Power of Concentration 11 - Courage

 Lack of courage creates financial, as well as mental and moral difficulties. The man without courage attracts all that is contemptible, weakening, demoralizing and destructive. It is just as easy to be courageous as cowardly. Courage concentrates the mental forces on the task at hand. Cowardice dissipates both mental and moral forces. How to banish doubts. No one knows what they can do until they try. Once you understand the law everything is possible. How to build up courage to do as you wish. Difficulties soon melt away before the courageous.


LESSON XI. CONCENTRATE ON COURAGE

Courage is the backbone of man. The man with courage has
persistence. He states what he believes and puts it into
execution. The courageous man has confidence. He draws to himself
all the moral qualities and mental forces which go to make up a
strong man. Whereas, the man without courage draws to himself all
the qualities of a weak man, vacillation, doubt, hesitancy, and
unsteadiness of purpose. You can therefore see the value of
concentration on courage. It is a most vital element of success.

The lack of courage creates financial, as well as mental and
moral difficulties. When a new problem comes, instead of looking
upon it as something to be achieved, the man or woman without
courage looks for reasons why it cannot be done and failure is
naturally the almost inevitable result. This is a subject well
worthy of your study. Look upon everything within your power as a
possibility instead of as merely a probability and you will
accomplish a great deal more, because by considering a thing as
impossible, you immediately draw to yourself all the elements
that contribute to failure. Lack of courage destroys your
confidence in yourself. It destroys that forceful, resolute
attitude so important to success.

The man without courage unconsciously draws to himself all that
is contemptible, weakening, demoralizing and destructive. He then
blames his luck when he does not secure the things he weakly
desires. We must first have the courage to strongly desire
something. A desire to be fulfilled must be backed by the
strength of all our mental forces. Such a desire has enough
commanding force to change all unfavorable conditions. The man
with courage commands, whether be is on the battlefield or in
business life.

What is courage? It is the Will To Do. It takes no more energy to
be courageous than to be cowardly. It is a matter of the right
training in the right way. Courage concentrates the mental forces
on the task at hand. It then directs them thoughtfully, steadily,
deliberately, while attracting all the forces of success, toward
the desired end. Cowardice on the other hand, dissipates both our
mental and moral forces, thereby inviting failure.

As we are creatures of habits, we should avoid persons that lack
courage. They are easy to discover because of their habits of
fear in attacking new problems. The man with courage is never
afraid.

Start out today with the idea that there is no reason why you
should not be courageous. If any fear-thoughts come to you cast
them off as you would the deadly viper. Form the habit of never
thinking of anything unfavorable to yourself or anyone else. In
dealing with difficulties, new or old, hold ever the thought, "I
am courageous." Whenever a doubt crosses the threshold of your
mind, banish it. Remember, you as master of your mind control its
every thought, and here is a good one to often affirm, "I have
courage because I desire it; because I need it; because I use it
and because I refuse to become such a weakling as cowardice
produces."

There is no justification for the loss of courage. The evils by
which you will almost certainly be overwhelmed without it are far
greater than those which courage will help you to meet and
overcome. Right, then, must be the moralist who says that the
only thing to fear is fear.

Never let another's opinion affect you; he cannot tell what you
are able to do; he does not know what you can do with your
forces. The truth is you do not know yourself until you put
yourself to the test. Therefore, how can someone else know? Never
let anyone else put a valuation on you.

Almost all wonderful achievements have been accomplished after it
had been "thoroughly" demonstrated that they were
impossibilities. Once we understand the law, all things are
possible. If they were impossibilities we could not conceive
them.

Just the moment you allow someone to influence you against what
you think is right, you lose that confidence in yourself that
inspires courage and carries with it all the forces which courage
creates. Just the moment you begin to swerve in your plan you
begin to carry out another's thought and not your own. You become
the directed and not the director. You forsake the courage and
resolution of your own mind, and you therefore lack the very
forces that you need to sustain and carry out your work. Instead
of being self-reliant you become timid and this invites failure.
When you permit yourself to be influenced from your plan by
another, you are unable to judge as you should, because you have
allowed another's influence to deprive you of your courage and
determination without absorbing any of his in return so you are
in much the same predicament, as you would be in if you turned
over all your worldly possessions to another without getting
"value received."

Concentrate on just the opposite of fear, want, poverty,
sickness, etc. Never doubt your own ability. You have plenty, if
you will just use it. A great many men are failures because they
doubt their own capacity. Instead of building up strong mental
forces which would be of the greatest use to them their fear
thoughts tear them down. Fear paralyzes energy. It keeps us from
attracting the forces that go to make up success. Fear is the
worst enemy we have.

There are few people that really know that they can accomplish
much. They desire the full extent of their powers, but alas, it
is only occasionally that you find a man that is aware of the
great possibilities within him. When you believe with all your
mind and heart and soul that you can do something, you thereby
develop the courage to steadily and confidently live up to that
belief. You have now gone a long way towards accomplishing it.
The chances are that there will be obstacles, big and little, in
your way, but resolute courage will overcome them and nothing
else will. Strong courage eliminates the injurious and opposing
forces by summoning their masters, the yet stronger forces that
will serve you.

Courage is yours for the asking. All you have to do is to believe
in it, claim it and use it. To succeed in business believe that
it will be successful, assert that it is successful, and work
like a beaver to make it so. Difficulties soon melt away before
the courageous. One man of courage can fire with his spirit a
whole army of men, whether it be military or industrial, because
courage, like cowardice, is contagious.

The man of courage overcomes the trials and temptations of life;
he commands success; he renders sound judgment; he develops
personal influence and a forceful character and often becomes the
mentor of the community which he serves.


How to Overcome Depression and Melancholia. Both of the former
are harmful and make you unhappy. These are states that can be
quickly overcome through concentrating more closely on the higher
self, for when you do you cut off the connection with the harmful
force currents. You can also drive away moods by simply choosing
and fully concentrating on an agreeable subject. Through will
power and thought control we can accomplish anything we want to
do. There is wonderful inherent power within us all, and there is
never any sufficient cause for fear, except ignorance.

Every evil is but the product of ignorance, and everyone that
possesses the power to think has the power to overcome ignorance
and evil. The pain that we suffer from doing evil are but the
lessons of experience, and the object of the pain is to make us
realize our ignorance. When we become depressed It is evidence
that our thought faculties are combining improperly and thereby
attracting the wrong force-currents.

All that it is necessary to do is to exercise the will and
concentrate upon happy subjects. I will only think of subjects
worthy of my higher self and its powers.

