Mind Your Mind

PREPERED BY:

KAMAL GHAI

Mind Your Mind

The Power of Thoughts

Think about certain events in your life, and try to remember what kind of thoughts you often thought, before a particular event happened. Try to find the connection between your thoughts and the events. How many times something happened in your life and you said: “I was sure this was going to happen”? Our predominant thoughts influence our behavior and attitude, and consequently our actions, our life, and the people around

us. As our thoughts are, so are our lives. This means that it is of great importance to be careful with our thoughts, especially thoughts that we often repeat. Thoughts are like a videocassette that we play in the VCR of our minds. What we play, is what we see with our inner eyes. What we see in our mind is what we think about. The thoughts that we repeatedly think shape our lives. In order to make changes in our life, we have to make changes in our thinking process. It is necessary to change our thoughts. It is like ejecting a videocassette and inserting a new one that we like better. The new mental videocassette will in time change our behavior, actions and attitude, and attract into our lives people, situations and events corresponding with our Thoughts. One single thought is not strong enough to make a change, but if the same thought is repeated often, it gradually gains strength. A thought that is often repeated takes roots in the subconscious mind, and from there it affects our lives and even our environment. The great thing about this process is that we don't need to strain or overexert ourselves to make it happen. All we have to do is to choose a thought that we want to come true, and keep repeating it. Suppose you are shy in the company of people, and you want to change this situation. Forcing yourself to talk with people does not always work, and might make you feel uncomfortable and behave awkwardly. It is better to visualize that you are feeling confident and talking fluently with people. This is like is like daydreaming, and is an easy and pleasurable activity. This is a mental activity, which is quite simple and does not require effort. This is a sort of practical daydreaming, a method of using the power of thoughts creatively and intentionally. It is very similar to ordinary daydreaming, yet with some differences. Visualize yourself conversing fluently, with ease and confidence. Imagine how the words just flow from your mouth, how you enjoy expressing yourself, and how everyone pays close attention to every word you say. You can build in your mind a perfect scene of

whatever you want to accomplish. Put a lot of detail, color, sound, scent and life into these mental scenes. If you repeat them often with faith and attention, the subconscious mind will accept them as real experiences, and in a most natural way will make any necessary changes to make your reality fit your inner images. You can overcome habits and build new ones, develop new skills and abilities, and even change your circumstances and attain anything that you truly desire. The power of thoughts can help you get a new job, improve your relationships, earn more money or improve your life. All this does not happen overnight. It needs time, and depends on how sincere you are in your efforts, and on how much time and concentration you put into your new way of thinking. This is mental work, but this does not mean that you stay passive and wait for things to happen. You need to keep an open mind and be willing to take action when necessary. Decide what you want to get or achieve, and start thinking about it often during the day, or at several specific times during the day. These repeated thoughts would ultimately get stronger, and bring inner and outer changes. The power of thoughts is real power. You have certainly used it many times without realizing it. When you know how it works and how to use it consciously, you gain the ability to transform, improve and master your life.

Thoughts, Feelings and Success

Repeat aloud the word „success‟ several times, and notice how you feel. Depending on your mental and emotional makeup, and on the mood of the moment, there are two possibilities. You may become inspired, happy and elated, or despondent, unhappy and bitter. In the latter case, you might start telling yourself how miserable you are, and that success is not for you. It may sound strange, but thoughts about success can

