LESSON II. THE SELF-MASTERY: SELF-DIRECTION POWER OF CONCENTRATION

Man from a psychological standpoint of development is not what heshould be. He does not possess the self-mastery, theself-directing power of concentration that is his by right.

He has not trained himself in a way to promote his self-mastery.Every balanced mind possesses the faculties whose chief dutiesare to engineer, direct and concentrate the operations of themind, both in a mental and physical sense. Man must learn tocontrol not only his mind but his bodily movements.

When the controlling faculties (autonomic) are in an untrainedcondition, the impulses, passions, emotions, thoughts, actionsand habits of the person suffer from lack of regulation, and theprocedure of mental concentration is not good, not because themind is necessarily weak in the autonomic department of thefaculties, but because the mind is not properly trained.

When the self-regulating faculties are not developed theimpulses, appetites, emotions and passions have full swing to doas they please and the mind becomes impulsive, restless,emotional and irregular in its action. This is what makes mentalconcentration poor.

When the self-guiding faculties are weak in development, theperson always lacks the power of mental concentration. Thereforeyou cannot learn to concentrate until you develop those verypowers that qualify you to be able to concentrate. So if youcannot concentrate one of the following is the cause:

1. "Deficiency of the motor centers."2. "An impulsive and emotional mind."3. "An untrained mind."

The last fault can soon be removed by systematic practice. It iseasiest to correct.

The impulsive and emotional state of mind can best be correctedby restraining anger, passion and excitement, hatred, strongimpulses, intense emotions, fretfulness, etc. It is impossible toconcentrate when you are in any of these excited states.

These can be naturally decreased by avoiding such food and drinksas have nerve weakening or stimulating influences, or a tendencyto stir up the passions, the impulses and the emotions; it is avery good practice to watch and associate with those persons thatare steady, calm, controlled and conservative.

Correcting the deficiency of the motor centers is harder becauseas the person's brain is undeveloped he lacks will power.

To cure this takes some time. Persons so afflicted may benefit byreading and studying my course, "The Master Mind."[*]

[*] To be published by Advanced Thought Publishing Co., Chicago,Ill.

Many have the idea that when they get into a negative state theyare concentrating, but this is not so. They may be meditating,though not concentrating. Those that are in a negative state agood deal of the time cannot, as a rule, concentrate very well;they develop instead abstraction of the mind, or absence of mind.Their power of concentration becomes weaker and they find itdifficult to concentrate on anything. They very often injure thebrain, if they keep up this state. To be able to concentrate youmust possess strength of mind. The person that is feeble-mindedcannot concentrate his mind, because of lack of will. The mindthat cannot center itself on a special subject, or thought, isweak; also the mind that cannot draw itself from a subject orthought is weak. But the person that can center his mind on anyproblem, no matter what it is, and remove any unharmoniousimpressions has strength of mind. Concentration, first, last andall the time, means strength of mind.

Through concentration a person is able to collect and hold hismental and physical energies at work. A concentrated mind paysattention to thoughts, words, acts and plans. The person whoallows his mind to roam at will will never accomplish a greatdeal in the world. He wastes his energies. If you work, think,talk and act aimlessly, and allow your brain to wander from yoursubject to foreign fields, you will not be able to concentrate.You concentrate at the moment when you say, "I want to, I can, Iwill."

Some Mistakes Some People Make. If you waste your time readingsensational stories or worthless newspaper items, you excite theimpulsive and the emotional faculties, and this means you areweakening your power of concentration. You will not be a freeengineer, able to pilot yourself to success.

Concentration of the mind can only be developed by watchingyourself closely. All kinds of development commence with closeattention. You should regulate your every thought and feeling.When you commence to watch yourself and your own acts and alsothe acts of other people, you use the faculties of autonomy, and,as you continue to do so, you improve your faculties, until intime you can engineer your every thought, wish and plan. To beable to focalize the mind on the object at hand in a consciousmanner leads to concentration. Only the trained mind canfocalize. To hold a thought before it until all the facultiesshall have had time to consider that thought is concentration.