Power of Concentration 10 - Business Results

A successful business not the result of chance. Failure not caused
by luck. The intense desire that is necessary to make a business
a success. Those that achieve permanent success deserve it. The
man that is able to skilfully manage his business. How to realize
your ambition. The successful business attitude. Your opinion
should be as good as any one else. How many ruin their judgment.
The man that gets the best results. A successful business not
hard to build up; may be built up In a few years now whereas
formerly it took a lifetime. How to do more and better work. How
to attract the ideas thought out by others. Many attract forces
and Influences that they should not. Broaden the visions of those
you come in contact with.


LESSON X. BUSINESS RESULTS THROUGH CONCENTRATION

A successful business is not usually the result of chance.
Neither is a failure the result of luck. Most failures could be
determined in advance if the founders had been studied. It is not
always possible to start a money-making business at the start.
Usually a number of changes have to be made. Plans do not work
out as their creators thought they would. They may have to be
changed a little, broadened it may be, here and there, and as you
broaden your business you broaden your power to achieve. You gain
an intense and sustained desire to make your business a success.

When you start a business you may have but a vague notion of the
way you will conduct it. You must fill in the details as you go
along. You must concentrate on these details. As you straighten
out one after another, others will require attention. In this way
you cover the field of "the first endeavor" and new opportunities
open up for you.

When you realize one desire, another comes. But if you do not
fulfill the first desire, you will not the second. The person
that does not carry his desires into action is only a dreamer.
Desire is a great creative force, if it is pure, intense and
sustained. It is our desires that keep stirring us up to action
and they will strengthen and broaden you if you make them
materialize.

Every man who achieves success deserves it. When he first started
out he did not understand how to solve the problems that
afterwards presented themselves, but he did each thing as it came
up in the very best way that he could, and this developed his
power of doing bigger things. We become masters of business by
learning to do well whatever we attempt. The man that has a
thorough knowledge of his business can of course direct it much
more easily and skillfully than the man who lacks that knowledge.
The skilled business director can sit in his private office and
still know accurately what is actually being done. He knows what
should be done in any given time and if it is not accomplished he
knows that his employees are not turning out the work that they
should. It is then easy to apply the remedy.

Business success depends on well-concentrated efforts. You must
use every mental force you can master. The more these are used
the more they increase. Therefore the more you accomplish today
the more force you will have at your disposal with which to solve
your problems tomorrow.

If you are working for someone else today and wish to start in a
business for yourself, think over carefully what you would like
to do. Then when you have resolved what you want to do, you will
be drawn towards it. There is a law that opens the way to the
fulfillment of your desires. Of course back of your desire you
must put forward the necessary effort to carry out your purpose;
you must use your power to put your desires into force. Once they
are created and you keep up your determination to have them
fulfilled you both consciously and unconsciously work toward
their materialization. Set your heart on your purpose,
concentrate your thought upon it, direct your efforts with all
your intelligence and in due time you will realize your ambition.

Feel yourself a success, believe you are a success and thus put
yourself in the attitude that demands recognition and the thought
current draws to you what you need to make you a success. Don't
be afraid of big undertakings. Go at them with grit, and pursue
methods that you think will accomplish your purpose. You may not
at first meet with entire success, but aim so high that if you
fall a little short you will still have accomplished much.

What others have done you can do. You may even do what others
have been unable to do. Always keep a strong desire to succeed in
your mind. Be in love with your aim and work, and make them, as
far as possible, square with the rule of the greatest good to the
greatest number and your life cannot be a failure.

The successful business attitude must be cultivated to make the
most out of your life, the attitude of expecting great things
from both yourself and others. It alone will often cause men to
make good; to measure up to the best that is in them.

It is not the spasmodic spurts that count on a long journey, but
the steady efforts. Spurts fatigue and make it hard for you to
continue.

Rely on your own opinion. It should be as good as anyone's else.
When once you reach a conclusion abide by it. Let there be no
doubt, or wavering in your judgment. If you are uncertain about
every decision you make, you will be subject to harassing doubts
and fears which will render your judgment of little value. The
man that decides according to what he thinks right and who learns
from every mistake acquires a well balanced mind that gets the
best results. He gains the confidence of others. He is known as
the man that knows what he wants, and not as one that is as
changeable as the weather. The man of today wants to do business
with the man that he can depend upon. Uncertainties in the
business world are meeting with more disfavor. Reliable firms
want to do business with men of known qualities, with men of
firmness, judgment and reliability.

So if you wish to start in business for yourself your greatest
asset, with the single exception of a sound physique, is that of
a good reputation.

A successful business is not hard to build if we can concentrate
all our mental forces upon it. It is the man that is unsettled
because he does not know what he wants that goes to the wall. We
hear persons say that business is trying on the nerves, but it is
the unsettling elements of fret and worry and suspense that are
nerve-exhausting and not the business. Executing one's plans may
cause fatigue, enjoyment comes with rest. If there has not been
any unnatural strain, the recuperative powers replace what energy
has been lost.

By attending to each day's work properly you develop the capacity
to do a greater work tomorrow. It is this gradual development
that makes possible the carrying out of big plans. The man that
figures out doing something each hour of the day gets somewhere.
At the end of each day you should be a step nearer your aim. Keep
the idea in mind, that you mean to go forward, that each day must
mark an advance and forward you will go. You do not even have to
know the exact direction so long as you are determined to find
the way. But you must not turn back once you have started.

Even brilliant men's conceptions of the possibilities of their
mental forces are so limited and below their real worth that they
are far more likely to belittle their possibilities than they are
to exaggerate them. You don't want to think that an aim is
impossible because it has never been realized in the past. Every
day someone is doing something that was never done before. We are
pushing ahead faster. Formerly it took decades to build up a big
business, but today it is only but a matter of years, sometimes
of months.

Plan each day's activities carefully and you can reach any height
you aim at. If each thing you do is done with concise and
concentrated thought you will be able to turn out an excellent
quality and a large quantity of work. Plan to do so much work
during the day and you will be astonished to see how much more
you will do, than on other days, when you had not decided on any
certain amount. I have demonstrated that the average business
working force could do the same amount of work in six hours that
they now do in eight, without using up any more energy. Never
start to accomplish anything in an indecisive, indefinite,
uncertain way. Tackle everything with a positiveness and an
earnestness that will concentrate your mind and attract the very
best associated thoughts. You will in a short time find that you
will have extra time for planning bigger things.

The natural leader always draws to himself, by the law of mental
attraction, ideas in his chosen subject that have ever been
conceived by others. This is of the greatest importance and help.
If you are properly trained you benefit much by others' thoughts,
and, providing you generate from within yourself something of
value, they will benefit from yours. "We are heirs of all the
ages," but we must know how to use our inheritance.

