Wow! Does that mean you are so good that you can achieve what no one else has? Or are you being set up to fail?

Because I am an eternal optimist, I prefer to believe the first premise. Positive thinking is more than just a tagline. It changes the way we behave. And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better, but it also makes those around me better. I think that good attitudes are contagious. I want to start an epidemic!

A friend who also prefers to look for the silver lining suggested I Google “The Positive Pledge” by author and inspirational speaker Jon Gordon. Several promises stand out among the fifteen in the pledge, including:

-I pledge to be a positive person and positive influence on my family, friends, co-workers and community.
-I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.
-When I want to be bitter I will choose to get better.
-When I meet failure I will fail forward towards future success.
-I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me. The full pledge is a terrific framework for a positive attitude, because we know that positive thinking isn’t always easy. Negative thoughts can creep into our mind – and jump out our mouths – when we least expect them. The trick isn’t to fight them, but to manage them so they don’t paralyze us.

Identify the triggers. When you have a negative thought (“This will never work . . . I can’t do this.”), stop and ask yourself what’s bringing it on. You may be tired or stressed out, or you may be affected by someone else’s perspective. If you can locate the cause, the thought itself won’t have as much power over you.

Focus on the now. Worrying about the past or the future isn’t very productive. When you start chastising yourself for past mistakes, or seeing disaster around every corner, stop and take a breath and ask yourself what you can do right now to succeed. Find something to distract you from destructive thoughts and reset your attitude.

Replace the negative. If you find yourself plagued by a recurrent worry, train yourself to think of something else. Memorize a short poem, phrase, or meditation, and when you catch yourself in a negative thought, replace the negative with the positive. Your conscious mind can concentrate on only one thought at a time, and driving the negativity away will free you up to move forward again.

Years ago, I came across an essay that really solidified my commitment to positive thinking. It has been credited to several people, most often Robert J. Burdette or the ubiquitous “unknown.” Regardless of whoever authored it, here is the message for you to contemplate:

“There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.

“One of these days is Yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.

“The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

“This leaves only one day – Today. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities – Yesterday and Tomorrow – that we break down.

“It is not the experience of Today that drives men mad. It is remorse or bitterness for something that happened Yesterday and the dread of what will happen Tomorrow.”

That’s a difficult formula to improve upon, and perhaps even more challenging to practice. But I promise you, I’m positive you will be better off for trying!

Harvey Mackay

Community I learned about this tragedy while standing in line at a juice bar. The news was spreading from cell to cell, as jaws dropped all around me and people went pale. What to say? How to respond? This quickly becomes a trauma, not only for the Connecticut community where it happened but for the country and the world.

How do we humans explain this to ourselves and to our children? Gradually, facts will come out, theories will evolve, some perspective will emerge. But, at core, we still will feel what we all felt when I was standing in line: shock, amazement, horror, and incomprehension. We will invoke a word like “crazy” to explain what we can’t explain. I would urge us all to remind one another that while these random acts of terror and destruction do occur and will occur, they must not destroy our belief in one another. Indeed, they prove how much we need each other, more than ever, how much we need each other to be there for us all, we need each other to group together and in our world wide community stand together as solid proof that sanity will prevail, love will prevail, and community will save us from the chaos tragedies like the one that happened in Connecticut seem to portend.

Now it is time to band together. Now it is time to tell our children they are safe, because they are. Now is not the time to hold back on life out of fear, but to step up and, together, boldly press on. Together, we will prevail now, as we always have.

drhallowell.com

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Well worth a look, click on the link for the full list of tips on
Achieving Abundance

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:serif; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-alt:”Times New Roman”; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

MAN’S mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny.

There are two types of beliefs. There conscious, and subconscious beliefs. Most people can easily discover their conscious limiting beliefs. It takes some deeper thinking and reflection to discover the beliefs that may be in the subconscious. Many people do not realize that they are living through their parent’s belief systems. Your parents may have accepted their beliefs from their parents so on and so for. Limiting beliefs that you may hold may be centuries old. One man was perplexed about his financial situation. There seemed to be a force that was preventing him from achieving his financial goals. Every time he tried to improve his financial situation something always came up. We later found that he had been living in his father’s belief system about money. His father lived in the scarcity mindset and his environment inevitably reflected his mentality. Once this student became conscious of the subconscious he was able to choose a new belief and make significantly more money.

Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any given time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought-element within himself that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his development.

Show me a mans environment and I will show you his thoughts.

-Adam Mortimer

Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err. This is just as true of those who feel “out of harmony” with their surroundings as of those who are contented with them.

Are you in harmony or out of harmony with your environment? This will reveal to you the beliefs within you that are empowering and disempowering.

As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances.

Accepting that you are totally responsible for where you are at in life is a great step towards personal development. It may not be the most comfortable thing to do, but the honest and humble of heart will learn this spiritual lesson and continually grow.

Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself.

Man may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow. This is one of the most powerful God given gifts. The unsuccessful person is a slave to circumstances. The successful person makes circumstances his slave. True empowerment comes from knowing that you are in control of your life and your destiny.

That circumstances grow out of thought every man knows who has for any length of time practised self-control and self-purification, for he will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has been in exact ratio with his altered mental condition. So true is this that when a man earnestly applies himself to remedy the defects in his character, and makes swift and marked progress, he passes rapidly through a succession of vicissitudes.

Think back on your life when you have worked on becoming a better person. Think of your circumstances during those times. Did your circumstances line up with your thoughts? Think of when your thoughts have been disempowering and notice how your circumstances lined up with that way of thinking as well.

The soul attracts that which it secretly harbours; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires,—and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.

One of the ways of discovering what you are bringing into your life is through the emotions that you feel. Your emotions will reveal what you truly believe in your subconscious mind. Your emotions are what activate the unseen forces that bring what you desire into existence. What are the thoughts that you consistently dwell upon and mix with emotion? Are they visions of fear and worry, or are they visions of belief and faith? The beliefs that have the strongest emotions attached to them are on their way into your life, whether they be positive or negative.

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.

This is a great universal law. The seeds of thought that you put in your mind must unequivocally come back to you, that includes your actions. Actions speak more of who you are then anything you may say. Your actions show the world the thoughts you have been thinking.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits…” -Mathew 7:16

The outer world of circumstance shapes itself to the inner world of thought, and both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are factors, which make for the ultimate good of the individual. As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss.

There was once a man who needed a roof for his temple. He searched and searched for someone that would qualify for the job. There simply were no roofers around. All he found was a man that knew how to build ships. Then the man had an idea. He would have the ship maker build the roof for him. He pondered, if this man can build a water tight ship then why not a water tight roof. Do not the same principles in building a ship apply to building a water tight roof. He concluded that a roof is really just a ship upside down.

A wise man once said that you can oft times lean more from your failures than you can from your successses. If you have circumstances that you do not want in your life, turn your ship upside down.

Following the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which he allows himself to be dominated, (pursuing the will-o’-the-wisps of impure imaginings or steadfastly walking the highway of strong and high endeavor), a man at last arrives at their fruition and fulfillment in the outer conditions of his life. The laws of growth and adjustment everywhere obtains.

A man does not come to the almshouse or the jail by the tyranny of fate or circumstance, but by the pathway of groveling thoughts and base desires. Nor does a pure-minded man fall suddenly into crime by stress of any mere external force; the criminal thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart, and the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power. Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself No such conditions can exist as descending into vice and its attendant sufferings apart from vicious inclinations, or ascending into virtue and its pure happiness without the continued cultivation of virtuous aspirations; and man, therefore, as the lord and master of thought, is the maker of himself the shaper and author of environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its own and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity and, impurity, its strength and weakness.

“Thoughts are things.”

-Napoleon Hill

Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. The “divinity that shapes our ends” is in ourselves; it is our very self. Only himself manacles man: thought and action are the gaolers of Fate—they imprison, being base; they are also the angels of Freedom—they liberate, being noble. Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.

How can we use this knowledge to get what we want in life? We must become what we want to attract into our lives. If you want to have more spirituality in your environment, you must become spiritual. If you want more abundance, you must become that way first in the mind. If you want better health, then you must first become whole in the mind. You may be saying to yourself, how can I do this? How can I act that way when that is not who I am yet. As the saying goes, fake it till you make it. In other words, act as if you are that person until it becomes a habit of thought.

The story of the man who found an extra 4000 dollars a month illustrates this quite beautifully. There was a man that we will call Jared. Jared wanted to be wealthy. He wanted to generate extra income, and to eliminate all of his debts as quickly as possible.

