THE MAGIC OF BELIEVING

by Claude Bristol

(These are my underlines from this incredible book written in 1949. It is timeless!! And it is pertinent to this special time of your life. Enjoy!)

Belief is the motivating force that enables you to achieve your goal..

Hard work alone will not bring success. Something more is necessary: it is creative thinking and a firm belief in your ability to put your ideas into action. The successful people in history have succeeded through their thinking.

Another important point is that one necessity for success is that your desire be an all-obsessing one, your thoughts and aims be coordinated, and your energy be concentrated and applied without letup. You can realize your desire provided you are willing to make the objective the burning desire of your life.

The first thing to determine is precisely what you want. You must have a mental pattern clearly drawn in your mind. Ask yourself, Where am I headed? What is my goal? Have I visualized just what I really want? If success is to be measured in terms of wealth, can you fix the amount in figures? If in terms of achievement, can you specify it definitely?

It is vital that you know exactly what you want out of life. You must know where you are headed, and you must keep a fixed goal in view.

It is desire for something new, something different, something that is going to change your life, that causes you to make an extra effort; and it is the power of believing that alone sets in motion those inner forces by which you add what I call plus-values to your life.

So you
begin with desire if you ever hope to achieve anything or gain more than you have now. It is the prime motivating force in all of us and without an all-consuming desire, nothing can be achieved or gained.

Thought creates after its kind. Thought correlates with its object. Thought attracts that upon which it is directed. Job: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me."

Thoughts create only according to their pitch, intensity, emotional quality, depth of feeling, or vibratory place. Thoughts have a creative or controlling force in the exact ratio of their constancy, intensity, and power.

EXPERIMENT: Take a piece of medium-weight paper, about 3 in. square, and fold it diagonally from corner to corner. Then open it and make another diagonal fold so that there will be two folds or creases forming intersecting diagonals. Again open the paper, which will now present the appearance of a low, partially flattened-out pyramid. Now take a long needle and force it through a cork so that the point extends an inch or so above the top side of the cork. Place the cork with its needle, point up, on top of any inverted water glass, so that there may be free movement of both hands and of the paper which is to revolve on the needle point. Then take the piece of paper and balance it where the creases intersect, on the point of the needle, placing it so that the four sides of the pyramid point downward.

Place the glass, with the cork, needle, and paper on a table free from drafts. Then place the hands around the piece of paper in a semi-cupped position, keeping the hands or fingers a half inch or so away from the paper, so that it may revolve freely. Now order it to revolve upon the needle point. At first it will wobble-perhaps revolving slowly at first and in one direction or the other; but if your hands remain steady and you concentrate upon a certain direction of movement, the paper will revolve until it turns rapidly upon the needle point. If you mentally order a change in direction, the one-way movement will cease and the paper will start revolving in the opposite direction. Of course, it is essential that you do not breathe or exhale in the direction of the paper. (Other examples on page 43)

The force that brings into play the great system of the subconscious is a sustained thought or, as previously stated, a fixed mental picture. Sometimes just a single utterance, a momentary glance accompanying a word or two traveling from one person to another, has brought the subconscious into immediate play. So have catastrophic danger, etc.

Perhaps the most effective method of bringing the subconscious into practical action is through the process of making mental pictures - using the imagination - perfecting an image of the thing or situation as you would have it exist in physical form.

However, most of the sustained and continuing manifestations come as a result of belief - when you believe it "heart and soul." That's the force that brings outstanding results, sets the law of attraction into operation, and enables sustained thought to correlate with its object. This belief changes the tempo of the mind, of thought-frequency, and, like a huge magnet, draws the subconscious forces into play, changing your whole aura and affecting everything about you. It brings into your individual sphere of life results that are sometimes startling - often results you never dreamed possible.

Best results in life were obtained by close harmony and co-operation between the conscious and sub-conscious minds.

There is dormant in each human being a faculty, whether it is developed or not, which will enable that particular individual to succeed if the
desire for success is present in his conscious mind.

