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life, mind, success, personnel, relaxation, suggestion, control, happiness, lives, feelings, act, exercises, self-confidence, transform, techniques.

CHRISTIAN GODEFROY is a specialist in positive thinking and auto-suggestion.

He has given training seminars to over 6,000 senior company personnel around the world on self-confidence, communication and relaxation.

Today he concentrates on publishing books about personal and professional success and about health and runs his own highly successful publishing companies in France and Switzerland.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Before using a new computer or a camera you are sure to read the user's guide carefully in order to avoid problems.

You can then take pride in making proper use of your equipment, which will probably give you many years of excellent service.

We possess everything we need to be happy, efficient, prosperous, human beings, to enjoy good health and make a success of our lives.

Why is it, then, that our lives so often become filled with misery, complexes, problems, discouragement and depression?

Why is it that we so rarely seem able to really live, to relax and be happy?

Well, even if we started out in life with an excellent 'machine' at out disposal, no one provided us with a user's guide.

You don't learn anything about the art of living at school.

And if we are unhappy, it is simply because we make ourselves unhappy.

We use only a tenth of the capacity of our 'machine'.

And yet every one of us possesses untold, unexploited treasures and unlimited resources.

But it's never too late to learn!

This book will teach you how to make better use of your 'machine' and become successful in all areas of your life.

It contains a lot more than advice or recommendations.

This is a practical course which will stay with you for the rest of your days, and which, in a short time, will guide you to the summit of the art of living and success.

Its chapters are simple and concrete, and contain numerous practical applications in areas like re-educating yourself and mastering day-to-day living.

You won't be exposed to a lot of theoretical information.

Of course, the method does explain what things like adaptation, self-confidence, happiness, relaxation and so on consist of.

But above all it shows you how to adapt, how to have more self-confidence, how to be happy, how to relax.

It will help you discover for yourself exactly why you are worth a hundred times more than you think you are, since you already possess the key to your own liberation...

You're Worth a Hundred Times More Than...

1. Find a place where you can be alone for a while, in your bedroom, or some quiet place removed from noise, with no radio, music or television.

2. Sit down, get comfortable, and start reading the method aloud (this is very important).

3. Underline anything that strikes you as being important.

4. Answer the lesson's questionnaire and do the suggested exercises.

5. Continue in this way, covering one lesson per week.

We are about to begin working together on a method for success through personal development.

This practical method requires no homework, no study, nor does it include any written exams.

However, throughout your reading you will need a pencil.

If you don't have one handy, stop reading right now and go and get one!

Whenever you read something that strikes you as important, underline it.

Don't be afraid to 'mess up' these pages: they are there to help you.

We should state that this method of success through personal development is very easy to understand, as you will soon see for yourself.

The only long word, the only phrase that may be difficult to understand, has just been used: personal development.

Let's take a quick look at what it means.

You know what psychology is, don't you?

You also know that we You're Worth a Hundred Times More Than...

can talk about psychology as applied to child education, to sales, industry, the workplace, and so on.

Personal development is psychology applied to the way you live.

In other words, it is the art of living your everyday life.

So you aren't going to be exposed to any psychological theories, but rather you are going to 'live' what psychology teaches us.

And that is precisely what personal development is all about: a collection of techniques for living better; the art of living is a collection of techniques for fulfilling yourself.

It means being in better health, enjoying your work more, doing a better job of raising your children, being happier in a relationship, being more successful in your understandings, being more efficient, becoming a happier person - in short, feeling better about yourself.

This method for success isn't going to change your life in some magical way, in just a few hours.

But it is actually going to transform you, without any miracles!

2. For the method to do its work of transformation, you must be You're Worth a Hundred Times More Than...

This method is a beginning, a first step, an 'initiation' to a better life.

Now let's have a little fun and look at some of the 'viruses' that may hinder our efforts on the path to success.

Some of these viruses may continue threatening your progress throughout the course of the method.

So if something you read in the method bothers you, ask yourself if you exhibit any symptoms of the following viruses (I'm going to describe just a few - you may very well discover some of your own!).

So if, after your first week, you find yourself saying, 'But I knew all that already!'

don't forget to add: 'What I already knew I am now going to put into practice in my everyday life.'

Symptoms: sufferers tend to believe that whatever they are told is not true, that 'it just can't be like that!', that something is too good to be true, too simple to be effective, absolutely impossible.

Would you like to know whether you have trouble adapting?

Think about each of the following questions and answer as truthfully as you can.

· Do I feel uncomfortable when I'm introduced to someone I have never met before?

· Do I like participating in new group situations?

· Do I enjoy going to places alone, places where I know I'll meet people?

· Do I get upset if my partner or children get home late?

· Am I afraid of seeing my children grow up?

· Do I long for the 'good old days'?

· Do I have trouble coping with all the changes in our fast-paced world (work, school, fashion, relationships)?

· Do I feel comfortable with my work?

· Do I get upset if dinner isn't ready on time, if the kids cry, if my car doesn't start, if something unexpected happens?

· Do I often bicker with my family or with people I know?

Write whatever comes into your head, just let your thoughts flow (because she thinks she's smarter than I am, because he can get me fired, because she's always so well dressed, because I'm afraid of making a fool of myself in front of him, because he's got ten times more money than I have, because she makes me feel so fat, because I feel uncomfortable when I'm with her, because I can't figure him out, because he gets angry all the time).

You can also have problems adapting to events or unexpected situations.

Think about the kinds of situations you'd prefer to avoid, and write them down.

Then write down why you want to avoid them.

And finally, we can even have problems adapting to ourselves.

Everyone has something they don't like about themselves.

· Ah, if only I'd stayed in school longer!

· Ah, if only I were ten years younger!

· Ah, if only I were always sure of myself, like my friend so and so.

Now make a kind of inventory of yourself and your life.

I can't do anything about it Your education?

I can't do anything about it Your gender?

I can't do anything about it Your physical appearance?

I can't do anything about it Your job?

I can't do anything about it Your family?

I can't do anything about it The town you live in?

I can't do anything about it Your salary?

I can't do anything about it Your house?

In the cases where you aren't satisfied and think you can do something about it, what changes would you like to make?

Indicate the things you are going to do to make these changes.

you have, what can make you uncomfortable, what frightens you.

Now let's look at what adapting consists of.

· If I have the talent to direct a company yet find myself doing some uninteresting manual job, am I adapting?

If I only have the talent to be a worker and suddenly get promoted to foreman, am I adapting?

· If I have to visit someone and I'm afraid of making a bad impression, am I adapting?

· If I have to appear on television and I'm afraid of being nervous, am I adapting?

· If I have to go to a formal dinner and know nothing about the rules of etiquette, am I adapting?

· If I go to a party wearing casual clothes and find everyone else is dressed up, am I adapting?

You can see that in all the above situations you are unhappy because you haven't adapted well.

Now try to describe, in your own words, what adapting means: To be happy, to lead a rich and fulfilling life, you must adapt, first to yourself and then to others.

That is the basic condition for success.

Modern life is just too full of stress.

That's why so many modern illnesses are stress-related, caused by an inability to adapt: heart attacks, stomach ulcers, nervous breakdowns.

