this damnable philosophy out of the minds of the young, the better for the world. It would be just as reasonable to say that the sun casts shadows, that love radiates hatred, that harmony carries hidden discord in its very nature. To hold such beliefs is not only cruelly wicked, but also absurd. The Creator does not blight our lives and prospects in this way. These fearsome pictures are drawn by human artists; they have no divine origin. No matter what the conditions of our birth, we have the power of the Infinite to overcome them.
Chapter XI.
Affirmation Creates Power
“An affirmation is a statement of Truth consciously used so as to become the directing power of Life’s expression.”
ONLY he can who thinks he can! The world makes way only for the determined man, for the man who laughs at barriers which limit others, at stumbling-blocks over which others fall. The man who, as Emerson says, “hitches his wagon to a star,” is more likely to arrive at his goal than the one who trails in the slimy path of the snail.
Confidence is the father of achievement. It reenforces ability, doubles energy, buttresses mental faculties, increases power.
Your thought will carry only the force of your conviction, the weight of your decision, the power of your confidence. If these are weak, your thought will be weak and your work futile. Some people are incapable of strong, deep conviction; they are all surface, and liable to be changed by the opinions of everybody else. If they resolve upon a certain course, their resolution is so superficial that the first obstacle they strike deflects them. They are always at the mercy of the opposition, or of people who do not agree with them. Such people are shifty and unreliable; they lack strength of decision, positiveness of resolution.
What is a man good for if he hasn’t strength of resolution? If his convictions are on the surface, he stands for nothing; nobody has confidence in him. He may be a good man, personally, but he does not inspire confidence. No one would think of calling upon him when anything of importance was at stake. Unless conviction takes hold of one’s very being, there will be very little achievement in life. It is the man whose conviction is rooted deep and takes hold of his very life-blood, the man who is strong and persistent in his determination, that can be depended upon. He is the man of influence, who carries weight; he is above the influence of any man who happens to have a different opinion.
If young people only knew the power of affirmation, of the habit of holding in the mind persistently and affirming that they are what they wish to be, that they can do what they have attempted, it would revolutionize their whole lives, it would exempt them from most of their ills and troubles, and carry them to heights of which they scarcely dream.
We are always talking about the power of the will. Its exercise is only another form of affirmation. The will, the determination to do a thing, is the same as the affirmation of the ability to do it. No one ever accomplishes anything in this world until he affirms in one way or another that he can do what he undertakes. It is almost impossible to keep a man back who has a firm faith in his mission, who believes that he can do the thing before him, that he is equal to the obstacles which confront him, that he is more than a match for his environment. The constant affirmation of ability to succeed, and of our determination to do so, carries us past difficulties, defies obstacles, laughs at misfortunes, and strengthens the power to achieve. It reënforces and buttresses the natural faculties and powers, and holds them to their tasks.
Constant affirmation increases courage, and courage is the backbone of confidence. Furthermore, when a person gets in a tight place and says “I must,” “I can,” “I will,” he not only reënforces his courage and strengthens his confidence, but also weakens the opposite qualities. Whatever strengthens a positive will weaken the corresponding negative.
You can do a difficult thing only with a positive state of mind, never with a negative. Plus force, not minus, does things. The dominant qualities are all positive, assertive, aggressive, and they require a corresponding attitude of mind for their exercise and application. A man who has not these dominant qualities can never be a leader or independent; he must be a trailer, an imitator, until he changes his thought from negative to positive, from doubtful to certain, from shrinking and retiring to asserting and advancing. It is the decisive, positive soul that wins.
If you wish to amount to anything in the world, never for one moment permit the idea to come into your mind that you are unlucky, that you are less fortunate than other human beings. Deny it with all the power you can muster. Discipline yourself never to acknowledge weakness or think of mental, physical, or moral defects. Deny that you are a weakling, that you cannot do what others can do; that you are handicapped and must be satisfied to take an inferior position in the world. Strangle every doubt as you would a viper threatening your life. Never talk, think, or write of your poverty or unfortunate condition. Cut out of your life all thought that limits, hampers, dwarfs, and darkens it. These are ghosts of fear; the Creator never made them or intended them to haunt and torment you. He made you for happiness, for joy, for conquest over your environment.
Persistently affirm that the Creator handicapped no one; that our limitations are all our own. Resolve that, come what may, you will be an optimist; that there shall be nothing pessimistic in you; believe in the final triumph of the right, the victory of all that is true and noble. Affirm that you are one of the most fortunate beings. Congratulate yourself that you were born just in the nick of time, and in just the right place; that there is a define work for you to do that no one else can do; and that you are one of the most lucky persons in the world to have the opportunity, the health, the education, to do the tiling you are bound to accomplish.
If you are out of work and poor, just throw out of your mind every idea of penury and poverty. Hold the thought of plenty, of abundance, of all good, which the Creator has promised you. Stoutly deny that you are poor, or miserable, or unlucky; claim that you are lucky, that you are well, vigorous, and strong; that you must succeed; and you will succeed. Always affirm that the Creator who gave you the longing to be somebody and to do something in the world, has also given you the ability and the opportunity to realize the ambition.
When you set your mind toward achievement, let everything about you indicate success. Let your manner, your dress, your bearing, your conversation, and everything you do speak achievement and success. Carry always a success atmosphere with you.
You will find a wonderful advantage in starting out every morning with the mind set toward success and achievement by permeating it with thoughts of prosperity and harmony, whether by repetition of set formulas, as some advise, or not. It will then be so much the harder for discord to get into the day's work. If you are inclined to doubt your ability to do any particular thing, school yourself to hold the self-trust thought firmly and persistently. It is the assumption of power, of self-trust, of confidence in yourself, in your integrity or wholeness, that cannot be shaken, that will enable you to become strong, and to do, with vigor and ease, the thing you undertake.
You will find that the perpetual holding of these ideals will change your whole outlook upon life. You will approach your problems from a new standpoint, and life will take on a fresh meaning. This perpetual affirmation will put you in harmony with your surroundings; it will make you contented and happy; and it will be a powerful tonic for your health. It will help you to build up individuality and personal power. It will make your brain clearer, your thought more effective. Keeping the mental machinery clean makes for vigorous thinking, decisive action.
If you are deficient in any quality, you can strengthen it by constant affirmation. If you are a coward anywhere in your nature (and most people are), you can strengthen courage by constantly affirming that you are absolutely fearless,
