Think Results NOW: You Are What You Think book 1

You Are What You Think book 1

Article #17

My life is an Excellent Adventure from using “You Are What You Think”

Advice For The Graduate

I HAVE BEEN asked many times to write a column for recent graduates. If you know of one you think might benefit by it please pass it on. These teaching would apply to anyone changing his or her environment.

“What will it be like after I graduate ? Will I be able to ‘make it’ in a different situation ?”

You have been preparing for this eventuality for some time now, whether you were conscious of it or not.

THE FIRST and foremost thing to keep in mind is that you will have many, many experiences which will probably disturb and bother you very much.

However, and please remember this always, they will only disturb you to the extent of your reaction to them.

You will not always have control over the experiences you will have to face, but you can always remain in control of your reaction to these experiences. The way you react to your experiences will eventually determine the result.

IN PREVIOUS COLUMNS I have given examples of how men who had been in prison for years changed their lives by learning to control their reaction to situations.

You must learn to see things in their proper perspectives. Material things are important but they are very transitory. Learn to attach importance to things of the spirit. They are far more permanent.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aspire to financial gain. You are entitled to lead a life filled with abundance if you choose to work for one.

IT DOES MEAN you shouldn’t aspire to this kind of life to the exclusion of everything else. Try to strike a proper balance, so you will be able to enjoy both the spiritual and material sides of life.

Learn to control the physical body with its cravings and desires (which all the great sages tell us are the major causes of suffering) and the mind with its wanderings.

It becomes easier to do this as you gain an understanding that you are much more than just y our body and your mind. Until you gain this understanding you won’t be able to reach your highest potential. Your mind would be continually focused on your material needs.

THIS CONTROL over your body and mind isn’t gained by force, or by gritting your teeth and saying, “I will do this, or I won’t do that.”

Rather, it is gained by attaching less importance to that which you once thought important and being able to evaluate things in relation to the whole.

As you gradually attain this control, through the use of your increased understanding and discernment, you will find that you will be able to anticipate the way you will react to a situation before it happens.

THUS YOU WILL ACT as YOU want to act, rather than acting instinctively, without reason, as you hay have done in the past.

Remember, the subconscious part of your mind does not reason. It carries out the orders given to it by your conscious, or intellectual, mind. If your conscious mind thoughts are scattered and do not have direction y our subconscious will carry out the instructions given it by other, stronger minds.

That is why in the past you may have followed the crowd, doing things you didn’t particularly want to do. Wouldn’t you rather it were you who is in control ? You can be if your thoughts are concentrated.

THINK OF ALL the unhappiness that could be avoided if people were to say to themselves, “How will I feel tomorrow if I do this thing or say these words now ? Will I feel better if I do, or better if I don’t ?

If they felt that what they had in mind would cause an unfavorable reaction in themselves and others, and used their power of discrimination to decide not to say the words or do the thing, they would never have any regrets. Learn to think ahead so you will be able to anticipate what your feelings will be in a given situation.

Make a list of basic principles you would like to live by. Fir a starter you might use kindness, patience, perseverance, (such as finishing what you start), good temper, courtesy, etc. Add to the list yourself.

AT TIMES YOU WILL think that the world has little understanding and is unsympathetic. However, you will find that the world will reflect the way you feel about yourself.

When you gain the confidence and self-assurance that living by your basic principles gives you, you won’t have any problems.

It is an inner security that you must strive to obtain.