The confident, pushing, hopeful, determined man influences all
with whom he associates, and inspires the same qualities in them.
You feel that his is a safe example to follow and he rouses the
same force within you that is pushing him onward and upward.

One seldom makes a success of anything that he goes at in a
listless, spiritless way. To build up a business you must see it
expanding in your mind before it actually takes tangible shape.
Every great task that has ever been accomplished has first been
merely a vision in the mind of its creator. Detail after detail
has had to be worked out in his mind from his first faint idea of
the enterprise. Finally a clear idea was formed and then the
accomplishment, which was only the material result of the mental
concept, followed.

The up-to-date business man is not content to build only for the
present, but is planning ahead. If he does not he will fall
behind his competitor, who is. What we are actually doing today
was carefully thought out and planned by others in the past. All
progressive businesses are conducted this way. That is why the
young business man of today is likely to accomplish more in a few
years than his father did in all his life. There is no reason why
your work or business should fag you out. When it does there is
something wrong. You are attracting forces and influence that you
should not, because you are not in harmony with what you are
doing. There is nothing so tiring as to try to do the work for
which we are unfitted, both by temperament and training.

Each one should be engaged in a business that he loves; be should
be furthering movements with which he is in sympathy. He will
then only do his best work and take intense pleasure in his
business. In this way, while constantly growing and developing
his powers, he is at the same time rendering through his work,
genuine and devoted service to humanity.

Business success is not the result of chance, but of scientific
ideas and plans carried out by an aggressive and progressive
management. Use your mental forces so that they will grow and
develop. Remember that everything you do is the result of mental
action, therefore you can completely control your every action.
Nothing is impossible for you. Don't be afraid to tackle a
difficult proposition. Your success will depend upon the use you
make of your mind. This is capable of wonderful development. See
that you make full use of it, and not only develop yourself but
your associates. Try to broaden the visions of those with whom
you come in contact and you will broaden your own outlook of
life.


Are You Afraid of Responsibilities? In order for the individual
soul to develop, you must have responsibilities. You must
manifest the omnipotence of the law of supply. The whole world is
your legitimate sphere of activity. How much of a conqueror are
you? What have you done? Are you afraid of responsibility, or are
you ever dodging, flinching, or side stepping it. If you are, you
are not a Real Man. Your higher self never winces, so be a man
and allow the powers of the higher self to manifest and you will
find you have plenty of strength and you will feel better when
you are tackling difficult propositions.

Power of Concentration 9 - Overcome Bad Habits

Habit is but a powerful enemy and wonderful ally of concentration. Most people are controlled through the power of habit. Most people are imitators and copiers of their past selves. All physical impressions are the carrying out of the actions of the will and intellect. How everyone could be made happier and successful. Some wonderful maxims. Habit the deepest law of human nature. How to overcome undesirable habits. Some special instructions by Dr. Oppenheim.

LESSON IX. CONCENTRATION CAN OVERCOME BAD HABITS

Habits make or break us to a far greater extent than we like to
admit. Habit is both a powerful enemy and wonderful ally of
concentration. You must learn to overcome habits which are
injurious to concentration, and to cultivate those which increase it.

The large majority of people are controlled by their habits and
are buffeted around by them like waves of the ocean tossing a
piece of wood. They do things in a certain way because of the
power of habit. They seldom ever think of concentrating on why
they do them this or that way, or study to see if they could do
them in a better way. Now my object in this chapter is to get you
to concentrate on your habits so you can find out which are good
and which are bad for you. You will find that by making a few
needed changes you can make even those that are not good for you,
of service; the good habits you can make much better.

The first thing I want you to realize is that all habits are
governed consciously or unconsciously by the will. Most of us are
forming new habits all the time. Very often, if you repeat
something several times in the same way, you will have formed the
habit of doing it that way. But the oftener you repeat it the
stronger that habit grows and the more deeply it becomes embedded
in your nature. After a habit has been in force for a long time,
it becomes almost a part of you, and is therefore hard to
overcome. But you can still break any habit by strong
concentration on its opposite.

"All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of
habits--practical, emotional, and intellectual--systematically
organized, for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly
toward our destiny whatever the latter may be."

We are creatures of habits, "imitators and copiers of our past
selves." We are liable to be "bent" or "curved" as we can bend a
piece of paper, and each fold leaves a crease, which makes it
easier to make the fold there the next time. "The intellect and
will are spiritual functions; still they are immersed in matter,
and to every movement of theirs, corresponds a movement in the
brain, that is, in their material correlative." This is why
habits of thought and habits of willing can be formed. All
physical impressions are the carrying out of the actions of the
will and intellect. Our nervous systems are what they are today,
because of the way they have been exercised.

As we grow older most of us become more and more like automatic
machines. The habits we have formed increase in strength. We work
in our old characteristic way. Your associates learn to expect
you to do things in a certain way. So you see that your habits
make a great difference in your life, and as it is just about as
easy to form good habits as it is bad, you should form only the
former. No one but yourself is responsible for your habits. You
are free to form the habits that you should and if everyone could
realize the importance of forming the right kind of habits what a
different world this would be. How much happier everyone would
be. Then all instead of the few might win success.

Habits are formed more quickly when we are young, but if we have
already passed the youthful plastic period the time to start to
control our habits is right now, as we will never be any younger.

You will find the following maxims worth remembering.

First Maxim:

"We must make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy."


Second Maxim:

"In the acquisition of a new habit as in the leaving off of an
old one, we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and
decided an initiative as possible."

The man that is in the habit of doing the right thing from
boyhood, has only good motives, so it is very important for you
that you concentrate assiduously on the habits that reinforce
good motives. Surround yourself with every aid you can. Don't
play with fire by forming bad habits. Make a new beginning today.
Study why you have been doing certain things. If they are not for
your good, shun them henceforth. Don't give in to a single
temptation for every time you do, you strengthen the chain of bad
habits. Every time you keep a resolution you break the chain that
enslaves you.


Third Maxim:

"Never allow an exception to occur till the new habit is securely
rooted in your life." Here is the idea, you never want to give
in, until the new habit is fixed else you undo all that has been
accomplished by previous efforts. There are two opposing
inclinations. One wants to be firm, and the other wants to give
in. By your will you can become firm, through repetition. Fortify
your will to be able to cope with any and all opposition.


Fourth Maxim:

"Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every
resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you may
experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain."

To make a resolve and not to keep it is of little value. So by
all means keep every resolution you make, for you not only profit
by the resolution, but it furnishes you with an exercise that
causes the brain cells and physiological correlatives to form the
habit of adjusting themselves to carry out resolutions. "A
tendency to act, becomes effectively engrained in us in
proportion to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actions
actually occur, and the brain `grows' to their use. When a
resolve or a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without
bearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost."

