,,the ,,heart ,,of ,the ,new ,thought ,,written ,,by ,,ella ,,wheeler ,,wilcox ,associate ,editor of ,,new ,,thought4 ,,eleventh ,,thousand ,,published ,,by ,,the ,,psychic ,,research ,,company ,,temple ,,chambers ,,temple ,,ave41 ,e4,c41 ,,london1 ,,eng4 #aijc ,copyright ,,the ,,psychic ,,research ,,company4 ,all ,rights ,reserved4 ,,notice3 ,this work is protected by ,copyright1 and simultaneous initial publication in ,united ,states of ,america1 ,canada1 ,great ,britain1 ,france1 ,germany1 ,russia and other countries4 ,all rights reserved4 ,publishers' ,preface ,this book is noteworthy as an interpretation of ,new ,thought4 ,that which was vague1 mystic1 unreal1 has become1 in the hands of ,mrs4 ,wilcox1 a lovable philosophy of simplest construction4 ,the backbone of this philosophy is ,the ,power of ,right ,thought4 ,startling as are some of the tenets expressed1 they are provably true here and now4 ,it is possible that the very simplicity of this book will encourage careless criticism from those who believe that genius and ambiguity are twin4 ,but ,mrs4 ,wilcox is ever the voice of the people3 what she says is practical2 what she thinks is clear2 what she feels is plain4 ,let the people judge this book4 ,contents3 ,let the ,past ,go ,the ,sowing of the ,seed ,old ,clothes ,high ,noon ,obstacles ,thought ,force ,opulence ,eternity ,morning ,influences ,the ,philosophy of ,happiness ,a ,worn ,out ,creed ,common ,sense ,literature ,optimism ,preparation ,dividends ,royalty ,heredity ,invincibility ,faces ,the ,object of ,life ,wisdom ,self-,conquest ,the ,important ,trifles ,concentration ,destiny ,sympathy ,the ,breath ,generosity ,woman's ,opportunity ,balance ,,the ,,heart ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,thought ,let the ,past ,go ,do not begin the new year by recounting to yourself or others all your losses and sorrows4 ,let the past go4 ,should some good friend present you with material for a lovely garment1 would you insult her by throwing it aside and describing the beautiful garments you had worn out in past times8 ,the new year has given you the fabric for a fresh start in life1 why dwell upon the events which have gone1 the joys1 blessings and advantages of the past6 ,do not tell me it is too late to be successful or happy4 ,do not tell me you are sick or broken in spirit1 the spirit cannot be sick or broken1 because it is of ,god4 ,it is your mind which makes your body sick4 ,let the spirit assert itself and demand health and hope and happiness in this new year4 ,forget the money you have lost1 the mistakes you have made1 the injuries you have received1 the disappointments you have experienced4 ,real sorrow1 the sorrow which comes from the death of dear ones1 or some great cross well borne1 you need not forget4 ,but think of these things as sent to enrich your nature1 and to make you more human and sympathetic4 ,you are missing them if you permit yourself instead to grow melancholy and irritable4 ,it is weak and unreasonable to imagine destiny has selected you for special suffering4 ,sorrow is no respecter of persons4 ,say to yourself with the beginning of this year that you are going to consider all your troubles as an education for your mind and soul2 and that out of the experiences which you have passed through you are going to build a noble and splendid character1 and a successful career4 ,do not tell me you are too old4 ,age is all imagination4 ,ignore years and they will ignore you4 ,eat moderately1 and bathe freely in water as cold as nature's rainfall4 ,exercise thoroughly and regularly4 ,be alive1 from crown to toe4 ,breathe deeply1 filling every cell of the lungs for at least five minutes1 morning and night1 and when you draw in long1 full breaths1 believe you are inhaling health1 wisdom and success4 ,anticipate good health4 ,if it does not come at once1 consider it a mere temporary delay1 and continue to expect it4 ,regard any physical ailment as a passing inconvenience1 no more4 ,never for an instant believe you are permanently ill or disabled4 ,the young men of ,france are studying alchemy1 hoping to learn the secret of the transmutation of gold4 ,if you will study your own spirit and its limitless powers1 you will gain a greater secret than any alchemist ever held2 a secret which shall give you whatever you desire4 ,think of your body as the silver jewel box1 your mind as the silk lining1 your spirit as the gem4 ,keep the box burnished and clear of dust1 but remember always that the jewel within is the precious part of it4 ,think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success4 ,a whole1 clear1 glorious year lies before you6 ,in a year you can regain health1 fortune1 restfulness1 happiness6 ,push on6 ,achieve1 achieve6 ,the ,sowing of the ,seed ,when you start in the ,new ,thought do not expect sudden illumination4 ,do not imagine that you are to become perfectly well1 perfectly cheerful1 successful1 and a healer1 in a few days4 ,remember all growth is slow4 ,mushrooms spring up in a night1 but oaks grow with deliberation and endure for centuries4 ,mental and spiritual power must be gained by degrees4 ,if you attained maturity before you entered this field of ,new ,thought it is folly to suppose a complete transformation of your whole being will take place in a week--a month--or a year4 ,all you can reasonably look for is a gradual improvement1 just as you might do if you were attempting to take up music or a science4 ,the ,new ,thought is a science1 the ,science of ,right ,thinking4 ,but the brain cells which have been shaped by the old thoughts of despondency and fear1 cannot all at once be reformed4 ,it will be a case of ,try1 try again4 ,make your daily assertions1 ,i am love1 health1 wisdom1 cheerfulness1 power for good1 prosperity1 success1 usefulness1 opulence4 ,never fail to assert these things at least twice a day2 twenty times is better4 ,but if you do not attain to all immediately1 if your life does not at once exemplify your words1 let it not discourage you4 ,the saying of the words is the watering of the seeds4 ,after a time they will begin to sprout1 after a longer time to cover the barren earth with grain1 after a still longer time to yield a harvest4 ,if you have been accustomed to feeling prejudices and dislikes easily1 you will not all at once find it easy to illustrate your assertion1 ,i am love4 ,if you have indulged yourself in thoughts of disease1 the old aches and pains will intrude even while you say ,i am health6 ,if you have groveled in fear and a belief that you were born to poverty and failure1 courage and success and opulence will be of slow growth4 ,yet they will grow and materialize1 as surely as you insist and persist4 ,declare they are yours1 right in the face of the worst disasters4 ,there is nothing so confuses and flustrates misfortune as to stare it down with hopeful unflinching eyes4 ,if you waken some morning in the depths of despondency and gloom1 do not say to yourself3 ,i may as well give up this effort to adopt the ,new ,thought--,i have made a failure of it evidently----4 ,instead sit down quietly1 and assert calmly that you are cheerfulness1 hope1 courage1 faith and success4 ,realize that your despondency is only temporary2 an old habit1 which is reasserting itself1 but over which you will gradually gain the ascendency4 ,then go forth into the world and busy yourself in some useful occupation1 and before you know it is on the way1 hope will creep into your heart1 and the gray cloud will lift from your mind4 ,physical pains will loosen their hold1 and conditions of poverty will change to prosperity4 ,your mind is your own to educate and direct4 ,you can do it by the aid of the ,spirit1 but you must be satisfied to work slowly4 ,be patient and persistent4 ,old ,clothes ,as you go over your wardrobe in the spring or fall1 do not keep any old1 useless1 or even questionable1 garments1 for fear you might need them another year4 ,give them to the ragman1 or send them to the county or city poor house4 ,there is nothing that will keep you in a rut of shabbiness more than clinging to old clothes4 ,it is useless to say that you cannot afford new garments4 ,it is because you have harped upon this idea that you are still in straitened circumstances4 ,you believe neither in ,god or yourself4 ,possibly you were brought up to think yourself a mere worm of earth1 born to poverty and sorrow4 ,if you were1 it will of course require a continued effort to train your mind to the new thought1 the thought of your divine inheritance of all ,god's vast universe of wealth4 ,but you can do it4 ,begin by giving away your old clothes4 ,there may be people1 poor relations1 or some struggling mother of half-clad children1 to whom your old garments will seem like new raiment1 and to whom they will bring hope and happiness4 ,as a rule1 it is not well to give people your discarded clothing4 ,it has a tendency to lower their self-respect and to make them look to you1 instead of to themselves1 for support4 ,it all depends upon whom the people are and how you do it4 ,if you can find employment for them1 and arouse their hope and self-confidence and ambition1 it is better than carloads of clothing or furniture or provisions4 ,but little children1 suffering from cold1 or hard-working1 over-taxed men and women1 will not be harmed1 and may be temporarily cheered and encouraged by your gifts4 ,no matter if you still need your frayed-out garments--do not keep them4 ,your thoughts of poverty and trouble have impregnated them so that you will continue to produce the same despondent mind stuff while you wear these garments4 ,get rid of them1 and believe that you are to soon procure fresh1 becoming raiment4 ,rouse all your energies1 and go straight ahead with that purpose in mind4 ,you will be surprised to find how soon the opportunity presents itself for you to obtain what you need4 ,there is new strength1 repose of mind and inspiration in fresh apparel4 ,god gives ,nature new garments every season4 ,we are a part of ,nature4 ,he gives us the qualities and the opportunities to obtain suitable covering for our changing needs1 if we believe in the one1 and use the other4 ,when ,i read of a wealthy man who boasts that he has worn one hat seven years1 or a woman in affluent circumstances who has worn one bonnet for various seasons1 ,i feel sorry for their ignorance and ashamed of their penuriousness4 ,look at the apple-tree1 with its delicate spring drapery1 its luxurious summer foliage1 its autumn richness of coloring1 its winter draperies of white6 ,surely the ,creator did not intend the tree to have more variety than man6 ,the tree trusts1 and grows1 and takes storm and sun as divinely sent1 and believes in its right to new apparel1 and it comes4 ,it will come to you if you do the same4 ,high ,noon ,every woman who passes thirty ought to keep her brain1 heart and mind alive and warm with human sympathy and emotion4 ,she ought to interest herself in the lives of others1 and make her friendship valuable to the young4 ,she should keep her body supple1 and avoid losing the lines of grace3 and she should select some study or work to occupy her spare hours and to lend a zest to the coming years4 ,every woman in the comfortable walks in life can find time for such a study4 ,no woman of tact1 charm1 refinement and feeling need ever let her husband1 unless she has married a clod1 become indifferent or commonplace in his treatment of her4 ,man reflects to an astonishing degree woman's sentiments for him4 ,keep sentiment alive in your own heart1 madam1 and in the heart of your husband4 ,if he sees that other men admire you he will be more alert to the necessity of remaining your lover4 ,take the happy1 safe1 medium path between a gray and a gay life by keeping it radiant and bright4 ,read and think and talk of cheerful1 hopeful1 interesting subjects4 ,avoid small gossip1 and be careful in your criticism of neighbors4 ,sometimes we must criticise1 but speak to people whose faults you feel a word of counsel may amend1 not of them to others4 ,make your life after it reaches its noon1 glorious with sunlight1 rich with harvests1 and bright with color4 ,be alive in mind1 heart and body4 ,be joyous without giddiness1 loving without silliness1 