So think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the
sky for all and everything to see, for so, in truth, it is. – Book of Mirdad
If you think of your thoughts as a reality existing side by side with what we call “the physical reality,” you will be closer to understanding the unique relationship between the two.
You are living simultaneously in two worlds, two realities: the inner reality of your thoughts, emotions and attitudes, and the outer reality of people, places, things and events. Because we fail to separate these Inner and Outer worlds, we allow ourselves to become dominated by the Outer world of appearances, and we use the Inner world solely as a “mirror” for whatever happens to us. Our Inner world reacts constantly, and because we spend all of our time simply reacting, we never experience our power. Ironically, you begin changing your reality the day, the hour, the minute you cease constantly reacting to it.
Your inner consciousness is a powerful force whose influence is felt in every aspect of your life. It is, in fact, the major and most important part of who you are, and it is the main cause of your success or failure.
Everything at its purest and deepest essence is energy, and whenever you think, you are working with an immense amount of this energy in the quick, light, mobile form of thought. Thought is forever attempting to find form, is always looking for an outlet, is always trying to manifest itself. It is the nature of thought to try and materialize into its physical equivalent. Our normal thoughts can be compared to sparks from a fire. Though they contain the essence and potential power of the flame, they normally dissipate quickly. They last only a few seconds, fly into the air and quickly burn out.
Although a single unaided thought hasn’t much power, through repetition the thought can become concentrated and directed, and its force can be magnified many times. The more the thought is repeated the more energy and power it generates, and the more readily it is able to manifest itself
Weak and scattered thoughts are
weak and scattered forces.
Strong and concentrated thoughts are
strong and concentrated forces.
To illustrate this, picture a magnifying glass through which the sun’s rays pass. If the magnifying glass is moved about from spot to spot, the power of the sun’s rays is diffused and not apparent. If, however, the magnifying glass is held still and focused correctly at the proper height, those same rays become concentrated, and that diffused light suddenly becomes a force powerful enough to ignite a fire.
So it is with our thoughts. As you progress in your study of mind power you will learn how to develop and concentrate your thoughts so that they become much more powerful. At this point, just realize that thoughts have power in themselves. Your deeply held beliefs, your fears, your hopes, your worries, your attitudes, your desires, and each and every thought you think, all have an effect on you, others, and your environment.
Most of us go through our waking hours taking little notice of our thought processes: how the mind moves, what it fears, what it heeds, what it says to itself, what it brushes aside. For the most part we eat, work, converse, worry, hope, plan, make love, shop, play – all with minimal attention paid to how we think.
We might be far more willing to learn how to use our mental mechanisms if we imagined for a moment that for every thought we either gained a dollar or lost a dollar, depending on the type of thought. Considering we think thousands of thoughts every day, this is quite a proposition. Imagine an accounting system noting our every thought and recording which ones gained us money and which ones lost us money. How diligent we would be in controlling and directing our thoughts! How enthusiastically we would create those thoughts which made us money, and how carefully we would avoid those which cost us money.
This is, in fact, more or less what is already happening inside you, though with energy, not dollars. There is a big accounting system going on; it’s called the universe, and no thought produced there is without its effect.
This world of ours is no dead pile of brick and stone. It is a living, vibrant system of energy. Every thought you think impresses itself upon this system, and its effect is indisputable. Whether you like it or not, you are forever creating your reality through what you are thinking.
The beginning step to a new and more successful life is absurdly easy. You have only to pay attention to the flow of thoughts inside your mind and direct it accordingly.
Your life is entirely of your own making, so look at the way you are living. You claim you want financial abundance, yet you are constantly bemoaning your lack of money and how expensive things are. You dwell on what you don’t have and the bills coming in. You worry and wonder how you will get along. You may want financial abundance, but because your consciousness is of lack and worry, you will never experience that abundance.
Or maybe you wish you could find a new job, something interesting and challenging that would use your creativity and pay you well. If you constantly tell yourself these jobs are impossible to find, that it will never happen, it is very unlikely it ever will happen.
Perhaps you wish you could be a more outgoing individual, bold and spontaneous, full of assurance and confidence, yet if you constantly focus on your inferiorities and inadequacies and put yourself down, reminding yourself again and again of your problems, you are not likely to become that type of person. You may want strength, but if your consciousness is of weakness, you are fooling yourself to think you will ever possess that strength.
In short, wanting something badly will not make it happen. Hoping for something different will have no effect. Simply working hard, even if it’s twelve to fifteen hours a day, is not enough. You will always remain where you are unless – and it’s a big unless – you change your thinking.
“To them that hath … more shall be given. To them that hath not, even what little they have will be taken away.” – Luke 19:26
When I first read this quote I didn’t think it was fair. It didn’t seem fair that “them that had” would get more and “them that had not” would lose what little they had. It just didn’t seem right. I thought it would be more just if “them that had not” were given more, but that is not what the Scripture says. This, according to the Bible, is not the way the universe works. But then, upon reflection, I realized that it was indeed fair. In fact what could be more fair than every person’s freedom to choose for himself or herself thoughts which will, in turn, create their reality? There is great fairness in the complete freedom to determine the quality of one’s life.
Want to change your circumstances? Develop the necessary consciousness. A successful person has a success consciousness. A wealthy person has developed a prosperity consciousness, and his thoughts are on abundance, success and prosperity. This is how he thinks.
“Easy for him,” you say. “When you’re successful it’s easy to think success, and when you’re wealthy it’s easy to think prosperity, but my situation is totally different. I’m not successful; I’m not wealthy. The situations and circumstances of my life keep me down.”
WRONG! Dead wrong. Your circumstances and situations never keep you down. The only things that keep you down and keep you stuck are your thoughts. With work and practice you can learn to direct your thoughts and create any consciousness you choose. Your reality will change only after you’ve developed your new consciousness, not before. The new consciousness must come first.
What is it that you want in your life? Do you know? More health? Then get health consciousness. More power? Then get power consciousness. More prosperity? Get prosperity consciousness. More happiness? Get happiness consciousness. More spirituality? Get spiritual consciousness. Everything exists as a possibility. All that’s required is for you to feed in the necessary energy until your objective becomes yours.
How reassuring it is to think that no matter what a person’s past or present situation, no matter how many times he or she has previously failed, if that person would but regularly feed his or her consciousness, his or her situation would change! This remarkable ability has been given to each and every one of us to use or to ignore. It costs no money. It takes no special talent. It takes only the decision on your part to take the time and put forth the necessary effort to develop the appropriate consciousness. That’s all! Everything else will automatically fall into place.
Your mind is like a garden which can be cultivated or neglected, and you are its master gardener. You can cultivate this garden, or you can ignore it and let it develop whatever way it will. But make no mistake: you will reap the harvest of your work or your neglect
Your mind creates your reality.
You can choose to accept this or not.
You can be conscious of it and set your mind working for you,
or you can ignore it and allow it to work in ways that will hinder and hold you back.
But your mind will always and forever be creating your reality.