If you keep your resolutions you form a most valuable habit. If
you break them you form a most dangerous one. So concentrate on
keeping them, whether important or unimportant, and remember it
is just as important for this purpose to keep the unimportant,
for by so doing you are forming the habit.


Fifth Maxim:

"Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous
exercise every day."

The more we exercise the will, the better we can control our
habits. "Every few days do something for no other reason than its
difficulty, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may
find you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test. Asceticism
of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house
and goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may
never bring him a return, but if the fire does come, his having
paid it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has
daily insured himself to habits of concentrated attention,
energetic volation, and self-denial in unnecessary things. "He
will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him and his
softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast."

The young should be made to concentrate on their habits and be
made to realize that if they don't they become walking bundles of
injurious habits. Youth is the plastic state, and should be
utilized in laying the foundation for a glorious future.

The great value of habit for good and evil cannot be
overestimated. "Habit is the deepest law of human nature." No man
is stronger than his habits, because his habits either build up
his strength or decrease it.

Why We Are Creatures of Habits. Habits have often been called a
labor-saying invention, because when they are formed they require
less of both mental and material strength. The more deeply the
habit becomes ingrained the more automatic it becomes. Therefore
habit is an economizing tendency of our nature, for if it were
not for habit we should have to be more watchful. We walk across
a crowded street; the habit of stopping and looking prevents us
from being hurt. The right kind of habits keeps us from making
mistakes and mishaps. It is a well known fact that a chauffeur is
not able to master his machine safely until he has trained his
body in a habitual way. When an emergency comes he instantly
knows what to do. Where safety depends on quickness the operator
must work automatically. Habits mean less risk, less fatigue, and
greater accuracy.

"You do not want to become a slave to habits of a trivial nature.
For instance, Wagner required a certain costume before he could
compose corresponding parts of his operas. Schiller could never
write with ease unless there were rotten apples in the drawer of
his desk from which he could now and then obtain an odor which
seemed to him sweet. Gladstone had different desks for his
different activities, so that when he worked on Homer he never
sat among habitual accompaniments of his legislative labors."

In order to overcome undesirable habits, two things are
necessary. You must have trained your will to do what you want it
to do, and the stronger the will the easier it will be to break a
habit. Then you must make a resolution to do just the opposite of
what the habit is. Therefore one habit must replace another. If
you have a strong will, you can tenaciously and persistently
concentrate on removing the bad habit and in a very short time
the good habit will gain the upper hand. I will bring this
chapter to a close by giving Doctor Oppenheim's instructions for
overcoming a habit:

"If you want to abolish a habit, and its accumulated
circumstances as well, you must grapple with the matter as
earnestly as you would with a physical enemy. You must go into
the encounter with all tenacity of determination, with all
fierceness of resolve--yea, even with a passion for success that
may be called vindictive. No human enemy can be as insidious, so
persevering, as unrelenting as an unfavorable habit. It never
sleeps, it needs no rest.

"It is like a parasite that grows with the growth of the
supporting body, and, like a parasite, it can best be killed by
violent separation and crushing.


When life is stormy and all seems against us, that is when we
often acquire wrong habits, and it is then, that we have to make
a gigantic effort to think and speak as we should; and even
though we may feel the very reverse at that moment the tiniest
effort will be backed up by a tremendous Power and will lift us
to a realization never felt before. It is not in the easy,
contented moments of our life that we make our greatest progress,
for then it requires, no special effort to keep in tune. But it
is when we are in the midst of trials and misfortunes, when we
think we are sinking, being overwhelmed, then it is important for
us to realize that we are linked to a great Power and if we live
as we should, there is nothing that can occur in life, which
could permanently injure us, nothing can happen that should
disturb us. So always remember you have within you unlimited
power, ready to manifest itself in the form which fills our need
at the moment. If, when we have something difficult to solve, we
would be silent like the child, we can get the inspiration when
it comes; we will know how to act, we will find there is no need
to hurry or disturb ourselves, that it is always wiser to wait
for guidance from within, than to act on impulse from Without.

Power of Concentration 8 - Mental Poise

The man that can concentrate is well poised. What you must do to be successful today. Concentration that is dangerous. How to make those you come in contact with feel as you do. The man that becomes a power in the world. You can control your life and actions. Successful lives are the concentrated lives. Why people do not get what they "concentrate" on.

LESSON VIII. CONCENTRATION GIVES MENTAL POISE

You will find that the man that concentrates is well poised,
whereas the man that allows his mind to wander is easily upset.
When in this state wisdom does not pass from the subconscious
storehouse into the consciousness. There must be mental quiet
before the two consciousnesses can work in harmony. When you are
able to concentrate you have peace of mind.

If you are in the habit of losing your poise, form the habit of
reading literature that has a quieting power. Just the second you
feel your poise slipping, say, "Peace," and then hold this
thought in mind and you will never lose your self-control.

There cannot be perfect concentration until there is peace of
mind. So keep thinking peace, acting peace, until you are at
peace with all the world. For when once you have reached this
state there will be no trouble to concentrate on anything you
wish.

When you have peace of mind you are not timid or anxious, or
fearful, or rigid and you will not allow any disturbing thought
to influence you. You cast aside all fears, and think of yourself
as a spark of the Divine Being, as a manifestation of the "One
Universal Principle" that fills all space and time. Think of
yourself thus as a child of the infinite, possessing infinite
possibilities.

Write on a piece of paper, "I have the power to do and to be
whatever I wish to do and be." Keep this mentally before you, and
you will find the thought will be of great help to you.

The Mistake of Concentrating on Your Business While Away. In
order to be successful today, you must concentrate, but don't
become a slave to concentration, and carry your business cares
home. Just as sure as you do you will be burning the life forces
at both ends and the fire will go out much sooner than was
intended.

Many men become so absorbed in their business that when they go
to church they do not hear the preacher because their minds are
on their business. If they go to the theater they do not enjoy it
because their business is on their minds. When they go to bed
they think about business instead of sleep and wonder why they
don't sleep. This is the wrong kind of concentration and is
dangerous. It is involuntary. When you are unable to get anything
out of your mind it becomes unwholesome as any thought held
continuously causes weariness of the flesh. It is a big mistake
to let a thought rule you, instead of ruling it. He who does not
rule himself is not a success. If you cannot control your
concentration, your health will suffer.

So never become so absorbed with anything that you cannot lay it
aside and take up another. This is self-control.

