Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude

He got into action! He kept his mind on his objective. Over a period of ten years he was often on the verge of receiving the necessary help. But the deception of a king... the ridicule, suspicion, and fear of subordinate government officials... the disbelief of those who wanted to help him but who at the last moment refused because of the skepticism of their scientific advisors... all brought defeat after defeat. He kept trying.

In 1492 he received the help for which he had so persistently searched and prayed! In August of that year he sailed westward for India, China, and Japan. He was on the right course and headed in the right direction.

You know the story. After he landed on the islands in the Caribbean, he returned to Spain with gold, cotton, Parrots, curious arms, mysterious plants, unknown birds and beasts, and several natives. He thought he had achieved his objective and had reached the islands off India. He had failed. He had not reached Asia. But, without being aware of it immediately, Columbus had found something more! Quite a bit more!

You, like Christopher Columbus, may fail to reach your major objectives, or your magnificent obsessions. , like him, may fail in your efforts to reach a destination in the realm of the unknown. But you may discover something more ? something equaling the wealth of the Americas. You, like him, may inspire and direct

those who follow you to head in the right direction, on the right course, and to continue further into the unknown until they achieve the worthwhile objectives you conceived. You, like Columbus, have the time and the power to think. You, like him, can persistently strive with a positive mental attitude to achieve your definite major aims to find something more.

You don't need to be ashamed to be a failure like Christopher Columbus.

. . . And something more! How can yon apply it? By now you

should be in a position to extract principles from specific illustrations so that you can relate, assimilate, and use them. We agree with Admiral H. G. Rickover in the fundamental truths of his statement:

Among the young engineers we interview we find few who have received thorough training in engineering fundamentals or principles; but most have absorbed quantities of facts... much easier to learn than principles but of little use without application of principles. Once a principle has been acquired it becomes apart of one and is never lost. It can be applied to novel problems and does not become obsolete as do all facts in a changing society...

Learn the principles. Apply them. If you're not making satisfactory progress toward achieving your aims, look for the something morel It may be known or unknown. But you'll find it, if you take the necessary time to study, think, plan, and search for it.

Now this chapter would not be complete without reference to Cosmic Habit Force. Use cosmic habit force is one of the 17 success principles.

And the concept of cosmic habit force is easy to understand. For it is a name that we have given to applied power of any natural, or universal, principle or law, known or unknown.

Cosmic habit force can be simply defined as: the use of universal law, whether it is known or unknown to you.

As an example, it's easy to understand that when an object falls to the ground, the law of gravity is being applied. And, therefore, if you want an object to fall from a given height, you use cosmic habit force. And in this particular instance ? the law of gravity.

But the law of gravity, or any other law, is not in itself a power. Yet when you properly use the principle, then power is employed according to universal law.

And thus: the breaking of the atom, every invention, every chemical formula, every psychic phenomenon, every individual action and reaction ? be it physical, mental, or spiritual ? is the result of the use of natural law. For every result there is a cause. And the result is brought about through the use of cosmic habit force.

Again, man is a mind with a body. And he can think. It is through thinking that he learns how to use cosmic habit force. And his thinking can bring the thoughts he thinks into reality.

This concept is not difficult to comprehend, for in 1905 Albert Einstein gave to the world his now famous formula: E = mc 2 . This formula explains the relationship between energy and matter. When matter approaches the speed of light, we call it energy, and as the velocity slows down to zero, it remains matter. In the formula: E is energy, m is mass or matter, and c represents the velocity of light.