The Power of Psychic
- Concentration
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Brought To You By: www.Psycourse.com
LESSON
IX. PSYCHIC - CONCENTRATION CAN OVERCOME BAD HABITS
Habits
make or break us to a far greater extent than we like to
admit.
Habit is both a powerful enemy and wonderful ally of
Psychic
- Concentration. You must learn to overcome habits which are
injurious
to Psychic - Concentration, and to cultivate those which increase
it.
The
large majority of people are controlled by their habits and
are
buffeted around by them like waves of the ocean tossing a
piece of
wood. They do things in a certain way because of the
power of
habit. They seldom ever think of concentrating on why
they do
them this or that way, or study to see if they could do
them in
a better way. Now my object in this chapter is to get you
to
concentrate on your habits so you can find out which are good
and
which are bad for you. You will find that by making a few
needed
changes you can make even those that are not good for you,
of
service; the good habits you can make much better.
The
first thing I want you to realize is that all habits are
governed
consciously or unconsciously by the will. Most of us are
forming
new habits all the time. Very often, if you repeat
something
several times in the same way, you will have formed the
habit of
doing it that way. But the oftener you repeat it the
stronger
that habit grows and the more deeply it becomes embedded
in your
nature. After a habit has been in force for a long time,
it
becomes almost a part of you, and is therefore hard to
overcome.
But you can still break any habit by strong
Psychic
- Concentration on its opposite.
"All
our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of
habits--practical,
emotional, and intellectual--systematically
organized,
for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly
toward
our destiny whatever the latter may be."
We are
creatures of habits, "imitators and copiers of our past
selves."
We are liable to be "bent" or "curved" as we can bend a
piece of
paper, and each fold leaves a crease, which makes it
easier
to make the fold there the next time. "The intellect and
will are
spiritual functions; still they are immersed in matter,
and to
every movement of theirs, corresponds a movement in the
brain,
that is, in their material correlative." This is why
habits
of thought and habits of willing can be formed. All
physical
impressions are the carrying out of the actions of the
will and
intellect. Our nervous systems are what they are today,
because
of the way they have been exercised.
As we
grow older most of us become more and more like automatic
machines.
The habits we have formed increase in strength. We work
in our
old characteristic way. Your associates learn to expect
you to
do things in a certain way. So you see that your habits
make a
great difference in your life, and as it is just about as
easy to
form good habits as it is bad, you should form only the
former.
No one but yourself is responsible for your habits. You
are free
to form the habits that you should and if everyone could
realize
the importance of forming the right kind of habits what a
different
world this would be. How much happier everyone would
be. Then
all instead of the few might win success.
Habits
are formed more quickly when we are young, but if we have
already
passed the youthful plastic period the time to start to
control
our habits is right now, as we will never be any younger.
You will
find the following maxims worth remembering.
First
Maxim:
"We
must make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy."
Second
Maxim:
"In
the acquisition of a new habit as in the leaving off of an
old one,
we must take care to launch ourselves with as strong and
decided
an initiative as possible."
The man
that is in the habit of doing the right thing from
boyhood,
has only good motives, so it is very important for you
that you
concentrate assiduously on the habits that reinforce
good motives.
Surround yourself with every aid you can. Don't
play
with fire by forming bad habits. Make a new beginning today.
Study
why you have been doing certain things. If they are not for
your
good, shun them henceforth. Don't give in to a single
temptation
for every time you do, you strengthen the chain of bad
habits.
Every time you keep a resolution you break the chain that
enslaves
you.
Third
Maxim:
"Never
allow an exception to occur till the new habit is securely
rooted
in your life." Here is the idea, you never want to give
in,
until the new habit is fixed else you undo all that has been
accomplished
by previous efforts. There are two opposing
inclinations.
One wants to be firm, and the other wants to give
in. By
your will you can become firm, through repetition. Fortify
your
will to be able to cope with any and all opposition.
Fourth
Maxim:
"Seize
the very first possible opportunity to act on every
resolution
you make, and on every emotional prompting you may
experience
in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain."
To make
a resolve and not to keep it is of little value. So by
all
means keep every resolution you make, for you not only profit
by the
resolution, but it furnishes you with an exercise that
causes
the brain cells and physiological correlatives to form the
habit of
adjusting themselves to carry out resolutions. "A
tendency
to act, becomes effectively engrained in us in
proportion
to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actions
actually
occur, and the brain `grows' to their use. When a
resolve
or a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without
bearing
fruit, it is worse than a chance lost."
