This book explain how your own subconscious thoughts shape your life and your surroundings.
If you want to be successful at something then just start doing it. You will reach to your goals at some point as long as you keep the right mindset and learn the tasks.
Dr Murphy explains each and everything with real life examples making it simple for the reader to relate and develop. This book offers some really great skills to learn with numerous examples. You can read some of the stories below.
I would recommend this book to anyone.
Check more reviews and details on Amazon.
Chapter 17: How to Use Your Subconscious Mind for Forgiveness
How She Banished That Feeling of Guilt
Harriet G. worked late at the office every day. She often did not go home until after midnight. She expected that her superiors and coworkers would pat her on the back because she worked so hard. They didn’t. Since she was usually the only one who stayed so late, the others didn’t even know about her unusual devotion. Meanwhile, her family life was in serious trouble. Her husband and two sons hardly knew what she looked like. When her younger son’s Little League team made the local playoffs, Harriet not only missed the game, she even forgot to ask who won. To top it off, Harriet’s doctor warned her that she was developing dangerously high blood pressure.
Harriet carne to talk to me after her husband told her he wanted a separation. I asked her why she shut her husband out of her life and showed so little interest in her boys. At first she tried to say that she had to work so hard just to keep up with her job. I asked if her coworkers put in as much time as she did. No, she admitted, the others in her company kept pretty normal hours, and they were not any better at the job than she was.
I suggested to her why she was working so arduously. “There is something eating you inside,” I told her. “If there weren’t, you would not act this way. You are punishing yourself for something.”
For a while, she resisted this suggestion. She kept trying to say that her working habits were normal, that other people were lazy. Finally, however, she admitted that she had a deep sense of guilt. Fifteen years earlier, after her father died, she had served as executor of the estate. She had deliberately kept from turning over a large sum of money to her younger brother.
“Why did you do that?” I asked. “Was it a question of greed?” “Of course not!” she replied. “My brother. ..well, he had a terrible drug problem. I knew what would happen to the money if I turned it over to him. I told myself I was saving it for him, for when he got himself straightened out.” “And. ..?” I probed.
Harriet took a deep breath. “It never happened. He killed himself. Maybe he didn’t do it on purpose, but it came to the same thing. He was only twenty-six. I keep thinking …what if I hadn’t kept the money? Maybe he would have used it to go into some kind of rehab program. He might still be with us. It’s my fault he’s dead.” I asked her, “If you had it to do over again, what would you do?” “I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “But I know I’d try harder to help my brother, instead of being down on him because he had a problem.”
“But at the time, did you feel you were justified?” I asked. “Did you feel you were doing the right thing?” “Sure,” she told me. “But now I’m sure it was wrong. That money wasn’t mine.”
“So you would not do it now?” “No, I wouldn’t,” she replied. Her face grew stem. “But that doesn’t matter. I can never be forgiven for what I did. I stole from my only brother, and he died. It’s only right that God should punish me. I deserve it.”
I explained to her that God was not punishing her. She was punishing herself. If you misuse the laws of life, you will suffer accordingly. If you put your hand on a naked charged wire, you will get a shock. The forces of nature are not evil; it is your use of them that determines whether they have a good or evil effect. Electricity is not evil; it depends on whether you use it to light up your home or give someone a fatal shock. The only sin is ignorance of the law, and the only punishment is the automatic reaction of people’s misuse of the law.
If you misuse the principles of chemistry, you may blow up your workplace. If you strike your hand against a board, you may cause your hand to bleed. The board is not at fault. The fault lies with your misuse of it.
Eventually I helped Harriet realize that God does not condemn or punish anyone. All her suffering was due to the reaction of her subconscious mind to her own negative and destructive thinking. What she needed was forgiveness, but the true meaning of forgiveness is to forgive yourself. Forgiveness is getting your thoughts in line with the divine law of harmony. Self-condemnation is called hell (bondage and restriction) ; forgiveness is called heaven (harmony and peace).
The burden of guilt and self-condemnation was lifted from her mind, and she had a complete healing. The next time she had a checkup, her blood pressure had become normal. The explanation was the cure.
A murderer Learned to Forgive Himself
Arthur O. murdered a man in Europe many years ago. When he carne to me, he was suffering from great mental anguish and torture. He believed that God must punish him for his terrible deed. I asked him what had happened. He explained that he had found out that the other man was having an affair with his wife. He had come upon them unexpectedly, as he returned from hunting, and shot the man in a moment of mad rage. The legal system did not take a very harsh view of his deed; he had to serve only a few months in prison.
When he was released from jail, Arthur divorced his wife and emigrated to the United States. After several years, he met and married an American woman. He and his wife have been blessed with three lovely children. He has made a successful career in a field where he is in a position to help many people. His colleagues like and respect him. None of this seems to help. All this time later, he still blames himself for what he did.
After hearing Arthur’s story, I explained to him that scientists tell us every cell of our bodies is replaced every eleven months. Both physically and psychologically, he was no longer the same man who had committed murder, and he had not been for many years. Moreover, he had clearly transformed himself both mentally and spiritually. He was now full of love and goodwill for humanity. The person who committed the crime years before was long since mentally and spiritually dead. In refusing to forgive himself, Arthur was condemning an innocent man. This explanation had a profound effect upon him. He said it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his mind.
Criticism Cannot Hurt You Without Your Consent
A schoolteacher named Ramona K. came to me after a lecture. She told me that recently she had had to give a speech. Afterward, one of her fellow teachers sent her a note full of criticism. She said that Ramona spoke too fast, swallowed some of her words, and couldn’t be heard. Her diction was poor and her text rambled.
