“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”
~ Buddha.
Following the first Principle of Success, Desire, we are introduced to the 2nd Principle of Success: Faith in Our Ability.
I personally found this chapter fascinating. I re-read it a number of times, getting a little something different each time, including noticing that Buddha and Napoleon Hill seem to be preaching from the same scripture 😉
Napoleon Hill expresses Buddha’s most widely quoted tenant this way: “You are what you are because of the dominating thoughts that you permit to occupy your mind. There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.”
I believe we are being told that “mind over matter” is a universal law !!!!
It is through “mind over matter” that we develop faith in ourselves. But first, we need to learn to develop some self-confidence.
I recall writing about this topic last year. I have it. But how do we develop it ??
“Faith in yourself and your abilities is a state of mind that you will be able to develop at will, after you have mastered the thirteen principles in this book.”
And right here in the 3rd Chapter, Hill lays out for us a “Five-Step Self-Confidence Formula.”
If self-confidence is something you are lacking, you owe it to yourself to read “Think and Grow Rich” and commit this chapter to memory. Make it your creed.
And we develop faith through what Hill refers to as “auto-suggestion”. It’s why we are asked to read our Plan twice a day.
“Faith is a state of mind that may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of autosuggestion. The repetition of affirmations is like giving orders to your subconscious mind, and it is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.”
Again: “You are what you are because of the dominating thoughts that you permit to occupy your mind.”
A thought that is “magnitized” with one of the emotions may be compared to a seed. When it is planted in fertile soil, it germinates, grows and multiplies itself over and over again. Any thought, idea, plan or purpose you hold in your mind attracts a whole host of it’s relatives.
“Faith is the ‘eternal elixer’ that gives life, power and action to the impulses of thought.”
Have you ever noticed that once you decide on something, all of a sudden things start appearing that seem to support your belief? It happens to me all the time, even in my facebook scroll. Or is it that my mind is simply drawn to ideas that support my already strong beliefs? I tend to notice certain things, while ignoring other things that don’t resonate …
“The human mind is constantly attracting vibrations that are in sync with whatever dominates the mind.”
Hill then goes on to say that we must be extremely weary of negative self talk. “The subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thoughts.” As for people who tend to have “bad luck”, unfortunately Hill says they are the creators of their own misfortunes. If only they could realize, and “deceive” the mind otherwise … !!
This reminds me of the first four verses in the Buddhist Dhammapada. Who knew Buddha and Hill has so much in common 😉 …
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act
with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you —
as the wheel of the cart,
the track of the ox
that pulls it.
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act
with a calm, bright heart,
then happiness follows you,
like a shadow
that never leaves.
Affirmations (from the Self Confidence Formula): I will concentrate my thoughts for 30 minutes each day, visualizing the person I intend to become. I will demand of myself the development of self-confidence. I will engage in no transaction that does not benefit all whom it effects. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them and in myself.