I'm not saying you have an inferiority complex, you just momentarily feel inferior, which isn't the same thing at all.

Here's what he has to say on the subject: 'The best way to fight inferiority is to cultivate the feeling of fraternity.'

Cultivating a sense of fraternity or kinship with others helps us adapt to people we meet.

We have used the science of psychology to discover why you may have trouble adapting to others, and how to overcome the problem.

The answer lies in a branch of psychology called 'characterology', the study of character.

But the ability to act can be developed, just like a muscle.

For example, do some deep breathing for a few moments, or force yourself to smile, or make sure your posture is good, or extend your hand to someone you don't know.

Your heart will follow naturally, and a sense of friendship will grow inside you, real feelings generated and expressed by your smile and your welcoming approach to others.

If you take a long journey which you know will be full of obstacles, but which will eventually lead you to some incredible destination, you won't let the obstacles stop you.

A map that shows you the route you have to follow, and your destination point.

A better, more fulfilling life, and the attainment of success.

How do you know if you're confident or not?

you look for in someone else to determine whether they are selfconfident?

People who lack self-confidence show it in one of several ways.

· They may be shy and nervous, afraid to assume responsibilities, afraid of the unknown, and have an almost obsessive need to feel secure (soliciting reassurance in all kinds of ways).

· They can also be short-tempered and insist on perfection (they'll make sure they do every little thing better than any one else).

· They are very concerned about what others think about them.

· They are rigid and stubborn, and find it very difficult to admit that they're wrong.

· They make mountains out of molehills, are often rude and surly, and tend to overreact to any little thing.

They exhibit altogether different symptoms: aggression can also be a sign of a lack of self-confidence.

Unconfident people often depend on things like position, money, physical prowess or new cars to make themselves feel important.

People who cannot admire others also lack self-confidence.

They are afraid that by praising others they will diminish their own worth.

We meet people every day who we could say are suffering from a superiority complex.

But there's no such thing as a superiority complex!

These people really feel inferior, and try to disguise their fears by being arrogant and over bearing.

Never forget that people who are really self-confident are never autocratic or authoritarian.

They don't have to be the leader of the gang all the time, because they have enough confidence in themselves to be able to have confidence in others, creating an aura of harmony wherever they go.

It is that kind of self-confidence that we're going to try and develop throughout these chapters, and for the rest of our lives.

At first glance it may seem easy to acquire self-confidence.

But things like natural laziness, our fear of the unknown and of making a real effort, our ingrained habits and lack of training, all represent serious obstacles along the way.

Yet obstacles are not necessarily frightening; they can also be seen as signs, warning us to take precautions and avoid being caught unawares.

Say you hop into your car and set off on a long journey which you know will be full of obstacles.

What's the first precaution you take before leaving?

You have your car checked out thoroughly, of course: tires, transmission, brakes.

Our mental vehicle is often in pretty bad shape: we steer our way through life in a defective machine.

You accept the fact that you need a license to drive a car, so why not get a 'person license' and learn how to direct your life?

Unfortunately, neither school nor life experience can provide you with such a license.

We're going to talk about some simple truths, truths we tend to forget precisely because they are so simple.

Are all our springs and gears working properly?

I'm going to describe a few types of behavior, and if you happen to recognize yourself in any of them, be kind enough to have a good laugh about it, would you?

Do you recognize yourself in any of these portraits?

Some people go through life with a 'dead battery', so to speak.

In the weeks that follow you're going to learn how to recharge your battery through relaxation, and how to avoid wasting energy.

Some people go through life without any fuel!

They're always running to family or friends, to bars and restaurants to 'tank up' and get 'turned on'.

They don't have the enthusiasm it takes to make progress.

They go into reverse when they should be going forward, and usually end up 'running around in circles'.

We should be using our mental gearbox to adapt ourselves to the pace of circumstance around us, but it so often happens that we plough ahead when we should be idling in neutral.

How many times has your steering malfunctioned, so that you turned left when you should have turned right?

You don't even know how to control your own thoughts!

You want success, but you keep steering yourself in ways that lead to failure.

You want to be healthy, yet you do things that make you ill.

Some people have enormous inner strength, as if they were 'turbo-charged' with energy, and yet they express themselves as if they were powered by a two-stroke lawn mower engine.

Such people pretend to be someone they aren't, suffering from exaggerated superiority complexes.

Some people don't know how to brake or accelerate properly: they try to pretend they're better than they really are, and do not know how to control their sensitivity and nerves.

These are the type of people who take care of the body of their car, always making sure it looks good, and forget about keeping the motor in good shape.

Because what you add to your personality can never be taken away from you.

You must work on these points and develop your selfconfidence, until you become a motorist who has complete confidence in his/her vehicle: tires, motor, transmission, battery.

As you resolve your problems in the areas of adaptation, self-expression, relaxation, controlling your thoughts and feelings, mastering your nerves, you will feel your self-confidence grow.

Now, you can't control all the muscles in your body, but there are some that you can control.

Your diaphragm, for example, and through your diaphragm your breathing.

This is a very simple, and yet extremely important point: you can control your breathing.

And breathing is the basis of self-control.

Your lungs are connected to all other organs, and every time you stimulate your lungs you also stimulate all your other organs, causing them to function better.

During the course of these lessons you'll be doing various relaxation and mental exercises, complimented by additional reading, and very soon you'll be taking some 'mental sampling' and doing exercises to get your muscles into shape.

You have to keep a close watch on your exterior attitudes and modify them so that your interior eventually assumes the shape you want.

We're going to think about the way we see the world, the people and events around us: too often we see them in a negative light.

We forget that the world is a mirror which reflects our smiles or our frowns.

This lesson is of capital importance, because the way you steer your vehicle is what causes accidents or gets you where you want to go.

It is essential to know how to steer, how to orient yourself.

This fact is so important, and yet it is so neglected that our century has become plagued by problems of the mind.

And I'm not Positive Mental Orientation just talking about mental illness.

There is also a host of stress-related physical conditions.

It's amazing when you consider that although human beings control the world, they don't know how to control their own thoughts!

Do you exhibit any of these symptoms of negative mental orientation?

1. A mania for spreading bad news: are you the first to inform others of death, illness, financial problems, personal scandal, theft?

How your life could change for the better if you made a point of spreading only good news!

2. A mania for gossiping: 'I don't want to say anything bad about her, but I'm telling you, the way she's been behaving with her husband, I'm not surprised things turned out badly...'

'I always knew he'd end up being unfaithful to her, the way he flirts around all the time...'

'Did you hear about Mrs X's daughter?

Do you spend hours on the phone, gossiping about others, sticking your nose into other people's business, criticizing Mrs X for the way she raises her children, or Mr Y for going out too much?

3. Negative mental orientation creates a taste for the morbid, perverse or sensational: just look at the plethora of tabloid newspapers, with circulations running into hundreds of thousands, full of scandals of the rich and famous, horrible accidents, crimes, birth defects, and so on.

Well, maybe, but I'm sure he's got something going with his secretary...

He sounds like a drunk to me.

'They may have a nice house, but everything they own is mortgaged to the hilt..

