason Chapters 6 and 7 were written.
• No one possesses greater power than is within you
There is no denying that above-normal living calls for more positive output than does normal living. It does not take more energy— more work—or more time. It takes time and energy just to walk a treadmill through life. Above-normal living calls for directed energy—directed effort—directed use of time. The only one who can successfully direct your life is yourself! The power to direct yourself wherever you want to go in life is within you. It is in your subconscious mind. And no one—absolutely no one—possesses this power to a greater degree than you do!
• Power you can't turn off
The power of your subconscious is subject to control—but there is one thing you can't do about it. You can't turn it off! It is working and influencing you every minute of every day, and every minute of every night. You can stop physical activity—say to yourself, “I am going to do nothing”—or even go to sleep. Do “nothing” or do “anything,” and your subconscious mind keeps on being active. It is a tireless, never-ceasing power—and it is within you! The important factor is that it is a power—a power that acts on you constantly. You can control that power, instead of letting it go to waste. Get to know what this power really is, and what it can do for you, as described in Chapter 8.
• Control this power and you control life itself
Control the power of your subconscious mind and you have positive control over your own life! It is the control center of influence—and you should not let it be controlled by outside, distracting influences. Read Chapter 9 and learn the secrets of this intimate, inner power of yours. Learn here what it does and how it can help you accomplish what has seemed like the “impossible” in the past.
• Build your own “Garden of Eden”
There isn't a person who hasn't dreamed of some kind of an ideal existence—of life in a “Garden of Eden,” or in a Shangrila. These are like the dreams you have had of a life where everything was perfect. This you should know: if you will make such dreams definite enough, and bring the power of your subconscious mind to bear on them, you can create your own “Garden of Eden,” where you can live for the rest of your life! Chapter 10 points the way!
• Daydreams waste this power
If you just daydream about that ideal life, and then let yourself be dragged back into the reality of “normal” living, you are creating a purgatory for yourself. When you daydream because it is pleasant escape from reality, you are wasting the power of your subconscious. Your subconscious wants to see those dreams come true. It has the power to make them come true. When you do not exercise that power, either because you don't know how or because you imagine dreams can't really come true, you are letting that vital energy go to waste. The power is there! It's up to you!
• You can't afford to waste a minute of your precious life
How many minutes do you have left to live? You can't be sure of the number, but it runs up into the millions. But if you did know how many more minutes were allotted to you, each one would become most precious. You wouldn't waste a single one! The minutes are no less precious because you have so many to look forward to. Every one is loaded with opportunity, and you can't afford to waste opportunity. And you don't have to. Your subconscious works every minute of every day, and if you use its power correctly, every minute will count for good in your life. Chapter 11 tells you the positive truths about dreams and precious minutes, and how they relate to your subconscious.
• A science everybody can master
Is the use and control of subconscious power a science? It is! It is founded on knowledge and research that has been accumulating for generations. It has its roots in the sciences of medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and human relations. Its application, however, is personal and ultimate with each individual. All it takes to apply this science to your own life, under your own guidance, is understanding of the basic principles. These are easy to understand because they make sense, and because you can see the results for yourself. All the details are in Chapter 12.
• Put yourself on the pedestal of success
There is no better way to describe the effects of the proper use of the power of your subconscious than to say that it makes a success out of life. This is true because this power can be kept on the positive side always. When this power is guiding everything you do, you are always up there on the pedestal of success. Read Chapter 13 on how to use this power this way. Learn how it works even while you sleep. Learn how to create that wonderful state of positively influenced conditioned sleep as soon as possible.
• The influence that shaped your past
If you were to write your autobiography, you would have difficulty describing why a lot of things happened in your life. All you could say is that “this” or “that” happened—but you don't know why. It's too late to change any of your past, of course. But if things don't change in your life today, the story of your future could sound just like the story of your past. Why things happened as they did was because more negative than positive influences were working on you. The subconscious was responsible for both. Certainly this points to the absolute need for controlling your subconscious. The person who knows why things happen as they do is a strong individual. Learn the “why” about your own life through Chapters 14 and 15 and how, by exercising this control, your life will start improving now.
• Your subconscious power can shape a brilliant future
Under your own control, both while you are awake and asleep, your subconscious power will take you forward into a stimulating, rewarding future. You can even predict your future and know it will be as you want it to be! See your future this way, in Chapter 16.
• Second best is impossible for you when this power is used
Once you turn on the power of your subconscious mind, under your own control, you will stop living “normally.” Second-best, come-what-may mediocrity all will be forgotten effects in your life. The reason is that your subconscious power will put you into action—doing all the things that add up to your idea of an ideal life. Your subconscious power will keep you doing only those things. It will become your willing partner—both day and night— as you will find described in Chapter 17.
