MENTAL ATTITUDE
YOU remember the saying of the sacred writer: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." A truer statement never was uttered. For every man or woman is what he or she is, by reason of what he or she has thought. We have thought ourselves into what we are. One's place in life is largely determined by his Mental Attitude.
Mental Attitude is the result of the current of one's thoughts, ideas, ideals, feelings, and beliefs. You are constantly at work building up a Mental Attitude, which is not only making your character but which is also having its influence upon the outside world, both in the direction of your effect upon other people, as well as your quality of attracting toward yourself that which is in harmony with the prevailing mental state held by you. Is it not most important, then, that this building should be done with the best possible materials—according to the best plan—with the best tools?
The keynote of this chapter is: "A positive Mental Attitude Wins Financial Success." Before going any further, let us define the word "Positive" and its opposite, "Negative," and then see how the former wins success and the latter attracts failure. In the sense in which I use the terms, "Positive" means Confident Expectation, Self-Confidence, Courage, Initiative, Energy, Optimism, Expectation of Good, not Evil— of Wealth, not Poverty—Belief in Oneself and in the LAW, etc., etc.; "Negative" means Fear, Worry, Expectation of Undesirable Things, Lack of Confidence in Oneself and the LAW, etc., etc.
In the first place Mental Attitude tends towards success by its power in the direction of "making us over" into individuals possessing qualities conducive to success. Many people go through the world bemoaning their lack of the faculties, qualities or temperament that they instinctively recognize an active factors in the attainment of success. They see others possessing these desirable qualities moving steadily forward to their goal, and they also feel if they themselves were but possessed of these same qualities they, too, might attain the same desirable results. Now, so far, their reasoning is all right—but they do not go far enough. They fail here because they imagine that since they have not the desired qualities at the moment, they can never expect to possess them. They regard their minds as something that once fixed and built can never be improved upon, repaired, rebuilt, or enlarged. Right here is where the majority of people "fall down," to use the expressive although slangy words of the day.
As a matter of fact, the great scientific authorities of the present time distinctly teach that a man by diligent care and practice, may completely change his character, temperament, and habits. He may kill out undesirable traits of character, and replace them by new and desirable traits, qualities and faculties. The brain is now known to be but the instrument and tool of something called Mind, which uses the brain as its instrument of expression.
And the brain is also now known to be composed of millions of tiny cells, the majority of which are not in use. It is also known that if one turns his attention and interest in certain directions, the unused cells in the area of his brain which is the center of such subject, will be stimulated into action and will begin to manifest actively. Not only this, but the stimulated sections of cells will begin also to actively manifest their reproductive qualities, and new brain cells will be evolved, grown and developed in order to furnish proper mental tools with which to manifest the new desires, qualities and feelings pressing forward for expression.
Scientific Character Building is not a mere idle theory, but a live, vital, actual, practical fact, being put into operation in the psychological laboratories of the country, and by thousands of private individuals all over the world who are rapidly "making themselves over" by this method. And the prevailing Mental Attitude is the pattern upon which the brain cells build. If you can but grasp this truth you have the key to success in your hands.
Now, let us consider the second phase of the action of Mental Attitude toward Financial Success. I allude to the effect upon others of one's Mental Attitude. Did you ever stop long enough to think that we are constantly giving other people suggestive impressions of ourselves and qualities? Do you not know that, if you go about with the Mental Attitude of Discouragement, Fear, Lack of Self-Confidence, and all the other Negative qualities of mind, other people are sure to catch the impression and govern themselves toward you accordingly?
Let a man come into your presence for the purpose of doing business with you and if he lack confidence in himself and in the things he wishes to sell you, you will at once catch his spirit and will feel that you have no confidence in him or the things he if offering. You will catch his mental atmosphere at once, and he will suffer thereby. But let this same man fill himself up with thoughts, feelings, and ideals of Enthusiasm, Success, Self-Confidence, Confidence in his proposition, etc., and he will fairly radiate success toward you, and you will unconsciously "take stock" in him and interest in his goods, and the chances are that you will be willing and glad to do business with him.
Do you not know men who radiate Failure, Discouragement and "I Can't"? Are you not affected by their manifested Mental Attitude to their hurt? And, on the other hand, do you not know men who are so filled with Confidence, Courage, Enthusiasm, Fearlessness, and Energy, that the moment you come into their presence, or they into yours, you at once catch their spirit, and respond thereto? I contend that there is an actual atmosphere surrounding each of these men—which if you are sensitive enough you can feel—one of repulsion, and the other of attraction. And further, that these atmospheres are the result of the constant daily thought of these men or the Mental Attitude of each toward life. Think over this a bit, and you will see at once just how the LAW works.
The third phase of the action of Mental Attitude towards Financial Success may be called the working of the Law of Attraction. Now, without Attempting to advance any wild theories, I still most assert that all thinking, observing men have noticed the operation of a mental Law of Attraction, whereby "like attracts like."
Avoiding all theories on the subject, I state the general principle that a man's Mental Attitude acts a magnet, attracting to him the things, objects, circumstances, environments, and people in harmony with that Mental Attitude. If we think Success firmly and hold it properly before as, it tends to build up a constant Mental Attitude which invariably attracts to us the things conducive to its attainment and materialization. If we hold the ideal of Financial Success—in short, Money—our Mental Attitude will gradually form and crystallize the MONEY ideal. And the things pertaining to Money—people calculated to help us win Money—circumstances tending to bring us Money—opportunities for making Money—in fact, all sorts of Money-things—will be attracted toward us.
You think this visionary talk, do you? Well, then, just make a careful study of any man who has attained Financial Success and see whether or not his prevailing attitude is not that of expectation of money. He holds the Mental Attitude as an ideal, and he is constantly realizing that ideal.
Fix your mind firmly upon anything, good or bad in the world, and you attract it to you or are attracted to it in obedience to the LAW. You attract to you the things you expect, think about and hold in your Mental Attitude. This is no superstitious idea, but a firmly established, scientific, psychological fact.
To further illustrate the workings of the above LAW, "like attracts like," and "birds of a feather flock together," I might here present the theory which of late has been the subject of much discussion among noted psychologists, i.e., that there are thought currents in the mental realm just as there are air currents in the atmosphere, and ocean currents in the seas. For instance, there are thought currents of vice and others of virtue; thought currents of fear and others of courage; thought currents of hate and others of love; thought currents of poverty and others of wealth. And, further than this, the person who thinks and talks and expects poverty is drawn into the poverty thought currents of the world and attracts to himself others who think and talk along the same lines; and vice versa: the person who thinks, talks and expects wealth and prosperity attracts, or is attracted to, people of wealth and comes, in time, to share their prosperity with them. I am not trying to champion this theory, but if it should be true it behooves each one of us to watch our thought and talk, getting rid of the poverty thought, and in its place substituting the wealth and prosperity thought.
Sweep out from the chambers of your mind all these miserable negative thoughts like "I can't," "That's just my luck," "I knew I'd do it," "Poor me," etc., and then fill up the mind with the positive, invigorating, helpful, forceful, compelling ideals of Success, Confidence, and expectation of that which you desire; and just as the steel filings fly to the attraction of the magnet, so will that which you need fly to you in response to this great natural principle of mental action—the Law of Attraction. Begin this very moment and build up a new ideal—that of Financial Success—see it mentally— expect it—demand it! This is the way to create it in your Mental Attitude.
N B:REMEMBER THAT AS A MAN THINKETH IN HIS LIFE SO HE IS
