The Power of Concentration

foundation of unchangeable truth.

As most people are very different it is impossible to give
instructions that will be of the same value to all. The author
has endeavored in these lessons to awaken that within the soul
which perhaps the book does not express. So study these lessons
as a means of awakening and training that which is within
yourself. Let all your acts and thoughts have the intensity and
power of concentration.

To really get the full benefit of these lessons you should read a
page, then close the book and thoughtfully recall its ideas. If
you will do this you will soon cultivate a concentrated mental
habit, which will enable you to read with ordinary rapidity and
remember all that you read.



LESSON I. CONCENTRATION FINDS THE WAY

Everyone has two natures. One wants us to advance and the other
wants to pull us back. The one that we cultivate and concentrate
on decides what we are at the end. Both natures are trying to
gain control. The will alone decides the issue. A man by one
supreme effort of the will may change his whole career and almost
accomplish miracles. You may be that man. You can be if you Will
to be, for Will can find a way or make one.

I could easily fill a book, of cases where men plodding along in
a matter-of-fact way, were all at once aroused and as if
awakening from a slumber they developed the possibilities within
them and from that time on were different persons. You alone can
decide when the turning point will come. It is a matter of choice
whether we allow our diviner self to control us or whether we
will be controlled by the brute within us. No man has to do
anything he does not want to do. He is therefore the director of
his life if he wills to be. What we are to do, is the result of
our training. We are like putty, and can be completely controlled
by our will power.

Habit is a matter of acquirement. You hear people say: "He comes
by this or that naturally, a chip off the old block," meaning
that he is only doing what his parents did. This is quite often
the case, but there is no reason for it, for a person can break a
habit just the moment he masters the "I will." A man may have
been a "good-for-nothing" all his life up to this very minute,
but from this time on he begins to amount to something. Even old
men have suddenly changed and accomplished wonders. "I lost my
opportunity," says one. That may be true, but by sheer force of
will, we can find a way to bring us another opportunity. There is
no truth in the saying that opportunity knocks at our door but
once in a lifetime. The fact is, opportunity never seeks us; we
must seek it. What usually turns out to be one man's opportunity,
was another man's loss. In this day one man's brain is matched
against another's. It is often the quickness of brain action that
determines the result. One man thinks "I will do it," but while
he procrastinates the other goes ahead and does the work. They
both have the same opportunity. The one will complain of his lost
chance. But it should teach him a lesson, and it will, if he is
seeking the path that leads to success.

Many persons read good books, but say they do not get much good
out of them. They do not realize that all any book or any lesson
course can do is to awaken them to their possibilities; to
stimulate them to use their will power. You may teach a person
from now until doom's day, but that person will only know what he
learns himself. "You can lead him to the fountain, but you can't
make him drink."

One of the most beneficial practices I know of is that of looking
for the good in everyone and everything, for there is good in all
things. We encourage a person by seeing his good qualities and we
also help ourselves by looking for them. We gain their good
wishes, a most valuable asset sometimes. We get back what we give
out. The time comes when most all of us need encouragement; need
buoying up. So form the habit of encouraging others, and you will
find it a wonderful tonic for both those encouraged and yourself,
for you will get back encouraging and uplifting thoughts.

Life furnishes us the opportunity to improve. But whether we do
it or not depends upon how near we live up to what is expected of
us. The first of each month, a person should sit down and examine
the progress he has made. If he has not come up to "expectations"
he should discover the reason, and by extra exertion measure up
to what is demanded next time. Every time that we fall behind
what we planned to do, we lose just so much for that time is gone
forever. We may find a reason for doing it, but most excuses are
poor substitutes for action. Most things are possible. Ours may
be a hard task, but the harder the task, the greater the reward.
It is the difficult things that really develop us, anything that
requires only a small effort, utilizes very few of our faculties,