LESSON IX. CONCENTRATION CAN OVERCOME BAD HABITS

Books: The Power of Concentration

You will find that the man that concentrates is well poised,

whereas the man that allows his mind to wander is easily upset.

When in this state wisdom does not pass from the subconscious

storehouse into the consciousness. There must be mental quiet

before the two consciousnesses can work in harmony. When you are

able to concentrate you have peace of mind.



If you are in the habit of losing your poise, form the habit of

reading literature that has a quieting power. Just the second you

feel your poise slipping, say, "Peace," and then hold this

thought in mind and you will never lose your self-control.



There cannot be perfect concentration until there is peace of

mind. So keep thinking peace, acting peace, until you are at

peace with all the world. For when once you have reached this

state there will be no trouble to concentrate on anything you

wish.



When you have peace of mind you are not timid or anxious, or

fearful, or rigid and you will not allow any disturbing thought

to influence you. You cast aside all fears, and think of yourself

as a spark of the Divine Being, as a manifestation of the "One

Universal Principle" that fills all space and time. Think of

yourself thus as a child of the infinite, possessing infinite

possibilities.



Write on a piece of paper, "I have the power to do and to be

whatever I wish to do and be." Keep this mentally before you, and

you will find the thought will be of great help to you.



The Mistake of Concentrating on Your Business While Away. In

order to be successful today, you must concentrate, but don't

become a slave to concentration, and carry your business cares

home. Just as sure as you do you will be burning the life forces

at both ends and the fire will go out much sooner than was

intended.



Many men become so absorbed in their business that when they go

to church they do not hear the preacher because their minds are

on their business. If they go to the theater they do not enjoy it

because their business is on their minds. When they go to bed

they think about business instead of sleep and wonder why they

don't sleep. This is the wrong kind of concentration and is

dangerous. It is involuntary. When you are unable to get anything

out of your mind it becomes unwholesome as any thought held

continuously causes weariness of the flesh. It is a big mistake

to let a thought rule you, instead of ruling it. He who does not

rule himself is not a success. If you cannot control your

concentration, your health will suffer.



So never become so absorbed with anything that you cannot lay it

aside and take up another. This is self-control.



Concentration Is Paying Attention to a Chosen Thought. Everything

that passes before the eye makes an impression on the

subconscious mind, but unless you pay attention to some certain

thing you will not remember what you saw. For instance if you

walked down a busy street without seeing anything that attracted

your particular attention, you could not recall anything you saw.

So you see only what attracts your attention. If you work you

only see and remember what you think about. When you concentrate

on something it absorbs your whole thought.



Self-Study Valuable. Everyone has some habits that can be

overcome by concentration. We will say for instance, you are in

the habit of complaining, or finding fault with yourself or

others; or, imagining that you do not possess the ability of

others; or feeling that you are not as good as someone else; or

that you cannot rely on yourself; or harboring any similar

thoughts or thoughts of weakness. These should be cast aside and

instead thoughts of strength should be put in their place. Just

remember every time you think of yourself as being weak, in some

way you are making yourself so by thinking you are. Our mental

conditions make us what we are. Just watch yourself and see how

much time you waste in worrying, fretting and complaining. The

more of it you do the worse off you are.



Just the minute you are aware of thinking a negative thought

immediately change to a positive one. If you start to think of

failure, change to thinking of success. You have the germ of

success within you. Care for it the same as the setting hen

broods over the eggs and you can make it a reality.



You can make those that you come in contact with feel as you do,

because you radiate vibrations of the way you feel and your

vibrations are felt by others. When you concentrate on a certain

thing you turn all the rays of your vibrations on this. Thought

is the directing power of all Life's vibrations. If a person

should enter a room with a lot of people and feel as if he were a

person of no consequence no one would know he was there unless

they saw him, and even if they did, they would not remember

seeing him, because they were not attracted towards him. But let

him enter the room feeling that he was magnetic and concentrating

on this thought, others would feel his vibration. So remember the

way you feel you can make others feel. This is the law. Make

yourself a concentrated dynamo from which your thoughts vibrate

to others. Then you are a power in the world. Cultivate the art

of feeling, for as I said before you can only make others feel

what you feel.



If you will study all of the great characters of history you will

find that they were enthusiastic. First they were enthusiastic

themselves, and then they could arouse others' enthusiasm. It is

latent in everyone. It is a wonderful force when once aroused.

All public men to be a success have to possess it. Cultivate it

by concentration. Set aside some hour of the day, wherein to hold

rapt converse with the soul. Meditate with sincere desire and

contrite heart and you will be able to accomplish that which you

have meditated on. This is the keynote of success.





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

that which you wish to be."





You are just what you think you are and not what you may appear

to be. You may fool others but not yourself. You may control your

life and actions just as you can control your hands. If you want

to raise your hand you must first think of raising it. If you

want to control your life you must first control your thinking.

Easy to do, is it not? Yes it is, if you will but concentrate on

what you think about.



For he only can

That says he will.





How can we secure concentration? To this question, the first and

last answer must be: By interest and strong motive. The stronger

the motive the greater the concentration.--Eustace Miller, M. D.



The Successful Lives Are the Concentrated Lives. The utterly

helpless multitude that sooner or later have to be cared for by

charity, are those that were never able to concentrate, and who

have become the victims of negative ideas.



Train yourself so you will be able to centralize your thought and

develop your brain power, and increase your mental energy, or you

can be a slacker, a drifter, a quitter or a sleeper. It all

depends on how you concentrate, or centralize your thoughts. Your

thinking then becomes a fixed power and you do not waste time

thinking about something that would not be good for you. You pick

out the thoughts that will be the means of bringing you what you

desire, and they become a material reality. Whatever we create in

the thought world will some day materialize. That is the law.

Don't forget this.



In the old days men drifted without concentration but this is a

day of efficiency and therefore all of our efforts must be

concentrated, if we are to win any success worth the name.



Why People Often Do Not Get What They Concentrate On. Because

they sit down in hopeless despair and expect it to come to them.

But if they will just reach out for it with their biggest effort

they will find it is within their reach. No one limits us but

ourselves. We are what we are today as the result of internal

conditions. We can control the external conditions. They are

subject to our will.



Through our concentration we can attract what we want, because we

became enrapport with the Universal forces, from which we can get

what we want.



You have watched races no doubt. They all line up together. Each

has his mind set on getting to the goal before the others. This

is one kind of concentration. A man starts to think on a certain

subject. He has all kinds of thoughts come to him, but by

concentration he shuts out all these but the one he has chosen.

Concentration is just a case of willing to do a certain thing and

doing it.





If you want to accomplish anything first put yourself in a

concentrating, reposeful, receptive, acquiring frame of mind. In

tackling unfamiliar work make haste slowly and deliberately and

then you will secure that interior activity, which is never

possible when you are in a hurry or under a strain. When you

"think hard" or try to hurry results too quickly, you generally

shut off the interior flow of thoughts and ideas. You have often

no doubt tried hard to think of something but could not, but just

as soon as you stopped trying to think of it, it came to you.