How To Get What You Want

The positive man keys his life to the “I can” note, the negative man to the “I can’t.” Say to yourself “Health, luck, usefulness, success are mine, I claim them.” Keep thinking that thought, no matter what happens.—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

“My words are spirit and they are truth; and they shall not return to me void; but shall accomplish that whereunto they were sent.” How many of us grasp the real significance of this Biblical utterance? Or of this other: “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us”? How many of us ever think that our own words, our uttered thoughts are living forces and are made flesh? Yet it is literally true that they are being out pictured in our body, are chiseling our physique, shaping our faces, molding our expression to their likeness. What we think and say reappears not only in our expression, but also in our physical condition, in our health, good or bad, according to the nature of our thoughts and words. Every word we speak is an indestructible force, because it affirms a thought, a sentiment, an emotion, a motive, which never ceases to exert its power.

Jesus evidently recognized that words are real forces, for He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” Material things might pass away, but His word was a force which could never cease to exercise its power.

All through the Bible the power of the word is emphasized. “The ‘Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” “The Word was with God, and the Word was God,” “He sent His Word and healed them.”

There is a mysterious power in the spoken word, in the vigorous affirmation of a thought, which registers a profound impression on the subconscious mind, and the silent forces within us proceed to make the word flesh, to make the thing we affirm a reality. There is a tremendous constructive power in registering your vow, in vigorous, determined affirmation, backed by a persistent, dogged endeavor to bring about the thing we desire.

A very striking proof of this was afforded in the European war, in the awful conflict at Verdun in 1916. As stated in a telegraphed report from a high French officer, the fundamental secret of French resistance to the terrific German onslaught was psychological. It was, he said, auto-suggestion on a vast scale. General Petain replaced doubt and discouragement with iron determination when throughout the entire army flashed his expressed resolution that the Germans should not get through the French lines— “Ils ne passeront pas.” (They shall not pass.) All of the soldiers were so hypnotized by the constant repetition of the phrase, Ils ne passeront pas” that no idea save that of resistance could enter their heads.

There is no doubt that it trebled and quadrupled the resisting power of the army. The mighty suggestion of invincibility in the words was literally the decisive factor in the battle. The repetition of “They shall not pass,” was what enabled the infantry to undergo unexampled bombardment and then rush forward with the bayonet as eagerly as fresh troops. It was the explanation of confidence in victory seen even in captured Frenchmen which amazed their German captors.

The French officer’s report further stated that a surgeon in the dressing station close to the front said the most remarkable thing about the wounded was their general attitude of determination. In some cases, the faces seemed fixed with an expression of ferocious resolution, especially among those suffering from shell shocks, and the soldiers only partially conscious would repeat at intervals of their delirium, “Passeront pas, passeront pas.”

All of the soldiers at Verdun were obsessed by this one dominating idea to the exclusion of everything else. “The Germans shall not pass.” A correspondent at the front said: “I saw a regiment coming back to rest after six days in the trenches. The soldiers all seemed animated by a spirit of intense determination and iron resolution. When asked their opinion of the battle, the general reply was just this: “The Germans shall not pass.” And the Germans did not pass.

Suppose you should register in your subconsciousness regarding the entrance into your mind of destructive thoughts, motives and emotions, the bitter enemies of your success and happiness, a grim resolution such as the French soldiers at Verdun registered regarding the Germans, what would happen? If whenever enemy thoughts or emotions tried to get entrance to your mental kingdom you should grimly say to them, “You shall not pass. I will not allow in my mind any enemies of my success and happiness,” do you think it would be possible for them to get by? Why, of course they couldn’t. It would be impossible. And if you should iterate and reiterate the same grim resolve regarding hindering habits, regarding every temptation that makes an appeal to you, “You shall not pass”? ‘Why, my friend, this would revolutionize your life.

Every word we speak, even uttered thought, is power for good or ill, and we must remember that it is what we put into the word that gives it its meaning, and determines its quality and its force. Words themselves are the clothes for our thoughts. We can take a word and think love into it, think service into it, think friendliness into it, and it will create a corresponding feeling in the one it is addressed to. Or we can take the same word and think hatred into it, think jealousy into it, think envy into it, and hurl it out and arouse antagonism, jealousy, hatred or envy in another mind. We know that we can do the same thing with a dog, and he will feel the thought— the love or the hate, the anger or the contempt—which we put into the word. We can fling out hatred and bitterness, sarcasm, malice, in words; we can arouse the anger which kills, or we can call out love, admiration, sympathy, friendship. Everything depends upon the thought behind the word. It is the mental attitude that gives the word its real meaning. And your words are messengers of life or death to yourself and to others.

