The Law of Mental Control
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YOUR thoughts are either faithful servants or
tyrannical masters - just as you allow them to be. You have the say about it;
take your choice. They will either go about your work under direction of the
firm will, doing it the best they know how, not only in your waking hours, but
when you are asleep - some of our best mental work being performed for us when
our conscious mentality is at rest, as is evidenced by the fact that when the
morning comes we find troublesome problems have been worked out for us during
the night, after we had dismissed them from our minds - apparently; or they
will ride all over us and make us their slaves if we are foolish enough to
allow them to do so. More than half the people of the world are slaves of every
vagrant thought which may see fit to torment them.
Your mind is given you for your good and for
your own use - not to use you. There are very few people who seem to realize
this and who understand the art of managing the mind. The key to the mystery
is Concentration. A little practice will develop within every man the power to
use the mental machine properly. When you have some mental work to do
concentrate upon it to the exclusion of everything else, and you will find that
the mind will get right down to business - to the work at hand - and matters
will be cleared up in no time. There is an absence of friction, and all waste
motion or lost power is obviated. Every pound of energy is put to use, and
every revolution of the mental driving wheel counts for something. It pays to
be able to be a competent mental engineer.
And the man who understands how to run his
mental engine knows that one of the important things is to be able to stop it
when the work has been done. He does not keep putting coal in the furnace, and
maintaining a high pressure after the work is finished, or when the day’s
portion of the work has been done, and the fires should be banked until the
next day. Some people act as if the engine should be kept running whether there
was any work to be done or not, and then they complain if it gets worn out and
wobbles and needs repairing. These mental engines are fine machines, and need
intelligent care.
To those who are acquainted with the laws of
mental control it seems absurd for one to lie awake at night fretting about the
problems of the day, or more often, of the morrow. It is just as easy to slow
down the mind as it is to slow down an engine, and thousands of people are
learning to do this in these days of New Thought. The best way to do it is to
think of something else - as far different
from the obtruding thought as possible. There
is no use fighting an objectionable thought with the purpose of “downing” it -
that is a great waste of energy, and the more you keep on saying, “I won’t
think of this thing!” the more it keeps on coming into your mind, for you are
holding it there for the purpose of hitting it. Let it go; don’t give it
another thought; fix the mind on something entirely different, and keep the
attention there by an effort of the will. A little practice will do much for
you in this direction. There is only room for one thing at a time in the focus
of attention; so put all your attention upon one thought, and the others will
sneak off. Try it for yourself.
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