Discover The Ancient Secrets of Authentic Happiness!
http://www.ancientkeysofjoy.com
Inside each of us are the keys to achieving our innermost desires from professional goals to personal objectives. Ancient Keys of Joy, from self-development author Tomislav Tomic, reveals the remarkably powerful, age-old-yet simple-techniques for realizing your fullest potential. And best of all, these incredible tools won't require more than 20 minutes a day to help you re-frame your worldview, so that you can actually attain the reality you desire. You'll learn:
- The groundbreaking science that outlines how your thinking and outlook affects your physical reality-and how to harness this extraordinary power.
- Why you should reprogram your old, worn-out beliefs to help put you on the path you truly desire and deserve.
- The top 3 mistakes most people make that prevent them from achieving their dreams and how to avoid them.
- Why just 20 minutes of meditation a day can help you become aware of and unlock the unlimited joy within.
- A complete, step-by-step guide to meditation, perfect for beginners.
- The secret for creating time for yourself and achieving a more relaxed state, every day.
- Much, much more!
Tomislav Tomic is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and author. A practitioner of yoga and meditation since he was 18, Tomislav has spent countless hours researching these topics and has been taught by respected experts. He is a graduate of the law school at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), and lives with his wife and daughter on the island of Hvar, Croatia.
Introduction ..................................................................................... 5
The Power Of Concentration............................................................. 6
Developing Self-confidence ............................................................ 12
Overcoming Self-consciousness ..................................................... 17
Thinking Right, Being Positive........................................................ 23
Developing Imagination And Initiative........................................... 32
Summary........................................................................................ 38
There are a few…just a VERY few…traits that a person must cultivate and develop in their lives before they can even START to become successful in whatever path they choose.
You can think of these traits as the building blocks…the foundation…of your growth into a successful life.You can build a life without them, but, like building a house without a strong foundation, it’ll be put at risk with the first heavy wind or rainstorm. Believe me, you will have a few of those in your life for sure!
A very successful businessman and public speaker originally wrote this book in the late 1800s. The author knows what he’s talking about!The text was thoroughly edited and updated to make the language more readable and more current. However, the concepts and “laws” that are discussed in the book are ageless.
These are traits that are a “must” for any person who is looking for long-term success in their life…no matter WHAT their goals may be.Read them carefully and thoughtfully. They WILL make a HUGE difference in your life!
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Throughout the ages, great people have invariably had great concentration. In art and science, business and warfare, literature, politics and philosophy, the real achievements of the race have been due to this power. Concentration arises chiefly from being deeply interested, and is very closely related to persistency and definiteness of purpose. Concentration is an enemy to self-consciousness and vacillation. It enables a man to do the best that is in him. It is one of the characteristic marks of genius itself.
A timid person is erratic in their habits. They shift constantly from one thing to another, accomplishing nothing worth anything. Is it a book they’re reading? Soon they turn the pages impatiently, skim lightly over the most important parts, hasten to learn the conclusion, and cast the book aside. Is it a new business venture? They enter upon it enthusiastically, but at the first sign of difficulty lose heart and give up. Every change they make causes a loss of time and energy, so that they are always going but never arriving.
People make their own world. To cultivate concentration they must think and do only one thing at a time. Concentration is the art of continuous and intense application to a task. It is not an abstraction; therefore it cannot be offered as an excuse for carelessness. Here’s an example: A young man who worked in a bank was assigned to collect a note for $75,000. He received the customer's check for the amount, had it certified, and returned to the bank. Upon arriving at the bank, he immediately engaged a fellow worker in conversation, and then was sent out again for another errand. He loitered on the way, and when he returned, the bank had closed and everyone had gone home. That night the young man told his father how he came to have the check still in his pocket.
http://www.mbssites.comHis father made him call the president of the bank at home, and early next morning the young man handed in the check. The president called him into his office and said: "We don’t require your services any longer."
Thoroughness is one of the marks of a self-confident person. They do everything they undertake just as well as they can. If it is a business matter to be discussed, they first inform themselves so completely that they are able to talk with accuracy and intelligence. If it is a public speech to be delivered, they don’t wait until the day before and then put together a few hastily considered thoughts, but all is carefully and thoroughly prepared long in advance. Such a person speaks little of what they are going to do, but first does it and lets their work speak for itself.
