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| Wed Nov 15, 2006 2:44 am 2 articles from The Certain Way |
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Favorite articles from The Certain Way
What the Young Man Heard
By Rebecca Fine
In the latter half of the 1800s, when the telegraph was still "high tech," a young man in Baltimore, Maryland, woke up one summer morning giddy with excitement. In fact, it had taken him half the night to get to sleep at all.
Today was the day he'd apply for his first job! But what was really exciting was that, if he were lucky enough to be chosen for the position, he'd actually be getting PAID for something that absolutely enthralled him. He'd be a real, bona fide telegraph operator!
His mind was so filled with wonderful pictures of himself sending and receiving important messages, communicating with people miles away — even clear across the country — that the possibility of NOT getting the job couldn't get a foot in the door.
He didn't even mind wearing a stiff collar and tie. After all, this was an important job, and he liked the idea of looking the part. Giving his shoes one last buffing, he dashed out the door and raced downtown to the telegraph office.
Inside, the office was already bustling with activity and noise, including the sound of the telegraph clattering away in the background. Several other applicants were seated in the waiting area, hunched over paperwork. Our young man saw a stack of job applications with a sign instructing candidates to take one, fill it out, and then wait to be called into the Director's office for an interview. So he eagerly grabbed one and sat down.
The form itself took only a few minutes to complete, and as he finished and started to look around at the other job hopefuls in the room ...
... the young man suddenly jumped from his chair and with his paperwork in hand, marched over to the Director's office door and went right in without even knocking!
"Did you see that?" one of the other jobseekers snorted. "We're supposed to wait until we're called, and that rube barges in like he owns the place."
"Yeah, that's some nerve, but it just cuts down the competition," said another, and they all laughed.
Moments later the laughter and comments stopped as the Director's door opened and both he and the beaming young man came out into the waiting area.
"Gentlemen," the Director said, "thank you for coming, and I wish you all well. The job has been filled."
Stunned into silence, no one said anything for a moment. Then, the fellow who had started the derisive comments sputtered, "Now wait a minute. This isn't fair! We were here first but we never even got a chance, and he gets the job just like that?"
The others grumbled in agreement, but the Director put up his hand. "Here's the thing," he said.
"All this time you were sitting here, the telegraph has been clicking away, saying: 'If you can understand this, come on into the office right now. You've got the job.'
As he clapped his hand on the young man's shoulder, he smiled broadly and said, "This young fellow was the only one of you who heard or understood the message."
Why did this young man alone
hear and understand the message?
Listen to what Scottish psychologist R. D. Laing had to say on this subject:
"The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change -- until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds."
You'll probably need to read that a couple of times. (I sure did!) Then just let it sink in a bit.
Now, wouldn't it be great if you could just put on a special pair of glasses that would magically cause all the opportunities that come your way every single day to stand out from all the background "noise?" To jump into sharp relief against what Mr. Wattles calls "mere appearances" so that you could notice them?
Just imagine that for a minute. Everything looks normal one moment — all the everyday hassles, the BIG problems, the regular stresses and frustrations, and so on. Life going on all around, as usual.
And then you put on your magic specs (which, by the way, are extremely cool and you look fabulous in them!), and — wow! — the entire world looks SO different!
Suddenly you see connections you hadn't noticed before. Suddenly what previously looked like a HUGE problem you were trying to put off dealing with has magically morphed into a lucky break.
And people look different, too — even some of the grumpy, disagreeable ones are starting to shape up.
Yeah, wouldn't it be great if you could do that?
Well, you can!
And you don't need magic glasses any more than the young man in our story above needed a special hearing aid.
Why did he, and he alone, hear opportunity knocking?
It couldn't be because he was the only one interested in the job. There were other applicants sitting there with him.
It couldn't be because he was the only one who knew Morse code. After all, it was a telegrapher's job they were after.
It couldn't be because he was more experienced. This was his first job.
And it wasn't for any of those other reasons Mr. Wattles tells us don't really matter (right there in Chapter 2).
Have you figured out why our hero heard the message? Well, here's a clue from Mr. Wattles in The Science of Getting Rich:
"Contemplate your picture in your leisure hours until your consciousness is so full of it that you can grasp it instantly. You will become so enthused with its bright promises that the mere thought of it will call forth the strongest energies of your whole being."
Bingo! There it is!
His mind was so filled with his clear mental image of himself as a telegraph operator that he could see, hear, smell, and taste that "image." He really wanted it and could vividly imagine himself having it. It was REAL to him — as real as if it were already true.
And it called forth the strongest energies of his whole being. It allowed him to hear what others couldn't.
When your mind is so focused in this way, you are STRONGLY impressing your image on the Formless and causing that image to move toward you, to move into physical reality. You become so attuned that your senses are heightened and your awareness expands. You can see and hear and notice things that totally escaped you before.
