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ALTHOUGH EVERY CHAPTER in this book is important, this one will
prove to be the keystone supporting all the others.
May I suggest that you do not read this chapter hurriedly? Unless
you are in a position to relax thoroughly and read slowly —and
thoughtfully—it is better that you lay the book aside until you can
read and absorb what you read.
I also suggest that before reading further, you reread the first few
pages of Chapter 1 which gives an interpretation of riches. Then you
will fully understand what I mean when I say "Grow Rich in all
things while you sleep." Unless you do grow rich in all things you
will not be enjoying a well balanced life.
In Chapter 3 a simple and easy-to-understand description of the
Creative Mind was given. The chapter you're reading now will show
you how to make full use of the powers of your Creative Mind,
particularly when your conscious mind is in abeyance—asleep.
Your Creative Mind never sleeps. It is awake from the time of your
birth until you leave this plane of existence. Without conscious
guidance, it takes care of all the involuntary operations of your
body. From the food you eat it extracts the necessary elements for
blood, bone, tissue and energy. It keeps your blood in circulation.
It supplies fresh oxygen to the lungs through breathing. But these
are by no means all of the responsibilities of the Creative Mind.
Your Creative Mind accepts all thoughts of the conscious mind as
instructions and acts upon them. The Creative Mind, as I've said
several times before, can reason independently of the conscious
mind. So we find that the Creative Mind is not only in charge of all
of the involuntary operations in the body, but it also does the big
job of following instructions from the conscious mind. And, in
carrying out those instructions, it must, necessarily, be capable of
reasoning.
The conscious mind is not the storehouse of memory. In fact,
information contained in the conscious mind is only that which is in
use. There is a constant flow of information coming from the
Creative Mind—as it is needed by the conscious mind.
Here is a very simple illustration: Suppose you should engage a
carpenter to do a repair job on your house. He would inspect the
place, then bring with him only those tools he would need: a saw,
hammer, auger, etc. He would not get a huge van and bring with him
every tool and machine he had in his shop.
It is the same with your two minds. The conscious mind will bring in
only the information you need to enable you to carry on the work you
are doing at the time.
Sometimes there is a "road block" and wanted facts fail to come into
consciousness. We call this forgetting. These facts will not come
into consciousness until the conscious mind gives the Creative Mind
instructions to locate the facts through some such remark as: "It
will come to me in a moment." Never use a negative, such as: "I have
forgotten." This is just the same as consciously instructing your
Creative Mind to do nothing about it.
As I've already said, the Creative Mind has reasoning faculties
independent of the conscious mind, but with this difference. The
conscious mind, in making a decision, can base its judgment either
on facts already stored within the Creative Mind, or on facts which
it finds through research, outside the Creative Mind. The decision,
therefore, may come from existing facts, newly acquired facts, or a
combination of both.
The reasoning of the Creative Mind is confined to the facts and
information already contained within it. This is important to know
and to remember! Decisions reached through the reasoning of the
Creative Mind will be good or faulty, depending upon the type of
information it contains. If your mind leans heavily toward the
negative side, your decisions will be negative in their nature. If
your mind leans toward the positive side, your decisions will be
positive in their nature.
By way of illustration: Suppose you had the opportunity to acquire a
business of your own. You might decide to call upon your Creative
Mind for a decision as to whether or not to accept the offer. Before
retiring at night, you might hold a thought, such as: "Tonight,
while I am asleep, my Creative Mind will work on my problem and give
me a decision when I awaken in the morning."
If you have a Creative Mind which leans toward the negative side,
you will be apt to get a decision something like this: "No, I don't
think I had better tackle this business. I have not had very good
luck in the past with my ventures; this one would probably cause me
to lose money on it. No, I'd better stick to my present job, as poor
as it is."
On the other hand, if your Creative Mind is definitely on the
positive, constructive side, most likely your decision will run
something like this: "Boy, this is just the break I have been
waiting for. With much study—and not being afraid to work—I know I
can put it over in a big way. My decision is yes."
With this illustration, you can easily understand why it was
suggested in an earlier chapter that you hold to the thought: I CAN
be a Success, until it establishes an impenetrable layer of positive
ness in your Creative mind.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR CREATIVE MIND WORK FOR YOU
If you wanted an errand boy to do something for you, what would you
do? You would merely give him the proper instruction. If you wished
him to go to the post office and mail a letter, you'd tell him to do
so; and with perfect certainty that he would do just that, you
dismiss it from your mind and think no more about it. You wouldn't
doubt his ability to do so; nor would you doubt his willingness to
do so. You would instinctively know that the errand would be done.
You can give your Creative Mind instructions with the same carefree
certainty.
Suppose you needed a large sum of money for some project, or to meet
an obligation. You could hold a thought such as: I will be guided in
thought and action toward the solution of my problem. It will be
easy—and fun—to get the amount of money needed.
