CHAPTER V

PROPER THINKING

That is one step that is very necessary. Then, there is another step which is equally important. It takes a little more time and a little more observation of yourself.

Have you ever noticed that your mind,--and my mind, too, is either living for the most part in tomorrow, or next week, or last year? We are either regretting the things that have happened in the past, or we are dreading the things that are yet to come. We so very rarely hold that mind of ours in this particular moment. Actually, the only moment we can ever know is RIGHT NOW. The moment you began to read this sentence is already in the past; it is gone; and there is nothing you can do to get it back. And before you finish this sentence you will be in the future The only thing that we really can know is this immediate moment. At this moment your mind is in tune. The physical body is probably resting in a comfortable chair. The conscious and subconscious mind are in turn reading and digesting these wards.

We constantly rupture the mind, and it is one of the most dangerous things we do to ourselves. The subconscious mind knows no time, or any measurement of time, in any sense whatsoever. It is not interested in time. Time is purely a physical measurement. Always remember that. If you doubt it, ask yourself the difference between five minutes spent in the dentist’s chair, having a tooth drilled without novocaine, to five minutes of the greatest happiness you have ever known. Which is the longer? We use time as a physical measurement for moving things through space. That does not concern the subconscious mind in any way, however.

The subconscious mind knows nothing but NOW. That is the meaning behind the great metaphysical statement, “I live in an Eternal Now.”

That is the way we are created to live--but we do not. The conscious mind runs back and forth, from the past to the future, darting here and there, in a constant tug-of-war with the subconscious, which wants to stay in one place with the physical body and the conscious mind. That is one of the great causes for fatigue, from which too many of us suffer, and it results in a nervous tension from which few of us are free.

Do you want to accomplish things in your life? Then learn to keep your mind intact. That is your job. That is my job. No one can do it for you but yourself. If you cannot hold your thought steady on the particular thing you are attempting to do at any particular moment, you are not going to get very far. Make a law for yourself that no matter what you are doing, be it trivial or be it important, you are giving it your complete attention. Give it all of your mind. Practice it until it becomes a habit with you. You will see the results in clearer thinking, greater originality, getting twice as much done in half the time, without any sense of strain or fatigue. It is as though you have opened another facet of the mind. Why? Because you have centered all of your thinking and emotional energy in one spot. You are not living back there in the past; you are not living out there in the future; you are living RIGHT NOW--In an Eternal Now.

Does that mean you cannot plan for the future? Of course it does not. When you plan things for yourself, they are always on the positive side. When you create your mental pictures, and feed them with your desires or emotions, you are planting good ideas in the subconscious mind. When you worry (which is negative planning for the future) about the horrible things that can possibly happen, you are also planting ideas in the subconscious mind. Remember your subconscious is already overloaded with negative ideas. Remember also it has no power of deduction. One of its most important functions is to do what it is told, good or bad,--and it does just that. When we learn to live consciously and subconsciously in one place at one time, then we learn to control our destiny. We begin to acquire a little of the dominion over our earth, as the Bible promised us.

We all want this dominion, but in order to attain it we must institute something of a reorganization program in our lives. The simple steps outlined here, if they are put into effect, will stand you in good stead in every department of your life. The first one is you must learn to relax. You must learn to quiet down. That does not mean that you must sit in a corner like Little Miss Muffet of Mother Goose fame. You have your pleasures, your social life. Your routine is not upset in the least. The only thing you have to stop is the mad rush in which so many of us live. We are always in such a hurry that we barely take time to breathe. Someone once said that every country has its patron saint. England has St. George; Ireland has St. Patrick, and America has St. Vitus! It is very true. Have you ever noticed how we all dash here, there and the other place? Stop rushing. There is only one place towards which you are rushing, if you continue, and that is the last place in this world that you want to reach,--it is the final stop on this planet, and that last trip is always taken at a very slow pace, with a group of mourners.

Take it easy. There is a wonderful metaphysical statement that says, “God is never in a hurry.” So why should you be? You know the sun never fails to get up on time; the moon never fails to make its appointed appearance. Everything in this universe runs in majestic, orderly, quiet precision. Everything, that is, except ourselves. Stop rushing. Tell yourself repeatedly, “I have all the time in the world, for the simple reason that I am now co-ordinating my energy, which makes me function with concentrated power in whatever I choose to do.” And then do it.

Learn to relax. Find five minutes at the beginning or the end of the day and lie down on the floor, flat on your back. Keep a clock where you can see it without turning your head. Watch the minute hand tick off five minutes, during which time you are not to move a muscle in the body, except for the eyes and the eyelids. You will find it to be one of the most difficult things you have ever attempted, but if you persist you will gain complete control over the body. Once you have built in the idea of relaxation, the body will immediately respond to your order when tension or pain suddenly appears. You must learn to control the body, because you will not get very far until you do. Never forget that the sub-conscious mind is accustomed to using this body, and until now has had its own way. It occupies it and it is very fond of all its quirks, its illnesses, its idiosyncrasies. It enjoys prolonging them. If that statement surprises you, reflect for a moment on the glowing terms with which we describe our various indispositions to kind friends who unwittingly and unguardedly ask, “How are you?” We never tire of telling the gory details of our indigestion, our pains and aches. The reason it is harmful is that it only strengthens the subconscious belief in discomfort, illness and tension.

Don’t pamper the body. Train it. This body has no life in it, except that which you give it.

Always remember, “I AM a soul. I have a body.” Don’t forget it is worth $2.94. You should learn to wear it as you wear your clothing, for it is the clothing of the mind. The only way you can properly wear it is through the foundation garment of relaxation.