Every person should get an idea of values in their life. There can be no true success where time and talent are squandered. "Every moment lost," said Napoleon, himself a wonderful example of concentration, "gives an opportunity for misfortune." The building of a self-confident person requires effort, self-sacrifice, and singleness of purpose.
It is not quantity but quality of work that differentiates one man from another. One thing well and thoroughly done is better than any amount of careless work. The person who is completely absorbed in the present duty has no time for discontent and discouragement. Time does not hang heavily on their hands, for the clock is not their master.
http://www.mbssites.comNo one can become deeply interested in work that is distasteful to them. Thousands of people struggle up-stream all their lives because they are in a job that doesn’t fit them. An anonymous writer said: "It is a sad parody on life to see a man earning his living by a vocation which has never received his approval. It is pitiable to see a youth, with the image of power and destiny stamped upon him, trying to support himself in a mean, contemptible occupation, which dwarfs his nature, and makes him despise himself; an occupation which is constantly condemning him, ostracizing him from all that is best and truest in life. Dig trenches, shovel coal, carry a rod; do anything rather than sacrifice your self-respect, blunt your sense of right and wrong, and shut yourself off forever from the true joy of living, which comes only from the consciousness of doing one's best."
In order to cultivate concentration a person must bring their will to bear strongly upon their work and their life. They should realize that every difficulty yields to this power, and that uninterrupted application to one thing will achieve the seemingly impossible. Mental shiftlessness is powerless in the face of difficulty, but a person of strong will and concentration uses obstacles as stepping-stones to higher things.
You need to begin to develop your concentration today in little things. Cultivate the most intense earnestness in whatever you may be doing. Say to yourself: "This one thing I do and I do it to the very best of my ability. My purpose is sure and steady. My aim is accurate and certain. I hold my thought severely and positively to the work in hand. My endeavor is to do better at each succeeding effort. I don’t think about tomorrow, for today demands the best that’s in me.”
http://www.mbssites.com“I move quietly but persistently toward a definite goal. I shall be immensely successful through constant, earnest and sincere application to my work and duty. I grow daily in my power of concentrated effort. I am absorbed in all I do."
A person should concentrate not only in matters of business, but in their reading and recreation. This great power brings with it many other valuable elements, such as order, punctuality, thoroughness, self-respect, and self-reliance. Through concentration a person may aspire to the highest achievements. By its aid there is practically no limit to ambition.
Buskin said that "men's proper business in this world falls mainly into three divisions: First, to know themselves. Secondly, to be happy in themselves. Thirdly, to mend themselves as far as either are marred or mend able."
We hear people constantly deploring the fact that they lack concentration, memory, definiteness, and other qualities of excellence, but those same people don’t make the slightest effort to cultivate them. Few persons are born with really great gifts; most of the truly great have achieved greatness. Napoleon ascribed his greatest victories to his ability to concentrate his forces on a single point in the enemy. Gladstone was remarkable for this same power. When the great statesman died, Lord Eosebery said: "My lords, there are two features of Mr. Gladstone's intellect which I can not help noting on this occasion, for they were so signal, so salient, and distinguished him so much from all other minds that I have come in contact with, that it would be wanting to this occasion if they were not noted. The first was his enormous power of concentration!”
http://www.mbssites.com“There never was a man, I feel, in this world, who, at any given moment, on any given subject, could so devote every resource and power of his intellect, without the restriction of a single nerve within him, to the immediate purpose of that subject."
The story is told of an English statesman whose powers of concentration were so great that after a great debate in Parliament, they hurried from the House bareheaded, passed his coach at the door, and walked all the way home in a pouring rain. In the highest form of public speaking men become so absorbed in their subject that they lose for the time being all consideration and thought of everything else. This power is really indispensable to the highest form of extempore address. The great pulpit orators of the world possessed this faculty in preeminent degree. Whitefield, Mirabeau, Wilberforce, Parker, Spurgeon, Beecher, Phillips Brooks, all were men of tremendous earnestness and concentration. John Bright was so completely absorbed in the subject of a forthcoming speech that they brooded over it day and night, talked it over with his friends, and when no one else was available discussed it with his gardener.
But along with a person’s concentration there must be actual performance. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler says that "Indefinite absorption without production is fatal both to character and to the highest intellectual power. Do something and be able to do it well; express what you know in some helpful and substantial form; produce, and do not everlastingly feel only and revel in feelings--these are counsels which make for a real education and against that sham form of it which is easily recognized as well-informed incapacity."
http://www.mbssites.comThe power of concentration is to be developed so as to enable a person to do better work, to produce the best of which they is capable. It does not mean brooding and meditating, with no thought of action and production. It is to encourage work, not restrain it.