Your brain's special 'pay attention to this!' system
Did you know your brain even has a special area that handles this whole area of "noticing?" It's called the Reticular Activating System (RAS), and part of what it does is cause you to notice things that were ALWAYS there before unnoticed until you somehow clue it in about what to start noticing.
For example, did you ever get a new car (or even just think a LOT about getting one) and then it suddenly seemed that EVERYONE must have just bought one? Suddenly, that very same model — even the same color — is showing up EVERYWHERE?
That's the RAS at work.
It's filtering all the zillions of messages your five senses are constantly passing along and deciding which ones are important — important enough for you to consciously notice. (It's determining also what goes into your subconscious mind where the belief system that runs your life is built.) And one way you "program" your RAS to send up a "hey, look at this!" signal is by what you focus on by CHOICE.
It's what we're referring to when we say that what you see around you depends on what you're looking for — in experiences, circumstances, in other people, and on and on. And it works just as well when you put your focus, faith, and feeling on what you do NOT want, too. It's totally neutral, and it's on the job in your every waking moment.
With a new car, of course, the novelty wears off fairly soon, your interest fades, and so the RAS stops signalling you to notice all the lime green Volkswagen Beetle convertibles whizzing by.
But when you follow Mr. Wattles' advice, you're giving the RAS steady instructions to keep its radar going. And the result is like wearing those magic glasses:
"Imagine an environment and a financial condition exactly as you want them, and live all the time in that mental environment and financial condition until they take physical shape.
"See the things you want as if they were actually around you all the time. See yourself as owning and using them. Make use of them in imagination just as you will use them when they are your tangible possessions.
"Dwell upon your mental picture until it is clear and distinct, and then take the mental attitude of ownership toward everything in that picture. Take possession of it, in mind, in the full faith that it is actually yours. Hold to this mental ownership. Do not waiver for an instant in the faith that it is real."
When you do this, when you enthusiastically and steadily hold your vision — like the young man in our story — you'll be amazed at what you start to notice and astonished at how you seem to hear and see wonderful opportunities where others do not!
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.. ... -. --- .-- .... . .-. .
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Need a guide to Morse code to decipher the message above? Go here:
www.babbage.demon.co.uk/morseabc.html
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Rebecca Fine is the founder of The Science of Getting Rich Network where you can download your free copy of the amazing 1910 forgotten classic, The Science of Getting Rich. http://tinyurl.com/kemdq ©2004 Certain Way Productions.
You may use this article in your own publications or web sites as long as no changes are made to the text and the "Resource Box" above is included in its entirety.
Favorite articles from The Certain Way
"It's Nothing at All 'til We Call It"
By Rebecca Fine
In long-ago China there lived a peasant farmer by the name of Chang Wei-Kung. Now in those days, in that country, a subsistence farmer like Wei-Kung relied heavily on his sons to help with planting, cultivation, and especially to bring in the harvest. But Wei-Kung had only one son — named Chi — a big, strong, strapping fellow, of whom his father was very proud.
One day, as father and son were walking to the fields to begin the harvest, they were so caught up in their conversation that Chi didn't notice where he was stepping, and in a flash he had fallen and broken his leg.
"Oh, no!" his father cried, "This is terrible!" And, in truth, in those days a broken leg WAS a grievous injury, one that could even result in death if left untreated. But soon the doctor came and set the leg and assured both men that it would heal just fine.
Wei-Kung was, of course, relieved. Yet he still faced a dilemma: How to bring in the harvest without Chi's help. Despite his relief that Chi would live and be healthy, a dreary air of gloom and despair settled on him. He'd just have to do the best he could, maybe find others to help, but the specter of losing his harvest loomed bleakly before him and his heart was heavy. Wei-kung was thoroughly convinced that Chi's accident was a disastrous misfortune.
The next day, as Wei-Kung prepared to go to the fields and get done what he could manage alone, he heard a far-off rumble that he soon recognized as the sound of hundreds of hoofbeats. A bit startled, he delayed his departure and waited to see what was happening.
Soon he got his answer, as a massive army led by a fierce-looking warlord thundered into his dooryard. "All able-bodied men come forward!" the warlord's lieutenant called out. "You are hereby pressed into service and will come with us now!"
Wei-Kung bowed and explained that he had only one son and that he was unfit for the army as he had broken his leg just the day before. The warrior chief scowled and sent a man into the house to see for himself if Wei-Kung's story were true. When he was satisfied, he simply nodded to his lieutenant who quietly raised his hand, and the horde of men and horses disappeared over the hill as quickly as they had arrived.
"Such a blessing!" Wei-Kung shouted, as he embraced his son. "How wonderful it is that your leg is broken and you are not to be taken from me!"
Now, Gentle Reader, I ask you to bear this story in mind as you review this passage from Wallace Wattles' life-changing forgotten 1910 classic, The Science of Getting Rich:
"To do things in the way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think. This is the first step toward getting rich. And to think what you want to think is to think TRUTH, regardless of appearances.
"Every individual has the natural and inherent power to think what he wants to think, but it requires far more effort to do so than it does to think the thoughts which are suggested by appearances.
