“Man is what he thinks all day long.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
This lesson is based on chapter 4 of “The Science of Getting Rich” which is entitled, “The First Principle in the Science of Getting Rich”. In this chapter, Wallace D. Wattles does a great job of teaching about the importance of thinking what you want to think, regardless of appearances or current circumstances. This is a very powerful chapter. I highly recommend you read it; a copy of the book can be obtained for free in our downloads page.
To help illustrate how important it is to think thoughts independent of appearances, we use two diagrams:
This first diagram shows the cycle of a person who is unaware that their starting point for thought is their current circumstances. All of their deeply held thoughts and beliefs (which are really the same thing) are perpetuated due to believing that they are powerless to change. A person in this state views himself as a victim. These victim thoughts, or deeply held beliefs, reside in the subconscious mind and are buried deep. It’s a simple process to bring them to light, but simple does not mean easy. Fortunately, their are processes and methods that a person can use to change these thoughts and beliefs. It requires determination, courage and a willingness to see things from a different perspective, or, to put it another say; through a different lens. And as we like to say in the SGR Club, “you have to do it yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone.”
Here is a what Bob Proctor says about individuals living out their lives according to this first diagram:
A Self-Fulfilling Cycle of Doom: The average individual’s mind is busily engaged in a hodge-podge of totally unrelated ideas, the likes of which you would have difficulty finding outside of a common encyclopedia. Their mind is being dazzled through their senses, by moving objects, flashy colors, wild and weird sounds. Order, vision and focus are near impossible because of the mental state they permit themselves to be in during their waking hours.
They believe themselves to be a Physical Thing in a world of Things. They are clutched by an unseen enemy. The lack and limitation being expressed in their present results have captured their conscious control. They concentrate all of their mental energy on their limited supply, thereby creating more of the same.
A person who is aware that thoughts and beliefs can be changed and who has accepted the responsibility to do so and is determined to do so, can learn and apply various processes and methods to learn to think thoughts independent of their current circumstances. This is a state of freedom. This second diagram helps illustrate this shift in awareness:
James Allen, in his book, “As A Man Thinketh” wrote:
Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.
Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.
You become calm in the measure that you understand yourself as a thought evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as you develop a right understanding, and see more and more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, you cease to fuss and fume and worry and grieve, and remain poised, steadfast, serene.
As I remind people in the SGR Club, the entire goal of the SGR Club is to raise awareness. The more aware we are of our thoughts (beliefs), feelings and actions, the more we are able to change them. And like any exercise to strengthen muscles, we start off slow, with a small amount of effort and weight, and we build up through practice and repetition. The more we do, the more we are able to do.