• No limit to what subconscious power can do for you
You cannot overwork this power. In fact the more you use it positively, the better it will serve. There is no special time to use it this way. It is there to be used every day. It should be as much a part of your everyday life as is waking, sleeping, eating. It is a perfectly natural force—adapting itself to every need and desire you have. Chapter 18 explains its limitless possibilities in your everyday life.
• The source of peace of mind
Those who have that understanding of the spiritual forces that bring comforting faith into their lives are depending on subconscious power. Faith must be within a person. It lives in the subconscious. Those who have knowledge that serves them positively, are also depending on the subconscious power within them—and they act accordingly. Peace of mind comes from faith, understanding and knowledge that are centered in the subconscious. The key to this inner strength, which can be yours through subconscious power, is revealed in Chapter 19 and Chapter 20.
• The source of unlimited energy
The subconscious is the master motivator. Under control, and directed by you, it will eliminate fatigue, drabness, and desire to put things off until “tomorrow.” It will put all goals within your reach—and take you to them unswervingly. The keys to this unlimited energy are handed you in Chapters 21 and 22.
• The power that keeps you right with the world
The state of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health is of constant concern to you, of course. If any one of these is off center, it makes the world look wrong. To most folks, it seems almost impossible to keep all four in balance all the time. Consequently life is a bit rough most of the time. It doesn't have to be this way. Read Chapters 23, 24 and 25, on how to use your subconscious power to keep you always right with the world—and yourself!
• Convert problems to achievements
No matter what you may have been told, you can't eliminate problems from your life. You are going to have them always—even in that ideal existence. But you can convert problems to action that results in achievement—through your subconscious power. “How” is in Chapter 26.
• The way to fulfilled love
Half-way love is no love at all, simply because if love is subdued or diluted by restraint, it is not satisfying. Love is an urge that should not be subdued. Love fully expressed and demonstrated stimulates the whole life of a person. The expression of love is a strong factor with subconscious power. It will take you all the way to fulfillment—as described in the “how to do it” Chapter 27.
• Money is made in your mind through this power
The money that you need in your life is not the paycheck or minimum income that just lets you “get by.” The money you really need are those amounts you can exchange for the things you want, above and beyond just getting by. You need money for those “extras” you deserve—for real security—for growth. Your subconscious has the power to make all those things so important to you, that getting the money for them becomes a certain, positive action. With your subconscious, the bigger the picture you set up there first, the bigger the end results will certainly be. The sure way to real and satisfying security is told in Chapter 28.
• The power that brings infinite rewards in life
There are many things you have an unusual talent for. You have a variety of abilities. You are productive of many good ideas. In other words, you have the potential ability to be creative in many ways—and yet you are using few of them. Through subconscious power, you can unleash all of your talents and abilities—and reap the rewards of a full life. See Chapter 29 for the recipe.
• Turn on the power and really live
Turn on your subconscious power! It is the answer to the only kind of life really worth living. The results if you turn on your subconscious power? See for yourself, in Chapters 30 and 31. There's a new model of you displayed there that is ready for immediate delivery!
PART ONE
YOUR PLAN
Chapter 1What Is Life?
ONE MAN CLIMBS THE “LADDER OF SUCCESS” AS IF
BY magic, in apparently predetermined steps. Another fumbles, slips, and is apparently pushed back as though bedeviled by
“black magic.”
Why? Every person wants to make progress in life. Some do, some do not. Why?
There is an undeniable answer to “why”!
One woman typifies graciousness and happiness in her role of wife, mother and home executive, as though her “cup runneth over.” Another in the same role appears burdened, unblest, unduly time-worn.
Why? Fulfillment reaches its climax in a woman in this role. Yet it fits some and apparently not others. Why?
There is an unqualified answer to “why.”
One person exemplifies faith in his life, faith in others, faith in himself or herself, faith in the future. Another wears “doubt” like a badge-of-office in life, apparently finding it difficult to trust much of anything.
Why? Faith is a far more comfortable factor to live with than doubt. Yet faith appears to bless some and elude others. Why?
There is an indisputable answer to “why”!
• Is life a question mark?
“Why? Why others, and not me?” This is the eternal question mark in the lives of so many people who despair of finding success, love, security, recognition. There's a certain answer to “why”!
“Why? Why am I singled out, among all others?” This is the plaguing question of so many persons who face unanswered problems, tensions, uncertainties. There's the same, solid answer here to “why”!
There is the same ultimate answer to every “why” about every person's pattern of life, whether he has an illustrious biography to his credit or whether “life has been a mystery” to him.
The ultimate answer to why life is good or not good is centered on the control or lack of control of a power that is possessed by everyone. Control of this power brings results as if “by magic.” Lack of control of this power brings results that cloud a person's life like
“black magic.”
