书城心理引爆心中的TNT
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第53章 STOP—THINK—AND ANALYZE YOURSELF!(3)

Take warning that thought can operate in reverse.You can go backward through wrong thinking just as fast as you can go forward through right thinking.

This kind of "reverse thinking" has brought on depressions,and can bring on depressions again.If the mind of man becomes panicky,if enough individuals become obsessed with fear and greed,if the psychology of scarcity sweeps through the land,if great numbers of people become too demanding or move too strongly in a certain direction,stock markets can become upset and the economy of the world can be affected.

You know,when you are depressed you tend to depress those around you.When the barometer falls,it's a sign of storm conditions.A turned-down mouth has led to many turndowns.Don't carry your griefs and troubles around with you.No one wants to share them.People have griefs and troubles enough of their own.

Stop your moping!

Picture yourself wrapping up your griefs and troubles in a nice little neat bundle and leaving them by the roadside.Better yet,see yourself dropping them off a bridge so they'll float away on the stream and never come back again.

You say,"But it can't be done!” and I answer,"Is it helping you solve your problems and your heartaches,letting them weigh you down in mind and body all the time?"

Get out from under! You can't be yourself,it is impossible to make the right impression on others,to attract good things to you,when you are staggering under a load of things that have already happened,which can no longer be helped and which cannot be cured by moping about.

If worry had the power to solve a problem,I would worry twenty-four hours a day,and I'd ask you to help me.But worry,unhappily,only multiplies your troubles.

Line up all the chronic worriers in the world,and they would reach almost to the moon and back.You've seen many men and women who look as if they were going to cloud up and rain any minute.They belong to the Loyal Order of Sad Sacks and Crepe-Hangers.Everything that happens to them is bad or going to be bad.They've temporarily lost the capacity to see good in anything.They can't enjoy the present because they are bemoaning the past and afraid of the future.

One of the wisest men I ever knew,a man high in mental and spiritual development,said to me: "Never for one moment forget this: life is an individual proposition.No matter how much you may wish,at times,to shift responsibility for your thoughts and acts to others,or to escape from the consequences of certain experiences in which you have become involved,you are living in a world of cause and effect—a world in which nothing actually happens by accident—and you,yourself,set up the causes by your own thinking,good or bad,for the things that happen to you!"

I have proved this,time and again,in my own life,and so have you,if you will only admit it to yourself.But when I've made this statement to some men and women,they've said to me: "That's a frightening thought.Do you mean that I have attracted failure,economic need,ill health,dislike,loss of friends,unhappiness…?" And when I have told such people: "Yes,if any of these conditions have come upon you,you have your own self to blame," they said,"But we didn't picture these things!"

No,perhaps they didn't—directly.They didn't see themselves failing,running short of funds,suffering a nervous breakdown,growing unpopular,losing friends,ending up unhappy.But their mental attitudes were expressed in this kind of thoughts:

"Wouldn't you just know this would happen to me?"

“There's no use trying—I just can't do it!"

“I don't want to meet him or her....I know I won't like them!"

“It's just my luck to have this happen.I'm always getting the worst of it."

"Oh,I feel so bad,I wish I could die."

“I'm going broke—there's no way out."

"Yes,I'm feeling fairly well today—but this doesn't mean anything.I'll probably feel worse tomorrow!"

Aren't these wonderful suggestions? Can you possibly picture,with the knowledge of mind you have now gained,how any of these thoughts could attract good?

On the contrary,this kind of thinking can only bring one result.Yet,many of us,carelessly,in moments of emotional depression,give voice to such thoughts and then wonder why so many things go wrong in our lives.

Prepare yourself to face anything!

So: take stock of yourself! We are living,as you know,in a terrific age—an amazing age.To many whose minds are unprepared,it is a bewildering,frightening age.