Two specific things would happen—quickly.
1. You would lose the feeling of doubt as to whether or not you
could obtain the money. There would be a feeling of assurance that
within a short period of time, the needed money would be available.
2. Thoughts would begin flowing into your conscious mind not only
telling you what to do to get the money, but actually inspiring you
to take immediate steps to obtain it.
Here again I must repeat a statement made before: Your Creative Mind
works best when your conscious mind is either in abeyance {asleep)
or pleasantly occupied.
The Chairman of the Board of one of this country's largest
corporations once said: "I can't possibly do all of the work coming
to me in twelve months of the year—but I can in ten months."
This man knew something about the operation of the Creative Mind; he
realized that it worked best while the conscious mind was either in
abeyance, or pleasantly occupied. He would take frequent cruises on
his yacht. Before leaving he would instruct his Creative Mind as to
its duties during his sail. He would take the problem or problems
and would suggest that while he was pleasantly occupied as a
mariner, his Creative Mind would find the answers for him.
Invariably, upon his return to his desk, all he would have to do
would be to put into force those ideas flowing into his
consciousness.
When the palatial yacht of the late J. P. Morgan was completed and
ready for its trial cruise, I was invited to go aboard. It was my
good fortune to have Mr. Morgan take me on an inspection tour
throughout the boat. In his personal cabin, I observed a specially
constructed card table. The top of the table was counterbalanced so
that it would remain stationary, no matter how the ship might roll.
J. P. Morgan told me that whenever he had to make a decision, and
the thought would not come to him as to the right decision to make,
he would put the problem entirely out of his mind by getting a deck
of cards and playing solitaire for an hour. After finishing the
game, he told me, the right decision to make would be crystal clear
in his mind.
Whether Mr. Morgan realized it or not, he was putting his Creative
Mind to work for him. While he played cards, his Creative Mind, with
its reasoning faculties, would consider his problem, calmly working
out the logical solution.
Robert Updegraff, in his book, Putting Your Subconscious Mind to
Work for You, said: It is not so much a lack of Brain Power or of
business capacity or acumen that keeps men from progressing faster
toward their objectives, and toward a solid position in the world.
It is rather, because they take only half a mind into business with
them. The result is—that they work their conscious mind too hard—too
many hours of the day—and too many days of the year. We feel
virtuous, because we work so hard and so conscientiously that we are
tired, whereas we should feel ashamed that we work so hard— and make
so little progress—and we are weary of mind.
Mr. Updegraff meant by "half a mind" that we attempt to do all of
our work consciously without taking advantage of the tremendous
reservoir of power at our command in the Creative Mind.
From this moment onward you should begin forming the habit of
putting the Creative Mind to work for you. This servant is on the
job twenty-four hours every day. As you learn to use that great
force, that endless source of intelligence at your disposal, you
will find that, consciously, you have more time for recreation and
enjoyment.
Have you ever observed that those people who accomplish the most are
the ones who seem to work the least?
The President of the United States will usually take several
vacation periods each year, and we all know the vast amount of work
resting on the shoulders of the chief executive.
Heads of large organizations will, as a rule, take at least two
vacations each year; yet we know the responsibilities they have.
Let me crystallize the dominant idea in this chapter: The Creative
Mind does its best work while the conscious mind is either in
abeyance or pleasantly occupied.
This gives you the happy news that to be successful, it is really
essential that you take more time for enjoyable diversion, instead
of working harder—and longer. This is possible by utilizing the
forces of the Creative Mind to do your constructive thinking and
planning, while your conscious mind puts into action the results
from the efforts of your Creative Mind.
"If I work my Creative Mind twenty-four hours each day, won't I
always be mentally tired?" you might ask. No! Right now your
Creative Mind is working twenty-four hours each day. If it is not
being directed into positive, constructive channels through
constructive thinking, it will be working against you by obeying
negative thoughts.
There are two important points I would like to emphasize at
this time:
1.Your Creative Mind, if permitted to, will direct you in your work,
making it better, easier to perform, and far more pleasant.
2.You can, at will, direct your Creative Mind to assist you in the
solving of problems; to help you make the right decisions; to
create ways and means of great achievement.
At this point, I suggest that before proceeding, you lay the book
aside for a few moments and think about the things you have already
learned. If, by chance, you have found yourself growing tense
through the emotional excitement these thoughts might have stirred
within you, relax. In the pages to follow you will be given a
routine enabling you to begin to live according to these principles,
and it is important that you approach them under ideal conditions.
In a previous chapter you were told that you do not become
proficient in any work until after your Creative Mind takes over.
Now you will learn how you can help your Creative Mind to help you.