This is the power of your subconscious mind. This power exerts a continuous influence over your life, a dominating influence that is in force 24 hours a day! When you lack control over it, it can take you on an unpredictable, “take-a-chance” course through life. When you do control it, it will guide you unerringly along a predetermined course, acourse of your own choosing.
Have you ever peered into the “looking glass” of human existence and seen the image of yourself there, and asked, “What is life? What is my life?” A thoughtful observation on this “image” of you would show that life—your life—is a “reflection” of action. Your life is an exact image of what you do and what happens to you.
Twenty-four hours a day, your life is a combination of physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual action. Even while you sleep, there is physical action in the refreshment of your body. There is often emotional action, as well.
• This is your life
If you could look in back of that mirror of your life, you would find that everything you do and everything that happens to you is caused by some influence. For every minute of every 24 hours, some influence is motivating every one of your actions. These actions say about you: “This is my life!”
A straightforward way to describe your life as it has been, and as it is today, would be for you to ask and answer this question about yourself: “How much of this influence do I control and how much of it is uncontrolled in my life?” The answer to this question would also answer every puzzling '“Why?” that exists for you.
• Let your subconscious have control
The achievement of a full life, and the claiming of your share of the world-full of opportunities that surround you, depend upon the balance of control of influence being in your hands, consistently. The key to this positive self-control is the power of your subconscious mind, with its power under your direct control.
Two kinds of influence are shaping your life. One is “outside” influence, which so often seems to stand like a dominating giant over you. “Outside” influence always seems to be exerting pressure on your will, forcing you to do things, or to cause things to happen to you, simply because such influence seems to be too big for you to resist.
The other kind is “inner” influence, that of the power of your subconscious. This is a dynamic power which is never turned off. But if you did not know the secret of this power, you would be inclined to say that your subconscious is eccentric because it can “go along” with “outside” influence. At such times, if your subconscious could speak, it would say: “Apparently my master wants to act this way, so I'll support that action.” Enough of this kind of subconsciously supported action results in fears, big problems made out of little ones and bigger “Whys?” than ever before.
• Choose a new life
But there is another brilliant, sparkling side to subconscious influence. When it is under control by you, it will successfully combat negative “outside” influences. It will help you to pick the best from “outside” and to discard the rest. It will establish its own positive pattern of influence that will be bigger than any other influence in your life. Since such control allows you to predetermine what this influence will be, you can choose the pattern of action in your life. A more brilliant, sparkling reflection will then appear in the “mirror of life” for you, to which you can proudly point and say, “This is now my life!”
Your subconscious mind is like an ever-running mountain stream. Uncontrolled, and running free down the mountainside, the stream rushes along pell-mell, apparently intent only on “keeping running.” But it is not quite free-running. Boulders in the stream-bed disturb its course, and cause it to foam up in a show of power; still, the obstruction remains, and the power goes for nothing. A mountain spur forces the stream to deviate from a straight course. In a show of power, it tries to dig into this obstruction, but still it has to detour. In a like manner, your uncontrolled subconscious mindpower expends itself to little desirable avail in your life. The “boulders” of fear and the “obstructions” of uncertainty tend to consume its only apparent power.
• Your subconscious is a source of power
But, under control, your subconscious, like the mountain stream, presents a remarkably different picture. The mountain stream under control with dams, pipelines, generators produces useful, productive power under control. The water itself hasn't changed, nor is the source of this controlled power any different. The controlled power still comes from the water in action. The same is true with your subconscious. Under your control, its power becomes useful and productive in your life. The skill of such control might be likened to the building of those controlling elements on the stream. Just as certainly as such things can be built by man, the skill of positive self-influence can be learned by man, by you. As with the water, your subconscious mind itself will be no different, and the source of power will be the same. The source of the power of “inner” influence is your subconscious mind in action, no matter how the power is used. The difference in its value lies entirely in the degree of control.
• Life is influenced action
What is life? Life is a “reflection” of action that is governed by the ever-present power of influence. The power of “inner” influence can be the greatest arm of strength in your life, under control. The control of the power of your subconscious so that the major influences in your life are positive, progressive and predictable starts with you and ends with you. This has always been so, and it always will be so.
You are about to “tell” your subconscious: “This is the kind of a life I want.” The power of your subconscious mind will be directed toward that goal, and it will be achieved. Because you are about to take control, you are the most important person in the world!
In a moment, I will prove that to you!
IN SUM
You can choose your own kind of life. But, first, you must bridle your subconscious. Make it work for you.
RESULT-GETTING PROJECTS
Come to terms with your understanding of influence in your life, by verifying its powerful presence. You will need a piece of paper and a pencil for this. You are going to produce a most revealing picture of “what life is” . . . for yourself. Not a moment of the time you put in on these projects will have “momentary” value. The results will have lasting value as you go on with the book. For your own sake, don't make this a “mental exercise.” Do use the paper and pencil! First draw a line down the center of the paper, from top to bottom. Head the left-hand column “Outside influence” . . . and the right-hand column “My own influence.” Now the projects:
1. Review everything that you did during the last 24 hours. Briefly list each action under either of the column headings. For example: you went to work, or did some shopping, read a book, had some fun. Which of the actions came about purely because of your own choice and decision (listed under “My own influence”); which happened because you had to do something, because of “outside influence”? List everything you can recall doing.