The person that cannot direct his thoughts, wishes, plans,resolutions and studies cannot possibly succeed to the fullestextent. The person that is impulsive one moment and calm the nexthas not the proper control over himself. He is not a master ofhis mind, nor of his thoughts, feelings and wishes. Such a personcannot be a success. When he becomes irritated, he irritatesothers and spoils all chances of any concerned doing their best.But the person that can direct his energies and hold them at workin a concentrated manner controls his every work and act, andthereby gains power to control others. He can make his every moveserve a useful end and every thought a noble purpose.

In this day the man that gets excited and irritable should belooked upon as an undesirable person. The person of good breedingnow speaks with slowness and deliberation. He is cultivating moreand more of a reposeful attitude. He is consciously attentive andholds his mind to one thing at a time. He shuts out everythingelse. When you are talking to anyone give him your sole andundivided attention. Do not let your attention wander or bediverted. Give no heed to anything else, but make your will andintellect act in unison.

Start out in the morning and see how self-poised you can remainall day. At times take an inventory of your actions during theday and see if you have kept your determination. If not, see thatyou do tomorrow. The more self-poised you are the better willyour concentration be. Never be in too much of a hurry; and,remember, the more you improve your concentration, the greaterare your possibilities. Concentration means success, because youare better able to govern yourself and centralize your mind; youbecome more in earnest in what you do and this almost invariablyimproves your chances for success.

When you are talking to a person have your own plans in mind.Concentrate your strength upon the purpose you are talking about.Watch his every move, but keep your own plans before you. Unlessyou do, you will waste your energy and not accomplish as much asyou should.

I want you to watch the next person you see that has thereputation of being a strong character, a man of force. Watch andsee what a perfect control he has over his body. Then I want youto watch just an ordinary person. Notice how he moves his eyes,arms, fingers; notice the useless expenditure of energy. Thesemovements all break down the vital cells and lessen the person'spower in vital and nerve directions. It is just as important foryou to conserve your nervous forces as it is the vital forces. Asan example we see an engine going along the track very smoothly.Some one opens all the valves and the train stops. It is the samewith you. If you want to use your full amount of steam, you mustclose your valves and direct your power of generating mentalsteam toward one end. Center your mind on one purpose, one plan,one transaction.

There is nothing that uses up nerve force so quickly asexcitement. This is why an irritable person is never magnetic; heis never admired or loved; he does not develop those finerqualities that a real gentleman possesses. Anger, sarcasm andexcitement weaken a person in this direction. The person thatallows himself to get excited will become nervous in time,because he uses up his nerve forces and his vital energies. Theperson that cannot control himself and keep from becoming excitedcannot concentrate.

When the mind can properly concentrate, all the energy of everymicroscopic cell is directed into one channel and then there is apowerful personal influence generated. Everyone possesses manymillions of little trembling cells, and each one of these has acenter where life and energy are stored up and generated. If thisenergy is not wasted but conserved and controlled, this person isinfluential, but when it is the opposite, he is not influentialor successful.

Just as it is impossible for a steam engine to run with all itsvalves open, so is it impossible for you to waste your energy andrun at your top speed. Each neuron in the gray layers of thebrain is a psychic center of thought and action, each one ispulsating an intelligent force of some kind, and when this force,your thoughts and motions, are kept in cheek by a conservative,systematic and concentrated mind, the result will be magnetism,vitality and health. The muscles, bones, ligaments, feet, handsand nerves, etc., are agents for carrying out the mandates of themind. The sole purpose of the volitional faculties is to move thephysical mechanism as the energy travels along the wires ofnerves and muscles. Just for that reason, if you throw avoluntary control over these messages, impulses, thoughts,emotions, physical movements and over these physical instrumentsyou develop your faculties of self-mastery and to the extent yousucceed here in proportion will you develop the power ofconcentration.