evoke negative feelings. People who have entertained negative thoughts and feelings most of their lives, expect failure and do not feel worthy of success. If they have experienced lack and hardships, they believe that success is not intended for them. In these cases, everything associated with success might evoke negative feelings. Your thoughts and feelings can draw or repel success. They shape your beliefs and expectations about success or failure. Thoughts too often, come and go and change direction like the wind. They influence your mind the same way that the wind affects the direction of a flag. One moment the flag may be fluttering this way, and moment later in a different direction. One moment you might be thinking in this way, and a moment later in a different way. When your thoughts, feelings and moods become steady and under your control, your life also becomes under your control. You become the deciding factor, not outside influences or passing moods. In order to control your thoughts, feelings and moods and navigate your life, concentration and willpower need to be developed. Concentration and willpower constitute the steering wheel of your life, with which you cannavigate the boat of your life toward success and achievement. Your predominant, habitual thoughts and feelings determine whether you will achieve success or not, and whether you will feel satisfied upon realization or not. This means that you have to be more aware of your thoughts and feelings. It is important to learn to be more positive, less critical and less worried. Then, when success is achieved, you can enjoy The happiness of realization. Thoughts, attitudes and habits can be changed. The change does not come overnight. Some inner work is necessary. Always remember that positive thoughts and feelings make you happier and more receptive to success. Also remember that a positive disposition bestows upon you the ability to enjoy success when it comes. Take it as a challenge, and pay more attention to your thoughts and feelings. Find out what kind of thoughts you think and what kind of

feelings you usually experience with them. If they are positive thoughts and feelings of success that‟s okay, but if your thoughts and feelings are about failure, unhappiness and dissatisfaction, then you need to do something about them. Why is it that people desire success? There is a desire for growth in each one of us. It is the cosmic desire for expression and expansion. It manifests itself in every form of life. We see it everywhere, even in a blade of grass, whose desire to grow is so strong, that it may even grow on walls or through a cracks in the pavement. The desire for success is the inner natural desire for growth, expansion and expression. Success is the realization and achievement of plans, desires or intentions. It is the positive outcome of your actions. It could result in more money, a better job, better relationships, getting a desired object, finding the perfect spouse, getting a good reputation or the realization of any dream. Success is not confined to material objects. There is also mental and spiritual success, such as getting good grades or making advancements in self-improvement or spiritual growth. People often think that success will bring them the desired satisfaction and happiness. Sometimes it does and sometimes it does not. Satisfaction and happiness are more dependent on inner attitude and not so much on external conditions. It is not enough to seek only external success, such as money and possessions. Inner success, which is self-improvement, spiritual growth and inner peace are important too. Without out them, one might be successful in other matters, but still feel lack.

The Magnetic, Attracting Power of the Mind

The power of the mind draws certain events, circumstances and people into our lives and repels others. In this respect it resembles a magnet. Just look at the people around you. Some pass through certain events and circumstances, while others pass through different experiences. Some accomplish certain things easily, and others accomplish them with

great difficulty or not at all. Your mind is composed of the thoughts you think. These thoughts are like magnetic currents. If you think positively about some event or action, it turns out to be as you thought about it. If you harbor negative thoughts, this negativity is drawn into your life. You attract into your life what you think about frequently. It does not mean that every thought gets materialized. Most of the thoughts are weak and are not repeated long enough to gain sufficient strength. Weak thoughts, like a weak magnet, hardly have any attractive power. You have seen how a magnet draws metal objects. A strong and big magnet draws bigger objects than a small and weak one. Magnets have another peculiar characteristic. One side of the magnet draws, and the other side repels. The power of attraction is a neutral power. The magnet draws to itself everything made of iron, no matter whether it is a useful object or junk. The mind acts in the same way. It attracts into your life positive and negative situations and events, according to the thoughts that you think. Like the magnet the mind not only attracts, but also repels. If you do not believe you can get or accomplish something, then you repel it. Thoughts of incompetence, weakness, fear and inferiority create a repellent force. It is as if you are creating a wind that blows away and prevents certain things to reach you. There are several ways to charge your mind and thoughts with magnetic power. Strong desire, concentration and faith are some of the important ingredients for infusing power into thoughts. Many activate the magnetic power of their mind unconsciously, without knowing what they are doing. When you know the rules, you become able to activate the magnetic power of your mind consciously, positively and effectively. Visualizing and thinking with concentration, desire and faith, and repeating these thoughts often, unleashes powerful energy. Your thoughts get radiated and broadcasted, influencing the minds of other people, and attracting to you people who think along the same lines as you do and who can help you with your