Words have put civilization where it is today. The word wedded to the thought has built everything that man has achieved. He speaks and it is done, just as God spoke and the earth was created, man and every living thing was created. Everything is made out of God’s thoughts, out of God’s ideas, and He speaks through man.

There is a force in spoken words which is not stirred by going over the same words mentally. When vocalized they make a more lasting impression upon the mind. You know how much more powerfully you are impressed and inspired by listening to a great lecture or sermon than you would be if you read the same thing in print. We remember the spoken word when we forget the cold type which carries thought to the brain. It makes a deeper impression on the inner self.

We can talk to our inner or other self, just as we would talk to a child; and we know from experience that it will listen to and act on our suggestions. We are constantly sending suggestions or commands to this inner self. We may not do so audibly, but we do so silently, mentally. Unconsciously we advise, we suggest, we try to influence it in certain directions.

By consciously, audibly addressing it, in heart-to-heart talks with ourselves, we find that we can very materially influence our habits, our motives, our methods of living. In fact, the possibilities of influencing the character and the life by this means are practically limitless.

Many people have killed character enemies, peace and happiness enemies, have doubled and quadrupled their self-confidence, have strengthened tremendously their initiative, their executive ability; have literally made themselves over, by heart-to-heart talks with themselves.

I know a man who has so completely changed his timid, self-effacing nature by talks with his other self that no one would dream that only a few years ago he was so shy, so extremely sensitive, that he would blush scarlet if attention were called to him in any gathering, and he would avoid people in every possible way.

Five years ago no amount of money would have induced this man to get up in a public meeting, even to put a motion or to make the simplest statement. I think he would have fainted away at the mere calling of his name in a public place. Not only had he no confidence whatever in himself, but he had a haunting obsession that he was a fraud. Although a perfectly honest, earnest, hard-working man, with good intentions toward all, he could not help feeling that in some way he was not genuine, and that sometime something would happen to show him up in his true light.

For years he suffered untold tortures from his foolish imaginings about himself. Conscious that he had ability, but cursed with weaknesses that made it in many ways unavailable, his life was headed towards failure when he accidentally came across a book which told him of the miracles possible through the practice of self-encouragement, and especially audible self-encouragement. He began immediately to carry out the suggestions of the book, and made a daily habit of heart-to-heart talks with himself. In a very short time he was conscious of a great improvement in his feelings, his mental attitude, and his spirits. Many people noticed an improvement in his manner and bearing. And now he presides at public meetings without the slightest feeling of self-consciousness. His painful shyness has vanished; he can stand any amount of criticism and denunciation without a sign of sensitiveness or embarrassment.

There is no fault, no weakness, great or small, which will not succumb to persistent, audible autosuggestion. Not only this, but it tends to arouse slumbering qualities within us which mere thinking does not stir up or waken. Most people are only half alive, half awake to their possibilities. We all need stirring up. There is gunpowder enough in us to make a tremendous explosion if we could only get the spark to the giant powder that is sleeping within us.

If you are timid, doubting, fearful of failure, or poverty, you can reinforce your courage and strengthen your confidence in yourself by daily heart-to-heart talks with your inner self, by the frequent affirmation of the positive assertions “I must,” “I can,” “I will.” There is no better suggestion than Emerson’s for stiffening the will and the power to do: “Nerve us with incessant affirmatives.” And incessant affirmatives will nerve us.

The perpetual affirmation of the power to achieve one’s ambition, of one’s grim determination to win out in life at any cost; the affirmation of health, of prosperity, of success, the constant assertion of confidence in one’s self, of the belief in his ability to do the thing that he has set his heart on, will nerve a weak will and brace up a wavering purpose as nothing else can.

If you are not satisfied with your progress so far, if you are not growing bigger and broader in character, more efficient in your work, something is holding you back, hindering you from making your ideal real. Find out what it is and then remove it by audible self-treatments.

The best way to find what is your stumbling block is to have a frequent heart-to-heart talk with yourself. Look into your own soul and take an account of your personal stock, your success and failure qualities. Analyze yourself as you would a friend you were anxious to help, and whose strong and weak points you could see clearly.

