This is a blatantly repetitive and poorly-organized book, and yet it's still highly useful: filled with good tactics and reminders to observe and control your thinking--and more importantly, to be attentive to the implications of your thinking. Thoughts are things! How you think and the beliefs you hold play an enormous role in your reality.
And so, despite its flaws, I think The Power of Your Subconscious Mind is still worthwhile. Think of it as a book-length practice of autosuggestion, or even a sort of extended mantra. The book's repetitiveness then becomes a benefit: it helps you practice and build good mental habits, it gives you plenty of examples of affirmations and mental scripts to apply to various life situations, and so on.
A minor warning: if you consider NLP, autosuggestion or visualization and affirmation techniques to be useless woo-woo silliness, do not read this book. It's not for you.
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I'll share a few takeaways that this book helped me re-remember. It's humbling: even though I've already come into contact with these ideas repeatedly in my life, and even though I "know" them (in the declarative knowledge sense), it remains all too easy to slip back into poor mental habits and stop practicing these things.
* Be careful about the types of assumptions and statements you make about yourself: these are creative acts. Thoughts are self-fulfilling. Choose what you think carefully, and adopt belief sets that are useful, healthy and good for you. We have far more agency and creative power in our thinking than we realize: use that power mindfully and consciously.
* Be mindful of the mental suggestions around you. Note how the media (or other people) can plant "bad seeds" in your mind.
* A tremendously important takeaway on complaining: complaining creates more of the thing you're complaining about. As the author puts it: "as you think and feel, so are you." Again, it's a notion I already "know," but holy cow is it easy to forget it from time to time and slip back into old habits! Thus: do not complain, ever. It is effete, agencyless behavior, and it brings you more of what you complain about.
* Just as you can use mental imagery and verbal affirmations to visualize and create the reality you want, you can also create an unwanted reality (by accident and passively) if you aren't mindful of your thinking, or if you don't actively choose that which you think. Again, thoughts are things.
* On habits: note that you are the agent who chooses your habits: you can either choose to install good (and uninstall bad) habits, or you can passively allow unwanted habits to be imposed on you. This is a question of your volition and agency. Use it!
* Let things play out. Sometimes a problem doesn't have an obvious solution, or maybe better put: sometimes a problem doesn't have an instantly obvious solution to you. Sleep on it, trust that you'll figure it out, believe that the answer or a plan will come to you. It usually does. As the author phrases it: Night brings counsel."
* Finally: avoid focusing on how or why things like autosuggestion, NLP and visualization work. Just adopt the (pragmatic) belief that they do. Trying to be clever and explain "why" autosuggestion works (or worse, how it doesn't work) is midwittery. The fact that it works--and the fact that your belief is necessary for it to work--is all you need.
[Readers, as always, what follows are my notes, quotes and reactions to the text. They are meant to organize my thinking and help me remember. As usual, it is too long: only read them if this book really grabs you!]
Notes:
How This Book Can Work Miracles In Your Life
3ff "...as a man thinketh in his subconscious mind, so is he." On why some people are sad, others happy; why some are wealthy, some not; some enjoying health, others not; discussion of the power of the subconscious mind, discussion of prayer.
8ff On receptivity, mental acceptance, belief.
Chapter 1: The Treasure House Within You
11ff On people being asleep, and not knowing the capacities within themselves; On being "magnetized" versus "demagnetized."
14 On becoming skilled in the operation of your subconscious mind.
16 "Thought is incipient action." Also, various terms/mental representations for the duality of mind: the objective and subjective mind, or conscious and subconscious mind, or waking and sleeping mind, or surface self and deep self, or voluntary mind and involuntary mind, etc. On thinking of yourself as a gardener, planting seeds (thoughts in your subconscious mind) all day long "based on your habitual thinking." On thinking quietly and thinking about what you're planting.
18 "Every thought is, therefore, a cause, and every condition is an effect. For this reason, it is essential that you take charge of your thoughts so as to bring forth only desirable conditions."
19ff Story here about Enrique Caruso, the opera singer, who was struck with it stage fright right before a performance. He shouted himself, "the little me wants to strangle the big me within, get out of here, the big me wants to sing through me!" Here, the "little me" is the conscious mind and the "big me" is the subconscious mind. On speaking affirmatively and with the deep authority to the irrational emotions generated in your mind, "you cannot intrude where you do not belong." "The subconscious is subject to the conscious mind, and that is why it is called subconscious or subjective."
21 On your subconscious mind taking orders from your conscious mind, like the men in the engine room who carry out the orders of the captain; If you say "I can't afford that thing," your subconscious mind will follow your orders.
22 "Never finish a negative statement; reverse it immediately, and wonders will happen in your life."
22ff Other examples here, ranging from "I do not like mushrooms" to "I wake up at 3:00am if I drink coffee at night" which basically is like saying "the boss wants you to stay awake" or "the boss wants you to not like mushrooms!" "Your subconscious mind works twenty-four hours a day and makes provisions for your benefit, pouring all the fruit of your habitual thinking into your lap." "...ideas could be conveyed to the subconscious mind by repetition, faith, and expectancy."
Chapter Review
1. The treasure house is within you. Look within for the answer to your heart's desire.
2. The great secret possessed by the great men of all ages was their ability to contact and release the powers of their subconscious mind. You can do the same.
3. Your subconscious has the answer to all problems. If you suggest to your subconscious prior to sleep, 'I want to get up at 6:00 a.m.,' it will awaken you at that exact time.
4. Your subconscious mind is the builder of your body and can heal you. Lull yourself to sleep every night with the idea of perfect health, and your subconscious, being your faithful servant, will obey you.
5. Every thought is a cause, and every condition is an effect.
6. If you want to write a book, write a wonderful play, give a better talk to your audience, convey the idea lovingly and feelingly to your subconscious mind, and it will respond accordingly.
7. You are like a captain navigating a ship. He must give the right orders, and likewise, you must give the right orders (thoughts and images) to your subconscious mind which controls and governs all your experiences.
8. Never use the terms 'I can't afford it' and 'I can't do this.' Your subconscious mind takes you at your word and sees to it that you do not have the money or the ability to do what you want to do. Affirm, 'I can do all things through the power of my subconscious mind.'
9. The law of life is the law of belief. A believe is a thought in your mind. Do not believe in things to harm or hurt you. Believe in the power of your subconscious to heal, inspire, strengthen, and prosper you. According to your belief is it done unto you.
10. Change your thoughts, and you change your destiny.
Chapter 2: How Your Own Mind Works
27 Strange typo in the lead sentence of this chapter. "You have a mind, and you should team how to use it."
27ff On how your subconscious mind is the seat of your emotions and is the creative mind; "if you think good, good will follow"; the subconscious mind accepts an idea and then begins to execute it, it works for both good and bad ideas alike. "Whatever you claim mentally and feel as true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring forth into your experience."
29 The conscious mind as "the mind that chooses" as well as the reasoning mind and the part of your mind that makes decisions; the subconscious mind accepts what is impressed upon it or what you consciously believe. It does not argue with you a reason things out like your conscious mind, the author likens it to "soil which accepts any kind of seed, go or bad."
34ff On different reactions to the same suggestion: you can choose your reaction as well as choose the inputs into your subconscious mind; the author uses an example of suggesting to a person on a ship that he looks pale and seasick, contrasting the reaction of a credulous person to that of an experienced sailor (who would laugh off and be impervious to any suggestion like this). The question, then, is whether you have an indwelling fear of seasickness (or whatever the suggestion might be) or not, what are your inner beliefs, opinions and assumptions are, and to what extent will this lead you to accept a given suggestion or not.
36 A difficult-to-believe example where a man said he would give his right arm to see his daughter cured of a disease... and then lost his arm in a car accident and immediately his daughter's condition vanished. "Remember that your subconscious mind cannot take a joke. It takes you at your word."
36ff On Autosuggestion by Herbert Parkyn: examples and techniques of steeling your mind and body, repeating the desired state in confident words (e.g.: "I sing beautifully. I am poised, serene, confident, and calm"). Another example of a woman who kept a habit of saying "I am losing my memory" to herself, but then she reversed this habit using the statement "my memory from today on is improving." A further example of a man using it to overcome a nasty temper.
39ff On heterosuggestion, suggestions from another person; this can be used on people "who do not know the laws of mind." On various negative suggestions: "you'll never amount to anything," "the world is going to the dogs," "you just can't win," etc.; see also how the newspaper and the media can sow negative suggestions in your mind; on remaining mindful and aware of possible negative suggestions that people or your environment make to you.
41ff More here on heterosuggestion, on being mindful and aware of it: "Study the things said to you, and you will discover much of it was in the form of propaganda. The purpose of much of what was said was to control you or instill fear into you." "This heterosuggestion process goes on in every home, office, factory, and club. You will find that many of these suggestions are for the purpose of making you think, feel, and act as others want you to and in ways that are to their advantage."
43ff On establishing a "major premise" in your thinking; on how your mind will follow it like a syllogism.
45 On how the subconscious mind does not argue, it receives, it gets guidance and direction and suggestion from you and or your environment.
Chapter Review
1. Think good, and good follows. Think evil, and evil follows. You are what you think all day long.
2. Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees. If you say, "I can't afford it," it may be true, but do not say it. Select a better thought decree: "I'll buy it, I accept it in my mind."
3. You have the power to choose. Choose health and happiness. You can choose to be friendly, or you can choose to be unfriendly. Choose to be cooperative, joyous, friendly, lovable, and the whole world will respond. This is the best way to develop a wonderful personality.
4. Your conscious mind is the watchman at the gate. Its chief function is to protect your subconscious mind from false impressions. Choose to believe that something good can happen and is happening now. Your greatest power is your capacity to choose. Choose happiness and abundance.