It’s a mistake to think that concentration means a straining of the mind. On the contrary, it is power in repose. It’s not a nervous habit of doing your work under pressure, but the ease of self-control. Every person should have one great ideal in life toward which they direct their best powers.
By constantly keeping that aim before you, by bending your energies to it, you can hope eventually to attain to your highest goals. When a successful financier was asked the secret of his great success, he said that as a young man they made a strong mental picture of what some day he would become. Day and night he concentrated his powers upon that one goal. There was no feverish haste, no nervous overreaching, and no squandering of mental and physical power, but a strong, reposeful, neverwavering determination to make that picture of his youth a living reality. Such is the power of concentration; such is the secret of success.
http://www.mbssites.comThe development of self-confidence begins properly with intelligent self-examination. The mind must be closely scrutinized, undesirable tendencies checked; faults eradicated, and correct habits of thought and conduct firmly established.
To achieve the best results this personal overhauling, or house cleaning, should be thorough and fearless.Fearful thought is a disease, to be diagnosed as carefully as any other illness. It comes largely from perverted mental habits. The mind is permitted habitually to dwell upon thoughts of doubt, failure, and inefficiency. So great does this power become, when permitted to rule unchecked, that it affects to greater or less degree almost every act of one's life.
The extremes to which a fearful person will sometimes go are as amusing as they are absurd. People fear poverty, darkness, ridicule, microbes, insomnia, dogs, lightning, burglars, cold, solitude, marriage, Friday, lawyers, death, thirteen, accident, and ghosts. The catalog of dreaded possibilities might include black cats, mice, ill luck, criticism, travel, disease, evil eyes, dreams, and old age.
It’s true there is legitimate and honest fear, like that of the young soldier who, upon being asked after his first battle how they felt, replied: "I was afraid I would be afraid, but I was not afraid."
http://www.mbssites.comIt’s right and proper that one should fear to do a mean or cowardly thing, to injure another, or to commit any kind of wrong. This fear, however, instead of weakening personal character, imparts to it new and manly force.
To walk straight up to the thing feared will often strip it of its terror. In one of the old fables we read that when man first beheld the camel its huge size caused him to flee in dreadful fear. But later, observing the animal's seeming gentleness, he approached him less timidly, and then, seeing the almost spiritless nature of the beast, he boldly put a bridle in his mouth and set a child to drive him. We can in like manner conquer fearful thoughts of the human mind.
Fear has well been called our most ancient enemy. Primitive humanity was unprotected against more powerful animals, and in those early days they had good reason to be fearful, but it is difficult to justify the widespread fear that exists today.
Thousands of persons can say truthfully: "I have all my life feared things that never happened." The danger of this fearful attitude is that it frequently attracts that which is dreaded most, and the words of Job are literally fulfilled: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." We are told that one of the bravest of African chiefs was driven into a cold sweat of agonizing fear merely by the constant ticking of a watch.
http://www.mbssites.comIf worry is due to lack of self-reliance, fear is an acknowledgment of inferiority. It does not stand still, and unless throttled will gradually overwhelm its victim, making him at last "Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread."
Timidity is quickly recognized by the world, and not only argues an ignoble mind, as Virgil says, but actually invites pursuit and imposition. John Foster observes in his splendid essay "On Decision of Character ": “Weakness, in every form, tempts arrogance; and a man may be allowed to wish for a kind of character with which stupidity and impertinence may not make so free. When a firm, decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man, and leaves him room and freedom. The disposition to interrogate, dictate, or banter, preserves a respectful and polite distance, judging it not unwise to keep the peace with a person of so much energy."
It’s surprising how confidence breeds confidence. Courage in danger is sometimes half the battle, while self-reliance will often safeguard a person's interests and give him an abiding sense of security. It makes them feel equal to almost any undertaking, however difficult, leading them to think with Dryden "They can conquer who believe they can."
http://www.mbssites.comThe building of self-confidence is not difficult, but it requires patience and intelligent effort. There should be no straining, no anxiety, and no haste. The story of the man who tried to jump over a hill should be kept in mind. He went a long way back, then ran so hard toward the hill that when he got there he was obliged to lie down and rest. Then he got up and walked over the hill. Many men are always preparing, but never achieving.