Get by yourself in your room, or, infinitely better, in some quiet place in the country where you can be absolutely alone with your Maker, and examine yourself something after this fashion, putting the questions aloud, and addressing yourself by name:

“Now (James or Ann, or whatever your name is) what is the trouble with you? Why do you not get along faster? Do you lack ambition or has it not yet been awakened? Why are you not doing at least as well as others around you are doing under similar conditions? Why are you plodding along in mediocrity while those all about you with no better chances, perhaps infinitely poorer chances than yours, are getting on by leaps and bounds? There must be some reason for this? Do you lack vitality, energy; or are you not using what you have? Have you some weakness, defect or peculiarity which is holding you down? Are you the victim of a weak link in the chain of your character which is nullifying all your efforts in other directions? Where is the trouble? You must put your finger on it and correct it or your life may be a failure.”

Write out a list of the qualities that make a strong, courageous, successful character, and their opposites, those that make a weak, timid, unsuccessful one, and examine yourself to see what your rating in the list is. Call them off aloud—faith, courage, self-confidence, ambition, enthusiasm, perseverance, concentration, initiative, cheerfulness, optimism, thoroughness, etc. Ask yourself if you possess these splendid qualities, or if you incline to their opposites.

Don’t be afraid to face your weak points, or your fool streaks, to call your faults by their right names. Bring them into the light, see them for what they are, and then grapple with them. You can not afford to be less than God intended you to be, to be less than you feel that you should be and can be, to have your life spoiled by some defect which you can overcome.

When you have gone over the specific character qualities ask yourself these broader questions; always visualizing and addressing yourself by name: “What are you here for? What do you mean to the world? What message does your life, your career, bring to it? What do you mean to your community? What do you stand for? What do you represent? Do you realize that you were sent here with a message for humanity? Are you delivering it like a man, like a woman, patiently, persistently, determinedly, without grumbling, whining or shirking? What are you giving to the world? Do you mean much of anything to anybody but yourself? Is your sole aim self-aggrandizement, to get more reputation, more money, more comforts for yourself? Does your ambition as far as possible shut others out of your life? Are you always going to do the kindly deed, going to help others in the future, when you get on a little further, when you are better able, when all your own wants are satisfied? Are you dreaming of the big thing you are going to do tomorrow, or are you doing the little things which you can do today, giving yourself as you go along; giving, if you have nothing else to give, encouragement, inspiration, helpfulness to those on the way with you? Would your community miss you very much if you should drop out of it?”

Probe yourself in this manner until you get a good line on yourself, a fair estimate of yourself; until you know both your strength and your weakness; until you can see with clear eyes the things that are keeping you back, the lack in your nature that is handicapping you, the weakness that is cutting down the average of your ability by ten, twenty, fifty or even seventy-five per cent. Then vigorously attack your enemies,—the enemies of your success, of your efficiency, of your happiness. Constantly stoutly affirm your complete mastery over them, their powerlessness to dominate your life and ruin your career.

If, for instance, you are a victim of self-effacement; if you find you lack self -confidence, if you never dare undertake any responsibility you can possibly avoid, if, instead of asserting your individuality and assuming the dignity that is yours by divine right, you shrink from everything which draws attention to yourself; if you have no faith in your ability, you must talk to yourself something like this:

“I am a child of God. I am made in His image and likeness. I am a partaker of all His divine qualities. Therefore I have divine power; I have strength and ability to do what I long to do. I am strength. I am ability. I am self-confidence. I am success. I can do what I will to do, and will no longer suffer this cowardly timidity to rule me. I will never again by self-depreciation and self-effacement, deny my divine Fatherhood. It is a sin against my Father and myself to belittle my heritage from Him. I am the son of an all powerful King, and henceforth I will act the part. I will walk the earth like a prince. I will never again shrink from assuming any responsibility which comes to me. I have plenty of ability to do what I long to do, to be what I long to be. I will no longer go about as if I were inferior to others. I am not inferior, and from now on I shall express my opinion and assert myself whenever and wherever necessary.

“I am now facing life with a self-respecting, confident attitude, with a hopeful outlook, for I know that as a child of God I am victory-organized. Self-depreciation is a crime, a reflection upon my Creator who pronounced everything He made good. Lack of faith in myself is nothing but lack of faith in Him. I will cut it out of my life, for I am that which I think I am. I can be nothing more, nothing less. As a child of Omnipotence, of the All-Good, I am bound to make good in every detail of my life. I owe this to my Father and to myself.”