Well, it was all right, but the seats were so uncomfortable...'

Well, he should be, considering what he gets paid!'

5. Pessimism, an insatiable curiosity about others' weaknesses, constant worry, a tendency to overdramatize, and so on, are more manifestations of negative mental orientation.

· How many women, waiting for their husbands, who happen to be running late, to get home from work, immediately envision the worst, imagine him lying in a ditch somewhere, in a pool of blood, his car a total wreck, calling out for help before taking a last, dying breath?

· How many people refuse a promotion: 'Foreman?

· It's spring, the kids are going to get sick again.'

Such people are afraid of almost everything: afraid of getting sick, afraid of losing money, afraid of what others might say about Positive Mental Orientation them, afraid of what others think: they are afraid of affirming themselves, and they are even afraid of being themselves!

Negative mental orientation shows up in language, attitudes and behavior.

· You'll never get your life together!

· You can't sit still for two minutes!

· What do you think about her?

· Young people today are so stupid!

Something terrible's going to happen, I know it!

He hasn't done anything about it for weeks.

· I feel like I'm going to have a tummy upset!

· Life is so hard, isn't it?

· It's easy for you to talk, you don't have a 12-year-old child to worry about.

· Being suspicious of compliments because you think people are hiding something.

· Not daring to give advice or state your opinions about anything.

· Well, for once you managed to cook something that tastes good!

· You finally make an effort, my boy, and you come in second!

· I didn't think you had it in you to do something like this!

· Don't tell me you finally had enough guts to ask for a raise!

· A child proudly brings a painting to show Mother, and all she can say is, 'Look at you, your hands are filthy and you've got stains all over your clothes!'

· A husband notices his wife's new dress, and the house all tidied up, and says, 'God, it smells awful in here!

What, did you Positive Mental Orientation wax the floors again?'

Instead of commenting on the clean floors, all he can do is smell the wax.

We have been taught to be apprehensive about sexuality; love is negative; the state of the country is always negative.

So it shouldn't surprise us when we discover we are negative without even knowing it.

Negative thought patterns impregnate our entire life, or family, the education of our children, our social life, our health, our entire existence.

You know that sick people who have a positive outlook get better faster than those who are irritable and always complaining about how they feel.

You know that people who are always thinking dark thoughts end up depressed; you know that stomach ulcers are caused by stress, and insomnia by worry.

So for the sake of our health and happiness, we absolutely must acquire a more positive outlook on life.

Yes [] No Do I often talk about sickness, accidents, or other depressing or sad events?

You may be thinking that it's all very well to be positive, but that optimists have just as much chance of being wrong as pessimists.

Smile and the world will smile with you.

As soon as you feel one or another of these uncomfortable sensations, which usually precede taking action, you should be on your guard.

Would you like to develop a simple habit of positive mental orientation?

Try sending thank-you notes or emails to people, with the aim of making life a little more pleasant for them, helping people discover positive values which they often overlook.

The simple habit teaches you to look for the bright side of events and of the people around you.

You will soon see that systematically seeking out the good, the positive side of things, will transform your way of thinking.

At first you'll show your thanks for the good things people usually do, and then you'll start discovering good things which you never noticed before.

Thank-you notes are sent, often unsigned, to friends or acquaintances.

· Thank you for your patience the other day.

· The meal you made for us last weekend was absolutely delicious!

Choose someone you'd like to thank right now, and write them a little note or send an email.

Do this each and every day and you'll soon be so preoccupied with searching for the good things people do that you'll completely stop being critical.

Seeing life through a pair of rose-colored glasses, you say?

As long as it makes you a happier person!

Now let's look at another exercise, which has an almost magical effect in keeping you in top shape, starting your day on a positive note, getting rid of fatigue and establishing your positive orientation for the rest of the day.

I'd like to talk about the benefits of taking a cold morning shower.

Taking a cold morning shower is such a simple and beneficial exercise.

You may have to get up a few minutes earlier, but after a few weeks of faithful adherence to this you'll feel transformed, and will never want to give it up.

You'll be amazed at how good you feel after a cold shower, with the blood pumping through your veins and your skin invigorated and breathing as it should.

Can you understand that your positive mental orientation bas to begin as soon as you get out of bed?

If you start by gritting your teeth and shivering even before you get under the shower, the exercise will be torture for you.

To avoid this start by drinking a large glass of cold Positive Mental Orientation water, very slowly, and think about the benefits a cold shower will provide throughout the rest of the day, getting you into top shape.

Then take a deep breath, turn on the shower and let the water splash over your feet and legs.

After a few seconds of this, step under the jet of water and stay there for between fifteen seconds and two minutes.

Do the same thing at night using warm water, since this will prepare you for sleep.

Don't believe anyone who tells you that cold showers are bad for your health, or that they can induce a chill or cause you to catch cold.

On the contrary, most people who were used to catching colds all winter long have cured themselves by taking cold showers, which increase your resistance to cold.

As for lukewarm showers before bedtime, there's nothing better for getting rid of stress-related fatigue and minor discomforts.

Now that you have firmly decided to take a cold shower every morning, you can start gradually.

First take a lukewarm shower, and then slowly shut the hot water off while opening the cold water.

This will help you acclimatize to your cold shower, rapidly and without any discomfort.

After your cold shower rub your entire body vigorously with a towel.

Then stretch out on your back, on a carpet or a hard bed, and do your deep breathing exercises.

These exercises will get your day off to a fine start.

You'll feel full of vigor and zest, almost as if you've been reborn!

And also remember that if you cheat on your cold shower, you're going to cheat on other things as well.

all these things are states of mind: tell yourself that from now on you are going to orient yourself towards everything that is positive.

Starting tomorrow, on to the moment you get up, everything you do will be geared towards making you a happier person.

Make a conscious effort to positive mental orientation for an entire week.

And you will soon start wondering whether the world around you has changed, because inside you the world will.

1. The world is a mirror which reflects your smile or your frown.

3. We cannot control events, but we can control the way events affect us.

4. Happiness does not depend on other people, material things or events.

A person's fist, for example, is a kind of sample: you can see a person's personality in the way they make a fist.

You can tell a person's sex, age or country of origin just from their voice.

I'm through with suffering for no reason.

'From now on I will act like an adult.

As you see, it took just one short minute to mobilize my mind against my pitiful mediocrity.

The first thing you have to do is deal with what is bothering you.

then my attitude would have been one of defeat and indecision.

Of course, if that kind of attitude only lasts a minute it wouldn't be so bad.

Nobody wants to have a breakdown, yet many people do.

Therefore, you must take steps to protect yourself: first react, and then make a decision to act, to take control of your life, at whatever cost.

For example, it's easy to say that I speak a foreign language, that a lot of people speak foreign languages, and so on.

That's right, people who are incapable of expressing what they feel, incapable of revealing their enthusiasm and love, suffer as much as someone who can't walk because their legs are paralyzed.

You know that if you have a headache you'll have a hard time concentrating, that suffering from an emotional heartache affects your appetite, that a sick person in good spirits recovers faster than someone who is depressed.

For example, anger translates into characteristic physical attitudes: tense body, clenched fists, accelerated heartbeat, frowning.