Concentration Is Paying Attention to a Chosen Thought. Everything
that passes before the eye makes an impression on the
subconscious mind, but unless you pay attention to some certain
thing you will not remember what you saw. For instance if you
walked down a busy street without seeing anything that attracted
your particular attention, you could not recall anything you saw.
So you see only what attracts your attention. If you work you
only see and remember what you think about. When you concentrate
on something it absorbs your whole thought.

Self-Study Valuable. Everyone has some habits that can be
overcome by concentration. We will say for instance, you are in
the habit of complaining, or finding fault with yourself or
others; or, imagining that you do not possess the ability of
others; or feeling that you are not as good as someone else; or
that you cannot rely on yourself; or harboring any similar
thoughts or thoughts of weakness. These should be cast aside and
instead thoughts of strength should be put in their place. Just
remember every time you think of yourself as being weak, in some
way you are making yourself so by thinking you are. Our mental
conditions make us what we are. Just watch yourself and see how
much time you waste in worrying, fretting and complaining. The
more of it you do the worse off you are.

Just the minute you are aware of thinking a negative thought
immediately change to a positive one. If you start to think of
failure, change to thinking of success. You have the germ of
success within you. Care for it the same as the setting hen
broods over the eggs and you can make it a reality.

You can make those that you come in contact with feel as you do,
because you radiate vibrations of the way you feel and your
vibrations are felt by others. When you concentrate on a certain
thing you turn all the rays of your vibrations on this. Thought
is the directing power of all Life's vibrations. If a person
should enter a room with a lot of people and feel as if he were a
person of no consequence no one would know he was there unless
they saw him, and even if they did, they would not remember
seeing him, because they were not attracted towards him. But let
him enter the room feeling that he was magnetic and concentrating
on this thought, others would feel his vibration. So remember the
way you feel you can make others feel. This is the law. Make
yourself a concentrated dynamo from which your thoughts vibrate
to others. Then you are a power in the world. Cultivate the art
of feeling, for as I said before you can only make others feel
what you feel.

If you will study all of the great characters of history you will
find that they were enthusiastic. First they were enthusiastic
themselves, and then they could arouse others' enthusiasm. It is
latent in everyone. It is a wonderful force when once aroused.
All public men to be a success have to possess it. Cultivate it
by concentration. Set aside some hour of the day, wherein to hold
rapt converse with the soul. Meditate with sincere desire and
contrite heart and you will be able to accomplish that which you
have meditated on. This is the keynote of success.


"Think, speak and act just as you wish to be, And you will be
that which you wish to be."


You are just what you think you are and not what you may appear
to be. You may fool others but not yourself. You may control your
life and actions just as you can control your hands. If you want
to raise your hand you must first think of raising it. If you
want to control your life you must first control your thinking.
Easy to do, is it not? Yes it is, if you will but concentrate on
what you think about.

For he only can
That says he will.


How can we secure concentration? To this question, the first and
last answer must be: By interest and strong motive. The stronger
the motive the greater the concentration.--Eustace Miller, M. D.

The Successful Lives Are the Concentrated Lives. The utterly
helpless multitude that sooner or later have to be cared for by
charity, are those that were never able to concentrate, and who
have become the victims of negative ideas.

Train yourself so you will be able to centralize your thought and
develop your brain power, and increase your mental energy, or you
can be a slacker, a drifter, a quitter or a sleeper. It all
depends on how you concentrate, or centralize your thoughts. Your
thinking then becomes a fixed power and you do not waste time
thinking about something that would not be good for you. You pick
out the thoughts that will be the means of bringing you what you
desire, and they become a material reality. Whatever we create in
the thought world will some day materialize. That is the law.
Don't forget this.

In the old days men drifted without concentration but this is a
day of efficiency and therefore all of our efforts must be
concentrated, if we are to win any success worth the name.

Why People Often Do Not Get What They Concentrate On. Because
they sit down in hopeless despair and expect it to come to them.
But if they will just reach out for it with their biggest effort
they will find it is within their reach. No one limits us but
ourselves. We are what we are today as the result of internal
conditions. We can control the external conditions. They are
subject to our will.

Through our concentration we can attract what we want, because we
became enrapport with the Universal forces, from which we can get
what we want.

You have watched races no doubt. They all line up together. Each
has his mind set on getting to the goal before the others. This
is one kind of concentration. A man starts to think on a certain
subject. He has all kinds of thoughts come to him, but by
concentration he shuts out all these but the one he has chosen.
Concentration is just a case of willing to do a certain thing and
doing it.


If you want to accomplish anything first put yourself in a
concentrating, reposeful, receptive, acquiring frame of mind. In
tackling unfamiliar work make haste slowly and deliberately and
then you will secure that interior activity, which is never
possible when you are in a hurry or under a strain. When you
"think hard" or try to hurry results too quickly, you generally
shut off the interior flow of thoughts and ideas. You have often
no doubt tried hard to think of something but could not, but just
as soon as you stopped trying to think of it, it came to you.

Power of Concentration 7 - Concentrated Mental Demand

The attitude of the mind affects the expression of the face. The wonderful power of the concentrated mental demand. How to desire something and exclude all distracting thoughts. The silent force of wonderful power within all of us. How to make plans work out. The mightiest power in the world is free for you to use. The motive power which supplies the energies necessary for achievement.

LESSON VII. THE CONCENTRATED MENTAL DEMAND

The Mental Demand is the potent force in achievement. The
attitude of the mind affects the expression of the face,
determines action, changes our physical condition and regulates
our lives.

I will not here attempt to explain the silent force that achieves
results. You want to develop your mental powers so you can effect
the thing sought, and that is what I want to teach you. There is
wonderful power and possibility in the concentrated Mental
Demand. This, like all other forces, is controlled by laws. It
can, like all other forces, be wonderfully increased by
consecutive, systematized effort.

The mental demand must be directed by every power of the mind and
every possible element should be used to make the demand
materialize. You can so intently desire a thing that you can
exclude all distracting thoughts. When you practice this
singleness of concentration until you attain the end sought, you
have developed a Will capable of accomplishing whatever you wish.

As long as you can only do the ordinary things you will be
counted in the mass of mediocrity. But just as quick as you
surpass others by even comparatively small measure, you are
classed as one of life's successes. So, if you wish to emerge
into prominence, you must accomplish something more than the
ordinary man or woman. It is easy to do this if you will but
concentrate on what you desire, and put forth your best effort.
It is not the runner with the longest legs or the strongest
muscles that wins the race, but the one that can put forth the
greatest desire force. You can best understand this by thinking
of an engine. The engine starts up slowly, the engineer gradually
extending the throttle to the top notch. It is then keyed up to
its maximum speed. The same is true of two runners. They start
off together and gradually they increase their desire to go
faster. The one that has the greatest intensity of desire will
win. He may outdistance the other by only a fraction of an inch,
yet he gets the laurels.

