Know Your Own Mind, Live Your Own Life

This article by Napoleon Hill is so important. He says it repeatedly in his other articles and books right along side his talking about how you can’t get anywhere without a definite major purpose in life. 

I think when things seem to be going not so great, we feel we are being tossed about on the waves of life like a rowboat in a storm.  But, we must always stay grounded and remember that we are in control of our mind and through our mind we create our circumstances. As hard as that is to sometimes admit, always remember it and then examine the thoughts that are bouncing around in your mind. Along with those thoughts, examine where they came from. Do they represent beliefs that have simply been carried over from your past? Some of those beliefs have helped us get to where we are today but not all of them have been so beneficial. Have you had to ‘struggle’ all your life? Do you feel uncomfortable when things are going well? Why is that?

Read what Dr. Hill has to say about this your own mind and own life….

Know Your Own Mind, Live Your Own Life
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

Somewhere along the path of life, every successful man finds out how to live his own life as he wishes to live it.

The younger you are when you discover this mighty power, the more likely you are to live successfully and happily. Yet even in later years, many make the great change—from letting others make them what they are, to making sure that they make their lives to their own liking.

The Creator gave man the prerogative of power over his own mind. It must have been the Creator’s purpose to encourage man to live his own life, think his own thoughts, find his own goals and achieve them. Simply by exercising this profound prerogative you can bring abundance into your life, and with it know the greatest wealth of all, peace of mind, without which there can be no real happiness.

You live in a world filled with outside influences which impinge upon you. You are influenced by other people’s acts and wishes, by law and custom, by your duties and your responsibilities. Everything you do has some effect upon others, as do their actions upon you. And yet you must find out how to live your own life, use your own mind, go on toward the dream you wish to make real and solid. Know thyself, said the ancient Greek philosophers, and this remains key advice for the man who would be in all ways wealthy. Without knowing yourself and being yourself, you cannot truly use the one Great Secret which gives you power to mold your future and make life carry you the way you want to go.

Let us then take off on our trip to Happy Valley!

Do not think of me as a back-seat driver. Rather, you are at the wheel and I merely call your attention to a trustworthy road map whereon the main highway is marked beyond questions. On your journey to riches and peace of mind, the road grows smoother and straighter as you travel.

Source: Napoleon Hill. Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind. Fawcett Edition. 1967. Pg. 9 & 10.


Terrie

The Character of Success

Labor Day in the United States is a time of rest, a time of celebration, and should be a time of reflection about labor (work). Take some time this weekend and think about where you are in your life and your “work” and where you want to be. Is your “work” work? or do you love it? Do you enjoy or dread going to your place of business every day? Where are you in your path? Is this a stepping stone or is it your destination? Even if it’s your destination career, is it your destination position? What is keeping you going? What are you reaching for? Are you satisfied? What would make you satisfied? Where do you ultimately want to be? Do you look at it as a dream or a possibility?

Take a look at Napoleon Hill’s “The  Character of Success” before you start examining where you and where you want to be!

Enjoy your weekend and make the most of each and every day!

The Character of Success
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

A part of this philosophy is that adversity is good for us! The person who really ought to be pitied is the one who grows up with a “silver spoon” in his mouth, with a rich dad and no responsibilities! It’s a safe bet that such a person will never be a very strong competitor of the individual who has had to fight hard for every foot of ground that he or she has covered.

No, it is not wealth that makes a person—it is character, persistence and a strong determination to be of service to the world! You might as well understand now that your real success will be measured and determined by the quantity and quality of service that you render the world! There is no guesswork, no luck or chance about this. It’s according to nature’s own laws.

You may be wealthy, but that isn’t success! You may have a splendid education, but that isn’t success either. You may have wealthy parents, but neither is that success, for you must remember that wealth is an evasive thing which sometimes takes wings and flies away.

The only real, permanent and worthwhile success is represented by the character you are building!