5. The suggestions and statements of others have no power to hurt you. The only power is the movement of your own thought. You can choose to reject the thoughts or statements of others and affirm the good. You have the power to choose how you will react.
6. Watch what you say. You have to account for every idle word. Never say, "I will fail; I will lose my job; I can't pay the rent." Your subconscious cannot take a joke. It brings all these things to pass.
7. Your mind is not evil. No force of nature is evil. It depends how you use the powers of nature. Use your mind to bless, heal, and inspire all people everywhere.
8. Never say, "I can't." Overcome that fear by substituting the following: "I can do all things through the power of my own subconscious mind."
9. Begin to think from the standpoint of the eternal truths and principles of life and not from the standpoint of fear, ignorance, and superstition. Do not let others do your thinking for you. Choose your own thoughts and make your own decisions.
10. You are the captain of your soul, subconscious mind, and the master of your fate. Remember, you have the capacity to choose.
11. Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious mind will accept and bring to pass. Believe in good fortune, divine guidance, right action, and all the blessings of life.
Chapter 3: The Miracle-Working Power of Your Subconscious
49ff "Your subconscious mind never sleeps, never rests. It is always on the job.
52 [Interesting choice of phrasing here:] "What you write on the inside, you will experience on the outside." On the idea of thought and its manifestation. Once again, "your subconscious cannot argue. It acts only from what you write on it." See Ralph Waldo Emerson and his quote "Man is what he thinks all day long."
53 [Here's a blurb I would not have expected, it's a rather striking coincidence, given that I read the rather odd book The Kybalion just a few short weeks ago!] "The tomb of Hermes was opened with great expectancy and a sense of wonder because people believed that the greatest secret of the ages was contained therein. The secret was As within, so without; as above, so below." [Wild!]
55 On the subconscious as a form of watchmaker for the human body; it knows how to heal and restore and direct its functions and processes; the author claims that he used an affirmation to heal a skin malignancy.
61 On forming a vivid mental picture of yourself in perfect health as a way to convey the idea of perfect health to your subconscious mind.
62 Another Bible quote: "Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Matthew 21:22.
Chapter Review
1. Your subconscious mind controls all the vital processes of your body and knows the answer to all problems.
2. Prior to sleep, turn over a specific request to your subconscious mind and prove its miracle-working power to yourself.
3. Whatever you impress on your subconscious mind is expressed on the screen of space as conditions, experiences, and events. Therefore, you should carefully watch all ideas and thoughts entertained in your conscious mind.
4. The law of action and reaction is universal. Your thought is action, and the reaction is the automatic response of your subconscious mind to your thought. Watch your thoughts!
5. All frustration is due to unfulfilled desires. If you dwell on obstacles, delays, and difficulties, your subconscious mind responds accordingly, and you are blocking your own good.
6. The Life Principle will flow through you rhythmically and harmoniously if you consciously affirm: "I believe that the subconscious power which gave me this desire is now fulfilling it through me." This dissolves all conflicts.
7. You can interfere with a normal rhythm of your heart, lungs, and other organs by worry, anxiety, and fear. Feed your subconscious with thoughts of harmony, health, and peace, and all the functions of your body will become normal again.
8. Keep your conscious mind busy with the expectation of the best, and your subconscious will faithfully reproduce your habitual thinking.
9. Imagine a happy ending or solution to your problem, feel the thrill of accomplishments, and what you imagine and feel will be accepted by your subconscious mind and bring it to pass.
Chapter 4: Mental Healings in Ancient Times
64ff On stories of healing from early history; basically they were structured around using suggestion and acceptance by the subconscious mind; biblical accounts of the use of the subconscious.
66ff Interesting take here on the Bible verse Mark 11:24: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." The author [intriguingly] notes the verb tenses in the sentence, as if the thing is already been fulfilled, and then the realization of it follows in the future; on applying faith; see also the scene in Matthew 9:28-30: "According to your faith be it unto you when Jesus healed the blind." Also interesting that Jesus also says "See that no man know it." The author talks about potential skepticism or derogatory criticisms of the unbelieving and how these might impress thoughts of fear or doubt in the subconscious.
69 On the idea of kindling faith and expectancy, conditioning your mind to the point of belief.
71 On the idea that suggestion can be used to induce symptoms or disease in people; likewise the reverse is equally possible.
72ff "The doctor dresses the wound and says, 'Nature heals it!'" On the idea that there are widely different theories of the process of healing, but there's really only one healing power: your subconscious mind.
74ff On Phillipus Paracelsus, the Swiss alchemist and physician (1493-1541), a great healer in his day; on his contemporary Pietro Pomponazzi, the Italian philosopher, also commenting on belief as a driver of healing; see also Hippolyte Bernheim, professor of medicine in Nancy, France in the early 1900s, and his book Suggestive Therapeutics, [I think Emil Coué also did his work in Nancy around this time if I recall correctly.] Examples where he showed the power of faith and expectancy on the part of the patient and this acts as a suggestion to the subconscious.
Chapter Review
1. Remind yourself frequently that the healing power is in your own subconscious mind.
2. Note that faith is like a seed planted in the ground; it grows after its kind. Plant the idea (seed) in your mind, water and fertilize it with expectancy, and it will manifest.
3. The idea you have for a book, new invention, or play is real in your mind. That is why you can believe you have it now. Believe in the reality of your idea, plan, or invention, and as you do, it will become manifest.
4. In praying for another, know that your silent inner knowing of wholeness, beauty, and perfection can change the negative patterns of the other's subconscious mind and bring about wonderful results.
5. The miraculous healings you hear about at various shrines are due to imagination in blind faith which act on the subconscious mind, releasing the healing power.
6. All disease originates in the mind. Nothing appears on the body unless there is a mental pattern corresponding to it.
7. The symptoms of almost any disease can be induced in you by hypnotic suggestion. This shows you the power of your thought.
8. There is only one process of healing and that is faith. There is only one healing power, namely, your subconscious mind.
9. Whether the object of your faith is real or false, you will get results. Your subconscious mind responds to the thought in your mind. Look upon Faith as a thought in your mind, and that will suffice.
Chapter 5: Mental Healings in Modern Times
81ff On the law of belief: it is a thought in your mind which causes your subconscious to go to work; essentially it's not a belief in some ritual or ceremony per se. "It is foolish to believe in something to hurt or harm you. Remember, it is not the thing believed in that hurts or harms you, but the belief or thought in your mind which creates the result." [Again, interesting to think about the meta here: it's not the thing itself, it is your thinking about that thing that is relevant here.]
82ff On prayer therapy which combines the conscious and subconscious mind; "You must know what you are doing and why you are doing it." "Prayer therapy is a definite mental action for a definite specific purpose."
84ff Discussion again of the German doctor Franz Anton Mesmer and his various cures and his theories for why his cures worked; he was then evaluated by a commission of the Academy of Science to investigate his cures; they found no evidence to prove his theories and that the effects were due to the imagination of his patients; then, Mesmer was more or less driven into exile and died shortly afterwards; the author uses this story to show that the theory underlying what happened doesn't really matter, the belief is what matters, there was no understanding as to how the cures were brought about.
86 Comments here on "the cessation of active opposition on the part of the objective or conscious mind." Basically the idea here is being in a calm, submissive state where you're not getting reactance or resistance to either why something works or the underlying beliefs; a sleepy, drowsy, receptive state plus the proper suggestion is what drives the healing, not the "reasons" or the "arguments" behind why it works.
87ff On absent treatment: an example of a woman praying for her mother in a different city; the author talks about the collective mind. [Note: right here is a good example of the disorganized nature of this book: this story here and the mini-topic the author is trying to convey have nothing to do with the things that came before or after; the author would do well to maybe reorder or reallocate some of these anecdotes into chapters where they could be better-unified thematically.]
89ff Discussion here of a friend who cured his tuberculosis through autosuggestion, by doing a quiet affirmation as he was going to sleep; the author points out two things: first, to do this before you go to sleep, and thus to "give your subconscious mind something to work on" as you drop off into sleep; then second on the idea of never actually stating your trouble or your problem by name, because this gives it power and attention. "If you are constantly naming your aches and symptoms, you inhibit the kinetic action, which means the release of a healing power and energy of your subconscious mind. Furthermore, by the law of your own mind, these imaginings tend to take shape." [Interesting conceit here! you give the problem power and support by attending to it, naming it, dwelling on it, etc.]
Chapter Review
1. Find out what it is that heals you. Realize that correct directions given to your subconscious mind will heal your mind and body.
2. Develop a definite plan for turning over your requests or desires to your subconscious mind.
3. Imagine the end desired and feel its reality. Follow it through, and you will get definite results.
4. Decide what belief is. Know that belief is a thought in your mind, and what you think you create.
5. It is foolish to believe in sickness as something to hurt or to harm you. Believe in perfect health, prosperity, peace, wealth, and divine guidance.
6. Great and noble thoughts upon which you habitually dwell become great acts.
7. Apply the power of prayer therapy in your life. Choose a certain plan, idea, or mental picture. Mentally and emotionally unite with that idea, and as you remain faithful to your mental attitude, your prayer will be answered.
8. Always remember, if you really want the power to heal, you can have it through faith, which means a knowledge of the working of your conscious and subconscious mind. Faith comes with understanding.
9. Blind faith means that a person may get results in healing without any scientific understanding of the powers and forces involved. [Note that Emile Coué commented on how educated people tended to fail at autosuggestion: they were "too smart" for it. An interesting application of the midwit problem.]
10. Learn to pray for your loved ones who may be ill. Quiet your mind, and your thoughts of health, vitality, and perfection operating through the one universal subjective mind will be felt and resurrected in the mind of your loved one.