"To think according to appearances is easy; to think truth regardless of appearances is laborious and requires the expenditure of more power than any other work we are called upon to perform.
"There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought. It is the hardest work in the world. This is especially true when truth is contrary to appearances.
So what was the TRUTH of Wei-Kung's situation? Was Chi's accident a terrible thing — or a wonderful thing?
In a recent edition of my ezine, The Certain Way, a quotation that fits this story quite well was featured. The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, wrote this:
"Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently."
Sometimes we can get ourselves into the habit of seeing things in a negative way, a way that doesn't serve us. But we DO always have the CHOICE of how we see. And sometimes, as with Wei-Kung, we need something to come along and kind of smack into us to jar us into seeing and thinking a different — better, more positive, more creative, more USEFUL — way, don't we?
Now, lest you think I'm only "preaching" platitudes and nice stories, let me assure you that everything I share with you here is something I have experienced or am experiencing myself. And so it is with this "is it good or bad?" lesson.
I recently took a long trip to Central America — and it was terrific, too. But what happened on my return is what I'd like to show you now, and believe me, this is difficult.
Before I was out of the airport parking lot — having been traveling for 16 hours and awake for more than 60 — I learned that my whole world had been turned upside down FOR me, through no choice of mine. I heard that my most important relationship, of 14 years, was kaput (yes, dumped for the infamous "other woman") and that there would be no one but me there when I got home.
So. Ouch. Real BIG ouch. Well, we've all been there, haven't we? Maybe not quite the same situation, but we've all felt that kind of shock, betrayal, loss, disbelief, anger, humiliation, pain. That's just part of being human, of what a teacher of mine calls "Earth School." And it's so EASY simply to react and let those flooding emotions just take us over completely, to sink into despair and into competitive mind (where we judge the other people involved and ourselves so harshly), to say as Wei-Kung did, "This is terrible!" and to feel that all is lost.
But still, there IS that choice — to be creative rather than reactive, to CHOOSE another way of looking at the situation. Creative mind is always available to us, but as Mr. Wattles notes, sometimes it's REALLY hard work — "the hardest work in the world." And yet, in my experience at least, that choice is the surest route to truth rather than mere appearances.
See, I went off looking for adventure and transformation. I had asked for that. I also asked for more wisdom. Those were part of my "clear, mental image" of what I wanted. I got both. No, I would not have chosen to have the second part (so far!) of my adventure delivered in this manner and this wasn't exactly the kind of transformation I had in mind(!), but this is how it arrived.
And wisdom? It doesn't show up in a nice, neat package labeled "Wisdom." It gets delivered through experience — and through our decisions about how to view our experience, what value and meaning we CHOOSE to assign to events.
So, while it IS painful (and Mr. Wattles is right about the hard work!), I choose to see this major life transition as the gift it truly is. You know, Thomas Edison awoke one morning to find his laboratory and his life's work had been destroyed in a fire. And he looked at the ashes and said that he was glad. All his mistakes had been wiped out and he now had the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
We all have that opportunity. Every day, in every moment. As I've said here — and more than once — if we have chosen unwisely in the past, the great gift is that we can choose again right now. And the truth is, when appearances seem to be that our current experience is "bad," we must KEEP choosing — over and over, in every moment — to see past those appearances so that we don't miss the doors that are opening to us even as others that we have outgrown our need for are closing. It's not a one-shot deal where you tie up all the loose ends quickly and neatly and then move on, but an ongoing process of discovery, challenge, and growth.
We're all in the process somewhere; we truly ARE all in this together. And by our choices from moment to moment we determine whether we just spin round and round, seeming to bump up against the same challenges and potential lessons again and again, or accept them and move forward, spiral upward to greater things, upward to the greater good for ourselves and for all.
Mary Manin Morrissey, the author of Building Your Field of Dreams, told a story recently about a good friend of hers and that friend's daughter, people she's known more than 30 years. The daughter had called her mom with the news that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mom was startled, of course, and immediately blurted out exactly what Wei-Kung said, what most of us would say in the shock of the moment and before we were able to absorb that shock: "Oh, no! That's terrible!"
But her daughter — brought up in what you might truthfully call "the certain way" — calmly answered, "No, Mom. It's nothing at all 'til WE call it."
And so it is, my friend. Whatever happens, however grim it may initially seem, there IS a gift wrapped up in there. Many gifts, actually. Finding the gifts — the blessings, the benefits, the lessons, the messages, the silver linings — all depends on how we choose to see the situation. Is it good? Or is it bad?
It's NOTHING at all 'til WE call it.
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Rebecca Fine is the founder of The Science of Getting Rich Network where you can download your free copy of the amazing 1910 forgotten classic, The Science of Getting Rich. http://tinyurl.com/kemdq ©2001 Certain Way Productions.
You may use this article in your own publications or web sites as long as no changes are made to the text and the "Resource Box" above is included in its entirety. |
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