By heart-to-heart talks of this sort with yourself you can change your whole nature, revolutionize your career. Whether it is faith, courage, initiative, cheerfulness, whatever it is you lack, assume the quality you wish to possess, affirm positively that it is already yours, exercise it whenever possible, concentrate on it, and you will be surprised how quickly you can acquire the desired. I am a great believer in the building power of affirmation; in the possibilities in persistently affirming the thing I am determined to do, in strengthening qualities in which I am weak, in building character, in making life noble.

The following strong, positive affirmations by C. D. Larson are very suggestive and would make a splendid daily exercise:

I will become more than I am.

I will achieve more because I know that I can.

I will recognize only that which is good in myself; that which is good in others.

I will be more determined when adversity threatens than ever in my life to prove that I can turn all things to good account.

I will wish only for that which can give freedom and truth, which can add to the welfare of the race.

I will always speak to give encouragement, inspiration and joy.

I will work to be of service to an ever-increasing number; and my ruling desire shall be to enrich, ennoble and beautify existence for all who may come my way.

When you assert yourself, assert the spiritual “I,” the God image in you, not the physical “I,” the flesh of you. This would be mere egotism, and it is not asserting your egotism that will benefit you. This will only hurt you. But asserting the reality, the divinity of yourself will do everything for you. Your divine or real self is your potential self, your creative self, and when you assert the reality of your being, not the outward or bodily personality, you are simply asserting divinity, you are asserting omnipotence, omniscience, and you are asserting a power that can do things.

If we could only realize the creative power of affirmation, of assuming that we are the real embodiment of the thing we long to be or to attain, not that we possess all the qualities of good, but that we are these qualities,—with the constant affirming, “I myself am a part of the great creative, sustaining principle of the universe, because my real, divine self and my Father are one”—what happiness it would bring to earth’s children!

Affirmation is a living, vital force. The Bible owes much of its strength to this force. It is a book of affirmations, of strong, positive statements. But for this fact it would long ago have lost its power.

There is no parleying, no arguing, no attempt by the sacred writers to prove the truth of what they say. They merely assert, affirm dogmatically that certain things happened, and that certain other things would happen. Had they attempted to prove the authenticity of what they wrote, endeavored to convince the reader that they were honest men making genuine statements, they would have aroused doubts. But there is no appeal to sympathy, no appeal to the readers’ credulity, no appeal for confirmation, no posing for effect, only unrelenting positiveness, persistent affirmations. They simply state facts and affirm principles. Every line breathes dominance, superiority and confidence. In this lies their tremendous power. There is no sentimental imploring even in the Lord’s Prayer. It demands. It is “give us,” “lead us not,” forgive us,” etc.

In your talks with yourself, be like the Biblical writers. Don’t wobble, or “think,” or “hope.” Say stoutly, “I am,” “I can,” “I will,” “It is.” Constantly, everlastingly affirm that you will become what your ambitions indicate as fitting and possible. Do not say, “I shall be a success sometime”; say “I am a success now. Success is my birthright.” Do not say that you are going to be happy in the future, say to yourself, “I was intended for happiness, made for it, and I am happy now.” Say with Walt Whitman, “‘I, myself, am good fortune.’” Assert your actual possession of the things you need; of the qualities you long to have. Force your mind toward your goal; hold it there steadily, persistently, for this is the mental state that creates. This is what causes the word to be made flesh. The negative mind, which doubts, wavers, fears, creates nothing. It cannot send forth a positive, confident assertion.

We are constantly letting loose mighty thought forces, emotion forces, word forces which are forever multiplying and expressing themselves in the universal energy, which are forever fashioning our conditions. We are rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, successful or unsuccessful, happy or unhappy, noble or ignoble, according to our use of our thought and word forces. The outer registration in the flesh, in all material circumstances and things, corresponds with the inner thought and the decisive positive word.

Let the spirit of you, the real self, constantly affirm the “I am,” and the power you have through the All-Power. Make your affirmations quietly, but with great confidence and positiveness. Say “I am united with Him. I am able to do what He wills me to do. It is my duty to obey the inner urge of my being, that divine ambition to measure up to my highest possibilities, which ever bids me up and on. I will never again allow anything to interfere with the free and full exercise of my physical, mental and spiritual faculties. I will unfold all the possibilities that the Creator has in-folded in the ego, the I of me. There is no lost day in God’s calendar, no allowance for waste, and henceforth I will make the most of the stuff that has been given me. I will play the part of a son of Omnipotence.”