Chapter 6: Practical Techniques in Mental Healings
93 Your prayers "must go somewhere and accomplish something in your life."
93ff The "passing-over technique" for impregnating the subconscious; on taking an idea from the conscious mind and "passing it over" to the subconscious mind to work on; this is best accomplished in a reverie-like state, "Use this technique with complete simplicity and naivete."
94 On keeping feelings of fear, worry, anxiety, or lack, or feelings of despondence, doubt and cynicism out of your mental blueprint or your mental patterns; on the idea that "you are building your mental home" at all times: you want to use good materials; also your thinking and your mental imagery are part of the construction.
95ff The technique and process involved in prayer; on trusting the infinite intelligence of your subconscious mind, on the idea of "asking while believing" in order to receive; there needs to be an image involved that is accepted in your mind before your subconscious can play on it and make it productive; on having a state of unqualified and undisputed acceptance, as well as a feeling of joy and restfulness.
96ff Visualization technique: "see it in your mind's eye as vividly as if it were alive"; that what you can see in your mind already exists on some level; "The idea and the thought are real and will one day appear in your objective world if you are faithful to your mental image." The author walks through his visualization image before he gives a talk: imagining his audience inspired and illumined, radiant, happy and free, he imagines them saying I am healed, I feel wonderful, I'm transformed," "...then I release the whole picture and go on to the platform." Also on William James talking about the subconscious mind bringing to pass any picture held in the mind and backed by faith. Also on running a mental movie, acting as if it were an objective reality, and then the subconscious mind will take it as an impression and then it will come to pass.
100ff On the Baudoin technique; Charles Baudoin, psychotherapist at the Rousseau Institute in France and also director of the New Nancy School of Healing in the early 1900s; he "taught that the best way to impress the subconscious mind was to enter into a drowsy, sleepy state, or a state akin to sleep in which all effort was reduced to a minimum." Then, in this receptive state, convey the idea to the subconscious, "to sum it up in a brief phrase that can be readily graven on the memory, and to repeat it over and over again as a lullaby."
102ff The "thank you" technique: see Saint Paul, who recommends we make known our requests with praise and thanksgiving. "The thankful heart is always close to the creative forces of the universe, causing countless blessings to flow toward it by the law of reciprocal relationship, based on a cosmic law of action and reaction." On a gentleman with money problems who used the mantra "Thank you Father, for my wealth" who dramatically improved his situation.
103ff On affirmations: avoiding vain repetition, but rather using "intelligent application of definite and specific positives." "To affirm is to state that it is so, and as you maintain this attitude of mind as true, regardless of all evidence to the contrary, you will receive an answer to your prayer. Your thought can only affirm, for even if you deny something, you are actually affirming the presence of what you deny."
106ff On Phineas Parkhurst Quimby and his book The Quimby Manuscripts, with prayer treatments for the sick; using the spiritual reasoning that the sickness is due to a false belief, groundless fears or negative patterns lodged in the sufferer's subconscious mind. "He was really the father of psychosomatic medicine."
Chapter Review
1. Be a mental engineer and use tried and proven techniques in building a grander and greater life.
2. Your desire is your prayer. Picture the fulfillment of your desire now and feel its reality, and you will experience the joy of the answered prayer.
3. Desire to accomplish things the easy way--with the sure aid of mental science.
4. You can build radiant health, success, and happiness by the thoughts you think in the hidden studio of your mind.
5. Experiment scientifically until you personally prove that there is always a direct response from the infinite intelligence of your subconscious mind to your conscious thinking.
6. Feel the joy and restfulness in foreseeing the certain accomplishment of your desire. Any mental picture which you have in your mind is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
7. A mental picture is worth a thousand words. Your subconscious will bring to pass any picture held in the mind back by faith.
8. Avoid all effort or mental coercion in prayer. Get into a sleepy, drowsy state and lull yourself to sleep feeling and knowing that your prayer is answered.
9. Remember that the thankful heart is always close to the riches of the universe.
10. To affirm is to state that it is so, and as you maintain this attitude of mind as true, regardless of all evidence to the contrary, you will receive an answer to your prayer.
11. Generate electronic waves of harmony, health, and peace by thinking of the love and the glory of God.
12. What you decree and feel as true will come to pass. Decree harmony, health, peace, and abundance.
Chapter 7: The Tendency of the Subconscious Is Lifeward
113ff "Over 90 percent of your mental life is subconscious, so men and women who fail to make use of this marvelous power live within very narrow limits." On Robert Louis Stevenson who before going to sleep would "charge his subconscious with the task of evolving stories for him while he slept. He was accustomed to ask his subconscious to give him a good, marketable thriller when his bank account was low." [!!!]
115ff Rather unscientific blithering here about the nervous system, the cerebrospinal system and the abdominal brain, or as the author puts it, the "ganglionic mass at the back of the stomach"
116 On the idea that there is an intelligence that takes care of the body.
118ff On the innate harmony and intelligence in our subconscious mind; how we are the sum of our thoughts; why it is normal to be healthy, vital and strong, and it's abnormal to be sick; "faith in the healing power of your subconscious can make you whole."
Chapter Review
1. Your subconscious is the builder of your body and is on the job 24 hours a day. You interfere with its life-giving patterns by negative thinking.
2. Charge your subconscious with a task of evolving an answer to any problem, prior to sleep, and it will answer you.
3. Watch your thoughts. Everything accepted as true is sent by your brain to your solar plexus--your abdominal brain--and is brought into your world as a reality.
4. Know that you can remake yourself by giving a new blueprint to your subconscious mind.
5. The tendency of your subconscious is always lifeward. Your job is with your conscious mind. Feed your subconscious mind with premises which are true. Your subconscious is always reproducing according to your habitual mental patterns.
6. You build a new body every eleven months. Change your body by changing your thoughts and keeping them changed.
7. It is normal to be healthy. It is abnormal to be ill. There is within the innate principle of harmony.
8. Thoughts of jealousy, fear, worry, and anxiety tear down and destroy your nerves and glands bringing about mental and physical diseases of all kinds.
9. What you affirm consciously and feel as true will be made manifest in your mind, body, and affairs. Affirm the good and enter into the joy of living.
Chapter 8: How to Get the Results You Want
124ff "The principal reasons for failure are: lack of confidence and too much effort." "You will always fail to get results by trying to use mental coercion--your subconscious mind does not respond to coercion, it responds to your faith or conscious mind acceptance." [Again, an interesting conceit here: you have to believe, but you also have to use easy power, you can't force things.]
126 "Your new idea must be felt subjectively in a finished state, not in the future, but as coming about now."
126ff On doing things easily: don't infer an opponent, don't use willpower, often your intellect will get in the way, just maintain a childlike, simple faith and picture yourself; "cut out all red tape from the process."
127 Three steps: 1. Take a look at the problem. 2. Turn the solution over to the subconscious mind. 3. Rest in a sense of deep conviction that it is done. "Do not weaken your prayer by saying, 'I wish I might be healed.' 'I hope so.'"
128ff On Coué saying, "When your desires and imagination are in conflict your imagination invariably gains the day." Also comments here on forcing yourself or using willpower; the author gives an example of students trying to force themselves to remember under the pressure of an exam: their minds go blank. Also, on the law of reversed effort where you get the opposite of what you ask for.
130ff On harmonious agreement between your conscious and subconscious on any idea, desire or mental image [seeking congruency, basically]. "You avoid all conflict between your desires and imagination by entering into a drowsy, sleepy state which brings all effort to a minimum."
Chapter Review
1. Mental coercion or too much effort shows anxiety and fear which block your answer. Easy does it.
2. When your mind is relaxed and you accept an idea, your subconscious goes to work to execute the idea.
3. Think and plan independently of traditional methods. Know that there was always an answer and a solution to every problem.
4. Do not be overly concerned with the beating of your heart, with the breathing of your lungs, or the functions of any part of your anatomy. Lean heavily upon your subconscious and proclaim frequently that Divine right action is taking place.
5. The feeling of health produces health, the feeling of wealth produces wealth. How do you feel?
6. Imagination is your most powerful faculty. Imagine what is lovely and of good report. You are what you imagine yourself to be.
7. You avoid conflict between your conscious and subconscious in the sleepy state. Imagine the fulfillment of your desire over and over again prior to sleep. Sleep in peace and wake in joy.
Chapter 9: How to Use the Power of Your Subconscious for Wealth
134ff On convincing your subconscious mind that you have plenty; on having a mind filled with ideas of wealth; on using the words "wealth" and "success," words with tremendous power; on saying affirmations but with the underlying feeling that you're lying to yourself, thus there's an inherent incongruence.
137 "Your affirmation succeeds best when it is specific and when it does not produce a mental conflict or argument... Your subconscious accepts what you really feel to be true, not just idle words or statements. The dominant idea or belief is always accepted by the subconscious mind."
137ff "By day and by night I am being prospered in all of my interests." Note that the wording here doesn't contradict any impression of financial lack you might have; also an example of a salesperson who the author encouraged to say "My sales are improving every day." On the idea of "signing blank checks" with statements like "there is a shortage," or "there is not enough to go around," where your subconscious takes your fear and the negative statement as a request, follows it, and brings lack into your life. On the idea that your subconscious multiplies and magnifies whatever you deposit in it.
139 On stocks, bonds and money in the bank as only symbols of wealth; your wealth is not dependent on these things, it's really dependent on your ideas.
140ff On envy as a tremendous stumbling block to wealth; better to train yourself to rejoice in others' prosperity. "I wish for him greater and greater wealth." On the idea that envy causes wealth to flow from you instead of to you.
141ff Repeat the word "wealth" as you go to sleep at night, quietly, easily, and feeling like a lullaby.
Chapter Review
1. Decide to be wealthy the easy way, with the infallible aid of your subconscious mind.
2. Trying to accumulate wealth by the sweat of your brow and hard labor is one way to become the richest man in the graveyard. You do not have to strive or slave hard.
