I am master of my own destiny, and I can make my life anything that I wish it to be.

Extraordinary things like this occur frequently to most of us, but we diregard them, because of our lack of understanding, and think they are mere coincidences.

Believe me, you can have anything you want and in abundance when you learn to tune into the power within, an infinitely greater power than electricity, a power you have had from the beginning.

There are no limits to your possibilities! Your successes will multiply and increase in proportion to your mastery of the Law.

I operate according to a definite, unerring law... I know the outcome before I start.

If you use these principles wisely and intelligently, there can be no uncertainty as to the outcome of any endeavor, and no limit to your possibilities.

Those who take up any subject with an open mind, willing to learn anything that will contribute to their advancement, comfort, and happiness, are wise.

If our thoughts or desires arise at just the instant when there are no conflicting thoughts present to nullify their power, the mind, instead of being divided among many different thoughts, throws its great force behind that one desire. That desire becomes "out-pictured", or externalized.

Words are feeble things when one attempts to explain these deeper things of Universal Law. You have to gradually and patiently advance up to them and into them to really understand.

The consciousness or fixed picture in mind of anything, any condition, any circumstance is the actual thing itself.

As an individual entity, functionning in an individual sphere which is true of each of us you are all-powerful Mind, and your body is the vehicle through which you function. You are master and your body is your servant. It is your instrument of expression. That is all.

Now, which is the real body the one that remains pictured or imaged forever in mind as long as you exist here, or the one that decays in its entirety and passes into the earth every year? And which are the real things those things imaged or pictured in the mind or those things seen in the outer world that disintegrate after a short existence?

As electricity is a great power in the world, so the Inner Mind is the greatest power available to you. Neither operates independently; both depend upon a separate agency to incite them to action, and both bring helpful or harmful results according to the wisdom or ignorance with which they are directed.

"What do we find people doing? We find them taking pictures of what they experience daily in the outer world, then printing those pictures upon themselves within. The procedure should be just the reverse. We have the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within, and to find them automatically printed in the outer world of our surroundings... When we can do this, we have mastery. And not before."

If we are to accomplish anything in a big way, a set definite objective must be established.

"Why is the set definite objective necessary? There are three reasons. First, the Inner Mind is the positive pole of your being, and the Outer is the negative pole. There must be a positive and negative in everything in the universe to complete a circuit or a circle, or there would be no activity, no motion. There would be no forward if we had no backward. There could be no up if there were no down... Now, in everything that is obedient to the Law, the positive dominates and governs, and the negative serves."

"The set definite objective firmly imaged or pictured in mind immediately whips the Outer into line by giving it a fixed duty to perform. This, automatically, without any effort on your part, infuses it with the positive quality of the Inner Mind. And again, automatically, positive conditions and individuals are attracted to you as surely as steel particles are attracted to a magnet. That's the first reason why a set definite objective is necessary."

"Second, the atmosphere is filled with millions upon millions of thoughts, forever in motion... Every human being is a broadcasting station and everybody is a receiving set. This explains why I am able to answer your questions instantly, before you have had to form them into words. The fact is, I have been receiving your thoughts before you have expressed them. This is a faculty developed after years of training."

"Third, when you set your mind on anything, whether it be small or large, tangible or intangible, you transfer a portion of your life force to that thing, otherwise it could not be drawn to you. And you continue to nourish it as long as you hold it in mind, and the intensity of your desire governs the power with which the force is directed."

When you work in the Inner Mind, you invoke and receive the help of the impersonal, unlimited resources of the Universe.

"Since the great and mighty "I" is, when expressed individually, none other than yourself, you can see what power you have at your command. You can see what a beautiful being you are. You can see that you are now a master, not yet developed perhaps, but he qualities are there waiting to unfold and be of use."

"Your progress depends upon your degree of sustained intensity in a given direction. To enjoy enduring success, we should travel a little in advance of the world."

"The value of secretiveness lies in the fact that, being impersonal and universal, the "I" throws its power in with whatever words it is coupled, and when your plans are expressed verbally, they become released and their force is spent. The Outer Mind has found a way of escape, and your purpose has lost its necessary momentum."

It is your rightful heritage, your birthright, to have anything that you desire, without limit. Those things that you desire were put here for you to use and enjoy. If not why are they here? And since only you can be conscious of your own individual desires, those things were placed here specifically for you.

Very few people are really capable of sustained effort, and that's the reason why we have comparatively few outstanding successes.

You cannot attain mastery by patterning yourself after another, or by following custom or tradition. Sheep and plodders do that. Masters and leaders never do.

Our method is similar to that of a painter: While he places his picture upon a canvas, I place mine within. He places the oak upon a canvas and gives it its natural surroundings. I do the same. To bring his picture forth, he concentrates upon it to the exclusion of all else that would tend to draw him away from his purpose. So do I. At times something in the external world suggests the picture to him; at other times inspiration suggests it. It is the same with me. A hundred things in a day may come up to distract him and attempt to draw him away, but his picture is of paramount importance. He does not resist those distractions, but gives them their due attention and returns to the picture. Just so with me. When his picture is completed, he begins another, I do too. For I am never consciously, mentally inactive. Inactivity is retrogression.

Were I to desire wealth, I would surround that picture with everything I instinctively feel would accompany that wealth, all the conditions and possessions that I would naturally want to include. If necessary, I would get my suggestions from the out-picturing or externalized picture of another's success. I would go about my duties as usual. It matters little what I appear to be doing in the outer world. It matters a great deal what I am doing within.