For example, you don't have to wait until you aren't angry any more to relax the muscles in your hands.

So you first have to act on your muscles, on your body, on your exterior self.

Not as an end, but as a means of acting on your inner self.

Have you noticed how people are often more confident when they're well groomed?

A perfect example of the influence of outer appearance on a person's inner frame of mind!

You don't put on a long face because you're suffering.

When you put on a long face you allow yourself to be overcome by suffering.

Lift the corners of your mouth into a smile, straighten your shoulders, hold your head high, breathe deeply, hum a tune and you'll soon feel great again!

If you want to pray you adopt an attitude of prayer.

If you want to work, you get into the appropriate position, and you'll soon feel like working.

Your exterior gestures and behavior condition the way you feel inside.

If you feel anxious, calmly sit down or walk around, turn off your computer, your mobile phone, the TV or the radio, breathe deeply and, as if by magic, you'll start feeling better.

You cannot exert direct control over your feelings.

Instead, you exert control over your muscles, causing them to relax.

If you feel angry with someone, reach out and take their hand, smile or give them a hug, and your anger will soon dissolve, allowing your inner self to become more disposed to feelings of friendship and love.

You've been practicing conscious breathing for a few weeks now.

You know that breathing is the only bodily function over which you have full control.

You cannot control your digestion, but you can always lie down and prolong or shorten your breathing.

Do you understand now why breathing exercises are so important for regaining your inner calm and relaxing?

Our conscious and unconscious minds are in constant communication.

You know that your conscious mind is responsible for everything that happens inside you which you are aware of.

For example, you're conscious that you're sitting down at this moment, reading and thinking.

Your unconscious (some prefer the term 'subconscious') is responsible for everything that happens in you that you are not aware of.

For example, you may not be aware that you are reliving childhood memories, or an experience from your adolescence, or something that happened during the course of the day, at this very moment.

Your subconscious is like a video machine that is constantly turned on, recording everything that happens to you and storing it for ever.

Remember that these two parts of your mind are in constant communication.

Say, for example, that when I was young someone told me I was shy or stubborn or lazy.

I was conscious of the statement at the moment it was made.

Since then it has remained recorded in my subconscious mind.

And if my subconscious has recorded many negative impressions of fear, feelings of inadequacy, failure, guilt and so on, they will continue to influence my present behavior, without my knowing it.

Positive things may have happened in the past.

I had when I was seven years old, another at nine years old, various academic achievements between the ages of ten and eighteen.

These will remain recorded in my subconscious mind, and will be of enormous help in attaining my present goals and achieving success in my adult life.

Do you understand the importance of a positive education?

Children become what people suggest they are, communicated to them through all sorts of words and gestures.

Young birds are taught to fly by their elders.

The subconscious can be a help, for example in the acquisition of new, positive habits.

Think about when you learned to type or drive a car.

In the beginning you were conscious of all your movements, it was your conscious mind which did everything.

Then, as you became more familiar with the activities involved, the movements became easier until one fine day you found yourself typing or driving without even thinking about it - the skills involved were recorded in your subconscious, and were there to stay.

incompetent - subconscious Stages of learning or changing a habit: Work first on a conscious level to acquire new habits.

In other words, you first have to work on your body with your conscious mind in order to influence your inner self.

A commitment is reflected by some outward behavior.

It can take many forms: giving someone an engagement ring or signing a contract or a check, for example; once signed, you cannot renege on that contract without causing trouble.

Yes [] No Do I enjoy taking on responsibilities?

Do I exercise authority at home and at work?

Breathe deeply, imagining your breath reaching down into your feet, and then exhale completely.

2. Mental sampling is based on the following principle: because there is a unity to the way human beings behave there is a constant interchange or influence of body on mind, conscious on subconscious.

The importance of the subconscious: children become what adults suggest they become; children only imitate adults; it is through example that we can influence others.

8. Self-confidence is a result of respecting the commitments we make to ourselves ...

We set up a plan of action for overcoming nervousness, improving the way you express yourself, maintaining a positive mental attitude, and learning to adapt.

You already know that if you are oriented towards health, beauty, success and happiness, you will experience health, beauty, success and happiness.

It isn't enough to decide to put your vehicle in gear if you want to move forward.

You also need fuel to get you where you want to go.

Salespeople striving for success, managers, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, pharmacists, householders, electricians, parents - all of us need fuel.

It is enthusiasm which has allowed all great people throughout history to accomplish what they did, both their own enthusiasm and the enthusiasm they generated in other people.

Newton made most of his great discoveries before the age of 25.

When someone proposes something new, do I get all excited about it?

Yes [] No Do I give up easily when I encounter obstacles along the way?

Yes [] No Am I capable of seeing something through to the end, even though everyone else doesn't agree with me?

Yes [] No Have I ever been head of a parental, professional or political association?

Yes [] No Am I interested in politics?

Yes [] No Do my friends consider me an enthusiastic person?

Yes [] No Do I consider myself young and vigorous?

Yes [] No What do I hope to do in my old age?

Yes [] No Am I able to animate a group of people by telling them a story or anecdote?

Yes [] No Do I have a lot of friends?

How many times a week do I usually go out with friends, or invite them over?

Yes [] No Who is the most enthusiastic person I ever met in my life?

Without enthusiasm, you grow old by the time you're 25.

With it, age has no meaning, and problems fall by the wayside.

Being enthusiastic means having faith in life, faith in your abilities, faith in happiness and in humanity.

Well, first you have to want it.

You also have to resolve never to extinguish the flame of enthusiasm when you encounter it in others, and promise to develop your own enthusiasm, which can lead to great accomplishments and which makes anything possible.

You may have met a couple of 'extinguishers' yourself.

How many people take pleasure, and even make it a duty, to try and extinguish other people's enthusiasm?

For example, a father might say to his son, 'My boy, stop dreaming!

It's all very nice to want a career in -------------.

But you should just accept the fact that you're not cut out for it.'

Here the father is casting a kind of 'negative spell' on his son.

Or a woman might say to her husband, 'Just stay the way you are, you'll have a lot less problems that way.'

Think about all the negative suggestions we make to others without even realizing what we're doing.

What signs help you recognize enthusiasm in people?

They have an air of assurance about them, a frank and open smile, and great curiosity; they are self-confident, sociable, idealistic and persevering.

They are usually not overly shy, and never pessimistic.

Every one of us has a potential for greatness inside.

Enthusiastic people transform this potential into reality by allowing their greatness to break through the boundaries of banality and mediocrity, all the petty problems of day-to-day existence.

Their enthusiasm shines through to the outside.

We've already seen how we cannot act directly on our feelings.

Instead we have to work on our body, on our exterior attitudes, in order to influence what is going on inside ourselves.

With this aim in mind we're going to do an exercise, another 'mental sampling' designed to instill us with more enthusiasm.

You are going to decide to be enthusiastic.

Then, quite naturally, going to get your body to move in an enthusiastic way and you are to get it to adopt an enthusiastic attitude.

Start your day by repeating this mental sampling: you'll say the words out loud, endowing your voice, your posture, your entire body with the attitude of an enthusiastic person.