plans. This process also heightens your awareness and perceptiveness of any opportunity connected with your thoughts that comes your way, and fills you with the inner power and initiative to utilize it. Why not become conscious of your thoughts, choose to think the ones that are beneficial for you, and consciously and advantageously utilize the power of attraction? You can attract people, circumstances, events, possessions or a life style with the magnetic power of attraction of your mind. Remember, what you think about intently, with attention and feeling is attracted to you. It might be something material or non material. The power of attraction is a universal power and manifests everywhere and in everything. It is the power that holds the Universe together. Without it there would not be any world.

Feelings, Emotions and Creative Visualization

Most of you have probably heard or read about creative visualization. Some of you have perhaps tried it. The idea is that by visualizing a mental image of a desired object or situation, you can attract it into your life. In this way you can change and shape your life, behavior and circumstances. This means using the power of thoughts, but thoughts alone are not enough for creative visualization. Some additional ingredients are required to energize the thoughts into action. These ingredients are you feelings and emotions. What makes you take action, a cold uninteresting thought, or one charged with emotion? When you listen to a lecture, which lecturer rivets your attention, someone who talks in a boring, listless manner, or a lecturer who talks with zest and emotion? When you meet a total stranger for the first time, which one leaves a stronger impression on you, a cold, dull person, or one full of energy and enthusiasm? People, actions and thoughts charged with emotion make a stronger impact. Thoughts that are charged with emotional energy are the ones that affect you more, and drive you into action. Feelings and emotions energize your thoughts and fill them with power. Emotions and feelings energize thoughts, the same way that electricity makes electric instruments work. The best instrument won't function without electricity. In order for a thought to act and manifest, it needs something to give it life and energy. Feelings and emotions are this something. If your desire is strong, then you can generate enough emotional energy. However, sometimes the emotional power you manifest is not enough. At times you many need or desire something, yet you cannot generate enough power. In these cases you need to strengthen your emotional energy. It is possible to produce emotional energy when you need this power. It is like connecting a television or a radio to a wall socket in order to let the electricity flow. You do so by

producing positive and happy feelings of success and satisfaction, and associating them with your desire. Everyone has, at least a few times, experienced some sort of success. Remember and visualize any success you have achieved in the past. Even small manifestations of success count. Relive events such as getting good grades, receiving a compliment from someone whose opinion you value, finding a good job, getting promotion or achieving success associated with your business. You can choose any event from the past. Relive the event of success in your imagination, visualize it as clearly as possible, and let the positive and happy feelings you experienced at that time become alive again. When these feelings are aroused, it is time to think about your present goal. Live and experience these feelings and emotions in your imagination, and associate them with your present goal. This action will inject energy into your thoughts and make them powerful. When your thoughts are charged with emotional power they are transmitted to the surrounding environment. They are even picked up by other people, who will consequently help you bring your thoughts into reality. Thoughts evoke feelings, and feelings evoke thoughts. Our habitual thoughts influence the way we feel, and our feelings influence the way we think. There is always an interaction between thoughts and feelings. Learning to take advantage of the combined power of thoughts and feelings can take you a long way toward achieving your goals.