The men that are looked upon as the world's successes have not
always been men of great physical power, nor at the start did
they seem very well adapted to the conditions which encompassed
them. In the beginning they were not considered men of superior
genius, but they won their success by their resolution to achieve
results in their undertakings by permitting no set-back to
dishearten them; no difficulties to daunt them. Nothing could
turn them or influence them against their determination. They
never lost sight of their goal. In all of us there is this silent
force of wonderful power. If developed, it can overcome
conditions that would seem insurmountable. It is constantly
urging us on to greater achievement. The more we become
acquainted with it the better strategists we become, the more
courage we develop and the greater the desire within us for
self-expression in activity along many lines.

No one will ever be a failure if he becomes conscious of this
silent force within that controls his destiny. But without the
consciousness of this inner force, you will not have a clear
vision, and external conditions will not yield to the power of
your mind. It is the mental resolve that makes achievement
possible. Once this has been formed it should never be allowed to
cease to press its claim until its object is attained. To make
plans work out it will, at times, be necessary to use every power
of your mind. Patience, perseverance and all the indomitable
forces within one will have to be mustered and used with the
greatest effectiveness.

Perseverance is the first element of success. In order to
persevere you must be ceaseless in your application. It requires
you to concentrate your thoughts upon your undertaking and bring
every energy to bear upon keeping them focused upon it until you
have accomplished your aim. To quit short of this is to weaken
all future efforts.

The Mental Demand seems an unreal power because it is intangible;
but it is the mightiest power in the world. It is a power that is
free for you to use. No one can use it for you. The Mental Demand
is not a visionary one. It is a potent force, which you can use
freely without cost. When you are in doubt it will counsel you.
It will guide you when you are uncertain. When you are in fear it
will give you courage. It is the motive power which supplies the
energies necessary to the achievement of the purpose. You have a
large store house of possibilities. The Mental Demand makes
possibilities realities. It supplies everything necessary for the
accomplishment, It selects the tools and instructs how to use
them. It makes you understand the situation. Every time you make
a Mental Demand you strengthen the brain centers by drawing to
you external forces.

Few realize the power of a Mental Demand. It is possible to make
your demand so strong that you can impart what you have to say to
another without speaking to him. Have you ever, after planning to
discuss a certain matter with a friend, had the experience of
having him broach the subject before you had a chance to speak of
it? Have you ever, in a letter, made a suggestion to a friend
that he carried out before your letter reached him? Have you ever
wanted to speak to a person who, just then walked in or
telephoned. I have had many such responses to thought and you and
your friends have doubtless experienced them, too.

These two things are neither coincidences nor accidents, but are
the results of mental demand launched by strong concentration.

The person that never wants anything gets little. To demand
resolutely is the first step toward getting what you want.

The power of the Mental Demand seems absolute, the supply
illimitable. The mental demand projects itself and causes to
materialize the conditions and opportunities needed to accomplish
the purpose. Do not think I over estimate the value of the Mental
Demand. It brings the fuller life if used for only righteous
purposes. Once the Mental Demand is made, however, never let it
falter. If you do the current that connects you with your desire
is broken. Take all the necessary time to build a firm
foundation, so that there need not be even an element of doubt to
creep in. Just the moment you entertain "doubt" you lose some of
the demand force, and force once lost is hard to regain. So
whenever you make a mental demand hold steadfastly to it until
your need is supplied.

I want to repeat again that Power of Mental Demand is not a
visionary one. It is concentrated power only, and can be used by
you. It is not supernatural power, but requires a development of
the brain centers. The outcome is sure when it is given with a
strong resolute determination.

No person will advance to any great extent, until he recognizes
this force within him. If you have not become aware of it, you
have not made very much of a success of your life. It is this
"something" that distinguishes that "man" from other men. It is
this subtle power that develops strong personality.

If you want a great deal you must demand a great deal. Once you
make your demand, anticipate its fulfillment. It depends upon us.
We are rewarded according to our efforts. The Power of Mental
Demand can bring us what we want. We become what we determine to
be. We control our own destiny.


Get the right mental attitude, then in accordance with your
ability you can gain success.

And every man of AVERAGE ability, the ordinary man that you see
about you, can be really successful, independent, free of worry,
HIS OWN MASTER, if he can manage to do just two things.

First, remain forever dissatisfied with what he IS doing and with
what he HAS accomplished.

Second, develop in his mind a belief that the word impossible was
not intended or him. Build up in his mind the confidence that
enables the mind to use its power.

Many, especially the older men, will ask:

"How can I build up that self-confidence in my brain? How can I,
after months and years of discouragement, of dull plodding,
suddenly conceive and carry out a plan for doing something that
will mike life worth while and change the monotonous routine?

"How can a man get out of a rut after he has been in it for years
and has settled down to the slow jog-trot that leads to the
grave?"

The answer is the thing can be done, and millions have done it.

One of the names most honored among the great men of France is
that of Littre, who wrote and compiled the great French
dictionary--a monument of learning. He is the man whose place
among the forty immortals of France was taken by the great
Pasteur, when the latter was elected to the Academy.

Littre BEGAN the work that makes him famous when he was more than
sixty years old.

Power of Concentration 6 - Training the Will To Do

The great secret of any accomplishment. Everything Is possible today. The inner energy that controls all conscious acts. How you can become a genius. A mighty force at your disposal. Rules that will make you a "man" among men. The spirit that wins. Concentration develops
determination and perseverance. Some special instructions. What will power is. You have as strong a will as anyone. You determine your own fate. The importance of learning to use your will.


LESSON VI. THE TRAINING OF THE WILL TO DO

The Will To Do is the greatest power in the world that is
concerned with human accomplishment and no one can in advance
determine its limits.

The things that we do now would have been a few ages ago
impossibilities. Today the safe maxim is: "All things are
possible."

The Will To Do is a force that is strictly practical, yet it is
difficult to explain just what it is. It can be compared to
electricity because we know it only through its cause and
effects. It is a power we can direct and to just the extent we
direct it do we determine our future. Every time you accomplish
any definite act, consciously or unconsciously, you use the
principle of the Will. You can Will to do anything whether it is
right or wrong, and therefore the way you use your will makes a
big difference in your life.

Every person possesses some "Will To Do." It is the inner energy
which controls all conscious acts. What you will to do directs
your life forces. All habits, good or bad, are the result of what
you will to do. You improve or lower your condition in life by
what you will to do. Your will has a connection with all avenues
of knowledge, all activities, all accomplishment.