It is said that with regard to any final or definite end, most people live without purpose, and without any fixed star to guide them. So, as a writer has expressed it, "To him that knoweth not the port to which he is bound, no wind can be favorable; neither can he who has not yet determined at what mark he is to shoot, direct his arrow correctly."
Indecision is a frequent cause of the fear. People hesitate to take a step one way or the other for fear that they might do the wrong thing, and this spirit of irresolution and hesitation often leads them into the very mistakes they would avoid. It’s like a man on a bicycle, endeavoring to steer clear of an obstruction on the road, but all the while keeping his eye fastened upon it so that a collision is inevitable. There is nothing more disastrous to success than lack of purpose. "He who hesitates is lost," while he grows great who puts on "the dauntless spirit of resolution." The world generally accepts a man at his own value. If you give an impression that you are afraid, you will elbowed aside and imposed upon at almost every turn.
http://www.mbssites.comLet me illustrate: The other day I saw a dog leisurely pass a cat on the street, and to all appearance there was no ill feeling on either side. The cat looked him straight in the eye as they approached, and the dog returned her confident glance and quietly passed on. Then the cat, seeing a good chance for escape, bolted across the street, but the instant the dog saw her running he turned and followed in hot haste. It was cat and dog for some yards, when suddenly the cat stopped, humped her back and looked defiantly at her adversary. He stopped, caught his breath, blinked uncertainly, turned up his nose, and walked off. As long as the cat showed fear and ran, the dog chased her; but the moment she took her stand, he respected her. When a person stands up boldly and self-confidently for their rights, fear slinks tremblingly into the shadows.
If you want to learn how to be self-confident, resolve to follow it to completion with bulldog tenacity. Realize that no weak-hearted, intermittent efforts will achieve your desired purpose. Hold in your mind the supreme assurance that you can and will achieve this indispensable power, and your reward for your energy and perseverance will be great!
http://www.mbssites.comDaily speech offers one of the vast opportunities for eliminating selfconsciousness. The student should aim here to develop definiteness of idea, sincerity of expression, and concentration of mind. Nothing leads so quickly to hesitation and embarrassment in a speaker as mental uncertainty. To speak confidently, they must not guess, or imagine, or take for granted: they must know. Lack of proper mental equipment is responsible for a large part of the fearfulness of people. People who really know what they’re talking about, and are absolutely sure of it, are likely to be sure of themselves. It shows itself in their voice, their use of words, their manner, and their entire personality.
The speaker should cultivate sincerity in his conversation. They will avoid formal compliments and empty platitudes. They will not talk like a book. They will not talk just to hear themselves. They will speak for a purpose, and this will easily enable them to concentrate their mind upon the subject of his conversation. They will listen attentively and interestedly to others. Above all, they will not speak of themselves unless obliged to do so, and then briefly, modestly, and gently.
In what manner, then, shall they speak? Newman's definition of a good person answers that question well: "They guard against unseasonable allusions or topics which may irritate; they are seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. They make light of favors when they do them, and seem to be receiving when they are conferring.
http://www.mbssites.comThey never speak of themselves except when compelled, never defend themselves by a mere retort; they have no ears for slander or gossip, are scrupulous in assigning motives to those who interfere with them, and interpret everything for the best."
This self-discipline begins naturally with deep breathing. Many people don’t realize that the manner in which they breathe affects their attitude of mind. It is altogether too common to use but one half of the breathing capacity. A man who breathes only with his upper chest lacks the vigor and vitality essential to a high degree of self-confidence. Deep breathing should be practiced daily until it becomes an unconscious habit.
So, what is the remedy for self-consciousness? It’s mainly a matter of securing control of one's thoughts and intelligently directing them. The mind is a machine, which must be made obedient to the owner's will. When brought under subjection, it will serve man's highest and best purposes, but left to itself it may run easily to confusion and destruction.
You might say: "But my mind wanders." Then go after it and bring it back. You say you can’t? Who’s operating your mind? Does it run itself? What would you think of a train that had no engineer, no conductor, no one to direct it, and was allowed to run just anywhere? Yet this is what you permit with your train of ideas. Be sensible. Take hold of yourself seriously. Set your will to work. Straighten your spine. Take time today for mental overhauling. You are about to educate your will and it’s serious business. Procrastination will not do. From this time forward resolve to control and direct your mental powers for definite purposes.
http://www.mbssites.comLet it be said here, without attempt to moralize, that wrongdoing will contribute its share to self-consciousness. It may be an injury done another, an unfair advantage in business, or a secret habit; but whatever it may be, its mark is seared upon the conscience, and sooner or later finds expression in embarrassment. What should one do who comes under this classification? Repair the injury, stop every undesirable habit, and resolve hereafter to deal justly with all people.