His current belief system blinded him to money making opportunities. All he could see at the end of the month was 400 dollars to implement his debt elimination plan. He was talking to his wise friend about his goals and about the fact that his plans were moving painfully slow.

His friend, who had a wonderfully cultivated mind, asked him why not do 4000 dollars a month towards paying off your debts? This was a big shock to Jared’s current belief system, and he looked at his friend like he was crazy. Jared’s friend invited him to believe in the unbelievable. He told Jared to suspend all disbelief for at least three weeks. Jared agreed to this, and what happened next seemed like magic. Money making ideas began to flood Jared’s mind.

Within 12 weeks, Jared had found a way to accomplish his goal of making an extra 4000 dollars a month.

In the light of this truth, what, then, is the meaning of “fighting against circumstances?” It means that a man is continually revolting against an effect without, while all the time he is nourishing and preserving its cause in his heart. That cause may take the form of a conscious vice or an unconscious weakness; but whatever it is, it stubbornly retards the efforts of its possessor, and thus calls aloud for remedy.

Trying to change the outside world without changing the inside is like trying to pump up a tire by blowing air around it and not in it. You must focus on the root cause of the problem and not only its effects.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. The man who does not shrink from self-crucifixion can never fail to accomplish the object upon which his heart is set. This is as true of earthly as of heavenly things. Even the man whose sole object is to acquire wealth must be prepared to make great personal sacrifices before he can accomplish his object; and how much more so he who would realize a strong and well-poised life?

If I were to walk into a room and ask the class, “Who here desires prosperity?” Everyone would raise their hands. If I were to ask, who is willing to track their expenses everyday as well as their net worth? Who is willing to live on a budget? Who is willing to cultivate the millionaire mentality? Little by little hands would begin to drop. There are many that desire success in life but few are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to make it a reality.

Here is a man who is wretchedly poor. He is extremely anxious that his surroundings and home comforts should be improved, yet all the time he shirks his work, and considers he is justified in trying to deceive his employer on the ground of the insufficiency of his wages. Such a man does not understand the simplest rudiments of those principles which are the basis of true prosperity, and is not only totally unfitted to rise out of his wretchedness, but is actually attracting to himself a still deeper wretchedness by dwelling in, and acting out, indolent, deceptive, and unmanly thoughts.

Without being brutally honest with yourself there can be no progress. Personal growth takes taking personal responsibility.

Here is a rich man who is the victim of a painful and persistent disease as the result of gluttony. He is willing to give large sums of money to get rid of it, but he will not sacrifice his gluttonous desires. He wants to gratify his taste for rich and unnatural viands and have his health as well. Such a man is totally unfit to have health, because he has not yet learned the first principles of a healthy life.

Here is an employer of labor who adopts crooked measures to avoid paying the regulation wage, and, in the hope of making larger profits, reduces the wages of his workpeople. Such a man is altogether unfitted for prosperity, and when he finds himself bankrupt, both as regards reputation and riches, he blames circumstances, not knowing that he is the sole author of his condition.

I have introduced these three cases merely as illustrative of the truth that man is the causer (though nearly always is unconsciously) of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot possibly harmonize with that end. Such cases could be multiplied and varied almost indefinitely, but this is not necessary, as the reader can, if he so resolves, trace the action of the laws of thought in his own mind and life, and until this is done, mere external facts cannot serve as a ground of reasoning.

Circumstances, however, are so complicated, thought is so deeply rooted, and the conditions of happiness vary so, vastly with individuals, that a man’s entire soul-condition (although it may be known to himself) cannot be judged by another from the external aspect of his life alone. A man may be honest in certain directions, yet suffer privations; a man may be dishonest in certain directions, yet acquire wealth; but the conclusion usually formed that the one man fails because of his particular honesty, and that the other prospers because of his particular dishonesty, is the result of a superficial judgment, which assumes that the dishonest man is almost totally corrupt, and the honest man almost entirely virtuous. In the light of a deeper knowledge and wider experience such judgment is found to be erroneous. The dishonest man may have some admirable virtues, which the other does, not possess; and the honest man obnoxious vices which are absent in the other. The honest man reaps the good results of his honest thoughts and acts; he also brings upon himself the sufferings, which his vices produce. The dishonest man likewise garners his own suffering and happiness.