The chief powers of the conscious mind are reason, logic, form, judgment, calculation, conscience, and the oral sense. Our conscious mind is the outgrowth of our physical necessities and likewise our guide in the struggle with our material environment. Its highest function is that of reasoning.

Subconscious is the source of power. It is rooted in instinct. It is always pressing upward into conscious existence. It is not only a mighty storehouse of ever-ready material which can be placed at the disposal of the conscious mind, but also a power-house of energy with which the individual can be charged, thus enabling him to recover his strength and courage, and also his faith in himself. In brief, the subconscious embodies the feeling and wisdom of the past, the awareness and knowledge of the present, and the thought and vision of the future. Emerson wrote: "All the true wisdom of thought and of action comes of deference to this instinct, patience with its delays. To make a practical use of this instinct in every part of life constitutes true wisdom, and we must form the habit of preferring in all cases its guidance, which is given as it is used.

The powers of the subconscious are intuition, emotion, certitude, inspiration, suggestion, deduction, imagination, organization, and of course, memory and dynamic energy.

Subconscious has 3 primary functions: Maintains and preserves well-being of body. 2, In times of emergency it springs into immediate action. 3, it is operative in the psychic world in which the psychic powers of the subconscious are manifested in such phenomena as telepathy, clairvoyance and psychokinesis.

You must first be sure that you are asking for something that is rightfully yours to have and is within your ability to handle, for the subconscious manifests itself only according to the capabilities of the person. You must have patience and absolute faith. The subconscious mind will not take the trouble to work for those who do not
believe in it. Next, in conveying your need to the subconscious, it must be in the spirit - that the work as already been done. Thus, while it is necessary for you to feel and think yourself successful, it is important for you to go one step further and actually see yourself as already successful.

In due course, with the flowing of the ideas and plans of the subconscious into your waiting conscious mind, the solution of your problem will be revealed to you and the correct course of action indicated, which you must follow immediately and unquestioningly. There must be no hesitation on your part, no mental reservation, no deliberation. You must receive the message from the subconscious freely, and after understanding it you must act on it at once.

Your problem may be one that cannot be solved in above manner. You may, instead feel some mysterious force luring you at intervals to do certain things that seem to have no special significance or logical connection. Nevertheless, you must continue to believe in the power and wisdom of the subconscious, and obediently perform the seemingly irrelevant things.

It is the act of believing that is the starting force or generating power that leads to accomplishment. Great orators and writers are often amazed at the power of the subconscious to furnish them with a steady flow of thoughts.

Repetition - the repeating of certain mantras, words, formulas, etc. used in all religions.

It is the power of suggestion that starts the machinery into operation or causes the subconscious mind to begin its creative work - and right here is where the affirmations and repetitions play their part. It's the repetition of the same chant, the same affirmations that leads to belief and once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

This subtle force of the repeated suggestion overcomes our reason, acting directly on our emotions and our feelings, and finally penetrating to the very depths of our subconscious minds. It is the basic principle of all successful advertising.

Babies born with fear of loud noises and fear of falling. All of our fears come with knowledge or develop as a result of our experiences; they come from what we are taught or what we hear and see.

Success of failure in business is caused more by mental attitudes even than by mental capacities.

As individuals think and believe so they are. Every person is the creation of himself, the image of his own thinking and believing. As
King Solomon put it, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

While the subconscious will get into action at once under the impetus of the commands or suggestions which it receives from the conscious mind, or which come from outside sources and are transmitted to it via the conscious mind, it gets results quicker if the conscious mind accompanies its message with a mental picture of the desired goal.

Appeal by drama is the first step in arousing the emotions of the people, no matter for what purpose.

Without question human imagination or visualization and concentration are the chief factors in developing the magnetic forces of the subconscious mind. After that the subconscious mind goes to work to provide you with that house.

You've got to see it in your mind's eye, see yourself as holding that job, or actually taking the trip. Biblical warning, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." is a fundamental truth, whether it is considered individually or collectively. You want a better job? You'll get it when you give your subconscious mind a mental picture of yourself holding that job.

