"This mental attitude is our personality and is composed of the thoughts which we have been creating in our own mind; therefore, if we wish a change in conditions all that is necessary is to change our thought; this will in turn change our mental attitude, which will in turn change our personality, which will in turn change the persons, things and conditions, or the experiences with which we meet in life.
It is however no easy matter to change the mental attitude, but by persistent effort may it be accomplished; the mental attitude is patterned after the mental pictures which have been photographed on the brain; if you do not like the pictures, destroy the negatives and create new pictures; this is the art of visualization." ~ Charles Haanel, The Master Key
"Sweeping, definite, gentle, persistent." ~ John Randolph Price
~*~*~
It is no easy matter to change our mental attitude.
Charles knew it way back in 1912.
John knew it in the 80s.
You know it, right this minute.
This minute that likely has some vague, or perhaps very distinct, nagging thought rolling around in the bowling alley of your mind, this thought that keeps showing up and that you keep giving credence to.
You think this thought, even though you might have done some other thinking that arrived at the conclusion that it really didn't serve you to think that thought any more.
You get what your contribution is, on some level, to the undesirable relationships and circumstances in your life, and you genuinely want to do something about that.
You wish that nagging thought would just go away, and it doesn't just go away.
Well, it can't, because you've thought about it and activated it enough that it's going to be around for awhile, just like the cigarette smoke on your clothes and in your hair after you leave the bowling alley.
That's where John's advice comes in.
"Sweeping, definite, gentle, persistent."
That other thinking, the one where you realize that the first thought doesn't serve you and that you want it to leave--it's got to be sweeping, definite, gentle and persistent.
That other thinking has to be of similar weight and proportion and size to what you are training it to take the place of.
Ponder for a moment how many times you have thought the nagging thought.
Given that we think upwards of 60,000 thoughts a day, the actual number of times could be quite staggering.
That's the precedence you're working with here.
You gotta wanna enjoy the freedom from that nagging thought so much that you are willing to put at least as much effort into that other thinking as you have the nagging thought.
It's only fair.
Sweeping, definite, gentle, persistent.
Of course that nagging thought didn't start out to be the gargantuan bugger it is today.
It started out small, very small, and accumulated power a little bit every day.
It relied on the measly influence of negativity to make its way to the top, too.
And you've got a much more effective tool this time around, if you choose to use it.
Positive thought.
Choosing to go this route will give you palpable, tangible evidence that you are making headway, every time you feel the relief that will come when you make the effort.
Relief equals power. Moving up the emotional scale one rung at a time gives you your power back.
And the amount of time necessary to reroute your thinking won't take as long as you've been mired in that nagging thought.
Could be decades we're dealing with there, right?
It will take as long as you decide it will take.
You just have to listen to that small voice in your head that constantly reminds you that there's supposed to be more to life than THIS.
You've just gotta wanna destroy those negatives, rearrange those pixels, regrind the holes in the bowling ball.
You gotta wanna feel the relief, feel good more of the time, feel in charge of your life.
You gotta wanna.
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