You'll soon see how enthusiasm will help you transform the world - first your inner world, and then the world around you.

This week we're going to think about self-expression, and work on improving the ways we express ourselves.

Through self-expression you translate what you are carrying around inside, things other people and sometimes even you yourself are unaware of (for example, all the power and wealth of personality you didn't know you possessed) into comprehensible messages, so that you and others can understand them.

This is very important, because no two people are exactly the same, and each and every one of us must express ourselves according to who we are.

So self-expression is like an act of creation.

Originality means manifesting your own personality in everything you do or say.

Most only copy or imitate what others say to do, like an echo which reproduces sound, or a mirror which reflects a faithful image of whatever is placed in front of it.

Do you think your education prepared you to express yourself properly?

Maybe you think you've forgotten all about it.

But your subconscious has faithfully recorded the event, and without your knowing it this event is preventing you from expressing yourself as you are.

If you were brought up by an authoritarian father, your subconscious remembers every detail.

Today, although you are an adult, you may not act like one; you experience feelings of inferiority with other people.

Ask yourself this question: what is the quality of the communication I have with my partner and my children?

There are moments when communication with our loved ones becomes more difficult, or more infrequent, and this is perfectly normal.

Misunderstandings often arise because you decide to keep quiet instead of opening your heart and speaking frankly.

Instead of saying, 'Every time I tell a story you interrupt me and don't let me finish,' you can say something like: 'You know, whenever I tell a story I feel a certain pride in being able to express myself well.

Don't hide your feelings of love, joy, pride, admiration, esteem or respect.

Yes [] No Do I feel hurt by the slightest criticism?

We express ourselves with our hands, in paintings, drawings, using brushes and hammers, pencils, the earth itself, flowers, wood, iron, glass or paper.

We express ourselves through singing, dance, sporting activities, through knitting and music, ceramics.., the list is endless.

And, you know, it's never too late to start.

Why not have a go at it?

In our 'society of leisure' no one can be entirely fulfilled without learning some means of self-expression, using the varied and marvelous instruments of expression the modern world has placed at our disposition.

Why not tape your own voice, listen to it and try to improve it?

All you need is a tape recorder.

Take a cooking course, a computer course, learn a new language, take singing lessons, dancing, or learn salsa.

You can commit yourself to improving your vocabulary, by looking up new words that you hear or read in the dictionary every day, making sure you understand exactly what they mean; or learn a new language, through classes and on holiday, make your own web page, take singing lessons.

This will make your life a hundred times more enjoyable, and will have a positive effect on the people around you as well.

A whole world will open up for you as soon as you decide you really want to express yourself.

What is the point of knowing people if you can't express yourself to them?

Unfortunately, many people express only a tiny amount of what is inside them and what they are capable of doing.

You have to open up, get rid of the mask you're hiding behind.

You have to be able to sing, laugh, converse or smile, without caring what others might think about you, without any false pride, without being afraid of making a fool of yourself.

You have to be able to dance with children, sing and laugh with them, tell them stories that spring from your imagination.

If you can play with children you can do anything you want.

You also have to learn to be 'exciting'.

We admire actors, singers, speakers or writers who excite us, because they themselves are exciting.

You have to learn to be exciting, to admire the world around you and exclaim your admiration to one and all; you have to be passionate about something.

And this can be learned, just as you can learn to dance or play the piano.

All great historical figures are like that: they get excited about something, and then they act.

And there's a great person lying dormant inside each and every one of us, inside me and inside you: all you have to do is wake them up.

One day Pope Julius II saw Michelangelo hammering away at a block of marble, all covered in dust, and asked, 'But why are you hammering so hard, my dear man?'

Michelangelo replied, 'Don't you see the angel imprisoned in the block of stone?

That should give you some food for thought.

There is an imprisoned angel in all of us, a great human being whom we are ignoring.

We must work to free this imprisoned angel, and exploit the untold riches we possess, for the benefit of those around us.

The block of marble is like the mask we wear, rigid with prejudices and the fear of showing ourselves as we really are.

A great humanist once wrote: 'Human beings make use of barely 10 to 20 per cent of their capacities.'

We must start today to concentrate our energies on expressing the best of ourselves.

You can't keep a bow stretched to the limit all day long, and neither should you remain excited for too long at a time.

You also have to relax, and mobilize your energy for tomorrow's tasks.

We live in a stressful world, full of tension, frayed nerves, worry and anxiety.

We often sleep without being really relaxed, and we wake up the next morning still tired from the day before.

People too often resort to pills, alcohol and other stimulants to cope, looking for artificial ways to relax.

Once you decide to express yourself better, to exploit the best of yourself, you may find you get a little discouraged from time to time because of the obstacles you are likely to encounter.

I hope you understand a little better just how important relaxation is for reaching your goal.

This week I want you to concentrate on overcoming your fears about expressing who you really are, about being exciting, about admiring the world around you, and expressing yourself in your own personal and original way.

Once you master the techniques of suggestion and complete relaxation, you will see some profound changes taking place in your life.

You cannot fully exploit the benefits of suggestion unless you are able to relax completely.

And you can't relax completely without making use of the power of suggestion.

Suggestion is an extremely important technique which can change our lives if we know how to use it to our advantage and fully exploit its potential, but it is very often misunderstood.

A suggestion is an idea which influences us without our knowing.

Here's how it works: your conscious mind can influence your subconscious in exactly the same way that a hypnotist can.

The more confident we are, the more effective our suggestions will be.

So by making positive suggestions, you attract health, success and happiness.

The relationship between our conscious and subconscious minds is a little like that of a boss and a secretary.

The boss runs the office, while the secretary carries out the boss's orders to the letter.

Now suppose that the boss and secretary don't know each other very well and have trouble understanding each other.

Our subconscious is a little like the secretary in the above analogy.

But the secretary in our mind never forgets anything, records absolutely everything that happens, and executes our deepest wishes, even if what we want is harmful to our well-being.

Your subconscious is like a mechanical secretary, executing commands without ever getting tired.

It is essential that you train it to work for you instead of against you, that you have confidence in its abilities and delegate certain tasks to it instead of trying to do everything yourself, as many bosses tend to do.

Your subconscious can make you healthy if you send it the right commands.

Of course, we can only provide you with the basics of suggestion training.

Your continuing study and constant practice of personal development will help develop your understanding of the subject, as you experience its effects and learn more about its history, its nature, the various categories of suggestion, and the conditions which make it most effective.

In time you will master the technique and use it to transform your life, to the point where you won't recognize yourself any longer.

At the same time your children, friends, students, colleagues, partner - all the people you associate with - will benefit.

Because suggestion lies at the heart of our relationships with others.

Educating children is, in fact, nothing more than making a series of suggestions, and re-educating ourselves is entirely based on the technique of suggestion.

So it's important to learn to get along with your subconscious, and exploit its riches.

It's important to know how to make use of it when educating our children.

Because we are all sure of the suggestion made to us when we were children.

Many illnesses, behavior and aptitude problems often attributed to our genetic makeup are often nothing more than the results of negative suggestions.

What 'evil spells' were cast on you in the form of negative suggestions?

· I'm not surprised, you're always late.