You probably know of cases where people have shown wonderful
strength under some excitement, similar to the following: The
house of a farmer's wife caught on fire. No one was around to
help her move anything. She was a frail woman, and ordinarily was
considered weak. On this occasion she removed things from the
house that it later took three men to handle. It was the "Will To
Do" that she used to accomplish her task.

Genius Is But A Will To Do Little Things With Infinite Pains.
Little Things Well Done Open The Door Of Opportunity For Bigger
Things.

The Will accomplishes its greater results through activities that
grow out of great concentration in acquiring the power of
voluntary attention to such an extent that we can direct it where
we will and hold it steadily to its task until our aim is
accomplished. When you learn so to use it, your Will Power
becomes a mighty force. Almost everything can be accomplished
through its proper use. It is greater than physical force because
it can be used to control not only physical but mental and moral
forces.

There are very few that possess perfectly developed and balanced
Will Power, but those who do easily crush out their weak
qualities. Study yourself carefully. Find out your greatest
weakness and then use your will power to overcome it. In this way
eradicate your faults, one by one, until you have built up a
strong character and personality.

Rules for Improvement. A desire arises. Now think whether this
would be good for you. If it is not, use your Will Power to kill
out the desire, but, on the other hand, if it is a righteous
desire, summon all your Will Power to your aid, crush all
obstacles that confront you and secure possession of the coveted
Good.

Slowness in Making Decisions. This is a weakness of Will Power.
You know you should do something, but you delay doing it through
lack of decision. It is easier not to do a certain thing than to
do it, but conscience says to do it. The vast majority of persons
are failures because of the lack of deciding to do a thing when
it should be done. Those that are successful have been quick to
grasp opportunities by making a quick decision. This power of
will can be used to bring culture, wealth and health.

Some Special Pointers. For the next week try to make quicker
decisions in your little daily affairs. Set the hour you wish to
get up and arise exactly at the fixed time. Anything that you
should accomplish, do on or ahead of time. You want, of course,
to give due deliberation to weighty matters, but by making quick
decisions on little things you will acquire the ability to make
quick decisions in bigger things. Never procrastinate. Decide
quickly one way or the other even at the risk of deciding wrong.
Practice this for a week or two and notice your improvement.

The Lack of Initiative. This, too, keeps many men from
succeeding. They have fallen into the way of imitating others in
all that they do. Very often we hear the expression, "He seems
clever enough, but he lacks initiative." Life for them is one
continuous grind. Day after day they go through the same
monotonous round of duties, while those that are "getting along"
are using their initiative to get greater fullness of life. There
is nothing so responsible for poverty as this lack of initiative,
this power to think and do for ourselves.

You Are as Good as Anyone. You have will power, and if you use
it, you will get your share of the luxuries of life. So use it to
claim your own. Don't depend on anyone else to help you. We have
to fight our own battles. All the world loves a fighter, while
the coward is despised by all.

Every person's problems are different, so I can only say "analyze
your opportunities and conditions and study your natural
abilities." Form plans for improvement and then put them into
operation. Now, as I said before, don't just say, "I am going to
do so and so," but carry your plan into execution. Don't make an
indefinite plan, but a definite one, and then don't give up until
your object has been accomplished. Put these suggestions into
practice with true earnestness, and you will soon note
astonishing results, and your whole life will be completely
changed. An excellent motto for one of pure motives is: Through
my will power I dare do what I want to. You will find this
affirmation has a very strengthening effect.

The Spirit of Perseverance. The spirit of "sticktoitiveness" is
the one that wins. Many go just so far and then give up, whereas,
if they had persevered a little longer, they would have won out.
Many have much initiative, but instead of concentrating it into
one channel, they diffuse it through several, thereby dissipating
it to such an extent that its effect is lost.

Develop more determination, which is only the Will To Do, and
when you start out to do something stick to it until you get
results. Of course, before starting anything you must look ahead
and see what the "finish leads to." You must select a road that
will lead to "somewhere," rather than "nowhere." The journey must
be productive of some kind of substantial results. The trouble
with so many young men is that they launch enterprises without
any end in sight. It is not so much the start as the finish of a
journey that counts. Each little move should bring you nearer the
goal which you planned to reach before the enterprise began.

Lack of Perseverance is nothing but the lack of the Will To Do.
It takes the same energy to say, "I will continue," as to say, "I
give up." Just the moment you say the latter you shut off your
dynamo, and your determination is gone. Every time you allow your
determination to be broken you weaken it. Don't forget this. Just
the instant you notice your determination beginning to weaken,
concentrate on it and by sheer Will Power make it continue on the
"job."

Never try to make a decision when you are not in a calm state of
mind. If in a "quick temper," you are likely to say things you
afterwards regret. In anger, you follow impulse rather than
reason. No one can expect to achieve success if he makes
decisions when not in full control of his mental forces.

Therefore make it a fixed rule to make decisions only when at
your best. If you have a "quick temper," you can quickly gain
control over it by simple rule of counting backwards. To count
backwards requires concentration, and you thus quickly regain a
calm state. In this way you can break the "temper habit."

It will do you a lot of good to think over what you said and
thought the last time you were angry. Persevere until you see
yourself as others see you. It would do no harm to write the
scene out in story form and then sit in judgment of the character
that played your part.

Special Instructions to Develop the Will To Do. This is a form of
mental energy, but requires the proper mental attitude to make it
manifest. We hear of people having wonderful will power, which
really is wrong. It should be said that they use their will power
while with many it is a latent force. I want you to realize that
no one has a monopoly on will power. There is plenty for all.
What we speak of as will power is but the gathering together of
mental energy, the concentration power at one point. So never
think of that person as having a stronger will than yours. Each
person will be supplied with just that amount of will power that
he demands. You don't have to develop will power if you
constantly make use of all you have, and remember the way in
which you use it determines your fate, for your life is moulded
to great extent by the use you make of your will. Unless you make
proper use of it you have neither independence nor firmness. You
are unable to control yourself and become a mere machine for
others to use. It is more important to learn to use your will
than to develop your intellect. The man that has not learned how
to use his will rarely decides things for himself, but allows his
resolutions to be changed by others. He fluctuates from one
opinion to another, and of course does not accomplish anything
out of the ordinary, while his brother with the trained will
takes his place among the world's leaders.

Power of Concentration 5 - links all humanity

How you may become successful. The barriers to success can be
controlled. How to realize your fondest ambitions. How to
overcome destructive forces. How to become the master of
circumstances. Through concentration you can mold your
environment. You can get what you want. Sowing the thought seeds
of success. Mind forces that are hardly dreamed of at present. A
method for removing unfavorable conditions. Concentration makes
you happy and gives you plenty to do.