The Restless Mind

Most of our body‟s functions are automatic activities. Take for example breathing. We constantly breathe, but we hardly pay this function any attention. The blood moves automatically through the veins, but we are hardly aware of its movement. So it is with many other bodily functions. Thinking is also, to a large extent, an automatic continuous activity. Thoughts come and go incessantly from morning till night. There is no rest from them for a moment. Most of these thoughts are not exactly invited; they just come, occupy the attention for a while, and then disappear. Our inner consciousness is like the sky, and our thoughts are like clouds. The clouds drift through the sky, hide it for a while and then disappear. They are not permanent. So are thoughts. Due to their incessant movement they hide our inner consciousness, and then move away to make room for other thoughts. Thoughts resemble the waves of the ocean, which are always in a state of motion, never standing still. The mind, which attracts and produces thoughts, finds it hard to stand still. It always thinks about whatever it sees. It likes to compare, analyze, reason, and to ask questions. It never stops or rests, even for a short while. Everyone‟s mind automatically accepts certain thoughts, but filters out and rejects others. This is the reason why some people occupy their minds with thoughts about a certain subject, while others don't even think about this same subject. It seems as if everyone possess a different mental filter. Why some people are attracted to football and others don't? Why some love and admire a certain singer and others don't? Why some people think incessantly about a certain subject, and other never think about it? It is all due to this inner filter. This is an automatic and unconscious filter. Do you consciously tell certain thoughts to come and tell others to go away? This is usually an automatic activity. This filter has been shaped according to the influences that have affected you since

childhood. Every event, occurrence word or suggestion has an affect on the mind, which produces thoughts accordingly. The mind is like a thought factory, working in shifts, day and night, producing thoughts. Everyone is thinking and producing thoughts. It is as if we are living in an ocean of thoughts. We constantly pick one, let it pass through our minds and then pick up another one. It is like catching a fish from the ocean, throwing it again to the water and catching another one. The restless mind constantly occupies the attention. Now the attention is on this thought and then on another one. A lot of energy and time are spending in this way on unimportant, and mostly negative passing thoughts. This is enslavement. Why let thoughts rules the mind, instead of being their master? Why not enjoy inner peace, and choose only beneficial and desirable thoughts? Why let your thoughts treat you like a relentless boss that constantly gives you a job to do? There is no freedom here. It is freedom when you can choose your thoughts. It is freedom, when you are able to decide which thought to accept, and which one to reject. Stopping the flow of thoughts may seem to be an infeasible fit, but training the mind, performing concentration exercises and practicing meditation, gradually lead to this ability. The mind is like an untamed animal. It can be taught self-discipline and obedience to a higher power through proper training. This training leads to peace of mind and mental mastery.

Peace of Mind

Do you desire to enjoy peace of mind? Do you want to be able to stay calm and relaxed in difficult and trying situations? It is not so difficult as it might seem. I meet people who say that they desire peace of mind, but how can they get it, if they never do anything to attain it? In a world full of tension, conflict and competition, peace of mind is a great necessity. A person who possesses peace of mind is able to remain calm, peaceful and unaffected by outside events. This peace has nothing to do with indifference or laziness. In fact, you can be peaceful, yet energetic, enterprising and possessing a sharp and keen mind. Meditation, concentration exercises, guided imagination, affirmations and breathing exercises are some of the techniques that lead to peace of mind. Every one of these methods will gradually make your mind more calm and peaceful, but you have to practice daily in order to get results. As you go on with your chosen technique, your level of inner peace will rise. The inner peace will in time be evident and experienced always, not only while meditating or practicing any other self-growth technique. You will enjoy inner peace wherever you are. You will also find out that you gain inner happiness and inner strength, self-control and discipline, better judgment and stronger mental powers. When your mind is peaceful, it unconsciously radiates peace to the people who happen to be around you. A peaceful mind has a calming effect on other people, and creates and surrounds you with an aura of peace, which influences the auras of those present near you. Pacify the mind, especially through meditation and concentration, ultimately lead to real and lasting peace and the ability to control the mind. With this kind of training the mind stops to nag and bother, and the ability to control your thoughts gets stronger. After your mind becomes your servant, you gain the ability to switch it off or on at will. You will then be able to use it when you need it, and

switch it off when there is no need to think. You may say that you don‟t have the time to develop peace of mind, but the truth is that you can always find the time, if you really desire it. You may believe that peace of mind can be developed only under special conditions and in special places. That is not true. Circumstances should not bar your way. If your desire for peace of mind is strong enough, you can attain it whether you live in an ashram or in a noisy city. Peace of mind can be yours, if you make the effort to relax and calm down your mind. If you have always believed that it is unattainable and reserved for special people, then change your belief, because this belief will keep it away from you. Postponing this enterprise for tomorrow will always place it in tomorrow.