We tend to overly simplify the cause and effect of circumstances when judging the lives of others. We cannot justly judge another because we do not know all the complexities of the thoughts that they have thought to bring about their circumstances. We cannot assume that because someone is rich they are good or bad. There is so much more to it. As James states, there may be good qualities in one and vices in the other that we may not be aware of.

It is pleasing to human vanity to believe that one suffers because of one’s virtue; but not until a man has extirpated every sickly, bitter, and impure thought from his mind, and washed every sinful stain from his soul, can he be in a position to know and declare that his sufferings are the result of his good, and not of his bad qualities; and on the way to, yet long before he has reached, that supreme perfection, he will have found, working in his mind and life, the Great Law which is absolutely just, and which cannot, therefore, give good for evil, evil for good. Possessed of such knowledge, he will then know, looking back upon his past ignorance and blindness, that his life is, and always was, justly ordered, and that all his past experiences, good and bad, were the equitable outworking of his evolving, yet unevolved self.

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not co-operate with it.

Suffering cannot and will not come from good thinking. It would go against the law of the harvest. What you send out there must come back to you. There is an order to the universe and laws that cannot be broken.

Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the Law of his being. The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for him who is pure. There could be no object in burning gold after the dross had been removed, and a perfectly pure and enlightened being could not suffer.

The circumstances, which a man encounters with suffering, are the result of his own mental in harmony. The circumstances, which a man encounters with blessedness, are the result of his own mental harmony. Blessedness, not material possessions, is the measure of right thought; wretchedness, not lack of material possessions, is the measure of wrong thought. A man may be cursed and rich; he may be blessed and poor. Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and wisely used; and the poor man only descends into wretchedness when he regards his lot as a burden unjustly imposed.

Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and the result of mental disorder. A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer, of the man with his surroundings.

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And as he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of discovering the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.

A sign of maturity is taking responsibility for your life experience. One will not play the blame game or live as a Victim. When you choose to do something about your environment, then you are in a new state of empowerment.

Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe; justice, not injustice, is the soul and substance of life; and righteousness, not corruption, is the moulding and moving force in the spiritual government of the world. This being so, man has but to right himself to find that the universe is right; and during the process of putting himself right he will find that as he alters his thoughts towards things and other people, things and other people will alter towards him.

God is a God of order. There are natural laws and there are spiritual laws. These laws are in full force whether you accept it or not. Once you understand these laws you can use them to benefit. Just like a basic understanding of the law of gravity helps man to fly. Knowing these laws of the mind will allow you to live your life without limits.

Anything the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.

-Napoleon Hill

The proof of this truth is in every person, and it therefore admits of easy investigation by systematic introspection and self-analysis. Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. Bestial thoughts crystallize into habits of drunkenness and sensuality, which solidify into circumstances of destitution and disease: impure thoughts of every kind crystallize into enervating and confusing habits, which solidify into distracting and adverse circumstances: thoughts of fear, doubt, and indecision crystallize into weak, unmanly, and irresolute habits, which solidify into circumstances of failure, indigence, and slavish dependence: lazy thoughts crystallize into habits of uncleanliness and dishonesty, which solidify into circumstances of foulness and beggary: hateful and condemnatory thoughts crystallize into habits of accusation and violence, which solidify into circumstances of injury and persecution: selfish thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of self-seeking, which solidify into circumstances more or less distressing. On the other hand, beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize into habits of grace and kindliness, which solidify into genial and sunny circumstances: pure thoughts crystallize into habits of temperance and self-control, which solidify into circumstances of repose and peace: thoughts of courage, self-reliance, and decision crystallize into manly habits, which solidify into circumstances of success, plenty, and freedom: energetic thoughts crystallize into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify into circumstances of pleasantness: gentle and forgiving thoughts crystallize into habits of gentleness, which solidify into protective and preservative circumstances: loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of self-forgetfulness for others, which solidify into circumstances of sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.

I am amazed at the people that have miraculously altered what they thought was their lot in their lives simply by altering their thoughts. In as little as 30 days you can alter your internal belief system. Chose a new circumstance that you would like to have. Suspend all your disbelief in what you would like to see happen in your life. Spend your time visualizing, feeling and acting as if you already are in possesion of what you would like to have. Believe it to the point that there is no doubt in your mind, this is called “the knowing”. You simply know that this is going to happen. Listen to the inspiration that you receive. It will guide you to the fulfillment of your desires. Do this for three to four weeks. You can also state affirmations that allign with the goal that you would like to receive.