But remember it is the life, the driving power of the spirit that gives the word its power. If you don’t mean what you say, if you don’t live the meaning into your words, they are mere idle breath.

The same word, for instance, means a very different thing when spoken by people of different types of character. The same words spoken by one person will heal diseases, while spoken by another they will have no influence whatever upon the patient. The difference in results is due to the difference in the life, in the character, of the speakers. Some healers are unsuccessful, even when they are letter perfect in the intellectual understanding of the healing principle, simply because they lack the spiritual side, simply because their life does not match their teachings.

In fact, it is the life, the spiritual life that does the healing through the words which the intellect suggests. Just as faith without good works is of no avail without the spirit, without the life behind them, words are cold and ineffectual.

When you long for anything that it is right for you to have, affirm in perfect confidence that the thing is already yours; claim it as a reality; do what you can on the material plane to make it yours, and soon you will reap what you have sown in thought and in positive creative affirmation.

Say to yourself, “God is no respecter of persons. Our Father is not and could not be, partial in His treatment of His children. To all, without distinction, He gives the same love, the same rights and privileges. He will give me, through my own effort, what I need, what I ask for. I can and I will do what I long to do. I will be what I desire to be.”

Make these affirmations again and again, and do not wait for an opportunity to begin the thing you want to do. Make your opportunity. The power of affirmation will work miracles for you.

You will find that, just in proportion as you increase your confidence in yourself by the affirmation of what you are determined to be and to do, your ability will increase. No matter what other people may think or say about you, never allow yourself to doubt that you can do what you will to do. Boldly, confidently assert that there is a special place for you in the world, an individual role which only you can fill, and that you are going to fill it like a man. Train yourself to expect great things of your self. Never admit, even by your manner, that you think you are destined to do little things all your life.

The way to get the best out of yourself, to make the most of your life, is to put things right up to yourself, to handle yourself without gloves, and talk to yourself as you would talk to a very dear younger brother or sister, or to a son or daughter of whom you expect great things and whose welfare is as dear to you as your own, one whom you long to help to get on and up in the world. You can do this with marvelous results in correcting bad habits or overcoming temptations or dangerous tendencies.

In telling how he resisted the temptation to drink when “the boys” wanted him “to take a drink,” Edison said: “I thought I had better use for my brain. I wanted all the brain power I could get. I wanted to increase the efficiency of my life, and not diminish it, not demoralize and benumb it. I did not want to take into my mouth an enemy to steal away my brain. I wanted to do the things which would increase, not diminish, my brain power, which would increase, not lessen, my possibilities, which would increase and not destroy, my resources; something which would increase my powers of investigation, of discovery; something which would increase my inventive ability, not destroy it, and I said to myself: ‘I will let that greatest enemy of the race, that enemy which has taken hold of more men and women, ruined more careers, destroyed more happiness, than anything else in the world, alone.’”

If you are in danger of becoming a victim of drink, or if it has already laid its grip on you, say to yourself what Edison said: “ ‘I will let that greatest enemy of the race, that enemy which has taken hold of more men and women, ruined more careers, destroyed more happiness, than anything else in the world, alone.’ I cannot afford to give up even a small per cent of my ability to whiskey. About the only success assets I have are inside of my own skin. I haven’t anything to throw away. No one has ever taken a drink who did not honestly believe at the start that he could take it or let it alone as he wished, but their experience shows that they miscalculated the power of their enemy.

In such contests whiskey is nearly always the victor. Knowing this, I will not gamble on my chances of drinking and remaining my own master. I am my own master now, and I shall retain my mastership. I here assert my manhood, my inherited divinity, the power given me by my Creator, which enables me to conquer this monster drink or any other enemy of my manhood. I believe with Saint Bernard that ‘nothing can harm me but myself,’ and hereby pledge myself to do nothing that will make me less of a man. I am poised in divine power. I am one with the One.”