Try this:

1) Sit down comfortably.

2) Go through your body from the head to your toes, and relax every tense muscle.

3) Take a few deep breaths.

4) Now think about something that inspires or makes you happy. Think of something you love doing, or a happy past event.

5) enjoy the happiness and calmness that you are experiencing. Engross yourself in the associated pleasant feelings, and forget everything else for a while.

Repeat this procedure whenever you feel tense and nervous. This is only the first step. Peace of mind is gained through various methods, but especially by concentration and meditation practiced on a regular basis.

Inner Peace and Outer Peace

Real peace comes from the inside, and is not dependent on outside conditions. Inner peace is a state, in which the mind becomes calm and tranquil, and thoughts are controlled and disciplined. Ordinarily, the mind is in a state of incessant thinking. Thoughts come and go every hour of the day. Many of these thoughts concern unimportant matters or are negative thoughts, worries and fears. The mind keeps asking questions, comparing, analyzing, commenting on everything, chattering and not allowing any moment of rest. This state of affairs is one of the reasons for the craving for inner peace. Yet, though there is longing for peace of mind, most people continue letting restless thoughts and worries to fill their minds, thus keeping inner peace away. Real peace comes from the inside, from the spirit. Only when your mind becomes tranquil you can enjoy inner peace. Only when you make peace inside, within yourself, does real peace come into being in your outside world. When a storm is raging, the waves toss a boat up and down and from one wave to another. Only when the storm and waves cease, can the boat sail smoothly. So it is with peace of mind. You experience it only after the winds and gales of the mind and thoughts calm down. If the inner world is in peace, then the outer circumstances begin to reflect this inner peace. Outer peace always follows inner peace. A peaceful mind broadcasts peace and affects the surrounding environment. Anyone who comes in contact with a peaceful person, senses this peace, and unconsciously responds and behaves accordingly. What happens if you talk calmly with someone who is angry, and who is talking in a loud voice? Sooner or later he/she will lower his/her voice. What happens if you keep calm and tranquil in situations that make other people nervous or restless? They calm down a bit too, subconsciously imitating your peacefulness. These are just a few examples of the effect of inner peace

on the outside world. You can find many more such examples. You can attain inner peace through concentration, meditation, yoga and some other techniques. The keys to inner peace are the ability to calm down the mind, reduce its restlessness, and to free it from the compulsion of constant and restless thinking and worrying. If you work on your mind and emotions you can achieve inner peace, and consequently enjoy outer peace. It does not matter what are your outer conditions and what is the state of affairs around you. If you work toward inner peace, your life and circumstances will change to reflect your inner peace. Experiences of Inner peace are not as rare as you might think, but these experiences are temporary. They occur when you are absorbed in an interesting activity, like watching an interesting movie, reading a book or watching a beautiful landscape. They usually last for a short time, until the mind becomes active again. A good example of temporary inner peace is a vacation, usually when it is away from home. After a day or two you begin to experience some kind of inner calmness and tranquility. The mind's feverish tendency to think is quelled down, and the level of worries and endless thinking drops down. In this state of mind you feel more relaxed and happy, and you enjoy your vacation. By the way, have you noticed that people, who are on vacation, are usually more patient, friendly and well-disposed to everyone? This is because their minds are more peaceful. Temporary inner peace is fine, but not enough. In order to experience peace more often and more deeply, and independently of outer conditions, you need to undergo inner training. It is possible to enjoy the same peace and happiness that you have experienced on your vacations, even while working, carrying your duties, at home or while with people. This state can be reached through earnest inner training through concentration, meditation, yoga and other techniques. Nowadays there are so many opportunities for inner work. There are teachers, books, workshops, courses, and of course the Internet. There is

no lack of information and guidance; it is you, who have to decide that inner and outer peace is one of your priorities, and begin doing something to attain it.