Constantly hold in your mind a high estimate of yourself, but be sure you have reasons for doing so. It is of little use to say you are well if you are ill. Don’t deceive yourself. You are no greater than the sum of your thoughts and habits. Do you have good and sufficient reasons for holding yourself in high esteem? Are you a person of noble impulses? Is your ambition lofty? Do you have high ideals and do you work persistently to realize them? Are you doing the best you can? Do you have an uncompromising love for truth?
A business man recently wrote to a teacher, saying: "I lose control and become embarrassed when I speak even to my own employees, and can’t keep a straight face at any time when meeting strangers. I feel embarrassed, turn red in the face, and otherwise feel uncomfortable when talking to a single individual. If I were called upon to address an audience, I believe I should drop dead." This is an illustration of the extremes to which self-consciousness may carry its victim. The mind is a fertile field for the growth of all kinds of thought. If false and negative ideas are allowed to take root, they, like weeds of an ordinary field, spread with wonderful rapidity, and may easily discourage and overwhelm the owner. The man to whom we have referred has long neglected his mental field and now finds himself in a bad way.
http://www.mbssites.comThe remedy for him, and for lots of others, is to patiently root out every obnoxious habit and to substitute strong, healthy, positive thoughts in its place. They must be content with small victories at first, since they have permitted their mental field and garden to be overrun with these objectionable thought habits, but they can comfort themselves with the assurance that in this way they can and will attain success.
Timid people concern themselves too much about what others will think and say. They are constantly studying the impression they are making upon people who probably are not even thinking of them. Their super sensitiveness causes them to imagine themselves being criticized, slighted, and unfairly condemned by those who all the while are absorbed in their own affairs.
A man may be on the road to success when a single act of timidity may ruin all his chances. People lose confidence in him if he lacks faith in himself. Courage is admired, fear never is. Courage is dignified, fear is repulsive. The man of courage is welcomed everywhere, while fear invites itself to a seat in the rear. The following incident actually occurred in a second-hand bookshop. The salesman had been talking for some time to a customer, when another man who had selected a book for himself mustered up enough courage to say: "Don't let me interrupt you, sir, if you are busy with that gentleman—I wanted to get—this book--but I can just as well call in on my way back--I would have to trouble you anyway--to change--a fivedollar bill--and perhaps--you haven't--the change-so I'll come back--in a little while--don't trouble, sir--and then I'll have the right change with me."
http://www.mbssites.comThis sounds exaggerated, but it can be vouched for. What chance, do you think, does that man have for advancement or distinction in the world? He is doomed to failure unless he changes his entire mental attitude.
Every person should learn to stand firmly upon his own feet. As themselves they may become great; as an imitator they will amount to little. "Intellectual intrepidity," says Samuel Smiles "is one of the vital conditions of independence and self-reliance in character. A man must have the courage to be himself, and not the shadow or the echo of another. He must exercise his own powers, think his own thoughts, and speak his own sentiments. He must elaborate his own opinions, and form his own convictions. It has been said that they who dare not form an opinion must be a coward; they who will not, must be an idler; they who can not, must be a fool."
The timid man should take inspiration from the experience of many of the world's greatest orators and actors. For the most part they at first were self-conscious men. Demosthenes, Cicero, Curran, Chalmers, Erskine, Pitt, Gladstone, Disraeli, Mirabeau, Patrick Henry, Clay, Gough, Beecher, Salvini, Henry Irving, Richard Mansfield, and many others were subject to "stagefright." But this sensitivity, when at last controlled and intelligently directed, enabled them to reach a foremost place among distinguished men. It is said of Rufus Choate, the great lawyer, that before an important address to a jury, looked as nervous and wretched as a criminal about to be hanged.
http://www.mbssites.comProbably every public speaker who has amounted to anything could testify to this initial feeling of nervousness or anxiety, but the cure lies in becoming so absorbed in one's subject, or the welfare of others, as to forget one's self.
Self-consciousness may arise from self conceit. The victim says to himself: "What impression am I making?" "Do I loo
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