2. Review what you did during the last week. Briefly list the things you did that had lasting effects, such as becoming chairman of a committee, or being part of some unusual activity. Put them down under the proper “Influence” headings.
3. Review your life, up to this moment. Consider the most significant factors in (a) your vocational life; (b) your family life; (c) your social life. Listing them in that a-b-c order, determine whether each has come about through your own influence or through outside influence. For example, what is the major influence that put you in your present status in your work, and is it the result of “inner” or “outer” influence?
4. Envision the week immediately ahead. Consider one or two outof-the-ordinary actions you are pretty sure you will be part of. Again, this can be in relation to your vocational, family or social life. Determine whether this forecast of a “piece of your future” is the result of your own influence, or outside influence. So list them on the paper.
Now, what do you have? You have a word picture of action in your life. This means that this is your life. You have a true picture of the effect of influence. But, most of all, you have a true picture of how the scales balance between action due to your own influence on yourself and action due to outside influence. Frankly recognizing and accepting this picture of your life is a noteworthy preparatory step in putting the “balance of control” in your own hands. You are better prepared to direct the power of your subconscious toward the right action.
(Don't throw your list away! For safe-keeping for future reference, leave it as a bookmark at this chapter!)
Chapter 2You Are the Most Important Person in the World
This book is all about me _______________________ the most important person in the world!
IF YOU WILL WRITE YOUR NAME IN THAT SPACE AF-TER “me,” you will be putting the finishing touch on this book that I want it to have. This book is written with you as the main character. This name identification is necessary to make it a finished piece of work. So, will you accommodate me, please, by putting your name in its proper place?
Perhaps you hesitate, because you feel that this would be a display of extreme egotism. With what you feel is appropriate humility, you might want to say: “I wouldn't want to let other people think that I considered myself the most important person in the world!”
• “I . . . My . . . Me!”
I can understand this reaction, because I know that you have had uncomfortable associations with people for whom the most important words in the language are “I . . . my . . . and me.” You have known people who appear to be intoxicated with a sense of self importance. You don't want to be classified with either, and for this you are to be commended. Yet I am asking you to emphasize “me” and “important,” and to do so more or less publicly by writing your name in this book.
A paradox? No, not at all! But it could be pointing up a different viewpoint than you have ever had about yourself. This is my viewpoint of you, as I write, and it should be yours. As far back in time as you can remember, you have had the desire to act as though you were the most important person to yourself. Yet you have been influenced by that code of undue humility, and you have probably suppressed that desire. But this you should not have done!
• Humbleness is unbecoming
Modesty is a cloak of superior material which you should wear on proper occasions, when it will become you. But if you wear it as an everyday vestment, it will become shabby and threadbare. And threadbare modesty turns into the cast-off raiment of humbleness. This is not the proper dress for you, because if you style yourself as being humble, you are relegating yourself to an unimportant status. You are identifying yourself with that undesirable caste of “little” people.
I do not envision you, as the main character in this book, as a little” person. I envision you as a person who exemplifies the “dignity of mankind.” I envision you as a self-respecting person, deserving of the recognition and status that both your Creator and the society of men intended you to have, and which your closest associates want you to have. I envision you as a person with all of the potential power to create the best kind of a life for yourself.
I believe that there is intrinsic truth in this characterization. I believe that if you and I were having a confidential chat, you would tell me that this is a standard of self-identification that has always been your most intimate aspiration.
• The creator made you different
Your life is surrounded by logical manifestations of your right to this important status. One of these is inherent in your birthright: your Creator made you a distinctive person with a distinctive purpose in life. Whatever your academic interpretation of the Supreme Being is, I know that it includes faith in His creative plan. In His plan, no human is made inconsequential or without a purpose in life. On the other hand, He endows each person with the will to live according to his or her own distinctiveness. Only when this will is coupled with purposeful action, does a person's individuality have meaning. Therefore, in the eyes of the Creator, you are living according to His will for you when you put importance upon your individuality.
• Being important is your right
Another logical demonstration of your right to this important status came at a time when you acted upon some basic belief of yours. For example, this might have been an action that supported a friend at a time when he needed the strength that came from your interest in him. You believed he was right and you believed in him. This element of distinctive belief could come only from you, and it resulted in a contribution to the life of your friend, to yourself. The will to act this way was an endowment of the Creator, and the action you took fulfilled a basic purpose of your life. And at that moment, you were the most important person in the world, to your friend!