If I were a beginner and desired, for instance, a new automobile or home, I would select a picture closely resembling the one I desired from a magazine, and place it where I would see it frequently. This holds the Outer Mind in line and hastens the out-picturing of my idea."

These powerful words automatically help you to discover and meet your needs. They act upon your Outer and Inner Mind very much like the nutrients in your food act upon your body. This list of powerful words that not only tend to keep the life force nourished, but will give you all the strenght you need for doing the internal work necessary to create what you want in life.

Concentration Charity Peace

Consideration Justice Poise

Goodwill Freedom Honesty

Guidance Wisdom Kindness

Understanding Inspiration Humility

Harmony Intelligence Decision

Nonresistance Memory Sympathy

Law Grace Faith

Confidence Abundance Merit

Spirit Health Unity

Strenght Sincerity Energy

Capability Activity Generosity

Vitality Compassion Power

Serenity Love Tolerance

Gentleness Creativity Life

Youth Courtesy Success

Resourcefulness Alertness Happiness

Persistence Purpose Achievement

Mastery

After a day's activity, when your ordinary duties and affairs have depleted your life force a bit, it is a good idea to set aside half an hour or more each evening when you can be alone and undisterbed, in the quiet and stillness of your own being. Select words from the list that seem appropriate to your needs at the moment, or simply begin with the first word and move down the list at your own pace. Firmly impress your being with each word, at the same time interpreting its meaning and noticing its effect upon you, not necessarily in the terms of its generally accepted meaning, but strictly as it appeals to you.

To get into the right attitude during this practice, try to at least momentarily keep your thoughts off your body and off external affairs and things; this automatically places you in the ideal mood. Of course, the Outer Mind will wander and bring up hundreds of things, hundreds of times, but like the automobile that I mentioned staying off course, bring it back and back again, each time setting it on the right road. This tendency of the Outer Mind to wander will gradually decrease during these periods, and you will soon find yourself becoming a master of concentration.

Don't look for results from this practice, any more than you look for results from what you eat every day. Practice this meditation every evening, as regularly as you can, and then forget about the exercise, until the next evening. The words will be doing their work below the surface unknown to you, and their effects will soon show forth in you and in your affairs.

Whoever or whatever it is you resist whether in thought, word or action, in the form of criticism, envy, jealousy, hatred or otherwise you most assuredly help, and you weaken yourself proportionately.

Define your first and nearest goal in the direction of your supreme objective.

When the first objective is reached, what then? Set another one beyond that, immediately. Why? Because the peculiar nature of the Outer Mind is to drop back into inertia after achieving an objective.

You can imagine the Outer Mind saying something like this: "Well, I have been mercilessly driven, and forced to attain that goal, and now that I've reached it I'm going to rest." And your answer will be: "No rest for you, for I've already started you on another." Once you have attained that valuable momentum maintain it. And as the momentum increases, the steps in your progress become more rapid, until eventually it's possible to reach an objective almost immediately.

The course you follow in creating your objective is exactly like the process that takes place in a seed. Once the seed is planted in the darkness of the soil, it proceeds to express or out-picture the exact picture held within its life cell and, in obedience to law, is sends up a shoot seeking the light. At the same time, it sends down roots seeking nourishment. If, on the way up, that shoot encounters obstacles in any form, it does not attempt to force them out of its way. It travels around them. If the roots fail to find the required nourishment, it withers away. If all goes well, it blossoms forth and, having reached its goal, a seed is again dropped and the process is repeated. Keep in mind that the actual process takes place in darkness, beneath the surface. It is the same with us. That is where all great and important ideas are developed. You plant the seed idea. You hold it there. You nourish it. You have done your part. Trust the Law to do its part.

Will you encounter resistance? Oh yes! Your activity creates it. Why! Because action requires reaction to support it. Resistance is the negative pole, and action or activity is the positive pole, and you need both. If there were no resistance, action would be impossible.

You are very fortunate to have learned this wisdom. Now, by all means, practice it.

Take the position that you are master of your being, and hold your course firmly to your goal.

Those who attempt to hinder you are helping you, and they should be considered your friends. This is wisdom of the highest order.

Keep the secret of your aspirations locked securely within you.

The Outer Mind will bring every sort of argument it can in an attempt to cinvince you that your purpose is futile. It will tempt you to mention your plans and ambitions to others, to slow up your activity, to doubt the power of the Law operating in your behalf. It will try in every conceivable way to thwart you. And your answer to all this will be "Obey! I am master here!

You may be led through strange places and take circuitous routes at times, but don't let that disturb you. With the wisdom of the Inner Mind at the helm, you are being led the quickest way, even though it may appear at times to be the longest.

This advice is necessary for you now as beginners, but as you grow in practice you will find that these qualities become a part of your very being. Then they function automatically, without any conscious effort at all on your part.

What is the result? When you persistently hold to your goal, and keep absolutely air-tight secretiveness, the Outer Mind finds no escape for its increasing energy, and in desperation it plunges through, like the overload of steam through the safety valve of a boiler, and your objective is reached.

We have come to the close of your instructions. Now it is up to you to go out and practice what you know. Living the Law will cause you to become the kind of individual that people notice. They will be instinctively attracted to you, without knowing why, on the street and in your social and business affairs. You will become a mysterious being to the world. Don't let this go to your head. Give thanks, in humble gratitude, to the great Supreme Power that has made this possible.