3. Wealth is a subconscious conviction. Build into your mentality the idea of wealth.
4. The trouble with most people is that they have no invisible means of support.
5. Repeat the word "wealth" to yourself slowly and quietly for about five minutes prior to sleep and your subconscious will bring wealth to pass in your experience.
6. The feeling of wealth produces wealth. Keep this in mind at all times.
7. Your conscious and subconscious mind must agree. Your subconscious accepts what you really feel to be true. The dominant idea is always accepted by your subconscious mind. The dominant idea should be wealth, not poverty.
8. You can overcome any mental conflict regarding wealth by affirming frequently, "By day and by night I am being prospered in all of my interests."
9. Increase your sales by repeating the statement over and over again, "My sales are improving every day; I am advancing, progressing, and getting wealthier every day."
10. Stop writing blank checks, such as, "There is not enough to go around," or "There is a shortage," etc. Such statements magnify and multiply your loss.
11. Deposit thoughts of prosperity, wealth, and success in your subconscious mind, and the latter will give you compound interest.
12. When you consciously affirm, you must not mentally deny a few moments later. This will neutralize the good you have affirmed.
13. Your true source of wealth consists of the ideas in your mind. You can have an idea worth millions of dollars. Your subconscious will give you the idea you seek.
14. Envy and jealousy are stumbling blocks to the flow of wealth. Rejoice in the prosperity of others.
15. The block to wealth is in your own mind. Destroy that block now by getting on good mental terms with everyone.
Chapter 10: Your Right to Be Rich
144 "It is your right to be rich. You are here to live the abundant life and be happy, radiant, and free... In this chapter you can learn to make friends with money, [I like the phrasing right there!] and you should always have a surplus... It is not only good, but very good."
144ff on money as a symbol; something that can take many forms; an idea of a mindset of abundance regardless of the economic circumstances or even regardless of the currency: see for example Germany after the First World War. [Once I learned about Hugo Stinness, who made his fortune in the middle of the German hyperinflation, it helped me see how there can be opportunity in nearly any economic situation, you just have to think it through and stay ready.]
146ff On mindsets that money is filthy, or that there is some virtue in poverty; also on overfocusing on money and forgetting that you're here to live a balanced life with peace of mind and harmony and health, with the expression of your talents, and contributing to the welfare and success of others. On wealth (just like health), as a normal state, and if you don't have it there's something wrong with you. [Again, a really interesting conceit here.] Also on cleansing your mind of weird or superstitious beliefs about money; the author writes "you lose what you condemn" and "you cannot attract what you criticize."
152 Another affirmation: "Infinite intelligence governs and watches over all my financial transactions, and whatsoever I do shall prosper."
153 On trying to get something for nothing, a "mental atmosphere of lack and limitation."
Chapter Review
1. Be bold enough to claim that it is your right to be rich and your deeper mind will honor your claim.
2. You don't want just enough to go around. You want all the money you need to do all the things you want to do and when you want to do them. Get acquainted with the riches of your subconscious mind.
3. When money is circulating freely in your life, you are economically healthy. Look at money like the tide and you will always have plenty of it. The ebb and flow of the tide is constant. When the tide is out you are absolutely sure that it will return.
4. Knowing the laws of your subconscious mind, you will always be supplied regardless of what form money takes.
5. One reason many people simply make ends meet and never have enough money is that they condemn money. What you condemn takes wings and flies away.
6. Do not make a god of money. It is only a symbol. Remember that the real riches are in your mind. You are here to lead a balanced life--this includes acquiring all the money you need.
7. Don't make money your sole aim. Claim wealth, happiness, peace, true expression, and love, and personally radiate love and good will to all. Then your subconscious mind will give you compound interest in all these fields of expression.
8. There is no virtue in poverty. It is a disease of the mind, and you should heal yourself of this mental conflict or malady at once.
9. You are not here to live in a hovel, to dress in rags, or to go hungry. You are here to lead a life more abundant.
10. Never use the terms "filthy lucre" or "I despise money." You lose what you criticize. There is nothing good or bad, but thinking of it in either light makes it so.
11. Repeat frequently, "I like money. I use it wisely, constructively, and judiciously. I release it with joy, and it returns a thousandfold."
12. Money is not evil any more so then copper, lead, tin, or iron which you may find in the ground. All evil is due to ignorance and misuse of the mind's powers.
13. To picture the end result in your mind causes your subconscious to respond and fulfill your mental picture.
14. Stop trying to get something for nothing. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You must give to receive. You must give mental attention to your goals, ideals, and enterprises, and your deeper mind will back you up. The key to wealth is application of the laws of the subconscious mind by impregnating it with the idea of wealth.
Chapter 11: Your Subconscious Mind as a Partner in Success
157 "The real things of life, such as peace, harmony, integrity, security, and happiness are intangible. They come from the Deep Self of man. Meditating on these qualities builds these treasures of heaven in our subconscious. It is where moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. Matthew 6:20."
159 On the idea that your success must benefit humanity--it's not for yourself only. On "completing a circuit" of wealth that comes back to you. Also on how money obtained fraudulently usually takes wings and flies away. There is no success without peace of mind.
160 "A successful person loves his work and expresses himself fully. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches. The man of success is the man who possesses great psychological and spiritual understanding."
161ff Examples of people visualizing in rich detail what their dream was: a young boy who wanted to become an actor; a pharmacist who went from working on commission to having his own pharmacy, etc.
167 "As within, so without, meaning according to the image impressed on your subconscious mind, so it is on the objective screen of your life. The outside mirrors the inside. External action follows internal action."
169 On the word "success" [interesting that this is an example that is not vivid or rich in detail--it's actually quite a general and amorphous word, it seems like you'd have to define precisely what "success" is and imagine that].
Chapter Review
1. Success means successful living. When you are peaceful, happy, joyous, and doing what you love to do, you are successful.
2. Find out what you love to do, then do it. If you don't know your true expression, ask for guidance, and the lead will come.
3. Specialize in your particular field and try to know more about it than anyone else.
4. A successful man is not selfish. His main desire in life is to serve humanity.
5. There is no true success without peace of mind.
6. A successful man possesses great psychological and spiritual understanding.
7. If you imagine an objective clearly, you will be provided with the necessities through the wonder-working power of your subconscious mind.
8. Your thought fused with feeling becomes a subjective belief, and according to your belief it is done unto you.
9. The power of sustained imagination draws forth the miracle working powers of your subconscious mind.
10. If you are seeking promotion in your work, imagine your employer, supervisor, or loved one congratulating you on your promotion. Make the picture vivid and real. Hear the voice, see the gestures, and feel the reality of it all. Continue to do this frequently, and through frequent occupancy of your mind, you will experience the joy of the answered prayer.
11. Your subconscious mind is a storehouse of memory. For a perfect memory, affirm frequently: "The infinite intelligence of my subconscious mind reveals to me everything I need to know at all times, everywhere."
12. If you wish to sell a home or property of any kind, affirm slowly, quietly, and feelingly as follows: "Infinite intelligence attracts to me the buyer of this house or property, who wants it, and who prospers in it." Sustain this awareness, and the deeper currents of your subconscious mind will bring it to pass.
13. The idea of success contains all the elements of success. Repeat the word, "success," to yourself frequently with faith and conviction, and you will be under a subconscious compulsion to succeed.
Chapter 12: Scientists Use the Subconscious Mind
173ff Story here of the chemist Friederich von Stradonitz: while working on benzene he had a flash of insight after turning the problem over to his subconscious mind [investing is a lot like this too, sometimes you roll a problem or an investment theme around in your mind and then the answer comes to you at some random time, like when you're in the shower]; on Nikola Tesla building inventions in his mind; on professor Louis Agassiz, the American naturalist: his widow (in her biography of him) tells a story of a specific fossilized fish: Agassiz pieced the image together in his mind in a dream and was able to replicate it on paper.
176 On the discovery of insulin by Dr. Frederick Banting: while asleep he received instructions from his subconscious mind which led to its discovery; he had been consciously dwelling on the problem for some time "and his subconscious responded accordingly."
176 On it taking a long time sometimes to get an answer from your subconscious; on making sure you're not discouraged about this; [also, an interesting meta-idea about this here:] "One of the reasons for the delay may be that you look upon it as a major problem. You may believe it will take a long time to solve it... Go to sleep believe you have the answer now. Do not postulate the answer in the future." Or as the author puts it: "Your subconscious has no problem, it knows only the answer."
177ff Dr. Lothar von Blenk-Schmidt, using his subconscious mind to free himself from a Russian prison camp, then make his way to Poland, then Switzerland and then to the United States; he visualized Los Angeles and Wilshire Boulevard; this story is unbelievably incredible.
180ff On receiving guidance from your subconscious; "true thinking is free from fear." On telling your body to relax, on sensing the feelings you would have if you had the answer that you're looking for, on letting your mind play with this mood in a relaxed way and then going to sleep: often the answer comes to you "like toast pops out of a toaster." Keep it as simple as you can; on how a son used this to locate his father's lost will. He used the mantra word "answer"; on looking for an answer while you're sitting quietly: "simply think quietly about right action which means that you are using the infinite intelligence resident in the subconscious mind." On how often you'll receive the answer in the form of a feeling or an overpowering hunch.
Chapter Review
1. Remember that the subconscious mind has determined the success and wonderful achievements of all great scientific workers.
2. By giving your conscious attention and devotion to the solution of a perplexing problem, your subconscious mind gathers all the necessary information and presents it full-blown to the conscious mind.
3. If you are wondering about the answer to a problem, try to solve that objectively. Get all the information you can from research and also from others. If no answer comes, turn it over to your subconscious mind prior to sleep, and the answer always comes. It never fails.