· Don't cry like that, you're not a little child!

· You never listen to what I say!

· Being called names like 'fatty', 'sacredly cat' or 'stupid'.

If only we could have recognized such statements for what they really are - criminal attacks which can mark a child for life, negative suggestions that can actually turn a child into a lazy or fearful or timid adult.

Because all these negative suggestions, these judgments and prejudices, remain recorded in our subconscious mind.

They are veritable 'evil spells' cast by the people around us.

And unless we break them, they can affect us for our entire lives.

Let's get back to our initial comparison of a boss and secretary: our mental boss provides our secretary with a general directive and a broad outline of how to proceed, as well as a deadline, saying, 'I need this done for such and such a day, at such and such a time.'

The boss keeps walking into the secretary's office and asking, 'Well, how's it going?

Are you sure it'll be finished on time?

Do you think you can handle it?'

This only exasperates the secretary and makes the work that much harder.

What should happen is that, after giving an order, the boss should let the secretary get on with the work in peace.

In the same way, it's very important not to get nervous or worried after giving your subconscious an order.

Instead, you should let it do its work in peace.

And to create the best possible conditions for the subconscious to function effectively, you have to know how to practice relaxation.

You must start with relaxation if you want to master the technique of suggestion fully.

That's why, since the start of this method, I suggested you do some daily relaxation exercises.

Only when we're in a state of relaxation can our subconscious work effectively to create the conditions favorable for our success and happiness.

If you are tense, nervous or worried, your subconscious will only create more problems, just like the child who starts screaming because everyone else in the room is tense and nervous.

Suppose the boss notices that the secretary always carries out orders, whether they make good sense or not.

The boss then says, 'Well, I'd better make sure all my orders make good sense.'

And in fact it is up to you to order your subconscious to do things that will make you happy.

Suppose, on the other hand, that a boss is continually reprimanding the secretary, never offering a word of encouragement, only picking out faults.

Don't you think their relationship might get a little tense?

Well, that's exactly what happens with our subconscious: too often a struggle for domination develops, and this results in enormous tension.

· Well, that's me all over again!

· I knew this would happen, I just knew it.

· If there's some way to screw up, you can be sure I'll find it!

· That's typical of the way I am. Make a list of the ways you think about yourself.

If necessary ask people you know if they can remember your exact words?

My subconscious immediately gets to work retrieving files with information about all my previous meetings with people, right back to when I was an infant.

For example, try to relive in your mind an event which happened to you in the past, and from which you feel you learned something.

Yes [] No Do I ever congratulate myself when I succeed?

Yes [] No What areas of my life would I like to improve through suggestion: health, work, productivity, personality?

You outline what you want it to do, place your confidence in it, and then let it work in peace.

And when it fulfils your request, you must congratulate yourself.

If your subconscious makes a mistake, you forgive yourself, just as a boss forgives a secretary for an error.

Do you understand now why self-confidence is the foundation of a happy, fulfilling life?

To summarize, your conscious and subconscious minds must learn to live in harmony with each other if you want to achieve what is right and good for you.

You must always formulate your suggestions in a positive way when communicating with your subconscious.

Now here is an exercise in suggestion which you should do every day, after your breathing and relaxation exercises.

Through suggestion you can learn to sleep better, be more relaxed, become a better educator for your children, a better salesperson or a more caring partner.

Get comfortable in a quiet location, in a position you find relaxing.

Make sure there isn't too much light so you won't be distracted.

After ten deep breaths, you can start the general suggestion exercise.

For the first few weeks do the exercise every day, at the same time and under the same conditions whenever possible.

Read the text out loud slowly, in a clear voice, or tape it, making sure to adopt a positive and self-assured tone.

First, I understand that everything I say will remain firmly engraved on my mind.

The words I hear will remain imprinted on my mind for ever, without my wanting or even knowing it, completely subconsciously.

My mind and my entire being will absorb what I say and obey my commands.

The first thing I tell myself is that every day, three times a day, in the morning, at noon and in the evening, in other words at mealtimes, I will be hungry.

I will experience a pleasant sensation of hunger which will make me look forward to eating with pleasure.

And I will take pleasure in eating, without overeating.

I'll take care to chew my food well, transforming it into a kind of soft paste which can be swallowed easily.

This will help me digest well, so that I feel no heaviness or discomfort in my stomach or intestines, no pain of any kind.

My body will assimilate the foods I eat properly, and use them to produce blood, muscles, new cells, strength and energy - in other words, to promote life.

Also, every night, from as soon as I want to go to sleep until the moment I want to wake up next morning, I will enter into a deep, calm, regenerating sleep, so that when I wake up I'll feel refreshed and enthusiastic about the day ahead.

Although I sometimes got sad or depressed in the past, I do not any longer.

From now on, instead of being sad or depressed, instead of sulking and brooding, I feel I'll be a joyous, optimistic person, for no special reason but just because that's how I am.

And even if I have real cause to worry, I'll understand that worrying won't accomplish anything and I'll remain optimistic.

If, in the past, I sometimes got angry or impatient, I won't allow these emotions to get the better of me any longer.

On the contrary, I'll be patient, always in control of myself, completely unaffected by the things that used to bother or irritate me.

Instead of taking what happens personally, I'll be more objective, I'll see other people's points of view, and solutions to my problems will appear easily, almost magically.

If I am sometimes haunted by negative thoughts that are both harmful and unhealthy for me, fears, temptations, resentment and so on, I understand that these will enter my mind more and more rarely, and will soon disappear completely, just as a dream dissolves when you wake up in the morning.

Another very important point is that if I felt a certain lack of selfconfidence in the past, I will now feel more and more confident, based in the incalculable strength I have discovered in myself.

I know that this confidence is absolutely necessary for every human being.

With self-confidence I can accomplish anything I choose, within reason.

accomplishing anything I want, as long as it is within reason and of benefit to others and to myself.

So when I want something or want to accomplish something, I will always know that my desire is attainable.

And I will attain it, quickly, without getting fatigued, without effort.

It will be easy for me to see things through to the end, to make my projects a success.

I am able to express my feelings and thoughts more and more easily every day, and I am liberating the infinite potential which is in me.

Now I am going to come out of my state of relaxation.

And when I do I will feel completely rested, full of vigor, alert, ready for action, full of energy and life.

I will also be positive, joyous, optimistic and open in all my relations with people, and in everything I do.

Every day in all ways I feel better and better.

1. Suggestions do not merely stuff your brain with useless ideas, they are 'commands you make to yourself'.

2. Suggestions communicate what your conscious mind wants your subconscious mind to do, so that it can work for you.

3. Suggestions are ideas which are carried out without our knowing.

4. The subconscious mind is a perfect executor, faithfully carrying out whatever it is ordered to do.

It never gets tired, and never forgets.

5. Your conscious mind can influence your subconscious mind in the same way that a hypnotist can influence a subject.

6. Therefore, the more confident and aware your conscious mind is, the more effective your suggestions will be.

7. By learning to get your subconscious to work for you, you multiply your capacities.

By using the technique of positive suggestion, you can make your subconscious work for your happiness and success.