LESSON V. HOW CONCENTRATED THOUGHT LINKS ALL HUMANITY TOGETHER

It is within your power to gratify your every wish. Success is
the result of the way you think. I will show you how to think to
be successful.

The power to rule and attract success is within yourself. The
barriers that shut these off from you are subject to your
control. You have unlimited power to think and this is the link
that connects you with your omniscient source.

Success is the result of certain moods of mind or ways of
thinking. These moods can be controlled by you and produced at
will.

You have been evolved to what you are from a lowly atom because
you possessed the power to think. This power will never leave
you, but will keep urging you on until you reach perfection. As
you evolve, you create new desires and these can be gratified.
The power to rule lies within you. The barriers that keep you
from ruling are also within you. These are the barriers of
ignorance.

Concentrated thought will accomplish seemingly impossible results
and make you realize your fondest ambitions. At the same time
that you break down barriers of limitation new ambitions will be
awakened. You begin to experience conscious thought
constructions.

If you will just realize that through deep concentration you
become linked with thoughts of omnipotence, you will kill out
entirely your belief in your limitations and at the same time
will drive away all fear and other negative and destructive
thought forces which constantly work against you. In the place of
these you will build up a strong assurance that your every
venture will be successful. When you learn thus how to
concentrate and reinforce your thought, you control your mental
creations; they in turn help to mould your physical environment,
and you become the master of circumstances and the ruler of your
kingdom.

It is just as easy to surround your life with what you want as it
is with what you don't want. It is a question to be decided by
your will. There are no walls to prevent you from getting what
you want, providing you want what is right. If you choose
something that is not right, you are in opposition to the
omnipotent plans of the universe and deserve to fail. But, if you
will base your desires on justice and good will, you avail
yourself of the helpful powers of universal currents, and instead
of having a handicap to work against, can depend upon ultimate
success, though the outward appearances may not at first be
bright.

Never stop to think of temporary appearances, but maintain an
unfaltering belief in your ultimate success. Make your plans
carefully, and see that they are not contrary to the tides of
universal justice. The main thing for you to remember is to keep
at bay the destructive and opposing forces of fear and anger and
their satellites.

There is no power so great as the belief which comes from the
knowledge that your thought is in harmony with the divine laws of
thought and the sincere conviction that your cause is right. You
may be able seemingly to accomplish results for a time even if
your cause is unjust, but the results will be temporary, and, in
time, you will have to tear down your thought edifice and build
on the true foundation of Right.

Plans that are not built on truth produce discordant vibrations
and are therefore self-destructive. Never try to build until you
can build right. It is a waste of time to do anything else. You
may temporarily put aside your desire to do right, but its true
vibrations will interfere with your unjust plans until you are
forced back into righteous paths of power.

All just causes succeed in time, though temporarily they may
fail. So if you should face the time when everything seems
against you, quiet your fears, drive away all destructive
thoughts and uphold the dignity of your moral and spiritual life.

"Where There Is A Will There Is A Way." The reason this is so is
that the Will can make a way if given the chance to secure the
assistance of aiding forces. The more it is developed the higher
the way to which it will lead.

When everything looks gloomy and discouraging, then is the time
to show what you are made of by rejoicing that you can control
your moods by making them as calm, serene and bright as if
prosperity were yours.

"Be faithful in sowing the thought seeds of success, in perfect
trust that the sun will not cease to shine and bring a generous
harvest in one season."

It is not always necessary to think of the success of a venture
when you are actually engaged in it. For when the body is
inactive the mind is most free to catch new ideas that will
further the opportunity you are seeking. When you are actually
engaged in doing something, you are thinking in the channels you
have previously constructed and the work does not have to be done
over again.

When you are in a negative mood the intuitions are more active,
for you are not then controlling your thoughts by the will.
Everything we do. should have the approval of the intuition.

When you are in a negative mood you attract thoughts of similar
nature through the law of affinity. That is why it is so
important to form thoughts of a success nature to attract similar
ones. If you have never made a study of this subject, you may
think this is all foolishness, but it is a fact that there are
thought currents that unerringly bring thoughts of a similar
nature. Many persons who think of failure actually attract
failure by their worries, their anxieties, their overactivity.
These thoughts are bound to bring failure. When you once learn
the laws of thought and think of nothing but Good, Truth,
Success, you will make more progress with less effort than you
ever made before.

There are forces that can aid the mind that are hardly dreamed of
by the average person. When you learn to believe more in the
value of thought and its laws you will be led aright and your
business gains will multiply.

The following method may assist you in gaining better thought
control. If you are unable to control your fears, just say to
your faulty determination, "Do not falter or be afraid, for I am
not really alone. I am surrounded by invisible forces that will
assist me to remove the unfavorable appearances." Soon you will
have more courage. The only difference between the fearless man
and the fearful one is in his will, his hope. So if you lack
success, believe in it, hope for it, claim it. You can use the
same method to brace up your thoughts of desire, aspiration,
imagination, expectation, ambition, understanding, trust and
assurance.

If you get anxious, angry, discouraged, undecided or worried, it
is because you are not receiving the co-operation of the higher
powers of your mind. By your Will you can so organize the powers
of the mind that your moods change only as you want them to
instead of as circumstances affect you.

I was recently asked if I advised concentrating on what you eat,
or what you see while walking. My reply was that no matter what
you may be doing, when in practice think of nothing else but that
act at the time. The idea is to be able to control your
unimportant acts, otherwise you set up a habit that it will be
hard to overcome, because your faculties have not been in the
habit of concentrating. Your faculties cannot be disorganized one
minute and organized the next. If you allow the mind to wander
while you are doing small things, it will be likely to get into
mischief and make it hard to concentrate on the important act
when it comes.

The man that is able to concentrate is the happy, busy man. Time
does not drag with him. He always has plenty to do. He does not
have time to think over past mistakes, which would make him
unhappy.

If despite our discouragement and failures, we claim our great
heritage, "life and truth and force, like an electric current,"
will permeate our lives until we enter into our "birthright in
eternity."

The will does not act with clearness, decision and promptness
unless it is trained to do so. There are comparatively few that
really know what they are doing every minute of the day. This is
because they do not observe with sufficient orderliness and
accuracy to know what they are doing. It is not difficult to know
what you us doing all the time, if you will just practice
concentration and with a reposeful deliberation, and train
yourself to think clearly, promptly, and decisive. If you allow
yourself to worry or hurry in what you are doing, this will not
be clearly photographed upon the sensitized plate of the
subjective mind, and you therefore will not be really conscious
of your actions. So practice accuracy and concentration of
thought, and also absolute truthfulness and you will soon be able
to concentrate.