The Importance of Concentration

Concentration is the ability to focus the mind on one single object or thought to the exclusion of everything else. It is the ability to hold the attention focused on what you are doing. Doing one thing, and at the same time thinking of something else, shows lack of concentration. Any action, if performed while the mind is not focused on it, is not done well. Very few really possess strong powers of concentration. Most people recognize its importance, but few do something to develop or strengthen it. Concentration has great value. It helps work to be done more efficiently. It strengthens the memory, makes it easier and faster to study, and makes you more conscious and aware of your surroundings. Actions, tasks and work are performed better, faster and with fewer errors. Concentration is required for creative visualization, telepathy and psychic powers, healing and magic. It is of major importance for meditation. It helps to control the incessant flow of thoughts, and thereby bring peace of mind and freedom from nagging thoughts. As the ability to concentrate grows, fewer thoughts are able to intrude into the mind without permission. This means more mental mastery and more inner peace and happiness. It is important to possess good powers of concentration, if you wish to conduct your daily affairs of life in an efficient and effective way, to succeed in the material world or to grow spiritually. Concentration can be improved and strengthened by proper exercises, just like developing and strengthening the physical muscles through bodybuilding exercises. If you lift weights, you strengthen the muscles of your body. If you perform concentration exercises you strengthen your mental muscles. Concentration is very simple process,

though not so easy to practice. This is because the mind is very much accustomed to running here and there, and resists any effort that aims to control and calm it down. Yet, by proper exercises it is possible to train it and teach it to focus exclusively on one subject or object. The more time you devote to training and exercising the mind, and the more sincerely you practice the exercises, the stronger your concentration will become.

Developing Willpower and Self Discipline

Most people admire and respect strong individuals, who have won great success by manifesting willpower and self-discipline. They admire people, who with willpower, self-discipline and ambition, have improved their life, learned new skills, overcame difficulties and hardships, reduced their weight, rose high in their chosen field or advanced on the spiritual path. The truth is that everyone can reach high levels of willpower and self-discipline through a practical method of training. These inner power are not reserved for a few special people. Willpower and self-discipline are two of the most important and useful inner powers in everyone‟s life, and have always been considered as essential tools for success in all areas of life. They can be learned and developed like any other skill, yet, in spite of this, only few take any steps to develop and strengthen them in a systematic way.

What is willpower? It is the inner strength to make a decision, take action, and handle and execute any aim or task until it is accomplished, regardless of inner and outer resistance, discomfort or difficulties. It bestows the ability to overcomes laziness, temptations and negative habits, and to carry out actions, even if they require effort, are unpleasant and tedious or are contrary to one‟s habits.

What is self-discipline? It is the rejection of instant gratification in favor of something better. It is the giving up of instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher and better goal. It manifests as the ability to stick to actions, thoughts and behavior, which lead to improvement and success. Self-discipline is self-control, and it manifests in spiritual, mental, emotional and physical discipline. The purpose of self-discipline is not living a limiting or a restrictive lifestyle. It does not mean being narrow minded or living like a fakir. It is one of the pillars of success and power, and bestows inner strength, and the ability to focus all your energy on your goal, and to persevere until it is accomplished. Both of willpower and self-discipline are required for daily actions and decisions, and also for making major decisions and attaining major success. They are required for doing a good job, for studying, building a business, losing weight, bodybuilding and physical exercises, maintaining good relationships, changing habits, self improvement, meditation, spiritual growth, keeping and carrying out promises and for almost everything else. One of the most simple and effective methods to develop willpower and self-discipline is by refusing to satisfy unimportant and unnecessary desires. Everyone is constantly confronted and tempted by an endless stream of desires and temptations, many of which are not really important or desirable. By learning to refuse to satisfy every one of them, you get stronger. Refusing and rejecting useless, harmful or unnecessary desires and actions, and intentionally acting contrary to your habits, sharpen and strengthen your inner strength. By constant practice your inner power grows, just like exercising your muscles at a gym increases your physical strength. In both cases, when you need inner power or physical strength, they are available at your disposal. Here are a few examples:

• Don‟t read the newspaper for a day or two.