9. The techniques of suggestion and relaxation form the basis of your new life.

You have already started taking advantage of the power of suggestion, but you cannot take full advantage of it if you don't learn how to relax completely.

Knowing how to relax can transform your life.

You know that by changing your exterior attitude, you can also change your state of mind.

And since you can change your exterior Relaxation attitude - in other words your body - at will, you are in a sense 'immunized' against negative sensations like anger, impatience, boredom, depression, and so on.

You can use suggestion to create mental images of happiness, calm, joy - images of relaxation.

So from now on, whenever you feel tired or annoyed, depressed or exhausted, don't resort to stimulants or tranquillizers for a solution.

For example, I have to generate some tension, I have to 'get energized' to make a sale, teach a course or do my writing.

But if, when I finish working, I keep mulling over what I should or could have done, then I become needlessly tense: I waste my energy instead of using it.

These three states of consciousness are essential for maintaining life and renewing the energy we spend.

A host of minor obstacles seem to be constantly hovering around our lives, resulting in a variety of circumstances which create tension in body and mind, or in a specific part of the body.

You may become tense because you are consciously worrying about something, but you can also be stressed because of an unconscious complex or psychological 'block' which shows up in your body in the form of involuntary tension.

What is causing this tension inside Relaxation me?

Are these the real causes, or are they only apparent?

If not, what are the real causes?

What can I do to counteract this?

How can I relax my tensed-up muscles?

Well, what you should be aiming for is a state of permanent relaxation, but you can only attain that through patient, daily relaxation sessions.

These questions are important because the battle is already half won as soon as you know where your tension is coming from.

Then all you have to do is want to overcome it, and do everything necessary to accomplish this.

Indicate here where you think your tension comes from, and the ways in which you show or express it.

Do you remember what we said about the wholeness of human beings?

People are composed of two parts, body and mind, which although distinct are closely united.

This unity is maintained through the brain and the nervous system.

The brain creates the link between the physical and mental.

One part of the brain is responsible for generating and storing thoughts and emotions.

Now where does the nervous system enter into all this?

I'm not about to offer you a course in physiology, but it is important to know a little about your nervous system if you want it to function normally.

Let's just say that the nervous system is like a large telephone switchboard which receives and transmits messages to our entire being.

These messages come from our external senses -vision, hearing, touch - and from our internal senses - imagination, memory, and so on.

All our thoughts, images and ideas are based on these sensory messages.

They are continually being sent to the brain, which then responds to them.

For example, if you place your hand on a hot iron, your sense of touch will send a message to your brain.

Finding the heat a bit intense, your brain will respond by sending another message, ordering your muscles to remove your hand.

Of course, all this happens in a fraction of a second.

But what you should remember is that every time your brain receives a message, its response affects your entire body.

This is what happens, for example, when I get a phone call announcing a friend's visit, I send the message to my brain, which then responds through my body: I smile, hum, I feel happy.

But if the taxman calls and announces he's going to spend two months going through my books, I will react quite differently: I'll worry, brood, sleep badly.

Your brain is continually receiving and sending messages, often without your knowing.

You're not always aware that surrounding noises, lights, smells, sounds and other stimuli are being perceived, transmitted and responded to by your brain.

It's not unusual for the nervous system to become overloaded.

You know you shouldn't overload an electrical circuit, so you don't plug your iron, toaster, microwave, hair dryer and fridge into the same socket all at the same time.

Some people overload their nervous system all the time.

They always feel on edge, highly stressed, overworked.

They invariably end up exploding, because they haven't learned to Relaxation disconnect before they connect.

Once your work is done you have to disconnect yourself from it, in other words forget about it, and plug into something else.

But too many people forget to disconnect themselves, and end up doing the same work three times: once while preparing to do it, once while actually doing it, and a third time when they've finished, by torturing themselves with thoughts of what they could or should have done differently.

They never manage to relax, because they're always plugged in.

You have to learn to disconnect everything, your entire being.

If you live under the constant pressure of intense emotions, you become overloaded and risk exploding.

So it's very important not to keep your organism 'plugged in' all day long, all your life.

You have to learn to disconnect yourself, especially in the context of modern urban life, which places relentless stress on all our senses and all our nerves.

Our vision is being constantly disturbed by lights that are too bright, by flashy neon signs, exposure to the sun, TV and computer screens, and so on.

Out sense of taste is severely stressed by all the non-natural or harmful substances we ingest - alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine.

Our hearing is constantly attacked by ambient noise, shouting, household appliances, music, other people's walkmans, videos, advertising, screeching tires, noises from building sites.

Some people have become so used to noise they actually become anxious when their surroundings are silent!

In functional illnesses the organ itself is healthy, although you feel Relaxation that 'something is not quite right'.

Too often doctors will tell you there's nothing wrong with you, which means that the tests they conduct, the X-rays and blood analysis and so on, have shown nothing abnormal.

It means that you are suffering from an illness that is not organic, but functional.

· Take a walk in the fresh air for at least 15 minutes a day, and do some deep breathing.

It's incredible, when you consider how important breathing is, to see so many people breathing badly, completely unconsciously, as if they didn't care a fig about staying healthy, allowing their lungs to shrivel and harden day by day.

Fortunately there is a marvelous technique for overcoming the harmful effects of the air we breathe and keeping our blood rich in oxygen: complete abdominal breathing.

When your stomach is expanded to its maximum, and without stopping breathing in, continue inhaling and lift your rib cage.

Practicing this simple exercise will teach you breath control.

Then go back to Step I and repeat the cycle.

Next, close your eyes, and in a low voice talk to your entire body and relax it completely (or record your voice and play back the tape): I am focusing my mind on my right arm ...

my right arm is gradually getting heavier ...

Well, here we are, the second to last chapter.

You now know a lot more about the wealth of talents and abilities you possess.

You've learned to make better use of some of them already, and in so doing have opened up new horizons which are far brighter and more attractive than those you were able to see before.

What you did a few weeks ago when you began this method was to take your first step through the doorway of happiness.

Now let's think a little more about what happiness means, and about perseverance, which is essential for attaining it.

You have probably noticed that a lot of people aren't happy.

This is usually because they either don't want to be happy or don't know how to be happy.

Does that sound a little too simple?

Well, I can assure you that it's true.

Although these people may not be consciously rejecting happiness, their behavior leads to the same end result: they don't do Happiness what is necessary to be happy.

They may want to be happy, but they don't have the ability to discover for themselves what they have to do to be happy.

They carry on blindly, guided by their instincts.

Of course they know, theoretically at least, that pleasure and happiness are not one and the same thing.

But they keep chasing after pleasure, setting themselves up for a fall time and time again.

Well, simply put, happiness is living in a state of harmony.

Harmony with yourself, and with the people around you.

You get up one morning, open your window and find it's raining.

If you start complaining about the lousy weather, muttering something like, 'Uurgh - don't tell me it's raining again!'

you immediately become glum and morose, and set yourself up for a bad day.

And this for no reason at all, because whatever you feel about it, whatever you say or don't say, will have absolutely no bearing on the weather.

If, on the other hand, you can get yourself into harmony with your environment - on this occasion a rainy day - then everything changes: although it may not be pleasant, the rain is at least acceptable.