attractive without being flirtatious1 attentive to others' needs without being officious1 and instructive without too great a display of erudition4 ,be a noble1 loving1 lovable woman4 ,it is never too late in life to make anew start4 ,no matter how small a beginning may be1 it is so much begun for a new incarnation if it is cut off here by death4 ,if ,i were one hundred years old1 and in possession of my faculties1 ,i would not hesitate to undertake a new enterprise which offered a hope of bettering my condition4 ,thought is eternal in its effects1 and every hopeful thought which enters the mind sets vibrations in motion1 which shall help minds millions of miles distant and lives yet unborn4 ,it is folly to mourn over a failure to provide opportunities and luxuries for children4 ,we have only to look at the children of the rich1 to see how little enduring happiness money gives1 and how seldom great advantages result in great characters4 ,the majority of the really great people of the world1 in all lines of achievement1 have sprung from poverty4 ,i do not mean from pauper homes1 but from the homes where only the mere necessities of life could be obtained1 and where early in their youth the children felt it necessary to go into the world and make their own way4 ,self-dependence1 self-reliance1 energy1 ambition1 were all developed in this way4 ,how rarely do we find these qualities in the children of wealth4 ,how rarely do great philosophers1 great statesman1 great thinkers and great characters develop from the wealthy classes4 ,pauperism--infant labor--the wage-earning women--are all evils which ought to be abolished4 ,but next to that evil ,i believe the worst thing possible for a human soul is to be born to wealth4 ,it is an obstacle to greatness which few are strong enough to surmount1 and it rarely results in happiness to the recipient4 ,obstacles ,however great the obstacles between you and your goal may be or have been1 do not lay the blame of your failure upon them4 ,other people have succeeded in overcoming just as great obstacles4 ,remove such hindrances from the path for others1 if you can1 or tell them a way to go around4 ,even lead them a little distance and cheer them on4 ,but so far as you yourself are concerned1 do not stop to excuse any delinquency or half-heartedness or defeat by the plea of circumstance or environment4 ,the great nature makes its own environment1 and dominates circumstance4 ,it all depends upon the amount of force in your own soul4 ,while you apply this rule to yourself and make no scapegoat of fate1 you must have consideration for the weakness of others1 and you must try and better the conditions of the world as you go along4 ,you are robust and possessed of all your limbs4 ,you can mount over the great boulder which has fallen in the road to success1 and go on your way to your goal all the stronger for the experience4 ,but behind you comes a one-legged man--a blind man--a man bowed to the earth with a heavy burden1 which he cannot lay down4 ,it will require weeks1 months1 years of effort on their part to climb over that rock which you surmounted in a few hours4 ,so it is right and just for you to call other strong ones to your aid and roll the boulder away or blast it out of the path4 ,that is just exactly the way you should think of the present industrial conditions4 ,in spite of them1 the strong1 well-poised1 earnest and determined soul can reach any desired success4 ,but there are boulders in the road which do not belong there1 boulders which cause hundreds of the pilgrims who are lame or blind or burdened1 to fall by the wayside and perish4 ,it is your duty to aid in removing these obstacles and in making the road a safe and clear thoroughfare for all who journey4 ,do not sit down by the roadside and say you have been hindered by these difficulties1 that is to confess yourself weak4 ,do not mount over them and rush to your goal and say coldly to the throngs behind you1 ,oh1 everybody can climb over that rock who really tries--didn't ,i8 ,that is to announce yourself selfish and unsympathetic4 ,no doubt the lame1 the blind and the burdened could attain the goal despite the rocks if they were fired by a consciousness of the divine force within them2 that consciousness can achieve all things under all circumstances4 ,but there will always be thousands of pilgrims toiling wearily toward the goal who have not come to this realization4 ,if there are unjust1 unfair and unkind restrictions placed about them1 see to it that you do all in your power to right what is wrong4 ,but never wait to attain your own success because of these restrictions or obstacles4 ,believe absolutely in your own ,god-given power to overcome anything and everything4 ,think of yourself as performing miracles with ,god's aid4 ,desire success so intensely that you attract if as the magnet attracts the steel4 ,help to adjust things as you go along1 but never for a moment believe that the lack of adjustment can cause you to fail4 ,thought ,force ,your spirit and mine are both part of the stupendous cause4 ,we have always been1 and always will be4 ,first in one form1 then in another4 ,every thought1 word and deed is helping decide your next place in the ,creator's magnificent universe4 ,you will be beautiful or ugly1 wise or ignorant1 fortunate or unfortunate1 according to what use you make of yourself here and now4 ,unselfish thoughts1 training your mind to desire only universal good1 the cultivation of the highest attributes1 such as love1 honesty1 gratitude1 faith1 reverence and good will1 all mean a life of usefulness and happiness in another incarnation1 as well as satisfaction and self-respect in this sphere4 ,even if you escape the immediate results of the opposite course of action here1 you must face the law of cause and effect in the next state4 ,it is inevitable4 ,god1 the maker of all things1 does not change ,his laws4 ,as you sow you reap4 ,as a man thinketh so is he4 ,there is no revenge in ,god's mind4 ,he simply makes ,his laws1 and we work our destinies for good or ill according to our adherence to them or violation of them4 ,each one of us is a needed part of ,his great plan4 ,let each soul say3 ,he has need of me or ,i would not be4 ,i am here to strengthen the plan4 ,remember that always in your most discouraged hours4 ,the ,creator makes no mistakes4 ,there is a divine purpose in your being on earth4 ,think of yourself as necessary to the great design4 ,it is an inspiring thought4 ,and then consider the immensity of the universe and how accurately the ,maker planned it all4 ,do not associate with pessimists4 ,if you are unfortunate enough to be the son or daughter1 husband or wife of one1 put cotton 7either real or spiritual7 in your ears1 and shut out the poison words of discouragement and despondency4 ,no tie of blood or law should compel you to listen to what means discomfort and disaster to you4 ,get out and away1 into the society of optimistic people4 ,before you go1 insist on saying cheerful1 hopeful and bright things1 sowing the seed1 as it were1 in the mental ground behind you4 ,but do not sit down to see it grow4 ,never feel that it is your duty to stay closely and continuously in the atmosphere of the despondent4 ,you might as well think it your duty to stay in deep water with one who would not make the least effort to swim4 ,get on shore and throw out a life-line1 but do not remain and be dragged under4 ,if you find any one determined to talk failure and sickness and misfortune and disaster1 walk away4 ,you would not permit the dearest person on earth to administer slow poison to you if you knew it4 ,then why think it your duty to take mental potions which paralyze your courage and kill your ambition8 ,despondency is one phase of immorality4 ,it is blasphemous and an insult to the ,creator4 ,you are justified in avoiding the people who send you from their presence with less hope and force and strength to cope with life's problems than when you met them4 ,do what you can to change their current of thought4 ,but do not associate intimately with them until they have learned to keep silent--at least1 if they cannot speak hopefully4 ,learn how to walk1 how to poise your body1 how to breathe1 how to hold your head1 how to focus your mind on things of universal importance4 ,believe your tender1 loving thoughts and wishes for good to all humanity have power to help the struggling souls of earth to rise to higher and better conditions4 ,no matter how limited your sphere of action may seem to you and how small your town appears on the map1 if you develop your mental and spiritual forces through love thoughts you can be a power to move the world along4 ,rise up and realize your strength4 ,not only will you be more useful and happy1 but you will grow more beautiful and keep your youth4 ,opulence ,do not go through the world talking poverty and asking every one you deal with to show you special consideration because you are poor and unfortunate4 ,if you do this with an idea of saving a few dollars here and there1 you will always have to do it1 because you are creating poverty conditions by your constant assertions4 ,it is a curious fact that the people who are always demanding consideration in money matters demand the best that is going at the same time4 ,i have known a woman to make a plea for cut prices in a boarding house because she was so poor1 yet she wanted the sunniest room and the best location the house afforded4 ,it is the charity patients who make the most complaint of a physician's skill or a nurse's attention4 ,if you cannot afford to do certain things1 or buy certain objects1 don't4 ,but when you decide you must1 decide1 too1 that you will pay the price1 and make no whining plea of poverty4 ,there are two extremes of people in the world1 one as distasteful as the other4 ,one is represented by the man who boasts of the costliness of every possession1 and invites the whole world to behold his opulence and expenditure4 ,his clothes1 his house1 his servants1 his habits1 seem no different to the observer from his neighbor's1 yet1 according to his story1 they cost ten times the amount4 ,the other extreme is the man who dresses well1 lives well1 enjoys all the comforts and pleasures of his associates1 yet talks poverty continually1 and expects the entire community to show him consideration in consequence4 ,another thing to avoid is the role of the chronically injured person4 ,we all know him4 ,he has a continual grievance4 ,he has been cheated1 abused1 wronged1 insulted1 disappointed and deceived4 ,we wonder how or why he has managed to exist1 as we listen to the story of his troubles4 ,no one ever treats him fairly1 either in business or social life4 ,everybody is ungrateful1 unkind1 selfish1 and he could not be made to believe that these experiences were of his own making4 ,all of us meet with occasional blows from fate1 in the form of insults1 or ingratitude1 or trickery from an unexpected source4 ,but if we get nothing else but those disappointing experiences from life1 we may rest assured the fault lies somewhere in ourselves4 ,we are not sending out the right kind of mental stuff1 or we would get better returns4 ,you never can tell what your thoughts will do ,in bringing you hate or love1 ,for thoughts are things1 and their airy wings ,are swift as a carrier dove4 ,they follow the law of the universe-- ,each thing must create its kind1 ,and they speed o'er the track to bring you back ,whatever went out from your mind4 ,in the main1 we must of necessity get from humanity what we give to it4 ,if we question our ability to win friends or love1 people will also question it4 ,if we doubt our own judgment and discretion in business1 others will doubt it1 and the shrewd and unprincipled will take the opportunity given by our doubts of ourselves1 to spring upon us4 ,if in consequence we distrust every person we meet1 we create an unwholesome and unfortunate atmosphere about ourselves1 which will bring to us the unworthy and deceitful4 ,stand firm in the universe4 ,believe in yourself4 ,believe in others4 ,if you make a mistake1 consider it only an incident4 ,if some one wrongs you1 cheats1 misuses or insults you1 let it pass as one of the lessons you had to learn1 