1. Know that your Creative Mind is occupied every hour of the day;
and that it is working for or against you.
2. Know that your Creative Mind is working for you because you hold
nothing but positive, constructive thoughts.
3. Be specific in the instructions you give to your Creative Mind.
If it is better health you want, know that your Creative Mind is
directing the glands and organs of your body to bring you better
health, and that thoughts will come into your consciousness
directing you to do the things necessary to promote better health.
If you desire further advancement in your work, know that your
Creative Mind will direct you to take the steps necessary to assure
advancement. If problems stand between you and your happiness, know
that your Creative Mind, with its reasoning faculties, will provide
a practical solution for you. Know that your Creative Mind stands
ready, able and willing to assist you in any way you may desire.
4. Free your mind from worry. As you now know, your Creative Mind is
the seat of intelligence. If you have been thoughtful as you read
these pages, you will know that the maximum amount of intelligence
which one may have—consciously—is nothing at all compared to the
amount we all have in our Creative Minds. Worry prevents you from
doing the things which would provide the means to prevent the worry!
This is literally true. To worry is to doubt the intelligence and
power of your Creative Mind.
"How can I keep from worrying when I have so many troubles?" you may
ask. The answer to this question is simple indeed. Worrying will not
help the problem in the least. It will make it worse. Instead of
worrying—take the time which you might use for worry and devote it
constructively to working out ways and means of overcoming the
problem.
5. Have faith. Make certain you are not merely wishing for better
conditions through your Creative Mind. Sense the feeling of
self-mastery which comes when you fully understand the truth of the
statement made earlier, to the effect that the conscious mind is the
master—the Creative Mind the Servant.
A worried little woman once came to me for counsel regarding her
problems. She could not get along with her husband. She received
practically no money for clothing, and had no chance to earn money,
because of the time required to care for her children. She
definitely felt that my teachings were for the other fellow—not for
her. She considered her case hopeless. She was emphatic in saying
that she could find no time to study for self-improvement.
I told her that the answers to her problems were contained in her
Creative Mind, and that if she would have faith in it, she would
find happiness. My talk of an hour or more seemed to make no
impression on her, so set was she in her own opinions.
But, six months later, she came back to me, and she had changed so
amazingly that I did not recognize her. She had difficulty in making
me remember the sorrowful creature she had been on her first visit
to me.
This woman did accept the thought that her Creative Mind held the
answers to her problems; so she proved it by giving her Creative
Mind an opportunity to solve them. She started by knowing that her
Creative Mind would guide her to do the necessary things to enable
her to find harmony with her husband. She began to visualize a fine
wardrobe, and knew she would obtain it. She knew that the problem of
rearing her children would cease to be a problem.
This woman related—with marked enthusiasm—that her married life was
now ideal. She had plenty of fine garments in her wardrobe, and her
children were now a joy instead of a care. And, that was not all.
With her blessings and freedom from worry, she began to feel—and
look—far younger than she had before.
If I had cited this case earlier in this book, it could have
appeared too good to be true; but with what you have learned so far,
the results obtained by this woman are only normal and to be
expected, by those who make use of the Creative Mind.
YOUR MAGIC FORMULA
We can now focus the knowledge gained so far in this chapter on its
title: Grow Rich—in All Things—While You Sleep.
Five rules are given here for you to follow in gaining full and
satisfying cooperation from your Creative Mind.
1. Before retiring, relax thoroughly—both mentally and physically.
2. Think of your problem. Think it through—but do not fear it. If
you were to give a job to another person, you would have to explain
what you wanted done. This is true with your
Creative Mind. You are about to give it a special assignment, so it
is necessary that you have clearly in mind just what it is you
desire from your Creative Mind. Do not fear it, because you will be
turning it over to an intelligence far greater than the intelligence
of your conscious mind.
3. Gain a Success Attitude. If you have developed faith in your
Creative Mind, it will be easy to have a success attitude. You will
know that it is able, ready and willing to serve you.
4. After you have gone this far, remove all thoughts of the problem
from your conscious mind, knowing that the solution will be
forthcoming at the right time.
Let's say, for example, that you have an important appointment at
ten o'clock tomorrow morning, at which time you must make a
momentous decision. You are calling upon your Creative Mind this
evening to help you to make the right decision. After you have
progressed through the routine given above, merely turn the whole
thing over to your Creative Mind—knowing that before ten o'clock
tomorrow you will have the answer.
You'll be amazed to find what will happen. Tomorrow morning you will
awaken and find thoughts coming into your consciousness as to what
you should do, and with this knowledge will be the reasons why you
should take such a step—or why you should avoid it. The succession
of ideas will be so logical you will not be able to doubt it.
What you have read in this chapter is priceless. Make it a part of
your consciousness by rereading it before taking up the next
chapter. Will you—please?
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