If you
keep your resolutions you form a most valuable habit. If
you
break them you form a most dangerous one. So concentrate on
keeping
them, whether important or unimportant, and remember it
is just
as important for this purpose to keep the unimportant,
for by
so doing you are forming the habit.
Fifth
Maxim:
"Keep
the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous
exercise
every day."
The more
we exercise the will, the better we can control our
habits.
"Every few days do something for no other reason than its
difficulty,
so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may
find you
not unnerved or untrained to stand the test. Asceticism
of this
sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house
and
goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may
never
bring him a return, but if the fire does come, his having
paid it
will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has
daily
insured himself to habits of concentrated attention,
energetic
volation, and self-denial in unnecessary things. "He
will
stand like a tower when everything rocks around him and his
softer
fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast."
The
young should be made to concentrate on their habits and be
made to
realize that if they don't they become walking bundles of
injurious
habits. Youth is the plastic state, and should be
utilized
in laying the foundation for a glorious future.
The
great value of habit for good and evil cannot be
overestimated.
"Habit is the deepest law of human nature." No man
is
stronger than his habits, because his habits either build up
his
strength or decrease it.
Why We
Are Creatures of Habits. Habits have often been called a
labor-saying
invention, because when they are formed they require
less of
both mental and material strength. The more deeply the
habit
becomes ingrained the more automatic it becomes. Therefore
habit is
an economizing tendency of our nature, for if it were
not for
habit we should have to be more watchful. We walk across
a
crowded street; the habit of stopping and looking prevents us
from
being hurt. The right kind of habits keeps us from making
mistakes
and mishaps. It is a well known fact that a chauffeur is
not able
to master his machine safely until he has trained his
body in
a habitual way. When an emergency comes he instantly
knows
what to do. Where safety depends on quickness the operator
must
work automatically. Habits mean less risk, less fatigue, and
greater
accuracy.
"You
do not want to become a slave to habits of a trivial nature.
For
instance, Wagner required a certain costume before he could
compose
corresponding parts of his operas. Schiller could never
write
with ease unless there were rotten apples in the drawer of
his desk
from which he could now and then obtain an odor which
seemed
to him sweet.
different
activities, so that when he worked on Homer he never
sat
among habitual accompaniments of his legislative labors."
In order
to overcome undesirable habits, two things are
necessary.
You must have trained your will to do what you want it
to do,
and the stronger the will the easier it will be to break a
habit.
Then you must make a resolution to do just the opposite of
what the
habit is. Therefore one habit must replace another. If
you have
a strong will, you can tenaciously and persistently
concentrate
on removing the bad habit and in a very short time
the good
habit will gain the upper hand. I will bring this
chapter
to a close by giving Doctor Oppenheim's instructions for
overcoming
a habit:
"If
you want to abolish a habit, and its accumulated
circumstances
as well, you must grapple with the matter as
earnestly
as you would with a physical enemy. You must go into
the
encounter with all tenacity of determination, with all
fierceness
of resolve--yea, even with a passion for success that
may be
called vindictive. No human enemy can be as insidious, so
persevering,
as unrelenting as an unfavorable habit. It never
sleeps,
it needs no rest.
"It
is like a parasite that grows with the growth of the
supporting
body, and, like a parasite, it can best be killed by
violent
separation and crushing.
When
life is stormy and all seems against us, that is when we
often
acquire wrong habits, and it is then, that we have to make
a
gigantic effort to think and speak as we should; and even
though
we may feel the very reverse at that moment the tiniest
effort
will be backed up by a tremendous Power and will lift us
to a
realization never felt before. It is not in the easy,
contented
moments of our life that we make our greatest progress,
for then
it requires, no special effort to keep in tune. But it
is when
we are in the midst of trials and misfortunes, when we
think we
are sinking, being overwhelmed, then it is important for
us to
realize that we are linked to a great Power and if we live
as we
should, there is nothing that can occur in life, which
could
permanently injure us, nothing can happen that should
disturb
us. So always remember you have within you unlimited
power,
ready to manifest itself in the form which fills our need
at the
moment. If, when we have something difficult to solve, we
would be
silent like the child, we can get the inspiration when
it
comes; we will know how to act, we will find there is no need
to hurry
or disturb ourselves, that it is always wiser to wait
for
guidance from within, than to act on impulse from Without.
The Power of Psychic
- Concentration
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Brought To You By: www.Psycourse.com