but do not imagine that you are selected by fate for only such lessons4 ,keep wholesome1 hopeful and sympathetic with the world at large1 whatever individuals may do4 ,expect life to use you better every year1 and it will not disappoint you in the long run4 ,for life is what we make it4 ,eternity ,do you know what a wonderfully complicated thing a human being is8 ,every feature1 every portion of your body1 every motion you make1 reflects your mental organization4 ,i know a woman past middle life who has always been on the opposite side of every question discussed in her presence4 ,she was agnostic with the orthodox1 reverential with atheists1 liberal with the narrow1 bigoted with the liberal4 ,whatever belief any one expressed on any subject1 she invariably took the other extreme4 ,she loved to disagree with her fellow-men4 ,it was her pastime4 ,now1 to walk with that woman in silence is merely to carry on a wordless argument4 ,you cannot regulate your steps so they will harmonize with hers4 ,she will be just ahead or just behind you1 and if you want to turn to the left1 she pulls to the right4 ,a promenade with her is more exhausting than a day's labor4 ,she is not conscious of it1 and would think anyone very unreasonable and unjust who told her of her peculiarities4 ,i know a woman who all her life has been looking afar for happiness and peace and content1 and has never found any of them1 because she did not look in her own soul4 ,she was a restless girl1 and she married1 believing in domestic life lay the goal of her dreams4 ,but she was not happy there1 and sighed for freedom4 ,she wanted to move1 and did move1 once1 twice1 thrice1 to different points of the ,united ,states4 ,she was discontented with each change4 ,she is to-day possessed of all comforts and luxuries which life can afford1 yet she is the same restless soul4 ,she likes to read1 but it is always the book which she does not possess which she craves4 ,if she is in the library with shelves book-filled1 she goes into the garret and hunts in old boxes for a book or a paper which has been cast aside4 ,if she is in a picture gallery1 she wants to go to the window and look out on the street1 but when she is on the street it bores her1 and she longs to go in the house4 ,if a member of the family is absent1 she gets no enjoyment out of the society of those at home2 yet when that absent one returns her mind strays elsewhere1 seeking some imagined happiness not found here4 ,i wonder if such souls ever find it1 even in the spirit realm1 or if they go on there seeking and always seeking something just beyond4 ,it is a great gift to learn to enjoy the present--to get all there is out of it1 and to think of to-day as a piece of eternity4 ,begin now to teach yourself this great art if you have not thought of it before4 ,to be able to enjoy heaven1 one must learn first to enjoy earth4 ,morning ,influences ,what do you think about the very first thing in the morning8 ,your thoughts during the first half-hour of the morning will greatly influence the entire day4 ,you may not realize this1 but it is nevertheless a fact4 ,if you set out with worry1 and depression1 and bitterness of soul toward fate or man1 you are giving the key note to a day of discords and misfortunes4 ,if you think peace1 hope and happiness1 you are sounding a note of harmony and success4 ,the result may not be felt at once1 but it will not fail to make itself evident eventually4 ,control your morning thoughts4 ,you can do it4 ,the first moment on waking1 no matter what your mood1 say to yourself3 ,i will get all the comfort and pleasure possible out of this day1 and ,i will do something to add to the measure of the world's happiness or well-being4 ,i will control myself when tempted to be irritable or unhappy1 ,i will look for the bright side of every event4 ,once you say these things over to yourself in a calm1 earnest way1 you will begin to feel more cheerful4 ,the worries and troubles of the coming day will seem less colossal4 ,then say3 ,i shall be given help to meet anything that comes to-day4 ,everything will be for the best4 ,i shall succeed in whatever ,i undertake4 ,i cannot fail4 ,do not let it discourage you if the moment you leave your room you encounter a trouble or a disaster4 ,this usually happens4 ,when we make any boasts1 spiritually or physically1 we are put to the test4 ,the occult forces about us are not unlike human beings4 ,when a school-boy boasts of his strength1 and says he can lick any boy in school1 he generally gets a chance to prove it4 ,when we declare we are brave enough to overcome any fate1 we find our strength put to the test at once4 ,but that is all right4 ,prove your words to be true4 ,regard the troubles and cares you encounter as the punching bags of fate1 given you to develop your spiritual muscle4 ,go at them with courage and keep to your morning resolve4 ,by and by the troubles will lessen1 and you will find yourself master of ,circumstances4 ,the ,philosophy of ,happiness ,there are natures born to happiness just as there are born musicians1 mechanics and mathematicians4 ,they are usually children who came into life under right pre-natal conditions4 ,that is1 children conceived and born in love4 ,the mother who thanks ,god for the little life she is about to bring to earth1 gives her child a more blessed endowment than if it were heir to a kingdom or a fortune4 ,as the majority of people1 however1 born under civilized conditions1 are unwelcome to their mothers1 it is rarely we encounter one who has a birthright of happiness4 ,youth possesses a certain buoyancy and exhilaration which passes for happiness1 until the real disposition of the individual asserts itself with the passing of time4 ,good health and strong vitality are great aids to happiness2 yet that they1 wealth and honors added1 do not produce that much desired state of mind we have but to look about us to observe4 ,one who is not born a musician needs to toil more assiduously to acquire skill in the art1 however strong his desire or great his taste1 than the natural genius4 ,so the man not endowed with joyous impulses needs to set himself the task of acquiring the habit of happiness4 ,i believe it can be done4 ,to the sad or restless or discontented being ,i would say3 ,begin each morning by resolving to find something in the day to enjoy4 ,look in each experience which comes to you for some grain of happiness4 ,you will be surprised to find how much that has seemed hopelessly disagreeable possesses either an instructive or an amusing side4 ,there is a certain happiness to be found in the most disagreeable duty when you stop to realize that you are getting it out of the way4 ,if it is one of those duties which has the uncomfortable habit of repeating itself continually1 you can at least say you are learning patience and perseverance1 which are two great virtues and essential to any permanent happiness in life4 ,do not anticipate the happiness of to-morrow1 but discover it in to-day4 ,unless you are in the profound depths of some great sorrow1 you will find it if you look for it4 ,think of yourself each morning as an explorer in a new realm4 ,i know a man whose time is gold1 and he carefully arranged his plans to take three hours for a certain pleasure4 ,he lost his way and missed his pleasure1 but was full of exuberant delight over his new experience4 ,i saw places and met with adventures ,i might have missed my whole life4 ,he was a true philosopher and optimist and such a man gets the very kernel out of the nut of life4 ,i know a woman who had since her birth every material blessing1 health1 wealth1 position1 travel and a luxurious home4 ,she was forever complaining of the cares and responsibilities of the latter4 ,finally she prevailed upon the family to rent the home for a series of years and to live in hotels4 ,now she goes about posing as a martyr1 a homeless woman4 ,it is impossible for such a selfishly perverted nature to know happiness4 ,a child should be taught from its earliest life to find entertainment in every kind of condition or weather4 ,if it hears its elders cursing and bemoaning a rainy day the child's plastic mind is quick to receive the impression that a rainy day is a disaster4 ,how much better to expatiate in its presence on the blessing of rain1 and to teach it the enjoyment of all nature's varying moods1 which other young animals feel4 ,happiness must come from within in order to respond to that which comes from without1 just as there must be a musical ear and temperament to enjoy music4 ,cultivate happiness as an art or science4 ,a ,worn ,out ,creed ,i have a letter from an orthodox ,christian1 who says the only hope for humanity lies in the old-fashioned religion4 ,then he proceeds to tell me how carefully he has studied human nature1 in business1 in social life1 and in himself1 and that he finds it all vile--selfish--sinful4 ,of course he does1 because he studies it from a false and harmful standpoint1 and looks for the worm of earth and the poor1 miserable sinner1 instead of the divine man4 ,we find what we look for in this world4 ,i have always been looking for the noble qualities in human beings1 and ,i have found them4 ,there are great souls all along the highway of life1 and there are great qualities even in the people who seem common and weak to us ordinarily4 ,one of the grandest souls ,i know is a man who served his term in prison for sins committed while in drink4 ,he was not born bad1 he simply drifted into bad company and formed bad habits4 ,he paid the awful penalty of five years behind prison bars1 but the divine man within him asserted itself1 and today ,i have no friend ,i feel prouder to call that name4 ,mr4 ,john ,l4 ,tait1 secretary of the ,central ,howard ,association1 of ,chicago1 writes me regarding his knowledge of ex-convicts3 ,according to my experience with a number of men of this class during the last two years1 more than #ij per cent of them are worthy of the most cordial support and assistance4 ,if this can be said of men who have been criminals1 surely humanity is not so vile as my orthodox correspondent would have me believe4 ,a ,christian of that order ought to be put under restraint1 and not allowed to associate with mankind4 ,he carries a moral malaria with him1 which poisons the air4 ,he suggests evil to minds which have not thought it4 ,he is a dangerous hypnotist1 while pretending to be a disciple of ,christ4 ,the man who believes that all men are vicious1 selfish and immoral is projecting pernicious mind stuff into space1 which is as dangerous to the peace of the community as dynamite bombs4 ,the world has been kept back too long by this false1 unholy and blasphemous religion4 ,it is not the religion of ,christ--it is the religion of ignorant translators1 ignorant readers4 ,thank ,god1 its supremacy is past4 ,a wholesome and holy religion has taken its place with the intelligent progressive minds of the day1 a religion which says3 ,i am all goodness1 love1 truth1 mercy1 health4 ,i am a necessary part of ,god's universe4 ,i am a divine soul1 and only good can come through me or to me4 ,god made me1 and ,he could make nothing but goodness and purity and worth4 ,i am the reflection of all ,his qualities4 ,this is the new religion2 yet it is older than the universe4 ,it is ,god's own thought put into practical form4 ,common ,sense ,if you are suffering from physical ills1 ask yourself if it is not your own fault4 ,there is scarcely one person in one hundred who does not over eat or drink4 ,i know an entire family who complain of gastric troubles1 yet who keep the coffee pot continually on the range and drink large quantities of that beverage at least twice a day4 ,no one can be well who does that4 ,almost every human ailment can be traced to foolish diet4 ,eat only two meals in twenty-four hours4 ,if you are not engaged in active physical labor1 make it one meal4 ,drink two or three or four quarts of milk at intervals during the day to supply good blood to the system4 ,you will thrive upon it1 and you will not miss the other two meals after the first week4 ,and your ailments will gradually disappear4 ,meantime1 if you are self-supporting1 your bank account will increase4 ,think of the waste of money which