It is pretty well agreed that the subconscious mind works as a result of images thrown upon its screen, but if there is something wrong with your projection apparatus or the original slide, then the projected image is blurred, inverted, or a total blank. Doubts, fears, counter thoughts, all have a part in blurring the pictures you consciously desire to project.

Playing golf: I must have a clear, clean mental picture of what I am doing before I play the shot. That mental picture takes charge of the muscular reaction.

Experiment: Find a few small stones or pebbles which you can easily throw and locate a tree or a post of six to ten inches in diameter. Stand away from it 25-30 feet or any convenient greater distance and start throwing pebbles in an endeavor to hit it. If you are average person, most of the stones will go wide of their mark. Now stop and tell yourself that you can hit the objective. Get a mental picture of the tree figuratively stepping forward to meet the missile or the stone actually colliding with the tree in the spot where you want it to strike, and you'll soon find yourself making a perfect score.

We all know that
our thoughts determine our carriage, our facial expression, our conversation, for what we are outwardly comes as a result of what we think habitually. Can improve appearance by continuing to feel delights of beauty, by thinking thoughts of the beautiful, by wearing stylish clothes and by constantly telling themselves they are going to win out. Speed up process if you continually hold mental picture of your new self and never relax for a second.

Assume a virtue if you have it not. In assuming a virtue, you are assuming it via your imagination. To become the person you would like to be, you create a mental picture of your newly conceived self, and if you continue to hold it the day will come when you are in reality that person. So it is with the accomplishment of desires.

Daydreaming doesn't have the power to release the latent forces without us that will bring us the $1,000,000 or the mansion. When we employ our imaginations properly, we will see ourselves doing a thing and we go ahead and do it. It's the doing the thing you have pictured to yourself that brings it into actual existence. In this connection, think about the use of a magnifying glass. When properly focused, it will gather light from the sun and concentrate it, so that the heat will burn a hole in object. It musty be held steady before heat power is developed. So it is with the holding of the image or the mental picture.

Dr. Emile Coue declared that imagination was a much stronger force than will-power; when the two are in conflict,he said, the imagination always wins.

Wishful thinking in itself is without effect simply because the power factor is missing.

Whatever we fix our thoughts upon or steadily focus our imaginations upon, that is what we attract.

Once the soil is prepared and the tiny seeds are placed in it, it is but a short time when they put forth roots and sprouts begin to appear. The moment they start upward through the soil in search of light, sunshine, and moisture, obstacles mean nothing to them. They will push aside small stones or bits of wood, and if they can't do that, they'll extend themselves and grow around them. they are determined to emerge from the ground.

The result will be pure of complex, depending upon the original seed and the attention which you give it. Plant the right kind of seed and habitually feed it with strong affirmative thought always directed toward the same end, and it will grow into a mighty force, finding ways and means of overcoming all obstacles.

Everything we have in our modern world is the result of desire.
Desire is the motivating force of life itself.

It's the generating power of all human action.
The keener, the more urgent the desire, the sooner its consummation. So you must start with desire, keeping in mind that with the magic of believing you can obtain what you picture in your mind's eye. The mechanics are for the purpose of helping you to focus sharply your desire-picture on the screen of your subconscious mind, as well as enable you to shut off and keep out all distracting thoughts, negative ideas, or any fear or doubt projections that might otherwise penetrate to your subconscious.

Mechanics: Secure 3-4 cards. Ask yourself what you desire above everything else. At the top of one card write a word picture on it. One or two words may be sufficient. Then duplicate on other cards. Carry on in wallet, one next to bed or fasten to mirror. Idea is to enable you to see mentally the picture at all hours of the day. Just before going to sleep at night and upon waking in the mornings are highly important moments of 24 hours in which to concentrate upon your thoughts with added force. The more often you can visualize the desire by this method, the speedier the materialization.