A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.

This was explained to me by a spiritual leader when he said, “you can choose one end of the stick that you pick up, but once you have picked up one end you cannot choose the other end.” It will come to pass wether you like it or not. Once you have made a choice. Choose wisely for the choice you choose good or bad will manifest itself through circumstances..

Nature helps every man to the gratification of the thoughts, which he most encourages, and opportunities are presented which will most speedily bring to the surface both the good and evil thoughts.

This miraculous force will bring the right types of people and resources to the fulfillment of your most sincere desires. The universe will align itself to bring what it is you most desire into your life as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.

Change your thoughts and you can change your world. Your environment will magically change to align with the new thoughts that you hold in your mind! Hold onto your dream, believe in it, and allow God to do the rest. Let go and let God. Does that mean that once you have held a thought in your mind you can sit back and do nothing? Absolutely not! You must take action to accomplish anything. Once your thoughts are in alignment with your desired circumstances your actions will naturally change. As the actions change so too does your circumstances.

“So You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content In that poor word, ‘environment,’ But spirit scorns it, and is free.

“It masters time, it conquers space; It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance, And bids the tyrant Circumstance Uncrown, and fill a servant’s place.

“The human Will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless Soul, Can hew a way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene.

“Be not impatient in delays But wait as one who understands; When spirit rises and commands The gods are ready to obey.”

Have you ever thought that you are the creator of your circumstances? Is everything within you and outside of you a direct result of what you think? Who you are is the sum total of all of the thoughts that you have thought up to this point. With honest reflection you will start to see the truth of this unfolding in your life. As you reflect on past experiences you will start to see that this golden thread of truth has shaped your reality.

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called “spontaneous” and “unpremeditated” as to those, which are deliberately executed.

James Allen is teaching the law of the harvest, as ye sow, so shall ye reap. Jeremiah 1:19. Your spontaneous actions, and actions that you took without so called “thinking about it”, were brought into your life with the thoughts that you have thought up to this point in your life.

Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

You may or may not see yourself as the creator of your circumstances, but what does it hurt to imagine that you are? Would that not further purify your thoughts, you actions, and everything else that will help you to accomplish your desired goals in life?

“Thought in the mind hath made us, What we are By thought was wrought and built. If a man’s mind Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes The wheel the ox behind….

God has given us the power to create. Our thoughts and the power of our imagination give us the power to create what we will. But be mindful of your thoughts, just like the law of gravity does not deviate, so the laws of the mind are true and unchanging. Your environment by universal law must reflect your thoughts. Everything outside of you is a mirror of what is inside of you. Jesus taught us to not worry about the mote in your brother’s eye, when you have a beam in your own. He was pointing out the fact that, you notice the mote in your brother’s eye because it is a reflection of what is going on inside of you!

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.”

-Carl Jung

..If one endure In purity of thought, joy follows him As his own shadow—sure.”

What a wonderful thought, by cleaning your mind joy will follow you, even as surely as your own shadow.

Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.

Good people are not good by chance. If people are good and positive it is because they have created that habit of thought. Maxwell Maltz once said, “happiness is a habit of thought.” It stands to reason that the other side is true as well.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. – Abraham Lincoln.

Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this—that man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.

God truly blessed man with one of his greatest attributes, the power to create. Every aspect of our lives we create. We create the world that we want to live in, through our consistent thoughts. Heaven stands ready to assist the man who will use these powers in a constructive way. Is it not written, Ask and ye shall receive. In my line of work, I have the opportunity to work with many people on their financial situation. One poem that I often quote to my students is as follows:

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.

-Jessie Belle Rittenhouse
After I quote this to my students, I often ask, “What have you specifically asked of life when it comes to money?” The most common responses are Nothing, or, “to get by.” And they prove to themselves, as they reflect on their lives, the validity of the poem, for they have received exactly what they have asked for, and not a penny more.

As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills.
Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his “household.” When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the conscious master, and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience.

The hope of this book is that you may discover that you are the master of your life. When you find yourself at a low point, remember, to lift your circumstances, you must first lift your thoughts, then by universal law your circumstances must change. Breaking the cycle of negative thinking can be a bit challenging. I am a big believer in having a coach. A coach is operating in a separate belief system, and therefore can point out the beliefs that you are holding onto that may be limiting you. Once you have discovered a limiting belief, which is often subconscious, then you must learn to clear old belief patterns to make room for new more empowering beliefs.
What is a limiting belief you may ask? A limiting belief is ANY belief that in anyway holds you back. Remember that God does not want his children to put limits on themselves.
“…With God all things are possible…” Mathew 19-26

Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that “He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened;” for only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.