goes into indigestible food6 ,it is appalling when you consider it4 ,heaven speed the time when men and women find out how little money it requires to sustain the body in good health and keep the brain clear and the eye bright6 ,the heavy drinker is to-day looked upon with pity and scorn4 ,the time will come when the heavy eater will be similarly regarded4 ,once find the delight of a simple diet1 the benefit to body and mind and purse1 and life will assume new interest1 and toil will be robbed of its drudgery1 for it will cease to be a mere matter of toiling for a bare existence4 ,again1 are you unhappy8 ,stop and ask yourself why4 ,if you have a great sorrow1 time will be your consoler4 ,and there is an ennobling and enriching effect of sorrow well borne4 ,it is the education of the soul4 ,but if you are unhappy over petty worries and trials1 you are wearing yourself to no avail2 and if you are allowing small things to irritate and harass you and to spoil the beautiful days for you1 take yourself in hand and change your ways4 ,you can do it if you choose4 ,it is pitiful to observe what sort of troubles most unhappy people are afflicted with4 ,i have seen a beautiful young woman grow care lined and faded just from imagining she was being slighted or neglected by her acquaintances4 ,some one nodded coldly to her1 another one spoke superciliously1 a third failed to invite her1 a fourth did not pay her a call1 and so on--always a grievance to relate until one is prepared to look sympathetic at sight of her4 ,and such petty1 petty grievances for this great1 good life to be marred by6 ,and all the result of her own disposition4 ,had she chosen to look for appreciation and attention and good will she would have found it everywhere4 ,then1 about your temper8 ,is it flying loose over a trifle8 ,are you making yourself and every one else wretched if a chair is out of place1 or a meal a moment late1 or some member of the family is tardy at dinner1 or your shoe string is in a tangle or your collar button mislaid8 ,do you go to pieces nervously if you are obliged to repeat a remark to some one who did not understand you8 ,i have known a home to be ruined by just such infinitesimal annoyances4 ,it is a habit1 like the drug or alcohol habit--this irritability4 ,all you need do is to stop it4 ,keep your voice from rising1 and speak slowly and calmly when you feel yourself giving way to it4 ,realize how ridiculous and disagreeable you will be if you continue1 what an unlovely and hideous old age you are preparing for yourself4 ,and realize that a loose temper is a sign of vulgarity and lack of culture4 ,think of the value of each day of life1 how much it means and what possibilities of happiness and usefulness it contains if well spent4 ,but if you stuff yourself like an anaconda1 dwell on the small worries and grow angry at the least trifle1 you are committing as great and inexcusable a folly as if you flung your furniture and garments and food and fuel into the sea in a spirit of wanton cruelty4 ,you are wasting life for nothing4 ,every sick1 gloomy day you pass is a sin against life4 ,get health1 be cheerful1 keep calm4 ,clear your mind of every gloomy1 selfish angry or revengeful thought4 ,allow no resentment or grudge toward man or fate to stay in your heart over night4 ,wake in the morning with a blessing for every living thing on your lips and in your soul4 ,say to yourself3 ,health1 luck1 usefulness1 success1 are mine4 ,i claim them4 ,keep thinking that thought1 no matter what happens1 just as you would put one foot before another if you had a mountain to climb4 ,keep on1 keep on1 and suddenly you will find you are on the heights1 luck beside you4 ,whoever follows this recipe cannot fail of happiness1 good fortune and a useful life4 ,but saying the words over once and then drifting back to anger1 selfishness1 revenge and gloom will do no good4 ,the words must be said over and over1 and thought and lived when not said4 ,literature ,the world is full of ,new ,thought ,literature4 ,it is helpful and inspiring to read4 ,it is worth many dollars to any one who will live its philosophy4 ,i talked to a man who has been studying along these lines for some years4 ,oh1 ,i know all that philosophy1 he said2 it is nothing new4 ,i am perfectly familiar with it4 ,yet this man was continually allowing himself to grow angry over the least trifle2 he was quick to see and speak of the faults in others2 he was demanding more of those he associated with in the way of consideration and justice than he was willing to give1 and he was untidy in his person and improvident in his use of money4 ,now it is the merest waste of time for this man to read ,new ,thought literature or practice deep breathing1 since he will not put into daily and hourly practice what is taught by the ,new ,religion4 ,he is like the orthodox ,christian who mumbles through the ,lord's ,prayer and then goes forth to do exactly as he would not be done by in business1 social and domestic life4 ,man is what he thinks4 ,not what he says1 reads or hears4 ,by persistent thinking you can undo any condition which exists4 ,you can free yourself from any chains1 whether of poverty1 sin1 ill health or unhappiness4 ,if you have been thinking these thoughts half a lifetime you must not expect to batter down the walls you have built1 in a week1 or a month1 or a year4 ,you must work and wait1 and grow discouraged and stumble and pick yourself up and go on again4 ,you cannot in an hour gain control over a temper which you have let fly loose for twenty years4 ,but you can control it eventually1 and learn to think of a burst of anger as a vulgarity like drunkenness or profanity1 something you could not descend to4 ,if you have allowed yourself to think despondent thoughts and believe that poverty and sickness were your portion for years1 it will take time to train your mind to more cheerful and hopeful ideas2 but you can do it by repeated assertions and by reading and thinking and living the beautiful ,new ,thought ,philosophy4 ,optimism ,not long ago ,i read the following gloomy bit of pessimism from the pen of a man bright enough to know better than to add to the mental malaria of the world4 ,he said3 ,life is a hopeless battle in which we are foredoomed to defeat4 ,and the prize for which we strive to have and to hold--what is it8 ,a thing that is neither enjoyed while had1 nor missed when lost4 ,so worthless it is1 so unsatisfying1 so inadequate to purpose1 so false to hope and at its best so brief1 that for consolation and compensation we set up fantastic faiths of an aftertime in a better world from which no confirming whisper has ever reached us out of the void4 ,heaven is a prophecy uttered by the lips of despair1 but ,hell is an inference from history4 ,this is morbid and unwholesome talk which can do no human being any good to utter1 or listen to4 ,but it can depress and discourage the weak and struggling souls1 who are striving to make the best of circumstances1 and it can nerve to suicide the hand of some half-crazed being1 who needed only a word of encouragement and cheer to brace up and win the race4 ,this is the unpardonable sin--to talk discouragingly to human souls1 hungering for hope4 ,when the man without brains does it1 he can be pardoned for knowing no better4 ,when the man with brains does it1 he should be ashamed to look his fellow mortals in the eyes4 ,it is a sin ten times deeper dyed than giving a stone to those who ask for bread4 ,it is giving poison to those who plead for a cup of cold water4 ,fortunately the remarks above quoted contain not one atom of truth6 ,the writer may speak for himself1 but he has no right to speak for others4 ,it is all very well for a man who is marked with smallpox to say his face has not one unscarred inch on the surface of it4 ,but he has no premises to stand upon when he says there is not a face in the world which is free from smallpox scars4 ,life is not a hopeless battle in which we are doomed to defeat4 ,life is a glorious privilege1 and we can make anything we choose of it1 if we begin early and are in deep earnest1 and realize our own divine powers4 ,nothing can hinder us or stay us4 ,we can do and be whatsoever we will4 ,the prize of life is not a thing which is neither enjoyed while had nor missed when lost4 ,it is enjoyed by millions of souls to-day--this great prize of life4 ,i for one declare that for every day of misery in my existence ,i have had a week of joy and happiness4 ,for every hour of pain1 ,i have had a day of pleasure4 ,for every moment of worry1 an hour of content4 ,i cannot be the only soul so endowed with the appreciation of life6 ,i know scores of happy people who enjoy the many delights of earth1 and there are thousands whom ,i do not know4 ,of course life is not missed when lost--because it is never lost4 ,it is indestructible4 ,life ever was1 and ever will be4 ,it is a continuous performance4 ,it is not worthless to the wholesome1 normal mind4 ,it is full of interest1 and rich with opportunities for usefulness4 ,when any man says his life is worthless1 it is because he has eyes and sees not1 and ears and hears not4 ,it is his own fault1 not the fault of ,god1 fate or accident4 ,if every life seems at times unsatisfactory and inadequate it is only due to the cry of the immortal soul longing for larger opportunities and fewer limitations4 ,neither is life false to hope4 ,he who trusts the divine ,source of ,life1 shall find his hopes more than realized here upon earth4 ,i but voice the knowledge of thousands of souls1 when ,i make this assertion4 ,i know whereof ,i speak4 ,all that our dearest hopes desire will come to us1 if we believe in ourselves as rightful heirs to ,divine ,opulence1 and work and think always on those lines4 ,if no whisper has ever reached us out of the void confirming our faith in immortality1 then one-third of the seemingly intelligent and sane beings of our acquaintance must be fools or liars4 ,for we have the assertion of fully this number that such whispers have come1 besides the ,biblical statistics of numerous messages from the other realm4 ,as it was in the beginning1 is now and shall be ever more1 world without end1 ,amen4 ,preparation ,every day ,i hear middle-aged people bemoaning the fact that they were not given advantages or did not seize the opportunities for an education in early youth4 ,they believe that their lives would be happier1 better and more useful had an education been obtained4 ,scarcely one of these people realizes that middle life is the schooltime for old age1 and that just as important an opportunity is being missed or ignored day by day for the storing up of valuable knowledge which will be of great importance in rendering old age endurable4 ,youth is the season to acquire knowledge1 middle life is the time to acquire wisdom4 ,old age is the season to enjoy both1 but wisdom is far the more important of the two4 ,by wisdom ,i mean the philosophy which enables us to control our tempers1 curb our tendency to severe criticism1 and cultivate our sympathies4 ,the majority of people after thirty-five consider themselves privileged to be cross1 irritable1 critical and severe1 because they have lived longer than the young1 because they have had more trials and disappointments1 and because they believe they understand the world better4 ,those are excellent reasons why they should be patient1 kind1 broad and sympathetic4 ,the longer we live the more we should realize the folly and vulgarity of ill-temper1 the cruelty of severe criticism and the necessity for a broad-minded view of life1 manners1 morals and customs4 ,unless we adapt ourselves to the changing habits of the world1 unless we adopt some of the new ideas that are constantly coming to the front1 we will find ourselves carping1 disagreeable and lonely old people as the years go by4 ,the world will not stand still for us4 ,society will not wear the same clothes or follow the same pleasures1 or think the same thoughts when we are eighty that were prevalent when we were thirty4 ,we must keep moving with the world or stand still and solitary4 ,after thirty we must seize every hour and educate ourselves to grow into agreeable old age4 ,it requires at least twenty years to become