4. You do not always get the answer overnight. Keep on turning your request over to your subconscious until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
5. You delay the answer by thinking it will take a long time or that it is a major problem. Your subconscious has no problem, it knows only the answer.
6. Believe that you have the answer now. Feel the joy of the answer and the way you would feel if you had the perfect answer. Your subconscious will respond to your feeling.
7. Any mental picture, backed by faith and perseverance, will come to pass through the miracle-working power of your subconscious. Trust it, believe in its power, and wonders will happen as you pray.
8. Your subconscious is the storehouse of memory, and within your subconscious are recorded all your experiences since childhood.
9. Scientists meditating on ancient scrolls, temples, fossils, etc., are able to reconstruct scenes of the past and make them alive today. Their subconscious mind comes to their aid.
10. Turn over your request for a solution to your subconscious prior to sleep. Trust it and believe in it, and the answer will come. It knows all and sees all, but you must not doubt or question its powers.
11. The action is your thought, and the reaction is the response of your subconscious mind. If your thoughts are wise, your actions and decisions will be wise.
12. Guidance comes as a feeling, an inner awareness, an overpowering hunch whereby you know that you know. It is an inner sense of touch. Follow it.
Chapter 13: Your Subconscious and the Wonders of Sleep
186ff "...many answers to our problems come to us when we are sound asleep upon the bed." "Your subconscious mind never rests or sleeps... The healing process takes place more rapidly while you are asleep as there is no interference from your conscious mind. Remarkable answers are given to you while you are asleep."
187ff On prayer and how it is "like a form of sleep," acting as a withdrawal from external noise and confusion.
188ff On the effects of sleep deprivation: its impact on human memory and perception, even inducing psychotic breakdowns; on microsleeps.
191ff The author gives an example where he asked his subconscious before sleep whether to accept a job in the Orient; he claims to have foreseen the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He had a friend appear to him in a dream who said, "read these headlines--do not go!" And in the newspaper headlines were stories about the attack on Pearl Harbor. "Your future is in your subconscious mind."
193ff Other examples of people solving problems while sleeping: a worker in a steel plant, a professor deciphering the use of some ancient agate fragments; also taking about Robert Louis Stevenson [again] here, his book Across the Plains with a whole chapter devoted to dreams, and how he "had the persistent habit of giving specific instructions to his subconscious every night prior to sleep." [Basically this is a repeat of the same anecdote earlier in the book.]
196 On dealing with it insomnia: an affirmation to be repeated slowly, quietly and lovingly prior to sleep: "My toes are relaxed, my ankles are relaxed, my abdominal muscles are relaxed, my heart and lungs are relaxed [going throughout the body here]... I am poised, serene and calm. I wrap myself in the mantle of love and fall asleep filled with goodwill for all. I sleep in peace, I wake in joy."
Chapter Review
1. If you are worried that you will not wake up on time, suggest to your subconscious mind prior to sleep the exact time you wish to arise, and it will awaken you. It needs no clock. [This actually works!] Do the same thing with all your problems. There is nothing too hard for your subconscious.
2. Your subconscious never sleeps. It is always on the job. It controls all your vital functions. Forgive yourself and everyone else before you go to sleep, and healing will take place much more rapidly.
3. Guidance is given you while you are asleep, sometimes in a dream. The healing currents are also released, and in the morning you feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
4. When troubled by the vexations and strife of the day, still the wheels of your mind and think about the wisdom and intelligence lodged in your subconscious mind which is ready to respond to you. This will give you peace, strength, and confidence.
5. Sleep is essential for piece of mind and health of body. Lack of sleep can cause irritation, depression, and mental disorders. You need eight hours' sleep.
6. Medical research scholars point out that insomnia precedes psychotic breakdowns.
7. You are spiritually recharged during sleep. Adequate sleep is essential for joy and vitality in life.
8. Your tired brain craves sleep so hungrily that it will sacrifice anything to get it. Many who have fallen asleep at the wheel of an automobile can testify to this.
9. Many sleep-deprived people have poor memories and lack proper co-ordination. They become befuddled, confused, and disoriented.
10. Sleep brings counsel. Prior to sleep, claim that the infinite intelligence of your subconscious mind is guiding and directing you. Then, watch for the lead which comes, perhaps on awakening.
11. Trust your subconscious completely. Know that it's tendency is always lifeward. Occasionally, your subconscious answers to you in a very vivid dream and a vision in the night. You can be forewarned in a dream in the same way as the author of this book was warned.
12. Your future is in your mind now, based on your habitual thinking and beliefs. Claim infinite intelligence leads and guides you and that all good is yours, and your future will be wonderful. Believe it and accept it. Expect the best, and invariably the best will come to you.
13. If you are writing a novel, play, or book, or are working on an invention, speak to your subconscious mind at night and claim boldly that its wisdom, intelligence, and power are guiding, directing, and revealing to you the ideal play, novel, book, or revealing the perfect solution whatever it may be. Wonders will happen as you pray this way.
Chapter 14: Your Subconscious Mind and Marital Problems
199 "Friction between husband and wife can be solved by each using the law of mind correctly."
200ff On marriages under false premises, like wanting security or social position; this is inconsistent with an abundance mindset, because your wealth will come to you independent of a husband (or wife)! It is instead dependent on the inner powers of your subconscious; on attracting the ideal partner: calming yourself, articulating an affirmation, impregnating your subconscious mind with it; other discussions here about "drifting into divorce": how it begins in the mind, sometimes your subconscious knows that it's the right thing despite your social programming, etc. Also on how your fears about your partner actually become manifest thanks to your subconscious making your fears real.
209ff On the "great mistake" of discussing your marital problems with neighbors or relatives; on how complaining actually creating those states that you're complaining about "as you think and feel, so are you." Also on trying to make your spouse over into someone that they're not; on praying together and showing gratitude and appreciation, etc.
Chapter Review
1. Ignorance of mental and spiritual laws is the cause of all marital and happiness. By praying scientifically together, you stay together.
2. The best time to prevent divorce is before marriage. If you learn how to pray in the right way, you will attract the right mate for you.
3. Marriage is the union of a man and woman who are bound together by love. Their hearts beat as one, and they move onward, upward, and Godward.
4. Marriage does not bequeath happiness. People find happiness by dwelling on the eternal truths of God and the spiritual values of life. Then, the man and woman can contribute to each other's happiness and joy.
5. You attract the right mate by dwelling on the qualities and characteristics you admire in a woman or a man, and then your subconscious mind will bring you together in divine order.
6. You must build into your mentality the mental equivalent of what you want in a marriage partner. If you want to attract an honest, sincere, and loving partner in life, you must be honest, sincere, and loving yourself.
7. You do not have to repeat mistakes in marriage. When you really believe you can have the type of man or woman you idealize, it is done unto you as you believe. To believe is to accept something as true. Accept your ideal companion now mentally.
8. Do not wonder how, why, or where you will meet the mate you are praying for. Trust implicitly the wisdom of your subconscious mind. It has the "know-how," and you don't have to assist it.
9. You are mentally divorced when you indulge in peeves, grudges, ill will, and hostility toward your marriage partner. You are mentally dwelling with error in the bed of your mind. Adhere to your marriage vows, "I promise to cherish, love, and honor him (or her) all the days of my life."
10. Cease projecting fear patterns to your marriage partner. Project love, peace, harmony, and goodwill, and your marriage will grow more beautiful and more wonderful through the years.
11. Radiate love, peace, and good will to each other. These vibrations are picked up by the subconscious mind resulting in mutual trust, affection, and respect.
12. A nagging wife is usually seeking attention and appreciation. She is craving for love and affection. Praise and exalt her many good points. Show her that you love her and appreciate her.
13. A man who loves his wife does not do anything unloving or unkind in word, manner, or action. Love is what love does.
14. In marital problems, always seek expert advice. You would not go to a carpenter to pull a tooth; neither should you discuss your marriage problems with relatives or friends. You should go to a trained person for counsel.
15. Never try to make your wife or husband over. These attempts are always foolish and tend to destroy the pride and self-esteem of the other. Moreover, it arouses a spirit of resentment that proves fatal to the marriage bond. Cease trying to make the other a second edition of yourself.
16. Pray together and you will stay together. Scientific prayer solves all problems. Mentally picture your wife as she ought to be, joyous, happy, healthy, and beautiful. See your husband as he ought to be, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and kind. Maintain this mental picture, and you will experience the marriage made in heaven which is harmony and peace.
Chapter 15: Your Subconscious Mind and Your Happiness
215ff On transitory happiness versus lasting happiness, quoting The Book of Proverbs: "Whosoever trusteth in the Lord, happy is he." On the idea of radiating love and peace and good will, which builds a superstructure of happiness for you. On choosing happiness, it is a state of mind as extraordinarily simple as this may seem: "The great things of Life are simple, dynamic, and creative."
217 Also note the affirmation on page 217: "When you open your eyes in the morning, say to yourself, 'Divine order takes charge of my life today and every day. All things work together for good for me today. This is a new and wonderful day for me. There will never be another day like this one. I am divinely guided all day long, and whatever I do will prosper. Divine love surrounds me, enfolds me, and enwraps me, and I go forth in peace. Whenever my attention wanders away from that which is good and constructive, I will immediately bring it back to the contemplation of that which is lovely and of good report. I am a spiritual and mental magnet attracting to myself all things, which bless and prosper me. I am going to be a wonderful success in all my undertakings today. I am definitely going to be happy all day long.' Start each day in this manner; then you will be choosing happiness, and you will be a radiant joyous person."
