Week 22 – Mastering emotions

This week the Seven laws of the mind coincide with the reading of Scroll Six of Og Mandino’s The Greatest salesman in The World in many ways. In my opinion “salesman” is a metaphor for living one’s own life to the fullest and the greatest “sale” in the world is the one we make to ourselves to believe with every fiber of our being that we are born with greatness inside of us all. Our challenge is to convince ourselves that it is still true and that each day we begin a new life, embrace each day with love in our hearts, persist in our endeavors until successful completion, believe that we are nature’s greatest miracle and we can control our emotions because that keeps the door open to our greatest future.

Here is how link the seven laws of the mind and scroll six together.

Law of Substitution

We cannot think about 2 things at the same time. If a negative thought enters your mind ~ try to think about God instead. If that is too big a reach at the time, use any fond memory or other pleasant thought. Jesus, the Master Teacher, said, “Resist not evil” ~ meaning turn from it and think about something else instead.

Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (page 80)

By substituting positive thoughts for the negative thoughts we can change our mindset and outlook almost immediately.

Law of Relaxation

Mental effort defeats itself ~ exactly the opposite of physical effort. A relaxed, calm state of mind, is the only doorway to progress mentally. Relaxation of thought is the only access to Infinite Intelligence.

Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (page 82)

“Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mystery of moods in all mankind, and in me. From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods I will control my destiny.”

If we recognize and understand the “mystery” of the moods we can realize that our moods are in our control and therefore not get upset or animated when someone’s bad mood arrives. In other words – relax.

 Law of Practice

Practice makes perfect. The 5Ps – Perfect Practice Prevents Poor Performance. Our bewilderment of magnificence in others, upon further inspection, finds…as Wooden shares ‘you’ll find most of it is practice, the rest of it is work.’ With practice of the correct things, we improve ~ on the other 6 Laws of the Mind.

 Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (many passages including Page 81)

Many passages in scroll six provide examples of practicing overcoming or rejecting negative thoughts and actions with positive thoughts and actions.

“If I become overconfident I will recall my failures, If I overindulge I will think of past hungers, If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.”

Law of Forgiveness

To access the Divine and connect the subconscious to the Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent Creator we must forgive everyone and anyone to clear the channel. There can be no connection to the Divine mind where anger or resentment against a brother or sister, justified or not, exists.

Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (many passages including Page 81) 

“And with this knowledge I will also understand and recognize the moods of him on whom I call. I will make allowances for his anger and irritation of today for he knows not the secret of controlling his mind.”

By living with forgiveness for any interaction I clear the channel for relationships in the future. Holding a grudge does nothing but prolong the ill mood.

Law of Dual Thought

Thought is a combination of ideation and feeling. We can attach any feeling to a thought we want.

 Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (many passages including Page 80)

“If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice”, If I feel poverty I will think of wealth, If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.”

Law of Subconscious

As soon as the subconscious accepts the idea it becomes a demand and it works constantly, 24-7, to manifest demand ~ accessing a reservoir of infinite resources.

Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (many passages including Page 82)

Throughout scroll six the phrase “Today I will be master of my emotions” is repeated along with other phrase and this one is my favorite. “Today I control my destiny, and my destiny is to become the greatest salesman in the world! I will become master of myself. I will become great.

Law of Growth

Whatever we think about grows. What we forget atrophies.

Scroll six – “Today I will be master of my emotions” (many passages including Page 78, 79)

Scroll six screams of the Law of Growth by providing numerous examples to turn negative thoughts, feelings and emotion around to the positive. Also if we get “to big for our britches” (Thanks Mom!) scroll six tells us how to reign in ourselves to be more grateful and humble.

The beginning if scroll six shows us these immutable facts of life.

“The Tides advance, the tides recede. Winter goes and summer comes. Summer wanes and the cold increases. The sun rises, the sun sets. The moon is full, the moon is black. The birds arrive, the birds depart. Flowers bloom, flowers fade, Seeds are sown, harvests are reaped. All nature is a circle of moods and I am part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise, my moods will fall. We are just like nature but we can’t control anything about nature except our moods in proaction (my new word) or reaction to the environment we are in. Can you stop the tides? Can you change the rising of setting of the sun? No and no again but you can control or influence how you react to those events or the mood you are in or the moods others try to foist upon you.

Law of growth? What we think about grows! Think about the good stuff! Dream of the perfect life for you and the people around you. Forget about the things that you cannot control and focus on the things that you can control like you emotions, feelings and reactions to life.