Any exercise or work that excites the mind, stimulates thesenses, calls the emotions and appetites into action, confuses,terrifies or emotionalizes, weakens the power of concentration.This is why all kind of excitement is bad. This is the reason whypersons who drink strong drinks, who allow themselves to get intofits of temper, who fight, who eat stimulating food, who sing anddance and thus develop their emotions, who are sudden, vehementand emotional, lack the power to concentrate. But those whoseactions are slower and directed by their intelligence developconcentration. Sometimes dogmatic, wilful, excitable persons canconcentrate, but it is spasmodic, erratic concentration insteadof controlled and uniform concentration. Their energy works byspells; sometimes they have plenty, other times very little; itis easily excited; easily wasted. The best way to understand itis to compare it with the discharge of a gun. If the gun goes offwhen you want it to, it accomplishes the purpose, but if it goesoff before you are ready for it, you will not only wasteammunition, but it is also likely to do some damage. That is justwhat most persons do. They allow their energy to explode, thusnot only wasting it but endangering others. They waste theirpower, their magnetism and so injure their chance of success.Such persons are never well liked and never will be until theygain control over themselves.

It will be necessary for them to practice many different kinds ofconcentration exercises, and to keep them up for some time. Theymust completely overcome their sudden, erratic thoughts, andregulate their emotions and movements. They must from morning tonight train the mind to be steady, and direct and keep theenergies at work.

The lower area of the brain is the store house of the energy.Most all persons have all the dynamic energy they need if theywould concentrate it. They have the machine, but they must alsohave the engineer, or they will not go very far. The engineer isthe self-regulating, directing power. The person that does notdevelop his engineering qualities will not accomplish much inlife. The good engineer controls his every act. All work assistsin development. By what you do you either advance or degenerate.This is a good idea to keep always in mind. When you areuncertain whether you should do something or not, just thinkwhether by doing it you will grow or deteriorate, and actaccordingly.

I am a firm believer in "work when you work, and play when youplay." When you give yourself up to pleasure you can developconcentration by thinking of nothing else but pleasure; when yourmind dwells on love, think of nothing but this and you will findyou can develop a more intense love than you ever had before.When you concentrate your mind on the "you" or real self, and itswonderful possibilities, you develop concentration and a higheropinion of yourself. By doing this systematically, you developmuch power, because you cannot be systematic withoutconcentrating on what you are doing. When you walk out into thecountry and inhale the fresh air, studying vegetation, trees,etc., you are concentrating. When you see that you are at yourplace of business at a certain time each morning you aredeveloping steadiness of habit and becoming systematic. If youform the habit of being on time one morning, a little late thenext, and still later the following one, you are not developingconcentration, but whenever you fix your mind on a certainthought and hold your mind on it at successive intervals, youdevelop concentration.

If you hold your mind on some chosen object, you centralize yourattention, just like the lens of the camera centralizes on acertain landscape. Therefore always hold your mind on what youare doing, no matter what it is. Keep a careful watch overyourself, for unless you do your improvement will be very slow.

Practice inhaling long, deep breaths, not simply for theimprovement of health, although that is no small matter, but alsofor the purpose of developing more power, more love, more life.All work assists in development.

You may think it foolish to try to develop concentration bytaking muscular exercises, but you must not forget that the mindis associated with muscle and nerve. When you steady your nervesand muscles, you steady your mind, but let your nerves get out oforder and your mind will become erratic and you will not possessthe power of direction, which, in other words, is concentration.Therefore you understand how important exercises that steady thenerves and muscles are in developing concentration.

Everyone is continually receiving impulses that must be directedand controlled if one is to lead a successful life. That is thereason why a person must control the movements of his eyes, feet,fingers, etc.; this is another reason why it is important tocontrol his breathing. The slow, deep, prolonged exhalations areof wonderful value. They steady the circulation, the heartaction, muscles and nerves of the mind. If the heart flutters,the circulation is not regular, and when the lung action isuneven, the mind becomes unsteady and not fit for concentration.This is why controlled breathing is very important as afoundation for physical health.

You must not only concentrate your mind, but also the action ofthe eyes, ears and fingers. Each of these contain miniature mindsthat are controlled by the master engineer. You will develop muchquicker if you thoroughly realize this.

If you have ever associated with big men, or read theirbiographies, you will find that they usually let the others dothe talking. It is much easier to talk than it is to listen.There is no better exercise for concentration than to pay closeattention when some one is talking. Besides learning from whatthey have to say, you may develop both mental and physicalconcentration.