And remember that you are building some sort of a character all the time. The chances are about ten to one that if you are devoting some of your time to self-improvement, developing self-confidence and self-control, you are building a character that will be an asset to you in years to come.

Character is built slowly, step by step. Your every thought and every act goes into it. Character is the crystallization of the things you do, the words you speak and the thoughts you think! If you think about worthwhile things, you are pretty much apt to be a worthwhile person.

You can be pretty much what you want to be if your will keep your mind on the one thing you want to be long enough. Remember, I said if you try hard enough—not if you wish hard enough.

We should never complain if success does not come easily. If it did, we might not recognize it when it arrived! I have no complaint to register against fate for taking me over the pathway of hard experience. I have no kick to register against the world for the rough manner in which it has used me. An easy time in life doesn’t seem to leave the proper temper in the metal. No one wants to cash a check on the Easy-Time Bank. The world is afraid of it.

The world is waiting for men and women who are seeking the opportunity to render real service—the kind of service that lightens the burdens of our neighbors; the kind of service that makes the world a better place to live in; the kind of service that ninety-five people out of a hundred to not render because they do not understand it. Shakespeare was right when he said, “our only sin is that of ignorance.”

Source: Excerpted from the 1919 issue of Hill’s Golden Rule Magazine as appearing in the Think and Grow Rich Newsletter, July 1993, Volume 5, Number 10, pg. 7.


Terrie

The 8 Princes

The Eight Princes
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

You may call the Princes by another name if you choose. Mentors, perhaps. Or Principles. Or Counselors. Or Guardians of Good Spirit.

By whatever name, the Princes serve me through a technique that is simple and adaptable.

Every night, as the last order of the day’s activities, the Princes and I have a round-table session. The major purpose is to permit me to express, and thus reinforce, my gratitude for the service they have rendered me during the day.

The conference proceeds precisely as if the Princes existed in the flesh. It is a time for meditation, review, and thanksgiving, with contact made through the power of thought.

Here you may receive your first test of your capacity to “condition” your mind for the acceptance of riches. When the shock comes, just remember what happened when Morse, and Marconi, and Edison, and the Wright Brothers first announced their perfection of new and better ways of rendering service. It will help you to stand up under the shock.

And now let us go into a session with the Princes:

GRATITUDE

Today has been beautiful.

It has provided me with health of body and mind.

It has given me food and clothing.

It has brought me another day of opportunity to be of service to others.

It has given me peace of mind and freedom from all fear.

For these blessings I am grateful to you, my Princes of Guidance. I am grateful to all of you collectively for having unraveled the tangled skein of my past life, thereby freeing my mind, my body and my soul from all causes and effects of both fear and strife.

Prince of Material Prosperity, I am grateful to you for having kept my mind attuned to the consciousness of opulence and plenty, and free from the fear of poverty and want.

Prince of Sound Physical Health, I am grateful to you for having attuned my mind to the consciousness of sound health, thereby providing the means by which every cell of my body and every physical organ is being adequately supplied with an inflow of cosmic energy sufficient unto its needs, and providing a direct contact with Infinite Intelligence which is sufficient for the distribution and application of this energy where it is required.

Prince of Peace of Mind
, I am grateful to you for having kept my mind free from all inhibitions and self-imposed limitations, thereby providing my body and my mind with complete rest.

Prince of Hope, I am grateful to you for the fulfillment of today’s desires, and for your promise of fulfillment of tomorrow’s aims.

Prince of Faith, I am grateful to you for the guidance which you have given me; for your having inspired me to do that which has been helpful to me, and for turning me back from doing that which had it been done would have proven harmful to me. You have given power to my thoughts, momentum to my deeds, and the wisdom which has enabled me to understand the laws of Nature, and the judgment to enable me to adapt myself to them in a spirit of harmony.

Prince of Love, I am grateful to you for having inspired me to share my riches with all whom I have contacted this day; for having shown me that only that which I give away can I retain as my own. And I am grateful too for the consciousness of love with which you have endowed me for it has made life sweet and all my relationships with others pleasant.