Many know this beautiful law intellectually. People say, “I get it, I understand how this all works.” My response to that is this, “If you are not living the life of your dreams then you do not get it.” You must want it so badly that you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices of time and energy to uncover this secret. You can learn more and get the book at www.AdamSecrets.com

This poem illustrates a powerful idea that your mind is molding and shaping your life experience. One example of this, would be the example of buying a new car, then the next day you see similar cars all over the place. What was it that caused this invasion of cars?

What shifted within you that caused you to see all those cars? How many things in your life, right now, could you be blind to because of a poor mentality? Discovering this truth truly unlocks the keys to personal success.

The question then becomes, how can I actively cultivate the correct beliefs that will allow me to see the opportunities that I may be blind to? The story of the man who found an extra 4000 dollars a month illustrates this quite beautifully. There was a man that we will call Jared. Jared wanted to be wealthy. He wanted to generate extra income, and to eliminate all of his debts as quickly as possible.

His current belief system blinded him to money making opportunities. All he could see at the end of the month was 400 dollars to implement his debt elimination plan. He was talking to his wise friend about his goals and about the fact that his plans were moving painfully slow.

His friend, who had a wonderfully cultivated mind, asked him why not do 4000 dollars a month towards paying off your debts? This was a big shock to Jared’s current belief system, and he looked at his friend like he was crazy. Jared’s friend invited him to believe in the unbelievable. He told Jared to suspend all disbelief for at least three weeks. Jared agreed to this, and what happened next seemed like magic. Money making ideas began to flood Jared’s mind.

Within 12 weeks, Jared had found a way to accomplish his goal of making an extra 4000 dollars a month. This mind expanding exercise allowed Jared to take his success to the next level. What are the steps that will allow you to unleash this amazing power of your mind?

Here are the three key steps.

1. Choose a goal that right now you just do not believe

2. Choose to suspend your disbelief on this goal for at least 3 weeks

3. Listen and take action on the ideas that come to you

Bill was on all accounts an average man, a man with a goal to be rich. He learned from his coach a way to pay off all of his debts, everything including the mortgage in five to seven years. He also learned how to achieve financial independence. This all sounded great but how was he going to stick with it, especially when he had a history of starting a lot of things but not finishing anything.

He made a decision that he was going to do this with all of his heart, and really be successful. He started tracking his spending, monitoring his net worth, and making sure that he cut out all unnecessary expenses like eating out. This was no small undertaking for Bill, because he had always been a big spender in the past. Things started out great, until, for some mysterious reason, he suddenly lost all motivation to stick with the program until he had reached success. As time went by it seemed to get harder and harder to stick with it. Why is it getting so difficult, he thought? Bill wanted so badly to be a huge success.

Confused, he reflected, why am I having such a hard time staying motivated? Don’t I desire to be financially free? Don’t I have the road map in front of me? Where has my motivation gone? He was determined now to find the answer, so he read books, attended seminars, but he still was not finding the secret. He started to feel hopeless about. Then, when he least expected it, he learned a powerful concept that would forever change his life. The answer was so powerful that it impacted him on a very deep level…

Little did he know, the answer that would forever change his life would come from an unlikely source, his beautiful wife. Bill’s wife was, as he later discovered, feeling the same way as he was. As Bill’s wife thought back on what they had accomplished, she decided that they should celebrate what they had done so far, so they went out to eat at a wonderful restaurant. Something magical happened after this celebration, both Bill and his wife felt a new surge of energy. This new surge got them through another few months of the program. With each new milestone they decided that it is not only fun, but that it was crucial to celebrate along the way. Finally it clicked!

The celebrations went from eating out, exotic trips to Hawaii, Peru, and even a new car! Soaking up the sun and seeing the peaceful blue waves and the palms gently blowing in the wind had a renewing effect on each of them. Bill’s motivation skyrocketed with each new recognition of his victories! He had found what he was looking for!!! He was able to stay the course with this simple yet often overlooked key to success. Celebrating your successes will give you more motivation and it will make you rich!