• Drink water when thirsty, in spite of your desire to have a soft drink.

• Walk up and down the stairs instead of taking the lift.

• Get down from the bus one station before or after your destination, and walk the rest of the way.

These are only a few examples of the many exercises that can be conducted in order to develop will power and self-discipline. Exercises like these add to the storehouse of your inner strength. By following a systematic method of training you can reach far, have more control over yourself and your life, attain your goals, improve your life, and gain satisfaction and peace of mind.

The Power of Repeated Words and Thoughts

Thinking is usually a mixture of words, sentences, mental images and sensations. Thoughts are visitors, who visit the central station of the mind. They come, stay a while, and then disappear, making space for other thoughts. Some of these thoughts stay longer, gain power, and affect the life of the person thinking them. Most people let thoughts connected with worries, fears, anger or unhappiness occupy their mind most of the time. They keep engaging their mind with inner conversation about negative situations and actions. This inner conversation eventually affects the subconscious mind, making it accept and take seriously the thoughts and ideas expressed in those inner conversations. It is of vital importance to be careful of what goes into the subconscious mind. Words and thoughts that are repeated often get stronger by the repetitions, sink into the subconscious mind and affect the behavior, actions and reactions of the person involved. The subconscious mind regards the words and thoughts that get lodged inside it as expressing and describing a real situation, and therefore endeavors to align the

words and thoughts with reality. It works diligently to make these words and thoughts a reality in the life of the person saying or thinking them. This means that if you often tell yourself that it is difficult or impossible to acquire money, the subconscious mind will accept your words and put obstacles in your way. If you keep telling yourself that you are rich, it will find ways to bring you opportunities to get rich, and push you towards taking advantage of these opportunities. The thoughts that you express through your words shape your life. This is often done unconsciously, as few pay attention to their thoughts and the words they use while thinking, and let outside circumstances and situations determine what they think about. In this case there is no freedom. Here, the outside world affects the inner world. If you consciously choose the thoughts, phrases and words that you repeat in your mind, your life will start to change. You will begin creating new situations and circumstances. You will be using the power of affirmations. Affirmations are sentences that are repeated often during the day, and which sink into the subconscious mind, thereby releasing its enormous power to materialize the intention of the words and phrases in the outside world. This does not mean that every word you utter will bring results. In order to trigger the subconscious mind into action, the words have to be said with attention, intention and with feeling. Affirmations have to be phrased in positive words in order to obtain positive results. Consider the following two sentences:

1. I am not weak anymore.

2. I am strong and powerful.

Though both sentences seem to express the same idea, but in different words, the first one is a negative sentence. It creates in the mind a mental image of weakness. This is wrong wording. The second sentence awakens in the mind a mental image of strength. It is not enough to say

an affirmation a few times, and then expect your life to change. More than this is necessary. It is important to affirm with attention, as well as with strong desire, faith and persistence. It is also important to choose the right affirmation for any specific situation. You need to feel comfortable with it; otherwise the affirmation may not work or may bring you something that you do not really want. Affirmations can be used together with creative visualization, to strengthen it, and they can be used separately, on their own. They are of special importance for people who find it difficult to visualize. In this case they may be used serve as a substitution to creative visualization. Instead of repeating negative and useless words and phrases in the mind, you can choose positive words and phrases to help you build the life you want. By choosing your thoughts and words you exercise control over your life.

Here are a few affirmations:

- Day by day I am becoming happier and more satisfied.

- With every inhalation I am filling myself with happiness.

- Love is filling my life now.

- The power of the Cosmos is filling my life with love.

- The power of the Universal Mind is now filling my life with wealth.

- The powerful and vital energy of the Cosmos is flowing and filling my body and mind.

- I always stay calm and in control of myself, in every situation and in all circumstances.