well educated in book and college lore4 ,if we begin to study at seven we are rarely through with all our common schools1 seminaries1 high schools and colleges have to offer under a score of years4 ,the education for old age needs fully as many years4 ,we need to begin at thirty to be tolerant1 patient1 serene1 trustful1 sympathetic and liberal4 ,then1 at fifty1 we may hope to have graduated with honors from life's school of wisdom1 and to be prepared for another score or two of years of usefulness and enjoyment in the practice of these qualities4 ,instead of wasting our time in bemoaning the loss of early opportunities for obtaining an education1 let us devote ourselves to the cultivation of wisdom1 since that is free to all who possess self-control1 will power1 faith and perseverance4 ,begin to-day1 at home4 ,be more tolerant of the faults of the other members of your household4 ,restrain your criticisms on the conduct of your neighbors4 ,try and realize the causes which led some people who have gone wrong to err4 ,look for the admirable qualities in every one you meet4 ,sympathize with the world4 ,be interested in progress1 be interested in the young4 ,keep in touch with each new generation1 and do not allow yourself to grow old in thought or feeling4 ,educate yourself for a charming old age4 ,there is no time to lose4 ,dividends ,our thoughts are shaping unmade spheres1 ,and1 like a blessing or a curse1 ,they thunder down the formless years ,and ring throughout the universe4 ,the more we realize the tremendous responsibility of our mental emanations the better for the world and ourselves4 ,the sooner we teach little children what a mighty truth lies in the ,bible phrase ,as a man thinketh1 so is he1 the better for future generations4 ,if a man thinks sickness1 poverty and misfortune1 he will meet them and claim them all eventually as his own4 ,but he will not acknowledge the close relationship1 he will deny his own children and declare they were sent to him by an evil fate4 ,walter ,atkinson tells us that he who hates is an assassin4 ,every kindergarten and public school teacher ought to embody this idea in the daily lessons for children4 ,it may not be possible to teach a child to love every neighbor as himself1 for that is the most difficult of ,commandments to follow to the letter2 but it is possible to eliminate hatred from a nature if we awaken sympathy for the object of dislike4 ,that which we pity we cannot hate4 ,the wonderful ,intelligence which set this superb system of worlds in action must have been inspired by love for all it created4 ,so much grandeur and magnificence1 so much perfection of detail1 could only spring from ,love4 ,whatever is out of harmony in our little world has been caused by man's substituting hate and fear for love and faith4 ,every time we allow either hate or fear to dominate our minds we disarrange the order of the universe and make trouble for humanity1 and ourselves4 ,it may be a little late in reaching us1 but it is sure to come back to the ,mind which sent forth the cause4 ,every time we entertain thoughts of love1 sympathy1 forgiveness and faith we add to the well-being of the world1 and create fortunate and successful conditions for ourselves4 ,those1 too1 may be late in coming to us--,,but ,,they ,,will ,,come4 ,right thinking is not attained in a day or a week4 ,we must train the mind to reject the brood of despondent1 resentful1 fearful and prejudiced thoughts which approach it1 and to invite and entertain cheerful1 broad and wholesome thoughts instead1 just as we overcome false tones and cultivate musical ones in educating the voice for singing4 ,when we once realize that by driving away pessimistic1 angry and bitter thoughts we drive away sickness and misfortune to a great extent1 and that by seeking the kinder and happier frame of mind we seek at the same time success and health and good luck1 we will find a new impetus in the control of our mental forces4 ,for we all love to be paid for our worthy deeds1 even while we believe in being good for good's sake only4 ,and nothing in life is surer than this3 ,,right ,,thinking ,,pays ,,large ,,dividends4 ,think success1 prosperity1 usefulness4 ,it is much more profitable than thinking self-destruction or the effort at self-destruction for that is an act which aims at an impossibility4 ,you can destroy the body1 but the you who suffers in mind and spirit will suffer still1 and live still4 ,you will only change your location from one state to another4 ,you did not make yourself1 you cannot unmake yourself4 ,you can merely put yourself among the spiritual tramps who hang about the earth's borders1 because they have not prepared a better place for themselves4 ,suicide is cheap1 vulgar and cowardly4 ,because you have made a wreck of a portion of this life1 do not make a wreck of the next4 ,mend up your broken life here1 go along bravely and with sympathy and love in your heart1 determined to help everybody you can1 and to better your condition as soon as possible4 ,men have done this after fifty1 and lived thirty good years to enjoy the results4 ,do not feel hurt by the people who slight you1 or who refer to your erring past4 ,be sorry for them4 ,i would rather be a tender-hearted reformed sinner than a hard-hearted model of good behavior4 ,i would rather learn sympathy through sin than never learn it at all4 ,there is nothing we cannot live down1 and rise above1 and overcome4 ,there is nothing we cannot be in the way of nobility and worth4 ,royalty ,we get what we give4 ,i have never known this rule to fail in the long run4 ,if we give sympathy1 appreciation1 goodwill1 charitable thoughts1 admiration and love--we receive all these back from humanity in time4 ,we may bestow them unworthily1 as the sower of good seed may cast it on a rocky surface1 but the winds of heaven will scatter it broadcast1 and1 while the rock remains barren1 the fields shall yield a golden harvest4 ,the seed must be good1 however4 ,if ,i say to myself without any real regard for another in my heart1 ,i want that person to like me1 ,i will do all in my power to please him1 ,i need not be surprised if my efforts fail or prove of only temporary efficacy4 ,neither need ,i feel surprised or pained if ,i find by-and-by that other people are bestowing policy friendship upon me1 actions with no feeling for a foundation4 ,no matter how kind and useful ,i make my conduct toward an individual1 if in my secret heart ,i am criticising him severely and condemning him1 ,i must expect criticism and condemnation from others as my portion4 ,we reap what we sow4 ,some harvests are longer in growing than others1 but they all grow in time4 ,servility in love1 or friendship1 or duty1 is never commendable4 ,i do not believe ,god ,himself feels complimented when the beings ,he created as the highest type of ,his workmanship declare themselves worthless worms1 unworthy of ,his regard6 ,we are heirs of ,god's kingdom1 and rightful inheritors of happiness1 and health1 and success4 ,what monarch would feel pleasure in having his children crawl in the dust1 saying1 ,we are less than nothing1 miserable1 unworthy creatures8 ,would he not prefer to hear them say1 proudly3 ,we are of royal blood8 ,we ought always to believe in our best selves1 in our right to love and be loved1 to give and receive happiness1 and to toil and be rewarded4 ,and then we should bestow our love1 our gifts and our toil with no anxious thought about the returns4 ,if we chance to love a loveless individual1 to give to one bankrupt in gratitude1 to toil for the unappreciative1 it is but a temporary deprivation for us4 ,the love1 the gratitude and the recompense will all come to us in time from some source1 or many sources4 ,it cannot fail4 ,heredity ,american parents1 as a rule1 can be put in two extreme classes1 those who render the children insufferably conceited and unbearable by overestimating their abilities and overpraising their achievements1 and those who render them morbid and self-depreciating by a lack of wholesome praise4 ,it is rare indeed1 when we find parents wise and sensible enough to strengthen the best that is in their children by discreet praise1 and at the same time to control the undesirable qualities by judicious and kind criticism4 ,i heard a grandmother not long ago telling callers in the presence of a small boy what a naughty1 bad child he was1 and how impossible it seemed to make him mind4 ,wretched seed to sow in the little mind1 and the harvest is sure to be sorrow4 ,i have heard parents and older children1 expatiate on the one stupid trait and the one plain feature of a bright and handsome child1 intending to keep it from forming too good an opinion of itself4 ,to all young people ,i would say1 cultivate a belief in yourself4 ,base it on self-respect and confidence in ,god's love for his own handiwork4 ,say to yourself1 ,i will be what ,i will to be4 ,not because your human will is all-powerful1 but because the ,divine will is back of you4 ,analyze your own abilities and find what you are best fitted to do4 ,then get about the task of doing your chosen work to the very best of your ability1 and do not for an instant doubt your own capabilities4 ,perhaps they may be dwarfed and enfeebled by years of morbid thought2 but if you persist in a self-respecting and self-reliant and ,god-trusting course of thinking your powers will increase and your capabilities strengthen4 ,it is no easy matter to overcome a habit of self-depreciation4 ,it is like straightening out a limb which has been twisted by a false attitude or correcting a habit of sitting round-shouldered4 ,it requires a steady and persistent effort4 ,when the depressing and doubtful thoughts come drive them away like malaria-breeding insects4 ,say1 ,this is not complimentary to my ,maker4 ,i am ,his work4 ,i must be worthy of my own respect and of that of others4 ,i must and will succeed4 ,invincibility ,if we persistently desire good things to come to us for unselfish purposes1 and at the same time faithfully perform the duties which lie nearest1 we will eventually find our desires being realized in the most unexpected manner4 ,our thought force has proved to be a wedge1 opening the seemingly inaccessible ,wall of ,circumstance4 ,to read good books1 to think and ponder on what you read1 to cultivate every agreeable quality you observe in others1 and to weed from your nature every unworthy and disagreeable trait1 to study humanity with an idea of being helpful and sympathetic1 all these efforts will help you to the ultimate attainment of your wishes4 ,it is a proven fact that if we devote a few moments each day to reaching exercises1 standing with loose garments and stretching the body muscles to reach some point above us1 we increase our stature4 ,just so if we mentally and spiritually are continually reaching to a higher plane we are growing4 ,every least thought of the brain is a chisel1 chipping away at our characters1 and our characters are building our destinies4 ,the incessant and persistent demand of our hearts and minds ,,must be granted4 ,that ,mental ,chisel ,during a trolley ride through a thrifty ,new ,england locality1 where church spires were almost as plentiful as trees1 ,i studied the faces of the people who came into the car during my two hours' journey4 ,the day was beautiful1 and all along the route our numbers were recruited by bevies of women1 young1 middle aged and old1 who were bent on shopping expeditions or setting forth to make social calls4 ,they went and came at each village through which our coach of democracy passed1 and they represented all classes4 ,the young girls were lovely1 as young girls are the world over3 their complexion possessed that soft tender luster1 peculiar to seashore localities1 for the salty breath of ,father ,neptune is the greatest of cosmetics4 ,many of the young faces were formed in classic mould1 their features clearly cut and refined1 and severe1 like the thoughts and principles of their ancestors4 ,often ,i observed a mother and some female relative1 presumably an aunt1 in company with a young relative2 and always the sharpening and withering process of the years of set and unelastic thought was discernible upon their faces1 which had once