Ramona was hurt and angry. She felt deep resentment toward her critic and tried to avoid any contact with her at school.
When I questioned her, Ramona eventually admitted that she deserved many of the criticisms. She was not experienced at speaking to an adult audience. She had been nervous beforehand, and afterward she was simply glad that she had gotten through it. That was the reason she had been so wounded by her coworker’s criticisms. It was as if somebody had blasted a toddler for not running fast enough, when simply managing to walk was an amazing feat.
Ramona was hurt and angry. She felt deep resentment toward her critic and tried to avoid any contact with her at school. When I questioned her, Ramona eventually admitted that she deserved many of the criticisms. She was not experienced at speaking to an adult audience. She had been nervous beforehand, and afterward she was simply glad that she had gotten through it. That was the reason she had been so wounded by her coworker’s criticisms. It was as if somebody had blasted a toddler for not running fast enough, when simply managing to walk was an amazing feat.
How To Be Compassionate
What if the letter Ramona received was totally incorrect? What if she had good reason to think that the criticisms it made of her speech were simply wrong? In that case, Ramona would have had to realize that something about her speech, whether its manner or its content, had upset the prejudices, superstitions, or narrow sectarian beliefs of the note’s writer. The problem would lie not with her but with the writer.
To understand this is to take an essential first step toward compassion. The next logical step would be to pray for the other persons peace, harmony, and understanding. You cannot be hurt when you know that you are master of your thoughts, reactions, and emotions. Emotions follow thoughts, and you have the power to reject all thoughts that may disturb or upset you.
Left At The Altar
Some years ago I was asked to perform a marriage ceremony at a nearby church. The young man did not appear. At the end of two hours, the would-be bride shed a few tears. She then said to me, “I prayed for divine guidance. This may be the answer to my prayer, for He never faileth.”
Her reaction was to restate her faith in God and all things good. She had no bitterness in her heart, because, as she said, “Much as I longed for it, I think this marriage must not have been right action, because my prayer was for right action, not just for me, but for both of us.” This young woman sailed serenely through an experience that might have sent another person into an emotional tailspin.
Tune in with the infinite intelligence within your subconscious depths. Trust the answer as unquestioningly as you trusted your mother and father when they held you in their arms. This is the high road to poise and mental and emotional health.
It is Wrong to Marry; Sex is Evil and I am Evil
A young woman who heard me speak came up to me afterward. She told me her name was Carol. I was struck by her appearance. She wore a very plain black dress and black stockings. Her face was pale and bland, without a single touch of lipstick or other makeup. Her manner, too, was subdued yet somehow watchful, as if she imagined that those around her might suddenly start acting in an outrageous way.
Soon Carol was telling me about her upbringing. She was raised by her mother, who taught her to believe that it was a sin to dance, to play cards, to swim, or to go out with men. According to her mother, all men were evil. Sex was nothing but debauchery, inspired by the devil. If she disobeyed these commandments, if she failed to follow them exactly and to the letter, she would burn eternally in hell.
When Carol went out with young men in the office where she worked, she felt a deep sense of guilt. She was convinced that God would punish her. A young man she felt close to asked her to marry him, but she refused. As she said to me, “It is wrong to marry; sex is evil and I am evil.” This was her early conditioning speaking.
Of course this young woman felt full of guilt. How could she not? It was impossible for her to live up to her mother’s beliefs. It was impossible to avoid the thought that there was something wrong with those beliefs. The life-principle that flows through all of us was struggling for recognition and expression.
I suggested to Carol that she try to learn how to forgive herself. To forgive means to give for. She had to give up all these false beliefs for the truths of life and a new estimate of herself.
Carol came to me once weekly for about ten weeks. I taught her what I have learned about the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind, just as I have set it forth in this book. As she gradually came to see that she had been brainwashed, mesmerized, and conditioned by an ignorant, superstitious, bigoted, and frustrated mother, she started to live a wonderful life.
At my suggestion, Carol began to wear more attractive clothes. She visited the cosmetics department store for a free comprehensive “makeover.” She took dancing lessons and learned to drive. She also learned to play cards, and to talk with young men. She broke away completely from her family and began to love and value life.
As Carol discovered her inner nature, she began to pray for a companion by claiming that infinite spirit would attract to her a man who harmonized with her thoroughly. One evening as she left my office, a man was waiting to see me. I casually introduced them. Six months later, they were married. They are still married and happy with one another.
lessons
Your concept of God is the most important thing in your life. If you really believe in a God of Love, your subconscious mind will respond by bringing countless blessings to you. Believe in a God of Love.
You can use electricity to kill someone or to light the house. You can use water to drown a child or quench his thirst. Good and evil come right back to the thought and purpose in a person’s own mind.
God, or life, never punishes. People punish themselves by their false concepts of God, life, and the universe. Their thoughts are creative, and they create their own misery.
If another criticizes you, and these faults are within you, rejoice, give thanks, and appreciate the comments. This gives you the opportunity to correct the particular fault.
You cannot be hurt by criticism when you know that you are master of your thoughts, reactions, and emotions. This gives you the opportunity to pray for and bless the other, thereby blessing yourself.
When you pray for guidance and right action, take what comes. Realize it is good and very good. Then there is no cause for self-pity, criticism, or hatred.
There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. There is no evil in the desire for food, sex, wealth, or true expression. It depends on how you use these urges, desires, or aspirations. Your desire for food can be met without killing someone for a loaf of bread.