When you shake hands with some one just think of your hand ascontaining hundreds of individual minds, each having anintelligence of its own. When you put this feeling into your handshake it shows personality. When you shake hands in a listlessway, it denotes timidity, lack of force and power of personality.When the hand grip is very weak and stiff, the person has littlelove in his nature, no passion and no magnetism. When the handshake is just the opposite, you will find that the nature isalso. The loveless person is non-magnetic and he shows that he isby his non-magnetic hand shake. When two developed souls shakehands, their clasps are never light. There is a thrill that goesthrough both when the two currents meet. Love arouses theopposite currents of the positive and negative natures. Whenthere is no love, life loses its charm. The hand quickly showswhen love is being aroused. This is why you should study the artof hand shaking and develop your social affections. A person thatloves his kind reflects love, but a person that hates reflectshate. The person with a bad nature, a hateful disposition, evilthoughts and feeling is erratic, freakish and fitful. When youallow yourself to become irritable, watch how you breathe and youwill learn a valuable lesson. Watch how you breathe when you arehappy. Watch your breathing when you harbor hate. Watch how youbreathe when you feel in love with the whole world and nobleemotions thrill you. When filled with good thoughts, you breathea plentiful supply of oxygen into your lungs and love fills yoursoul. Love develops a person, physically, mentally and socially.Breathe deeply when you are happy and you will gain life andstrength; you will steady your mind and you will develop yourpower of concentration and become magnetic and powerful.

If you want to get more out of life you must think more of love.Unless you have real affection for something, you have nosentiment, no sweetness, no magnetism. So arouse your loveaffections by your will and enter into a fuller life.

The hand of love always magnetizes, but it must be steady andcontrolled. Love can be concentrated in your hand shake, and thisis one of the best ways to influence another.

The next time you feel yourself becoming irritable, use your willand be patient. This is a very good exercise in self-control. Itwill help you to keep patient if you will breathe slowly anddeeply. If you find you are commencing to speak fast, justcontrol yourself and speak slowly and clearly. Keep from eitherraising or lowering your voice and concentrate on the fact thatyou are determined to keep your poise, and you will improve yourpower of concentration.

When you meet people of some consequence, assume a reposefulattitude before them. Do this at all times. Watch both them andyourself. Static exercises develop the motor faculties andincrease the power of concentration. If you feel yourself gettingirritable, nervous or weak, stand squarely on your feet with yourchest up and inhale deeply and you will see that yourirritability will disappear and a silent calm will pass over you.

If you are in the habit of associating with nervous, irritablepeople, quit it until you grow strong in the power ofconcentration, because irritable, angry, fretful, dogmatic anddisagreeable people will weaken what powers of resistance youhave.

Any exercises that give you better control of the ears, fingers,eyes, feet, help you to steady your mind; when your eye issteady, your mind is steady. One of the best ways to study aperson is to watch his physical movements, for, when we study hisactions, we are studying his mind. Because actions are theexpressions of the mind. As the mind is, so is the action. If itis uneasy, restless, erratic, unsteady, its actions are the same.When it is composed, the mind is composed. Concentration meanscontrol of the mind and body. You cannot secure control over onewithout the other.

Many people who seem to lack ambition have sluggish minds. Theyare steady, patient and seemingly have good control, but thisdoes not say they are able to concentrate. These people areindolent, inactive, slow and listless, because they lack energy;they do not lose control because they have little force tocontrol. They have no temper and it therefore cannot disturbthem. Their actions are steady because they possess littleenergy. The natural person is internally strong, energetic andforceful, but his energy, force and strength, thoughts andphysical movements are well under his control.

If a person does not have energy, both mental and physical, hemust develop it. If he has energy which he cannot direct and holdto a point he must learn to do so. A man may be very capable,but, unless he Wills to control his abilities, they will not dohim any good.

We hear so much talk about the benefit of physical culture, butthe real benefit of this is really lost sight of. There isnothing that holds the faculties at work in a sustained andcontinuous manner as static exercises do. For, as stated before,when you learn to control the body, you are gaining control overthe mind.