Prince of Romance, I am grateful to you for having inspired me with the spirit of youth despite the passing of the years.

Prince of Overall Wisdom, my eternal gratitude to you for having transmuted into an enduring asset of priceless value all of my past failures, defeats, errors of judgment and of deed, all fears, mistakes, disappointments and adversities of every nature; the asset consisting of my willingness and ability to inspire others to take possession of their own minds and to use their mind-power for the attainment of the riches of life, thus providing me with the privilege of sharing all my blessings with those who are ready to receive them, and thereby enriching and multiplying my own blessings by the scope of their benefit to others.

My gratitude to you also for revealing to me the truth that no human experience need become a liability; that all experiences may be transmuted into useful service; that the power of thought is the only power over which I have complete control; that the power of thought may be translated into happiness at will; that there are no limitations to my power of thought save only those which I set up in my mind.

My greatest asset consists in my good fortune in having recognized the existence of the Eight Princes, for it is they who conditioned my mind to receive the benefits of the Twelve Riches.

Source: The Master Key to Riches. Fawcett Crest Book. 1965. Pgs. 27, 28, & 29. 

 

Enjoy another lesson from Dr. Hill!

Terrie

Is There a Limit To What Belief Can Achieve?

It’s a great day to talk about belief! Of course, any day is a great day to do that!

Here’s more wisdom from Napoleon Hill:

Is There a Limit to What Belief Can Achieve?
by Dr. Napoleon Hill

Your subconscious mind is your hidden boss, then, and gives orders to your conscious. But your subconscious, as you surely know by reading this book, is a very special kind of boss. It will go into conference with you, so to speak, and consider changing any of its standing orders, canceling them, substituting others if need be.

Decide upon the belief you want, set it firmly into your subconscious mind, and your subconscious will thereafter instruct your conscious mind to “live up to” that belief.

Let your belief include the concept of achievement and your subconscious mind will discover ways and means toward that achievement which, on the strength of a mere wish, would completely escape you. You may talk of “good fortune” and “lucky breaks,” but what you mean is a sharpening of all your senses toward the achievement you want – focusing of all your forces away from other matters and toward that achievement. A mighty access of strength and resourcefulness tuning in upon other minds whose aid otherwise would have escaped you and more! The best of words limp when they talk of the power of belief. Only feel your belief propelling you toward the goal of your achievement and you will know at last that an irresistible force is at your command.

Is there a limit to what belief can achieve? If there is a limit, nobody has seen that limit yet. I have mentioned often that we may at times avail ourselves of powers beyond our ordinary senses. (Not supernatural, but natural powers we are only beginning to understand.) Deep subconscious belief aids mightily in winning the aid of these unseen powers.

Once, when I was a child, I had typhoid fever – the only serious illness I ever have had. I was ill for weeks without showing any sign of improvement. At length, as my father informed me years later, I lapsed into a coma. The two doctors who had come out to our farm told my father there was nothing else they could do; my end was only a few hours away.

My father walked into the forest. There he knelt down and prayed to another Doctor beyond earthly doctors. With his prayer he generated a mighty, all-embracing belief that I would recover. He remained on his knees for an hour or more, and at length a great peace came over him… that peace of mind which is the condition in which the mind words at its mighty best. And suddenly, from nowhere, and yet beyond the slightest shadow of doubt, he knew peacefully that I was going to recover.

I do not know where my father’s prayer might have been heard, nor if it was heard, nor if the mere fact of the prayer gave him the focusing and intensifying agent which is part of deep subconscious belief. But I know that when he returned to the house he found me sitting up, which had been impossible for me to do a couple of hours before. Sitting up, crying for water, and with my fever “broken” as we used to say.

Source: Grow Rich with Peace of Mind. Fawcett Crest Book. 1967. Pgs. 179 & 180.

Does this ring tru? What are your experiences or thoughts…Let us know – comment below (hmm, that rhymes…LOL)

Terrie