218ff On making it a habit to be happy; on sincerely desiring to be happy. On a woman with rheumatism who would say how it keeps her miserable, on the attention she got from people for it and how she enjoyed her misery, how she was not interested in any curative procedure or changes in her mindset. "There seems to be a peculiar, mental, morbid streak in many people, whereby they seem to enjoy being miserable and sad." [Ain't that the truth.] On the idea that your thoughts are what drive your mental state; on avoiding negative thoughts, never making statements like 'I am not going to succeed," see Emerson's quote "A man is what he thinks all day long." On avoiding negative, defeatist or unkind thoughts; "you can experience nothing outside your own mentality."
220 On wealth which "is not a deterrent to happiness" but will not make you happy; on happiness as a mental and spiritual state.
222ff Cute story here about the block or stump is not really there: about a stump in a road which a horse would shy away from even after the farmer dug the stump out, burned it, and leveled the road; there was a memory of the stump in the horse's mind that caused it to shy away; the author then gives a contra-example of a businessman who "tore up the stump" in his mind after a business failure and then achieved a successful business outcome afterwards.
Chapter Review
1. William James said that the greatest discovery of the 19th century was the power of the subconscious mind touched by faith.
2. There is tremendous power within you. Happiness will come to you when you acquire a sublime confidence in this power. Then, you will make your dreams come true.
3. You can rise victorious over any defeat and realize the cherished desires of your heart through The marvelous power of your subconscious mind. This is the meaning of Whosoever trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.
4. You must choose happiness. Happiness is a habit. It is a good habit to ponder often on Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8.
5. When you open your eyes in the morning, say to yourself, I choose happiness today. I choose success today. I choose right action today. I choose love and good will for all today. I choose peace today. Pour life, love, and interest into this affirmation, and you have chosen happiness.
6. Give thanks for all your blessings several times a day. Furthermore, pray for the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all members of your family, your associates, and all people everywhere.
7. You must sincerely desire to be happy. Nothing is accomplished without desire. Desire is a wish with wings of imagination and faith. Imagine the fulfillment of your desire, and feel its reality, and it will come to pass. Happiness comes in answered prayer.
8. By constantly dwelling on thoughts of fear, worry, anger, hate, and failure, you will become very depressed and unhappy. Remember, your life is what your thoughts make of it.
9. You cannot buy happiness with all the money in the world. Some millionaires are very happy, some are very unhappy. Many people with very little worldly goods are very happy, and some are very unhappy. Some married people are happy, and some very unhappy. Some single people are happy, and some are very unhappy. The kingdom of happiness is in your thought and feeling.
10. Happiness is the harvest of a quiet mind. Anchor your thoughts on peace, poise, security, and divine guidance, and your mind will be productive of happiness.
11. There is no block to your happiness. External things are not causative, these are effects, not cause. Take your cue from the only creative principle within you. Your thought is cause, and a new cause produces a new effect. Choose happiness.
12. The happiest man is he who brings forth the highest and best in him. God is the highest and the best in him, for the kingdom of God is within.
Chapter 16: Your Subconscious Mind and Harmonious Human Relations
227 "In studying this book, you learn that your subconscious mind is a recording machine which faithfully reproduces whatever you impress upon it. This is one of the reasons for the application of the Golden Rule in human relations." [He offers an interesting nuance here about thinking of the golden rule in sort of a flipped way: whatever you want people to think about you, you think that about them in like manner: with your feelings about them, your feelings about their actions, as well as your thoughts about them; thinking about it on all three levels, not just on the level of action, the level of your actions to them or their actions to you. Very intriguing.]
229 On the good you do for others coming back to you in like measure, also likewise with evil you do.
229ff [A story here that translates perfectly into the modern era.] On a man who developed a rage reading newspaper articles; the author counseled him to give the newspapermen freedom to express themselves even though he may disagree; and likewise how it's emotionally immature to get angry when others write articles that he doesn't agree with; on learning to disagree without being disagreeable, and on the idea that it doesn't matter what a person says or writes or does, it is your reaction that matters. [The idea here is not giving away your power to some article or media outlet such that it gets to dictate your internal mental state!]
231 On the idea that if someone annoys you, consider the possibility that the vibration, annoyance and turmoil comes from a mental projection from you, just like an animal will pick up your vibrations and react accordingly. "Many undisciplined human beings are just as sensitive as dogs, cats, and other animals."
232ff "There is no one to change but myself." Story here about a girl who couldn't get along with the other women in her office and the affirmation the author gave her. Further example here of a salesman who felt he was unjustly treated by his boss, and the author tells him that "the cause was to a great degree within himself, and that his concept and belief about his superior bore witness to the reaction of this man. The measure we mete, shall be measured to us again."... "What he gave out mentally, he was inevitably bound to get back." The mantra the author gave him included "I refuse to give power to any person, place, or thing to annoy me or disturb me." [There have been many times in my life where I could have benefited from reciting this mantra...] Also the man made a visual mental movie of getting along with the manager, being congratulated and encouraged by him, etc., feeling the reality of it.
234-5 "What the other person says or does cannot really annoy or irritate you except you permit him to disturb you. The only way he can annoy you is through your own thought... When you become emotionally mature, you do not respond negatively to the criticism and resentment of others. To do so would mean that you had descended to that state of low mental vibration and become one with the negative atmosphere of the other. Identify yourself with your aim in life, and do not permit any person, place, or thing to deflect you from your inner sense of peace, tranquility and radiant health."
236 On handling difficult people: "To understand all is to forgive all." On remaining calm and unmoved and dispassionate with people who interact negatively with the world.
239 More useful thoughts here on not giving your power away to anyone or any situation, or to change your inner mental state or derail you from your ideals, your happiness, fulfillment and inner peace.
Chapter Review
1. Your subconscious mind is a recording machine which reproduces your habitual thinking. Think good of the other, and you are actually thinking good about yourself.
2. I hateful or resentful thought is a mental poison. Do not think ill of another for to do so is to think ill of yourself. You are the only thinker in your universe, and your thoughts are creative.
3. Your mind is a creative medium; therefore, what you think and feel about the other, you are bringing to pass in your own experience. This is the psychological meaning of the Golden Rule. As you would that man should think about you, think you about them in the same manner.
4. To cheat, rob, or defraud another brings lack, loss, and limitation to yourself. Your subconscious mind records your inner motivations, thoughts, and feelings. These being of a negative nature; loss, limitation, and trouble come to you in countless ways. Actually, what you do to the other, you are doing to yourself.
5. The good you do, the kindness proffered, the love and good will you send forth, will all come back to you multiplied in many ways.
6. You are the only thinker in your world. You are responsible for the way you think about the other. Remember, the other person is not responsible for the way you think about him. Your thoughts are reproduced. What are you thinking now about the other fellow?
7. Become emotionally mature and permit other people to differ from you. They have a perfect right to disagree with you, and you had the same freedom to disagree with them. You can disagree without being disagreeable.
8. Animals pick up fear vibrations and snap at you. If you love animals, they will never attack you. Many undisciplined human beings are just as sensitive as dogs, cats, and other animals.
9. Your inner speech, representing your silent thoughts and feelings, is experienced in the reactions of others toward you.
10. Wish for the other what you wish for yourself. This is the key to harmonious human relations.
11. Change your concept and estimate of your employer. Feel and know he is practicing the Golden Rule and the Law of Love, and he will respond accordingly.
12. The other person cannot annoy you or irritate you except you permit him. Your thought is creative; you can bless him. If someone calls you a skunk, you have the freedom to say to the other, "God's peace fills your soul."
13. Love is the answer to getting along with others. Love is understanding, good will, and respecting the divinity of the other.
14. You would not hate a hunchback or a cripple. You would have compassion. Have compassion and understanding for mental hunchbacks who have been conditioned negatively. To understand all is to forgive all.
15. Rejoice in the success, promotion, and good fortune of the other. In doing so, you attract good fortune to yourself.
16. Never yield to emotional scenes and tantrums of others. Appeasement never wins. Do not be a doormat. Adhere to that which is right. Stick to your ideal, knowing that the mental outlook which gives you peace, happiness, and joy is right, good, and true. What blesses you, blesses all.
17. All you owe any person in the world is love, and love is wishing for everyone what you wish for yourself--health, happiness, and all the blessings of life.
Chapter 17: How to Use Your Subconscious Mind for Forgiveness
243ff On mental resistance to the flow of life by accusing or reproaching God, or blaming God for one's loss, pains or accidents, believing God is responsible; these are negative concepts about God and they cause you to punish yourself. Rather, one should give up all condemnation, resentment and anger against anyone or any power outside yourself. Also on the idea that life is always forgiving you and healing you, and negative thinking or bitterness impedes this free flow of the life principle in you.
245 "The forces of nature are not evil; it is your use of them that determines whether they have a good or evil effect."
246ff "Self condemnation is called hell, forgiveness is called heaven." Various examples here of people learning to forgive themselves, to let go of their guilt; "forgiveness is necessary for healing."
252ff On having the willingness to forgive, a sincere desire to forgive the other. Also on the sincerity of your forgiveness, on the idea of not doing it for selfish reasons or to appear magnanimous; "As you think and feel, so are you." On techniques and affirmations for forgiveness: "I release anybody and everybody who has ever hurt me, and I wish for each and everyone health, happiness, peace, and all the blessings of life. I do this freely, joyously, and lovingly..." Also on the "acid test" for forgiveness, if you learn something wonderful about this person do you feel jealous or upset, if so the roots of hatred are still in your subconscious.
254 "When a man understands the creative law of his own mind, he ceases to blame other people and conditions for making or marring his life."
Chapter Review
1. God, or life, is no respecter of persons. Life plays no favorites. Life, or God, seems to favor you when you align yourself with the principle of harmony, health, joy, and peace.
2. God, or life, never sends disease, sickness, accident, or suffering. We bring these things on ourselves by our own negative destructive thinking based upon the law as we sow, so shall we reap.
3. Your concept of God is the most important thing in your life. If you really believe in a God of love, your subconscious mind will respond in countless blessings to you. Believe in a God of love.