been young1 and classic and attractive4 ,in the entire two hours ,i saw but three lovely faces which were matured by time4 ,i saw scores of well-dressed and evidently well-cared-for women of middle age1 whose countenances were furrowed1 drawn1 pinched1 sallow1 and worn1 beyond excuse2 for time1 sorrow1 and sickness are not plausible excuses for such ravages upon a face ,god drew in lines of beauty4 ,time should mature a woman's beauty as it does that of a tree4 ,sorrow should glorify it as does the frost the tree1 and sickness should not be allowed to lay a lingering touch upon it1 until death calls the spirit away4 ,without question the great majority of the women ,i saw were earnest orthodox ,christians4 ,i heard snatches of conversation regarding ,church and ,charities and ,i have no doubt that each woman among them believed herself to be a disciple of ,christ4 ,yet where was the result of the loving1 tender1 sweet spirit of ,christ's teaching8 ,it surely was not visible upon those pinched and worried faces8 and those faces were certain and truthful chronicles of the work done by the minds within4 ,one face said to me in every line1 ,i talk about ,god's goodness and loving-kindness1 but ,i worry over the dust in the spare room1 ,i fret about our expenses1 ,i am troubled about my lungs1 and ,i fear my husband has an unregenerate heart4 ,i never know an hour's peace1 for even in my sleep1 ,i worry1 worry1 worry1 but of course ,i know ,i will be saved by the blood of ,christ6 ,another said1 ,i am in ,god's fold1 well and safe1 but ,i hate and despise my nearest neighbor1 for she wears clothes that ,i am sure she cannot pay for1 and her children are always dressed better than mine4 ,i quarrel with my domestics1 and am always in trouble of some kind1 just because human beings are so full of sin and no one but myself is ever right4 ,i shall be so glad to leave this world of woe and go to heaven1 but ,i hope ,i will not meet many of my present acquaintances there6 ,another said1 ,if ,i only had good health--but ,i was born to sickness and suffering1 and it is ,god's will that ,i should suffer6 ,oh the pity of it1 and to imagine this is religion6 ,thank ,god the wave of ,new ,thought is sweeping over the land1 and washing away those old blasphemous errors of mistaken creeds4 ,the ,new ,thought is to give us a new race of beautiful middle-aged and old people4 ,to-day in any part of the land among rich1 poor1 ignorant or intellectual1 orthodox or materialists the beautiful mature face is rarer than a white blackbird in the woods4 ,it is impossible to be plain1 ugly1 or uninteresting in late life1 if the mind keeps itself occupied with right thinking4 ,the withered and drawn face of fifty indicates withered emotions and drawn and perverted ambitions4 ,the dried and sallow face tells its story of dried up sympathies and hopes4 ,the furrowed face tells of acid cares eating into the heart4 ,all this is irreligious6 yet all this prevails extensively in our most conservative and churchy communities4 ,he who in truth trusts ,god cannot worry4 ,he who loves ,god and mankind1 cannot become dried and withered at fifty1 for love will re-create his blood1 and renew the fires of his eye4 ,he who understands his own divine nature will grow more beautiful with the passing of time1 for the ,god within will become each year more visible4 ,the really reverent soul accepts its sorrows as blessings in disguise1 and he who so accepts them is beautified and glorified by them1 within and without4 ,are you growing more attractive as you advance in life8 ,is your eye softer and deeper1 is your mouth kinder1 your expression more sympathetic1 or are you screwing up your face in tense knots of worry8 ,are your eyes growing hopeless and dull1 is your mouth drooping at the corners1 and becoming a set thin line in the centre1 and is your skin dry1 and sallow1 and parched8 ,study yourself and answer these questions to your own soul1 for in the answer depends the decision whether you really love and trust ,god1 and believe in your own immortal spirit1 or whether you are a mere impostor in the court of faith4 ,the ,object of ,life ,what do you believe to be the object of your life8 ,to be happy and successful1 perhaps you are thinking1 even if you do not answer in those words4 ,that is the idea of the many4 ,meanwhile others1 who have been educated in the melancholy faith of their ancestors1 believe the object of this life is to be miserable1 poor1 and full of sorrow1 that they may wear a crown of glory hereafter4 ,but the clear thinker and careful observer must realize that there is one and only one main object in life--the building of character4 ,he who sets out in early youth with that ambition and purpose1 and keeps to it1 will not only attain his object1 but he will1 too1 attain happiness and true success--for there is no such thing as failure for the man or woman of character4 ,we often apply the two words character and success1 unworthily4 ,we speak of a man of much character when he is merely self-assertive and stubborn1 and we call a man successful1 who has accumulated a fortune1 or achieved fame and a position1 by doubtful methods4 ,then what is character1 and what is success8 ,character is the result of the cultivation of the highest and noblest qualities in human nature1 and putting those qualities to practical use4 ,success is the conquest of the lower and baser self1 and the ability to be useful to one's fellow men4 ,there are men of brain1 wealth and position who are failures1 and there are men of limited abilities and in humble places who are yet successful1 inasmuch as they make the utmost of themselves1 and their opportunities4 ,it makes no difference how lowly your sphere in life may be1 and no matter how limited your environment1 you can build your character if you will4 ,you need no outlay of money1 no assistance from those in power1 no influence4 ,character ,building must be done alone1 and by yourself4 ,the ground must be cleansed of debris1 and the structure must be erected stone by stone4 ,it is dull1 slow1 hard work1 especially the preparation4 ,all preparation is drudgery4 ,when this little whirling globe of ours began to cool in space think what a task lay before it6 ,think of the mass of chaos1 which had to slowly shape itself into mighty1 green1 glad and snow-capped mountains1 fertile vales1 and noble forests4 ,each one of us is a little world1 whirling alone on an individual orbit1 but the divine power is within us1 to grow into symmetry1 beauty1 and perfection if we only realize it4 ,and the happiness of the work1 once we begin it1 is beyond the power of description4 ,there is no other satisfaction can compare with that of looking back across the years and finding that you have grown in self-control1 in charity of judgment1 in a sense of justice1 in generosity1 and in unselfishness4 ,if you are conscious of this growth1 let no lack of material success for one moment disturb you4 ,that will come1 enough for your need1 in time4 ,the man of symmetrically developed character is never a pauper4 ,he is never dependent for more than a temporary period4 ,to possess character is to be useful1 and to be useful is to be independent1 and to be useful and independent1 is to be happy1 even in the midst of sorrow2 for sorrow is not necessarily unhappiness4 ,the man who has made the development of a noble and harmonious character the business of his life1 accepts his sorrows as means of greater growth1 and finds in them an exaltation of spirit which is closely allied to happiness4 ,to such a nature1 absolute wretchedness would only be possible through the loss of self-respect2 the lowering of an ideal or the failure of a principle4 ,would you be happy and successful8 ,then set yourself to build character4 ,seek to be worthy of your own highest commendation4 ,wisdom ,a great many people are attracted to the ,new ,thought of the day1 by its declaration of our right to material wealth1 and by its claim that the mind of man can create1 command1 and control conditions which produce wealth4 ,there is no question concerning the truth of this claim4 ,but woe unto him who cultivates his mental and spiritual powers only for this purpose4 ,his gold shall turn to dross1 his pleasure to ,dead ,sea fruit4 ,he shall be as one who drags a beautiful garment through the mud of the streets1 and while clothed in purple and fine linen is yet a repulsive object4 ,into the ,great ,scheme of ,existence1 as first conceived by the ,creator1 money did not enter4 ,he made this beautiful ,universe1 and all that it contains was meant for the enjoyment of ,his creatures4 ,there was no millionaire and no pauper soul created by ,god4 ,each soul contains the spark of the divine spirit1 and by the realization of that spark1 and all it means1 whatever is desired by mortal man may come to him4 ,but wise is he who remembers the injunction1 ,seek first the kingdom of heaven and all other things shall be added unto you4 ,wise is he who understands the meaning of the words1 ,unto him that hath1 more shall be given4 ,not until you obtain the faculty of being happy through your spiritual and mental faculties1 independent of material conditions1 not until you learn to value wealth only as a means of helpfulness1 can you safely turn your powers of concentration upon the idea of opulence4 ,to demand1 assert1 and command wealth for its mere sensual benefits1 to focus your mind upon it because you desire to shine1 lead1 and triumph1 is to play spiritual football with spiritual dynamite4 ,you may obtain what you seek1 you may accumulate riches1 but at the cost of all that is worth living for4 ,the merely ignorant1 or stupid1 or wholly material man who stumbles into a fortune1 through inheritance1 dogged persistent industry1 or chance1 may enjoy it in his own fashion1 and do no harm in the world4 ,but the man who knows and who has developed his spiritual powers only for the purpose of commanding material gain1 might better have a millstone tied about his neck4 ,for he makes himself a spiritual outcast1 and his money shall never bring him happiness4 ,make1 therefore1 your assertion of opulence the last in your list1 as you make ,love first4 ,call unto yourself spiritual insight1 absolute unselfishness1 desire for universal good1 wisdom1 justice1 and usefulness1 and last of all opulence4 ,think of yourself as possessed of all these qualities before you picture financial independence4 ,for without love for your kind1 without the desire for usefulness and the spiritual insight and the wisdom to be just before being generous1 your money would bring you only temporary pleasure1 and would do the world no good4 ,neither should you labor under the impression that ,god's work is lying undone because you have no fortune to command and wisely distribute where most needed4 ,rest assured if you do the work which lies nearest to you1 relieve such distress as is possible to you1 and keep your faith in the ultimate justice of ,god's ways1 that the world will move on1 and humanity will slowly attain its destined goal1 even if you never become a millionaire4 ,self ,conquest ,every ,new ,idea1 or supposed ,new ,idea1 is a light which attracts the moths4 ,the ,new ,thought is no exception4 ,about it flutter hysterical women1 unbalanced men3 the erratic and the irresponsible4 ,the possibilities of performing miracles1 of healing the sick1 hypnotizing the well1 transforming poverty into wealth1 and changing age to youth1 are the rays of light which flicker through the darkness and draw them into the circle of radiance4 ,the self-indulgent fat woman subscribes to ,new ,thought literature1 pays for a course of lectures1 and goes forth into the ranks of the unbelievers1 proclaiming her power to become a sylph1 and to cause others to become sylphs4 ,the extravagant and inconsiderate rush forth after having heard a discourse upon the power of mind over matter1 and declare that they possess the secret of accumulating a fortune by occult means4 ,the lovers of the marvelous believe that they will become great healers in a brief space of time4 ,not one of these moth converts realizes that the very first step to take in the direction of ,new ,thought is self-conquest4 ,the gourmand does not