You get out your raincoat and umbrella, and make your way to work just as you do on a beautiful day.

When it rains, take a moment to observe the people you pass in the street.

Some hurry along, all hunched over, their faces lined with tension, and you just know that they're wound up by it.

Others walk along placidly, smiling despite the storm clouds.

will get any more or any less wet because of the way they feel.

But some will be unhappy, not because of the rain but because of the way they react to it, while others will be, if not completely ecstatic, at least comparatively less unhappy, which is in itself a way of being happy.

The same applies to heat in summer, cold in winter, the inconveniences of travelling, some unpleasant task you have to perform, power failures, the vicissitudes of professional life - in short, anything unpleasant that happens unexpectedly, in all of life's situations.

And the best thing you can do for people you love is to simply be happy, and show them how you feel.

You must look inside yourself for the means to attain true happiness.

The more you take control of your life, the better you are able to live in harmony with yourself and with others, to develop in harmony with your surroundings.

And by so doing you place less emphasis on the false kinds of security that you may have based your happiness on in the past: material possessions, the prestige that comes with money or professional standing, and so on.

You acquire real security as you manage to get rid of your negative feelings (hate, jealousy, worry, agitation, self pity).

This, and only this, leads to true happiness.

How about health, success and love of life?

Well, the only thing negative feelings accomplish is to destroy the harmonious functioning of your body, and along with it your health.

On the other hand, your positive feelings promote confidence and enthusiasm, attract the respect and esteem of others, and very often lead directly to great success and happiness.

For some people a positive frame of mind comes naturally.

They have a positive temperament, and they received a positive education.

And that is the best legacy any parent can leave their children.

However, those people who are not naturally positive - in other words, whose subconscious is full of negativity - must and can acquire a positive outlook by making a conscious effort to do so.

You can train yourself to be happy and optimistic just as you train your body through various physical exercises.

Educators and parents can help train children to be joyous, content and happy, systematically get them used to seeing the bright side of things, to be curious about things, interested in all of nature's phenomena.

In this way they are giving children the gift of joy and happiness, which will go a long way towards making them fulfilled as adults.

You create your own happiness or unhappiness yourself.

This is one of the secrets of happiness.

And just being good-natured can accomplish miracles: it can cure diseases, rid you of anxiety and instill you with a sense of confidence in yourself, in your abilities and undertakings, in life.

Getting your children to do well in school is not a lofty ideal.

These are all necessary steps along the way, but they are not ultimate goals.

A goal that is so lofty, so difficult to attain that you'll have to spend your entire life trying.

Yes [] No How much time do I devote each day to reading, conscious relaxation and suggestion?

It takes perseverance and tenacity, it's not easy being an adult.

It's actually much easier to keep on living like a child, avoiding responsibilities, never taking control of your life.

You can't enjoy concerts, films, travelling or anything else as long as your personality is out of balance.

You have to develop new positive Happiness habits to replace the old negative ones you've been living with for so long.

Today we're going to think about the climate necessary for happiness ...

We all want to be successful and happy in life.

We also know that we can be happy and successful in life.

But so many people simply do not have the basic and irreplaceable disposition that leads to success and happiness: believing in success, or in other words, being optimistic.

Believing in success is the required psychological component, the indispensable attitude for living out day-to-day lives.

Few people seem to realize that you have to believe in success in order to be happy.

They seem to think that the ability to be happy is inherited - either you have it or you don't - and that you can't do anything to change things.

The hardest thing for people to learn is that they are the sum total of their thoughts, and that their environment, education and the kinds of thoughts they usually think have much more of an influence on their lives than their genes.

A belief in success can be cultivated!

In order to live in a climate of faith and optimism, both of which are indispensable to happiness, we must fight two enemies: skepticism, and various emotional states which are hostile to being optimistic.

You'll never be able to see it through if you doubt the possibilities of success right from the start.

If you are skeptical about the work on personal development that you are about to undertake, how can you hope to carry it through to a successful conclusion?

If you don't believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?

If you are skeptical all the time, you are not living in a climate conducive to happiness.

It's a little like walking around with a ball and chain attached to your leg.

Use your reason to acquire or maintain faith in yourself.

Think about the real possibility of your success.

Transmit this message to the depths of your being through the technique of suggestion.

Remind yourself that you do have what it takes to succeed, that there is a hidden potential inside you, just waiting for an opportunity to break out into the light of day.

No one can prevent you from developing yourself.

Repeat frequently: 'Everything is easy for those who can see their future dream as a present reality.'

It is useless and even harmful to dwell on mistakes you made in the past, or about the disappointments you have to deal with in your day-to-day life.

It's much better to simply tally up what you learned, remember what is useful and forget about the rest ...

and get busy moving on to something else.

First of all there are the various depressive states - sadness, apathy, anxiety or boredom.

Once you've found it you can remedy the situation by taking a shower or doing a session of complete relaxation.

If you can't find the cause, there is really only one thing to do: spend some energy.

Take a walk in the fresh air, play the piano, sing, fix something around the house, write, talk to a friend.

In other words, get busy doing something else.

Train yourself not to let your occasional feelings of sadness, anxiety, aimlessness or worry affect you too much.

And if you feel really sad, go ahead and have a good cry, and then move on.

Crying can do you a lot of good.

Then there are impulsive states, the most common being anger and nervousness (irritation, overwork).

The only tactic to combat these can be summed up in one word: wait.

gap between the emotion and action; take the time necessary to reexamine the situation and regain control, for example the time it takes to do twenty deep breathing cycles.

As for anger, sarcasm, impatience, irritation, you must act on your exterior body in order to calm your inner state (remember that the physical and mental sides of human beings are deeply united).

One thing you can do is remain silent for as long as it takes to recover your inner calm and equilibrium.

There's an old saying that goes, 'Count to ten when you're angry, count to a hundred when you're very angry.'

Never act under the influence of a strong emotion.

Instead, reach for one of the life-jackets we suggested, don't move around too much, and hold on, just like a sailor weathering a storm.

Also be careful about what you say.

Don't make any long speeches or useless confessions.

Avoid wasting your energy on complaining about your problems and worries.

Being open means living in a climate of optimism and faith in Success yourself, which in turn leads you to cultivate habits conducive to happiness.

Imagine how much happiness you can achieve, now that you've spent all these weeks moving ahead on the road to success!

Of course, you won't be miraculously transformed by this method, but it will place you in a position to make your life a wonderful adventure, and to attain success.

Success is a 'succession' of goals which you set for yourself, and which you attain.

How am I doing as far as my personal development is concerned?

Because we don't think enough, our mistakes don't help us as they should.

And because we don't evaluate our actions, we don't make progress.

In this final chapter we'll take a brief look at the principle of living we have discovered together over the last few weeks, and which have helped us take control of our lives.

In order to adapt I fraternize with people and I act.

Yes [] No Have my friends noticed a change in me?

3. To do this I must avoid skepticism and other states of mind which are hostile to optimism, such as depression, impulsiveness, and so on.

Godefroy, Christian H. (1993), Super Health: How to Control Your Body's Natural Defences, Piatkus Books.