4. Life, or God, holds no grudge against you. Life never condemns you. Life heals a severe cut on your hand. Life forgives you if you burn your finger. It reduces the edema and restores the part to wholeness and perfection.
5. Your guilt complex is a false concept of God and life. God, or life, does not punish or judge you. You do this to yourself by your false beliefs, negative thinking, and self condemnation.
6. God, or life, does not condemn or punish you. The forces of nature are not evil. The effect of their use depends on how you use the power within you. You can use electricity to kill someone or to light the house. You can use water to drown a child, or quench his thirst. Good and evil come right back to the thought and purpose in man's own mind.
7. God, or life, never punishes. Man punishes himself by his false concepts of God, life, and the Universe. His thoughts are creative, and he creates his own misery.
8. If another criticizes you, and these faults are within you, rejoice, give thanks, and appreciate the comments. This gives you the opportunity to correct the particular fault.
9. You cannot be hurt by criticism when you know that you are the master of your thoughts, reactions, and emotions. This gives you the opportunity to pray and bless the other, thereby blessing yourself.
10. When you pray for guidance and write action, take what comes. Realize it is good and very good. Then there is no cause for self-pity, criticism, or hatred.
11. There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. There is no evil in sex, the desire for food, wealth, or true expression. It depends on how you use these urges, desires, or aspirations. Your desire for food can be met without killing someone for a loaf of bread.
12. Resentment, hatred, ill will, and hostility are behind a host of maladies. Forgive yourself and everybody else by pouring out love, life, joy, and good will to all those who have hurt you. Continue until such time as you meet them in your mind and you are at peace with them.
13. To forgive is to give something for. Give love, peace, joy, wisdom, and all the blessings of life to the other, until there is no sting left in your mind. This is really the acid test of forgiveness.
14. Let us suppose you had an abscess in your jaw about a year ago. It was very painful. Ask yourself if it is painful now. The answer is in the negative. Likewise, if someone has hurt you, lied about and vilified you, and said all manner of evil about you, is your thought of that person negative? Do you sizzle when he or she comes into your mind? If so, the roots of hatred are still there, playing havoc with you and your good. The only way is to wither them with love by wishing for the person all the blessings of life, until you can meet the person in your mind, and you can sincerely react with a benediction of peace and good will. This is the meaning of forgive until seventy times seven.
Chapter 18: How Your Subconscious Removes Mental Blocks
258 "The solution lies within the problem. The answer is in every question. If you are presented with a difficult situation and you cannot see your way clear, the best procedure is to assume that infinite intelligence within your subconscious mind knows all and sees all, has the answer, and is revealing it to you now." [Basically, just trust that the solution will come to you, work on it or think about it or visualize a solution but without force or stress.]
258ff On habits: useful comments here on your personal volition to choose a habit--either good or bad. Likewise negative thoughts are also something that can be habitual as well. Choose your habits; use your personal agency to have power over your habits.
262 On a person who believed a jinx was following him; in reality what he feared most kept happening to him and he had to learn that the trouble began in his own mind, bringing to him what he was afraid of. He then used an affirmation that included "I live in the joyous expectancy of the best."
266ff On alcoholism, on admitting you have a problem, on the idea that "having a keen desire to free yourself from any destructive habit" is 51% of the battle; on substituting the image of joy and freedom [and psychological agency basically] for the image of drinking or whatever the addiction is; on the negative thinking patterns underneath alcoholism, like a sense of inferiority or inadequacy or frustration or inner hostility.
269ff Three magic steps: 1. Enter into a sleepy, drowsy state where you are relaxed, peaceful and receptive. 2. Take a phrase/affirmation that can be easily graven on the memory and repeat it aloud for five minutes or more for a deep emotional response. 3. Imagine a loved one or a friend in front of you while you are relaxed and at peace before going to sleep, saying to you "congratulations," vividly see his/her smile or voice, and receive the implication of complete freedom.
Chapter Review
1. The solution lies within the problem. The answer is in every question. Infinite intelligence responds to you as you call upon it with faith and confidence.
2. Habit is the function of your subconscious mind. There is no greater evidence of the marvelous power of your subconscious than the force and sway habit holds in your life. You are a creature of habit.
3. You form habit patterns in your subconscious mind by repeating a thought and act over and over again until it establishes tracks in the subconscious mind and becomes automatic, such as swimming, dancing, typing, walking, driving your car, etc.
4. You have freedom to choose. You can choose a good habit or a bad habit. Prayer is a good habit.
5. Whatever mental picture, backed by faith, you behold in your conscious mind, your subconscious mind will bring to pass.
6. The only obstacle to your success and achievement is your own thought or mental image.
7. When your attention wanders, bring it back to the contemplation of your good or goal. Make a habit of this. This is called disciplining the mind.
8. Your conscious mind is the camera, and your subconscious mind is the sensitive plate on which you register or impress the picture.
9. The only jinx that follows anyone is a fear thought repeated over and over in the mind. Break the jinx by knowing that whatever you start you will bring to a conclusion in divine order. Picture the happy ending and sustain it with confidence.
10. To form a new habit, you must be convinced that it is desirable. When your desire to give up the bad habit is greater than your desire to continue, you are fifty-one percent healed already.
11. The statements of others cannot hurt you except through your own thoughts and mental participation. Identify yourself with your aim which is peace, harmony, and joy. You are the only thinker in your universe.
12. Excessive drinking is an unconscious desire to escape. The cause of alcoholism is negative and destructive thinking. The cure is to think of freedom, sobriety, and perfection, and to feel the thrill of accomplishment.
13. Many people remain alcoholics because they refuse to admit it.
14. The law of your subconscious mind, which held you in bondage and inhibited your freedom of action, will give you freedom and happiness. It depends on how you use it.
15. Your imagination took you to the bottle; let it take you to freedom by imagining you are free.
16. The real cause of alcoholism is negative and destructive thinking. As a man thinketh in his heart [subconscious mind], so is he.
17. When fear knocks at the door of your mind, let faith in God and all good things open the door.
Chapter 19: How to Use Your Subconscious Mind to Remove Fear
274 "Fear is a thought in your mind"; think of a little boy fearful of the boogieman, but then when the father turns on the light he discovers it's not there: "The thing he feared did not exist." Also: "...shadows have no reality."
277 Different examples here of people with fear of speaking, fear of stage fright, fear of examinations; on the idea that the subconscious mind is both responsive and reciprocal: thus it will manifest the thing you fear; also examples of visualization exercises where people imagine the happy result of the thing that they fear.
279ff Interesting example here of blessing the thing that you fear; an executive who was afraid of an elevator for example.
280ff Distinguishing between normal and abnormal fear; on examining your fears which makes them fade and shrink into insignificance.
284 A government official who was the victim of a plot who sat still for 15 minutes in the morning imagining himself in a deep still ocean of peace; he is told about the plot, and he says, "I am going to sleep now in perfect peace. You can discuss it with me at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow."
285 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4
Chapter Review
1. Do the thing you were afraid to do, and the death of fear is certain. Say to yourself and mean it, "I am going to master this fear," and you will.
2. Fear is a negative thought in your mind. Supplant it with a constructive thought. Fear has killed millions. Confidence is greater than fear. Nothing is more powerful than faith in God and the good.
3. Fear is man's greatest enemy. It is behind failure, sickness, and bad human relations. Love casts out fear. Love is an emotional attachment to the good things of life. Fall in love with honesty, integrity, justice, good will, and success. Live with the joyous expectancy of the best and invariably the best will come to you.
4. Counteract the fear suggestions with the opposite, such as "I sing beautifully; I am poised, serene, and calm." It will pay fabulous dividends.
5. Fear is behind amnesia at oral and written examination time. You can overcome this by affirming frequently, "I have a perfect memory for everything I need to know," or you can imagine a friend congratulate you and your brilliant success on the examination. Persevere and you will win.
6. If you are afraid to cross water, swim. In your imagination swim freely, joyously. Project yourself into the water mentally. Feel the chill and thrill of swimming across the pool. Make it vivid. As you do this subjectively, you will be compelled to go into the water and conquer it. This is the law of your mind.
7. If you are afraid of closed places, such as elevators, lecture halls, etc., mentally ride in an elevator blessing all its parts and functions. You will be amazed how quickly the fear will be dissipated.
8. You were born with only two fears, the fear of falling and the fear of noise. All your other fears were acquired. Get rid of them.
9. Normal fear is good. Abnormal fear is very bad and destructive. To constantly indulge in fear thoughts results in abnormal fear, obsessions, and complexes. To fear something persistently causes a sense of panic and terror.
10. You can overcome abnormal fear when you know the power of your subconscious mind can change conditions and bring to pass the cherished desires of your heart. Give your immediate attention and devotion to your desire which is the opposite of your fear. This is the love that casts out fear.
11. If you are afraid of failure, give attention to success. If you are afraid of sickness, dwell on your perfect health. If you are afraid of an accident, dwell on a guidance and protection of God. If you are afraid of death, dwell on Eternal Life. God is Life, and that is your life now.
12. The great law of substitution is the answer to fear. Whatever you fear has its solution in the form of your desire. If you are sick, you desire health. If you are in the prison of fear, you desire freedom. Expect the good. Mentally concentrate on the good, and know that your subconscious mind answers you always. It never fails.
13. The things you fear do not really exist except as thoughts in your mind. Thoughts are creative. This is why Job said, The thing I feared has come upon me. Think good and good follows.
14. Look at your fears; hold them up to the light of reason. Learn to laugh at your fears. That is the best medicine.
15. Nothing can disturb you but your own thought. The suggestions, statements, or threats of other persons have no power. The power is within you, and when your thoughts are focused on that which is good, then God's power is with your thoughts of good. There is only one Creative Power, and It moves as harmony. There are no divisions of quarrels in it. Its source is Love. This is why God's power is with your thoughts of good.