Just leave it to the subconscious mind, which has its own ways of making contacts, and of opening doors and avenues that you may never have even thought of. Whatever the idea you get, follow it. Keep a pad and pencil on a stand near the head of your bed, and when these ideas come during the night, note them on a pad.

Do not tell anyone just what the cards mean.
Negativity of others can destroy efforts. When you talk about what you're going to do, you scatter for forces. You lose the close connection with the subconscious, and you frequently find that unless you do as here directed, you will have to start all over again in your program of achievement.

Repetitive words and phrases said silently or aloud are merely methods of convincing the subconscious mind, for autosuggestion, no matter what the form, is the only way of molding its pattern. The subconscious is extremely receptive, and it can be convinced of the propositions you present to it, be they true or false, positive or negative; once they are embedded in the subconscious mind, it goes to work with all of its faculties and energies to materialize them, to make them real in life. The simpler the words to express the ideas you wish conveyed to the subconscious, the better. If effects are to be permanent, the affirmations must be continued until the desired results are obtained.

Pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end. Repetition will be the means of driving the suggestion deeply and firmly into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind will accept and carry out whatever it is powerfully instructed to do.

Two objects cannot fill the same space at the same time. Your mind can be compared to that space; you can't keep your mind filled with negative thoughts or doubts if you have it filled with positive, powerful, and creative thoughts. Consider your mind a room with but a single door and you have the only key. It rests with you to decide who is to come though the door, that is, whether you are dominated by positive or negative thoughts, and which ones you are going to admit, for your subconscious mind will respond to the vibrations of the thoughts that are strongest in you.

When you permit negative thoughts of doubt or fear to enter your consciousness, it is obvious that the forceful, positive, creative thoughts will have to give way, and consequently you lose your positive state. So long as you do not permit unfavorable vibrations to reach your subconscious mind, it will not be hindered by anything you may hear, see, or experience. In other words, you must at all times keep your mind filled with positive thoughts so that their strong vibrations will ward off all negative and destructive thoughts that might come from the outside.

Repetition of negative thoughts will discourage even the most powerful if continued long enough, and unless your mind is closed against them and you counteract them by constantly thinking and radiating positive thoughts, you will sooner or later find yourself sunk.

The mental picture or thought projection must be definite and unwavering, and that required great practice and concentration.

Get the picture of what you want and keep telling yourself that you're going to get it.

Winston Churchill never made a speech of importance unless he made it before a mirror first. It's what I call a super-charging method of stepping up the subconscious forces of the speaker so that when he appears before an audience those forces flow out to and affect his listeners. By using the mirror, you are creating at that moment a picture of yourself, your words, etc.
Enthusiasm is very contagious and can readily be transmitted to others if one is bursting with it. The mirror technique is a simple and effective method by which a person can strengthen his belief in his own ability. It becomes a master method by which the mighty forces of the subconscious mind can be employed to influence those with whom you are dealing.

Stand in front of a mirror, fully erect, breathe deeply 3-4 times until you feel a since of power, strength, and determination. Look into very depths of your eyes, tell yourself that you are going to get what you want - name it aloud so you can see your lips move and you can hear the words uttered. Make a regular ritual of it, practice doing it at least twice a day. Put sayings on mirror or whatever is of significance to you. As you stand before the mirror, keep telling yourself that you are going to be an outstanding success and that nothing in this world is going to stop you. Don't forget that every idea presented to the subconscious mind is going to be produced in its exact counterpart in objective life, and the quicker your subconscious gets the idea, the sooner your wish becomes a picture of power.

Emerson wrote that every man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank. Your mirror shows you the person others see when they look at you, and you can fashion yourself into any kind of person you would like them to see. If you act the part, you will become the part.

If you have definitely determined what you want and have fixed a goal for yourself, then consider yourself extremely fortunate, for you have taken the first step that will lead to success. As long as you hold on to the mental picture of your idea and begin to develop it with action, nothing can stop you from succeeding, for the subconscious mind never fails to obey any order given to it clearly and emphatically.