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"Any
fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that
determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may
defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the
fact because you think you are." -
Dr.
Norman Vincent Peale
"In
all my lectures, I have taught one doctrine - the infinitude of the
private man, the ever-availability to every man of the Divine presence
within his own mind, from which presence he draws, at his need,
inexhaustible power." -
Dr.
Joseph Murphy
Dr. Norman Vincent
Peale writes in "Power of the Plus Factor": "Once
walking through the twisted little streets of Kowloon in Hong Kong, I
came upon a tattoo studio. In the window were displayed samples of
the tattoos available. On the chest or arms you could have
tattooed an anchor or flag or mermaid or whatever. But what struck
me with force were three words that could be tattooed on one's flesh,
"Born to lose." ... I entered the shop in astonishment
and, pointing to those words, asked the Chinese tattoo artist,
"Does anyone really have that terrible phrase, "Born to
lose," tattooed on his body?" ... He replied, "Yes,
sometimes." ... "But," I said, "I just can't believe
that anyone in his right mind would do that." ... The Chinese man
simply tapped his forehead and said in broken English, "Before
tattoo on body, tattoo on mind."
There is a Power within us and we either
use it for our benefit or to our detriment. It is a choice that we
are always making with each thought we think. But, many people do
not believe that they have the power to direct their life, so they
misdirect it. Not intentionally, but because they are not aware of
it. As a culture, we have allowed outside influences to dictate
what we believe. And often, we don't even question what we accept;
especially if it is espoused by a government organization, a health
organization, a religious figure, the news Media, or someone with a
"Ph. D." at the end of their name. It is so much easier
to accept a "false truth" than it is to "know the
truth." And this is why so many of us have not successfully
accomplished the things that we want to do, to be, or to have.
We cannot draw a greater degree of the
Presence, that is, Intelligence, into our mind, if we do not stretch
ourselves mentally to think, to contemplate, to persist in gaining
knowledge and increasing our awareness of our place in the Universe.
No one has the ability to know more than anyone else. We all have
the same amount of power available to us in our mind ... but, we all use
it to different degrees. The Master Mind Jesus learned how to use
this power to a greater degree than anyone else. Yet, in John
14:12 we can read: "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that believeth me, the works that I do shall he do
also; and greater works than these shall he do."
"I can if I think I can" is a
thought, and as it becomes a persistent thought within our mind, it will
attract to us all things necessary to accomplish that which we seek to
accomplish. We don't have to give in to frustration or failure.
We need only realize that as we have conditioned our mind to accept that
"we can" ... Spirit will bring it to pass in Divine order.
There is no power to oppose us when our mind is filled with power, and
to say "I can if I think I can" are words of power. We
learn to use the law of mind by using it. We cannot learn to use
it in any other way.
Dr. Ernest Holmes: "Suppose
that we wish to draw from the Universal Mind some definite idea, some
guidance, some information, some leading. How are we going to do
this? First we must become convinced that we can do it. ...
Self-reliance is the word to dwell on. Listen to your own voice;
it will speak in terms that are unmistakable. Trust in your own
self more than in all else. All the greats have learned to do
this."
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want," is the first statement of the 23rd Psalm. This is
a statement of faith and of law, but it has no more power than "I
can if I think I can," when we understand that whenever we use the
word "I" we are aligning ourselves with the Power Greater than
we are. As we know this, our words are not boastful or arrogant
... they are positively powerful.
And so we can begin to
open our mind to a greater degree of success, a greater degree of
prosperity, a greater degree of health and happiness and love. We
can have these things and more. There is nothing to obstruct us as
long as we hold the persistent thought, "I can if I think I
can." I think you can too.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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