Chapter 20: How to Stay Young in Spirit Forever
289ff On the idea of the fear of time, not time itself, that has an aging effect; on the neurotic fear of the effects of aging; on a friend of the author who was growing old in his "thought life" yielded to his advancing years, he had a mentality of futility and worthlessness; "his subconscious mind brought about all the evidence of his habitual thinking." On either thinking that you're old and it's over or thinking that the period ahead of you is going to be glorious and fruitful and active and productive, and of course your thinking makes it so. "What we call the aging process is really change."
292 A woman asks Thomas Edison "What is electricity?" He replies, "Madame, electricity is. Use it."
294 On the idea that you are as useful as you believe yourself to be.
297 "You grow old when you lose interest in life, when you cease to dream, to hunger after new truths, and to search for new worlds to conquer. When your mind is open to new ideas, new interests, and when you raise the curtain and let in the sunshine and inspiration of the truth of life and the universe, you will be young and vital."
298ff "Be sure that your mind never retires." On being a producer not a prisoner of society; on rejecting propaganda about old age, decrepitude and uselessness; on having a vision of yourself as happy, radiant, successful, serene, and powerful. Also an interesting blurb here about president Herbert Hoover, vigorous and full of life at age 88, affable, genial and amiable, despite the fact that he weathered enormous criticism and condemnation during the Great Depression, but he did not grow old in hatred, resentment or bitterness.
Chapter Review
1. Patience, kindness, love, good will, joy, happiness, wisdom, and understanding are qualities which never grow old. Cultivate them and express them, and remain young in mind and body.
2. Some research physicians say that the neurotic fear of the effects of time may well be the cause of premature aging.
3. Age is not the flight of years; it is the dawn of wisdom in the mind of man.
4. The most productive years of your life can be from 65 to 95.
5. Welcome the advancing years. It means you're moving higher on the path of life which has no end.
6. God is Life, and that is your life now. Life is self-renewing, eternal, and indestructible, and is the reality of all men. You live forever, because your life is God's life.
7. Evidence of survival after death is overwhelming. Study Proceedings Of Psychical Research of Great Britain and America in your library. The work is based on a scientific research by outstanding scientists for over 75 years.
8. You cannot see your mind, but you know you have a mind. You cannot see spirit, but you know that the spirit of the game, the spirit of the artist, the spirit of the musician, and the spirit of speaker is real. Likewise, the spirit of goodness, truth, and beauty moving in your mind and heart are real. You cannot see life, but you know you are alive.
9. Old age may be called the contemplation of the truths of God from the highest standpoint. The joys of old age are greater than those of youth. Your mind is engaged in spiritual and mental athletics. Nature slows down your body so that you may have the opportunity to meditate on things divine.
10. We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count. Your faith and convictions are not subject to decay.
11. You are as young as you think you are. You are as strong as you think you are. You are as useful as you think you are. You are as young as your thoughts.
12. Your gray hair is an asset. You are not selling your gray hairs. You are selling your talent, abilities, and wisdom, which you have garnered through the years.
13. Diets and exercises won't keep you young. As a man thinketh, so is he.
14. Fear of old age can bring about physical and mental deterioration. The thing I greatly feared has come upon me.
15. You grow old when you cease to dream, and when you lose interest in life. You grow old if you are irritable, crotchety, petulant, and cantankerous. Fill your mind with the truths of God and radiate the sunshine of His love--this is youth.
16. Look ahead, for at all times you are gazing into Infinite life.
17. Your retirement is a new venture. Take up new studies and new interests. You can now do the things you always wanted to do when you were so busy making a living. Give your attention to living life.
18. Become a producer and not a prisoner of society. Don't hide your light under a bushel.
19. The secret of youth is love, joy, inner peace, and laughter. In Him there is fullness of joy. In Him there is no darkness at all.
20. You are needed. Some of the great philosophers, artists, scientists, writers, and others accomplished their greatest work after they were 80 years old.
21. The fruits of old age are love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
22. You are a son of Infinite Life which knows no end. You are a child of Eternity. You are wonderful!
[The next portion is a bonus two chapter mini-book, it is largely a rehash of the chapters 9 and 10 from the book above.]
How to Attract Money
Chapter 1: Your Right to Be Rich
311ff On the idea that you are here to lead the abundant life, to live a happy and radiant life, and have all the money you need for a prosperous life; there's no virtue in poverty; in fact, the author considers it a mental disease, also on unhealthy ways of looking at money: as filthy lucre, or saying love of money is the root of all evil; money can be used for good or evil, it has to be used in the proper way towards a balanced and prosperous life.
319ff On various affirmations that can contribute or detract from your financial situation, depending on your true internal belief sets. "Money is forever circulating freely in my life, and there is always a divine surplus." On the drawbacks of saying "I am wealthy, I am prosperous, I am successful" if your subconscious mind isn't ready or fully congruent with these views, if this is the case then it's better to use something like "I am prospering every day" or "I am growing in wealth every day," or "I am advancing and moving forward financially," etc. [The author doesn't say it this way but basically these statements are easier for many people's subconscious to swallow, at least at first.]
321ff Rehashing the story from Chapter 10 of the young boy in Australia who eventually went to medical school.
324 "The consciousness of health produces health; the consciousness of wealth produces wealth."
324ff On giving your power away to friends who instill a fear of failure in your mind; like if you're starting a new business and they tell you all the reasons why you're bound to fail. Also on the idea of not placing impediments or obstacles on the pathway of others, on avoiding jealousy or envy of others. "The suggestion you give to another, you are giving to yourself." Also on avoiding resentment of others' wealth, on the contrary: you want to rejoice and bless other people for their wealth and be glad for the abundance they experience.
327 "Isn't it a wonderful feeling to place your head on the pillow at night, and feel you are at peace with the whole world, and that your heart is full of goodwill toward all?" [This is a good quote, it emphasizes the importance of congruency in your life, you feel good about what you're doing, you feel good about your decisions, you're not filled with envy or rage at others, there's full congruence in the abundance of your life.]
328 Interesting story here about a woman who bought up a ton of coffee during the war [presumably World War II] because she knew that rationing would happen and the price would go higher, and then she went to church and her house got broken into, and the burglars stole not only the coffee, but her jewelry and silverware and money; the author makes the point that this coffee buying thing was done with a consciousness of lack and fear, "her fear of lack produced lack."
330 "When the ship comes in for your friend, it comes in for you also." Once again on not begrudging other people's successes and advancements.
331 An affirmation for worry about your investments: "Infinite Intelligence governs and watches over all my financial transactions, and whatsoever I do shall prosper."
332 On sleeping on a problem rather than fussing and fuming over it. "Night brings counsel."
336 On having a merry heart; "a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance," "a merry heart hath a continual feast," etc.
Chapter 2: The Road to Riches
341ff "Riches are of the mind." Anecdote here about a doctor who lost his diploma, but still will have all the wealth he needs in his mind to perform his work, earn his living, etc., because his riches were in his mental capacity; also on a man who lost everything during the 1929 crash but knew that he could regain the same symbol of wealth, to him money was just a symbol, and he knew he could make a fortune again.
343ff On "the law of action and reaction" where your external world, your body, your circumstances, as well as your financial status are always a perfect reflection of your inner thinking, beliefs, feelings, and convictions. You must change your inner pattern of thought to perform changes in your external situation.
345 Useful insights here on observing the tug of war in your mind; observing those moments when your mind gives you pushback, where you resist an idea [usually it shows an incongruency that you likely will want to resolve before you can get unstuck from an obstacle or a challenge. Another insight here is to be very careful about your mind's declarative statements, especially if they're negative, as in: "I'm not good with money," "I'm not very smart," "I'm not very good at investing," etc.]. Also on the idea of how in prayer (or with your affirmations) you are writing what you believe in your mind.
346 Extended discussion here of the "water into wine" metaphor: it was touched on earlier in this chapter in metaphorical readings of the wedding in Cana; basically the parable is here used a metaphor for rewriting one's mindset of lack into a mindset of abundance. For example the phrases "I can't accomplish it," "it is hopeless" are analogous to saying "they have no wine" or "look at the facts." These "facts" are simply the challenges of circumstances and conditions, but what you're trying to create is a future circumstance. [Elements of this metaphor are rather stretched here, but the reader can see what the author's trying to do.]
353ff On avoiding worry, fear or doubt and instead pouring feelings of joy, faith and understanding into your mental picture.
357 On "praying two ways": basically making your positive affirmation, but a few minutes later allowing worries and fearful thoughts into your head like "I can't pay this bill" or "I can't ever make ends meet." The latter are "prayers" and affirmations as well--and they're highly destructive, and they neutralize your positive thoughts. "You must be true to your knowledge of the spiritual power."
361 On contribution: on asking how can I be more useful to my fellow man, or how can I contribute more to humanity. Another example here of applying an abundance mindset.
364 Mention here of the philosopher P.D. Ouspensky, which sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole. See below for some of his works in the "To Read" section.
365 "The man who does not know the inner workings of his own mind is full of burdens, anxieties, and worries; for he has not learned how to cast his burden on the Indwelling Presence, and go free."
To Read:
Joseph Murphy: Secrets of the I Ching
Joseph Murphy: Collected Essays
***Herbert A. Parkyn: Autosuggestion
Hippolyte Bernheim: Suggestive Therapeutics
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby: The Quimby Manuscripts (1921)
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz: Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence
Dr. John Bigelow: The Mystery of Sleep
Robert Louis Stevenson: Across the Plains
P.D. Ouspensky: The Fourth Way: A Record of Talks and Answers to Questions Based on the Teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff
P.D. Ouspensky: In Search of the Miraculous