If any form of vice has gotten a grip upon you, don’t let it frighten you or drive you to despair, but brace yourself at once to get rid of it. Remember that there is something within you that never can fall, that never can be stained,—that is the God image. Just say to yourself, “If God made me, then I must partake of God’s qualities; I must have power to overcome any evil habit. This cursed thing which is ruining my chances of future success and happiness is an insult to my manhood, an insult to my ideal of womanhood, an insult to my future wife, a crime against my future children. It is not stronger than I am; it is weaker. I will no longer allow it to usurp my power, to smirch my manhood, honeycomb my character and destroy my self-respect. I hereby take a sacred oath with myself never to repeat that which will cover up the divine image in me, lessen my chances in life, ruin my health and make me a failure, the wreck of a man. I am a conqueror, not a slave; a divine force, not a weak, abject thing. I claim my birthright as a son of God. I am a man, strong, successful, happy, and free. ‘I am the Captain of my soul.’”

Whether in conquering an enemy habit, driving out fear, or worry, or overcoming trouble or difficulty of any sort, the repetition in our heart-to-heart talks of some strong, encouraging, uplifting Bible passages, such as the following, will be found very helpful.

“I the Lord will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” “I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy; for Thou hast considered my trouble. Thou hast known my soul in adversities.” “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.” “Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” “I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee.”

If you are a vacillator; if your great weakness is indecision; if you have a horror of being forced to make a prompt decision; if you are inclined to leave everything until the last minute because you cannot bear to close anything of importance, to cut off the possibility of taking it up again for reconsideration; if you leave your letters unsealed, important papers unsigned, contracts open until you are actually forced to close them, for fear you may wish to reconsider your decisions, you can cure yourself of your weakness by talking to your inner self about it, and making up your mind to be a man of decision instead of a vacillator, a weakling.

Resolve every morning that for that day at least you will decide things promptly, that you will act like a man of firm purpose and definite will, one who is characterized by a faculty for vigorous, quick decision. After you have given yourself a reasonable time to look over the matter calling for decision and to reach a conclusion, say to yourself, “This is the course to follow,” or “This is the right thing to do. I will decide now and get it off my mind. I will not reconsider, or open the question up again. My judgment is correct. I will trust it. I can think clearly, and decide vigorously, without procrastinating or vacillating, and from this day on I will do so.”

Impersonate every day someone you admire for his promptness in putting things through, for his vigorous self-confidence and power of quick and final decision. No matter if you make mistakes at first, stick to your resolve to decide things once for all. ‘When a letter is written let it be sealed and done with. When you have agreed to do a thing, do it at once; burn your bridges behind you and leave no tempting way of retreat in case you wish to reconsider your case. And continually reinforce yourself throughout the day with positive affirmations,—”I am,” “I can,” “I will.”

But remember, if you do not act with the same grim resolution in making good your words as the French soldiers did at Verdun, they will be worse than useless.

Always carry yourself as though you were marching to victory, make this impression upon everyone who sees you. Let victory stand out of your very face, let it speak out of your eyes with such determination, with such vigorous resolution that people will know that there is no such thing as keeping you down, no such thing as discouraging you, because you are victory-organized, because you are in the habit of winning.

Give people the suggestion of invincibility. This will be worth more to you than a large amount of money capital without it, or with an appearance of cowardice or defeat in your face, a suggestion of weakness or doubt, fear as to the outcome of your career.

Think what the suggestion of invincibility in a general of an army means! Think what it means to Joffre! The French people know that there is no such thing as defeating him in the end, no such thing as defeating his pluck or his grit. They know that as long as his life shall last courage will be there, will lead the way. They know that his grim resolve will never yield. Think what such an appearance of invincibility would mean to you!

These heart-to-heart talks are merely suggestions, or models of the self-treatment method of overcoming bad habits or defects of character, for acquiring strength and developing the qualities that make for nobility, success, happiness, righteousness. They may be adapted to meet the requirements of different personal needs, and if practiced faithfully every day, several times during the day, if possible, and just before retiring at night, they will, if backed up by earnest effort to make your words true, do wonders in bringing about the desired results.

Talking to yourself may at first seem silly to you, but you will soon get accustomed to it and feel its beneficial effects. You will think more highly of yourself, you will have more self-respect, more self-confidence; you will believe more in yourself, you will have more assurance, more confidence in your ability, you will stand higher in your own estimate in every way. This does not mean that you will become egotistical or conceited, but simply that you will know yourself and your possibilities better, and be able to use to better advantage all the power and talent God has given you.

In your heart-to-heart talks always encourage yourself; always talk up, never down. In every possible way try to establish confidence in yourself, because a great self-faith is a powerful force, a creative force. “According to thy faith be it unto thee.” That is, according to the degree, the intensity, the persistency of your faith, so will be your realization.

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