know that self-indulgence and a gross appetite are incompatible with mental or spiritual growth1 and will be insurmountable obstacles in her path toward symmetry4 ,the spendthrift does not take into consideration the fact that good sense1 thrift and industry1 must aid his mental assertion of wealth1 and the miracle lover does not understand that something greater and more difficult is required than a mere wish to heal before healing powers can be obtained4 ,that the physical body and material conditions can be dominated by the divine spirit in man1 is an incontrovertible fact4 ,but first1 last and always1 the lesser self must be subjugated1 and the weak and unworthy qualities overcome4 ,the woman who desires to reduce her flesh cannot do so by reading occult literature1 or joining mystic circles1 or attending lectures1 unless she permeates herself so thoroughly with spiritual truths that she no longer craves six courses at dinner1 and three meals a day1 and unless she overcomes her dislike for exercise4 ,the man who wishes to control circumstances must love better things than money before he can succeed4 ,he must love1 and respect1 and believe in his ,creator1 and trust the ,divine ,man within himself1 and he must illustrate this love and trust by his daily conduct1 and in his home circle1 and in his business relations4 ,once in a century1 perhaps1 is a man born with great powers already developed to heal the sick1 or to do other seeming miracles4 ,such beings are old souls1 who have obtained diplomas in former lives2 but the majority of us are still in school1 and we cannot become seniors until we pass through the lower grades4 ,we must change ourselves before we can change material conditions3 we must heal our own thoughts and make them sane and normal1 before we can heal bodily disease in others4 ,it is not an immediate process4 ,i have heard an old lady declare that she got religion in the twinkling of an eye1 and she believed all people would be damned and burn in hell fire1 who did not pass through this sudden illumination4 ,it is possible that the religion which can worship a ,god cruel enough to burn his children in fire1 can only be obtained in the twinkling of an eye2 but the reverent1 wholesome1 and beautiful religion of ,new ,thought must be grown into little by little1 through patience1 faith1 and practice4 ,all that it claims to do it can do1 but not instantaneously1 not rapidly4 ,we must first make ourselves over2 after absolute control of our minds has been obtained1 then1 and only then1 may we hope to influence circumstances and health4 ,the ,important ,trifles ,you will find1 in the effort to reach a higher spirituality in your daily life1 that the small things try your patience and your strength more than the greater ones4 ,home life1 like business life1 is composed of an accumulation of trifles4 ,there are people who bear great sorrows with resignation1 and seem to gain a certain dignity and force of character through trouble1 but who are utterly vanquished by trivial annoyances4 ,the old-fashioned orthodox ,christian was frequently of this order4 ,death1 poverty1 and misfortune he bore without complaining1 and became ofttimes a more agreeable companion in times of deepest sorrow4 ,he regarded all such experiences as the will of ,god1 and bowed to them4 ,yet1 if his dinner was late1 his coffee below the standard1 if his eye-glasses were misplaced1 or his toe trodden upon1 he become a raging lion1 and his roar drove his affrighted household into dark corners4 ,there have been neighborhood ,angels1 who watched beside the dying sinner1 sustained orphans and widows1 and endured great troubles sublimely like martyrs4 ,but if a dusty shoe trod upon a freshly washed floor1 or husband or child came tardily to the breakfast-table1 or lingered outside the door after regulation hour for retiring--lo1 the ,angel became a virago1 or a droning mosquito with persistent sting4 ,the ,new ,philosophy demands serenity and patience through small trials1 as well as fortitude in meeting life's larger ills4 ,it demands1 too1 that we seek to avoid giving others unnecessary irritation by a thoughtless disregard of the importance of trifles4 ,a man is more likely to keep calm if he wakes in the night and discovers that the house is on fire1 than he is if1 on being fully prepared to retire1 he finds the only mug on the third story is missing from his wash-stand1 or the cake of toilet-soap he asked for the day before has been forgotten4 ,a mother bears the affliction of a crippled child with more equanimity than she is able to bring to bear upon the continual thoughtlessness of a strong one4 ,to be kind1 means to be thoughtful4 ,the kindest and most loving heart will sometimes forget and be careless2 but it cannot be perpetually forgetful and careless of another's wishes and needs1 even in the merest trifles4 ,concentration ,the ,new ,thought includes concentration of thought1 in its teaching2 and he who learns that important art is not liable to frequently forget small or large duties4 ,it is he who scatters1 instead of concentrates his mind powers1 who keeps himself and others in a state of continual irritation by forgetting1 mislaying1 and losing1 three petty vices which do much to mar domestic or business life4 ,concentration is a most difficult acquirement for the mature mind which has been allowed to grow in the habit of thought scattering4 ,wise is the mother1 and as sure as wise1 who teaches her child to finish each task begun before attempting another1 for that is the first step in concentration4 ,prentice ,mulford1 that great and good pioneer in the field of practical ,new ,thought1 tells us to apply our whole mental powers to whatever we do1 even if it is merely the tying of a shoe1 and to think of nothing else until that shoe is tied1 then to utterly forget the shoe string1 when we turn to another duty or employment4 ,the next lesson in concentration he gives us1 is to repeat the word often1 to impress it upon the mind4 ,and then to declare each day that ,concentration is mine will aid still farther in the acquisition of this great and important quality4 ,meanwhile1 since we can be so fortunate as to always surround ourselves with others who have acquired it1 the student of the ,higher ,philosophy must learn to be serene and self-poised when he encounters life's pigmy worries4 ,he must carry his religion into his bedroom and his office1 and not forget it utterly when he loses his collar-button1 or misses his car1 or finds his office boy has taken a parcel to the wrong address4 ,to build character necessitates a constant watch upon ourselves4 ,the ,new ,thought is not a religion of ,sundays1 but of every day4 ,destiny ,never say that you wish your situation were different6 ,never wish you had some other person's life or troubles or worries4 ,accept your own as a working basis1 the best for you4 ,then go ahead and change whatever displeases you4 ,remember you are the maker and moulder of your own destiny4 ,you do not recall the fact1 but you brought about the present conditions of your destiny in former incarnations4 ,even if you do not believe this1 you must acknowledge that you are here1 and that the situation in which you find yourself seems to be inevitable for the present4 ,but it is not inevitable for the future1 unless you lie down in the furrow and whine1 and wish you were a millionaire1 or a genius1 and rail at the partiality of ,providence4 ,there is no partiality in the ,universe4 ,the whole scheme is well balanced4 ,if you were allowed to change lots with anyone on the face of the earth1 you would complain and find fault in a short time4 ,one of our best known millionaires1 born to opulence1 complains that he has been robbed of the privilege of making his own fortune4 ,he is no happier than you4 ,his confession betrays his weakness of character just as your repining and fault-finding betrays yours4 ,the real worth-while character thanks ,god for its destiny and says1 ,i will show the world what ,i can do with my life4 ,not long ago there was a great trotting-race at ,brighton ,beach4 ,the blind conqueror ,rythmic won five consecutive races4 ,think of it6 ,he did not1 like a mortal man1 shrink back and say ,i am blind--that is a terrible destiny--,i am cursed of ,god--,i will not try to win the race4 ,he just trusted the hand of the ,master at the reins1 did his best1 and won the honors of the season4 ,we are all blind racers on the track of earth4 ,the king1 the millionaire1 the statesman1 the lawmaker1 the beggar1 the laborer1 the cripple1 we are all in the dark4 ,the only thing is to trust the hand of the ,master1 and do our best4 ,believe your position is the right starting point for you1 merely the starting point4 ,it is the shapeless block of stone from which you are to fashion the perfect statue4 ,or it is the mere mud from which you are to mould the clay image1 and later that is to be put into enduring marble4 ,what is uglier or more unattractive than mud8 ,yet think of the glorious conceptions which it imprisons4 ,take the mud of your present environment and thank ,god for it1 and make the image of the future you desire4 ,you can do it--you must do it--you will do it4 ,sympathy ,are you of a sympathetic nature8 ,if so1 do not let your sympathies help to add to the world's miseries4 ,that may seem a strange expression1 but it can be explained if you will listen4 ,much of the misery in the world is the result of imagination4 ,all of it is the result of selfishness and ignorance4 ,but hundreds and thousands of people believe themselves sick1 sorrowful and poverty stricken1 who would be well1 glad and prosperous1 if they only thought themselves so4 ,every time you pour out your sympathy upon these self-made sufferers1 you add to their burden of wrong thought1 and make it just so much more difficult for them to rise out of their troubles4 ,i do not believe all the misfortune in the world is caused by wrong thinking in this life1 or can be done away with by right thinking4 ,the three-year-old child who toddles in front of a trolley car and loses a leg1 while the tired mother is bending over the washtub to keep the wolf of hunger at bay1 cannot be blamed for wrong thinking as the cause of its trouble4 ,neither can the deaf mute or the child born blind or deformed4 ,we must go farther back1 to former lives1 to find the first cause of such misfortunes4 ,no ,new ,thought1 no amount of optimistic theology or philosophy can restore the child's leg1 or ears1 or eyes4 ,it is utter nonsense to say that miracles like these can be performed4 ,there are scores of individuals whom we meet handicapped in life's race by such dire calamities that we spontaneously pour forth our sympathy4 ,but1 even to these1 it were kinder and wiser to give diverting thoughts1 and a new outlook1 and to open up avenues for pleasure1 and entertainment1 and profit1 in place of tears and condolence4 ,sympathy1 without alleviating actions to a sufferer1 is like a cloud without rain to the parched earth4 ,but the great majority of people whom we encounter are making their own crosses1 and we who offer them sympathy1 and condolence1 are but adding to the burden's weight4 ,i do not recommend coldness1 indifference1 or ridicule as a substitute for sympathy4 ,but instead of leading the sick man on to tell you the details of his illness1 and to describe all his symptoms1 while your own body responds with sympathetic aches and pains as you listen1 it is kinder to divert his attention to some cheerful and merry topic1 or to refer to some case like his own which resulted in perfect restoration to health4 ,instead of going down into his underground cave of depression1 bring him out into the wholesome sunlight of your own healthful state1 even if for a moment only1 and impress upon his mind that health belongs to him1 and must return to him4 ,to the man in business trouble the same advice applies4 ,tell him you are sorry for him1 but do not take on his despondency to prove it4 ,talk of the future and all the possibilities it holds for a determined man or woman4 ,make him laugh4 ,speak of trouble as the gymnasium where our moral muscles are developed4 ,answer him that everything he desires is his if he will be persistent and determined in demanding his own4 ,if you put force in your words you will leave an impression4 ,do not go away from the house of trouble in tears1 but leave the troubled ones you called upon smiling as you depart4 ,that is true sympathy4 ,the ,breath ,a man reproved me for my interest in ,new ,thought creeds4 ,the old religion ,i learned at my mother's knee is good enough for me6 he said4 ,it is good enough for anybody6 ,yet this man's mother had always enjoyed poor health1 as the old lady expressed it1 and the man himself was forever talking of his diseases1 his ill luck1 his poverty1 which he said he had been enabled to endure only through the sustaining power of the religion learned at his mother's knee4 ,it would be difficult to convince the man that had his mother taught him the creed of the ,new ,religion he could have changed all these unfortunate conditions4 ,life-long ill health would have been impossible for his mother1 or for him4 ,the old fashioned religion allowed and still allows a human being to breathe like a canary bird4 ,little children go to ,sunday-,school all their young lives1 and grow up to be devout church members1 and never hear one word about the importance of deep breathing4 ,possibly you may think breathing lessons belong to physical culture1 and have no place in religious teachings4 ,there is where you err4 ,in order to develop your whole being1 you must learn how to control body and mind through the spirit4 ,thousands of years ago1 men who gave their entire lives to the study of these things learned the great importance of deep breathing as an aid to religious meditation4 ,by this practice1 systematically observed1 the body is calmed1 the mind is brought into subjection1 and the spirit rises into control4 ,and in addition1 absolute health is achieved4 ,a large portion of our physical ailments result from unused lung cells1 and consequent imperfect circulation of the blood4 ,fill the lungs full--every cell--with fresh air1 two or three times daily1 and do not overload the digestive organs1 and sickness will fly away to the dark regions where it belongs4 ,at least ten minutes morning and night should be given to the breathing exercises4 ,sit upright in a comfortable chair1 alone1 facing the east in the morning and the west at night1 because great magnetic force comes from the direction of the sun4 ,have a window or a door opening to the outer air4 ,place your hands lightly on your knees1 and close your eyes and mouth4 ,leave your spine free1 not touching the chair4 ,wear no compressing garments or bands4 ,inflate the chest and abdominal regions as you inhale deep breaths through the nostrils1 while counting seven slowly4 ,exhale while you count seven4 ,repeat this exercise seven times4 ,think as you inhale of whatever qualities you would like to possess1 and believe that you are inhaling them4 ,select seven qualities--,love1 ,health1 ,wisdom1 ,usefulness1 ,power to ,do ,good1 ,success1 ,opulence--will cover the average human desires4 ,the very unworldly will substitute spiritual knowledge for opulence4 ,fill your mind with the idea that you are drawing in these qualities with your breaths1 and exhaling all that is weak or unworthy4 ,after a few moments you will be conscious of a security and peace new and uplifting4 ,and after a few weeks of steady1 persistent practice of these exercises1 you will find life growing more beautiful to you1 and your strength will be increased tenfold1 both physically and spiritually4 ,generosity ,have you ever observed how invariably your last dollar is restored to you1 with additions1 when you have given it for some worthy purpose8 ,even if the purpose did not prove to be a worthy one1 yet if you thought it so1 and gave your last dollar with spontaneous sympathy and good will1 you were not long left penniless4 ,money is much like a man4 ,if you do not hold it too jealously it returns to you the more readily4 ,never hesitate to give aid where you feel there is sore and pressing need1 for fear you will be left in want yourself4 ,you will not be4 ,this does not mean that indiscriminate charity is commendable4 ,it does not mean that you should lend money to everyone who asks1 or lift and carry the burdens of everyone who is ready to lean upon you4 ,it is as wrong to encourage the man addicted to the vice of borrowing1 as the one with the vice of alcohol or drugs4 ,one depends upon his acquaintances to tide him over hard places1 instead of upon his own strength of character1 and the other depends upon stimulants for the same purpose4 ,the too ready lender is almost as great an evil to humanity as rum or opium1 since he too helps a man to kill his own better nature and destroy his self-respect4 ,if you were able and willing to pay rents of all the poor people you know1 and clothe their children1 you would soon produce a condition of settled pauperism among them4 ,large and frequent favors of a financial nature are an injury to anyone1 even if it is your son or brother4 ,let no man lean on anyone save ,god and his own divine self4 ,but little helps1 when they are unexpected1 arouse hope and awaken new faith and new ambition in a discouraged soul4 ,look about you for such souls1 the worn and weary father of a brood of hungry children1 the widow struggling with adverse fate in an effort to clothe and educate a child1 the tired shop girl who uses all her earnings to sustain her parents1 the ambitious boy or girl eager for a chance in life1 and the poor cripple or invalid seeking health4 ,you will find them all about you4 ,do not be afraid to use a dollar here or there to give these worthy ones a happy surprise1 no matter how poor you are4 ,it is an insult to the ,opulent ,creator to suppose you will suffer want and poverty if you help those who are in temporary misfortune4 ,you will not4 ,ofttimes we read and hear of the open-handed generous man who helped everybody1 and who never refused to aid a needy brother1 and who ended his life in penury because of his generosity4 ,never believe these tales until you investigate them4 ,invariably you will find not generosity but extravagance and utter lack of forethought1 caused the man's financial ruin4 ,i recall a gifted young woman who gave freely to all who asked her assistance and who died a lingering death as a charity patient in a hospital4 ,yet this young woman had expended ten dollars on foolish and rapid living where she gave one in charity2 it was her wasteful extravagance1 not her open heart of sympathy1 which made her a pauper4 ,it has been my observation that dollars planted in the soil of benevolence grow into harvests of prosperity4 ,the man who is not afraid to use his small means to assist others need not fear poverty4 ,woman's ,opportunity ,the greatest opportunity to better the world which can come to any woman is through the experience of maternity4 ,the power of prenatal influence which a mother possesses is awe-inspiring to realize4 ,it has been said upon excellent authority that ,napoleon's mother read ,roman history with absorbing interest during the months preceding his birth4 ,think of the nations and the centuries influenced by that one woman's mental concentration6 ,the geography of the world was changed by her power of focused thought4 ,in all probability ,napoleon's mother did not know what she was doing2 she was not conscious of the destiny her mind was shaping for her unborn child1 nor of the law governing such conditions4 ,women have been strangely ignorant of this vital truth2 until recent years it has not been considered a proper theme for tongue or pen1 and to-day the great majority of young women marry absolutely uninformed upon the subject of prenatal influence4 ,men are equally oblivious of any knowledge regarding the matter1 and consequently make no special effort to keep the expectant mother of their offspring happy1 hopeful1 or free of anxiety and worry during this period4 ,often they do not strive to aid them in their own attempts to bestow a desirable temperament upon the unborn child1 but heedlessly and needlessly aggravate or grieve the mind which is stamping its impress upon an unborn soul4 ,it is just here that the ,new ,thought can perform its greatest miracles of good4 ,even the woman who has not been enlightened upon the law of ante-birth-influence will1 if a true disciple of the ,religion of ,right-living1 bring healthy and helpful children into the world1 because her normal state of mind will be inclusive of those three qualities2 and her continued and repeated assertions of her own divine nature will shape the brain of her child in optimistic and reverential mould4 ,there is the old law of the continual falling of the drop of water upon the stone to be verified in the spiritual plane4 ,continual assertions of a mother that her child will be all that she desires it to be1 will wear away the stone of inherited tendencies1 and bring into physical being a malleable nature wholly amenable to the after influences and efforts she may bring to bear upon it4 ,it is a tremendous responsibility which rests upon the woman who knows she is to be a mother of a human being4 ,a hundred ancestors may have contributed certain qualities to that invisible and formless atom which contains an immortal soul1 yet the mother's mind has the power to remake and rebuild all those characteristics1 and to place over them her own dominating impulse1 whether for good or ill4 ,surely1 if success in the arts or the sciences is worthy of years of devoted attention and interested effort1 the moulding of a noble human being is worth eight or nine months of concentrated thought and unflagging zeal of purpose4 ,every expectant mother should set herself about the important business ,god has entrusted her with1 unafraid1 and confident of her divine mission4 ,she should direct her mind into wholesome and optimistic channels2 she should read inspiring books and think loving and large thoughts4 ,she should pray and aspire6 and always should she carry in her mind the ideal of the child she would mother1 and command from the great ,source of all ,opulence the qualities she would desire to perpetuate4 ,and they will be given4 ,balance ,avoid all strained and abstruse language1 when conversing with people who may not have entered this realm of thought4 ,do not allow anyone to think of you as a lunatic1 or a crank1 unnecessarily4 ,of course there are people in the world who consider everyone a lunatic who holds an opinion differing from their own4 ,but it can do you1 or your philosophy1 no good to thrust its most difficult phases before the minds of the unawakened1 by vague and high flown expressions4 ,i once chanced to call upon a lady who had1 quite unknown to me1 entered upon the study of ,christian ,science4 ,she remarked to me1 almost as soon as the greetings were exchanged1 ,i had a claim to meet for three days this week1 but ,i have come through it and am victorious4 ,i supposed the lady referred to some business matter1 perhaps a legal affair1 and waited an explanation4 ,after considerable rambling conversation1 ,i managed to grasp the fact that the woman had been sick in the house three days1 but now was well4 ,she considered her illness a mere claim her mortal mind had made which she had to meet and combat4 ,all this sort of talk is very ridiculous4 ,we need not talk about every ailment which attacks us as we move along toward the condition of perfect health which belongs to us6 ,but if we do speak of indisposition1 let us use common sense language4 ,what we want to realize is1 that we are in the body1 but that the spirit can control bodily conditions1 if we give it the ascendency1 to the extent of keeping us well1 moral1 useful1 and comfortable even in the midst of sickness1 vice1 indolence and poverty4 ,we can rise above these false elements1 and subjugate them4 ,meanwhile we cannot live without food1 clothes and money4 ,despise and ignore these vulgar things as we may assume to do1 we yet must have them4 ,it brings only ridicule upon ourselves and our ideas to make this pretense of despising the necessities of life4 ,to make them secondary in our thoughts to spiritual knowledge is right and wise1 but this is better illustrated by our lives and conduct than by our words4