The Science of Getting Rich

The Science of Getting Rich is a best-selling classic by Wallace D. Wattles that outlines a scientific approach to wealth acquisition that (according to the author) if diligently applied cannot fail to yield the desired results.

The premise of the book is that it is natural and right to seek expansion, and that this expansion is facilitated by having as much material wealth as we need and want.

Wattles asserts the existence of a reality above and beyond the physical universe and human life referred to as the thinking stuff or formless intelligence. This is commonly known as God, Spirit or Source. Thoughts made in this all-encompassing "reality" tend to create the reality imaged by the thought. This is the Law of Attraction recently popularized by The Secret. (more…)

The Game of Life and How to Play It

Florence Scovel Shinn's 1925 classic The Game of Life and How to Play It is yet another earlier, and in my opinion superior, version of recent blockbuster The Secret.

Born in 1871, Scovel Shinn worked as an artist before becoming a teacher of metaphysics (or as she calls it "Truth").

The Game of Life is the first of a series of works outlining Scovel Shinn's particular take on the philosophy of abundance. Essentially, she asserts that life can offer all we desire; we simply have to ask for it, and prepare for it, in the absolute belief that what we want is already ours. (more…)

Stress Free for Good

10 Scientifically Proven Life Skills for Health and Happiness by Dr. Fred Luskin and Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier

Despite living in the age of technological marvels stress and related mental problems have reached epidemic proportions in the Western world. The effects of stress upon the body are real as demonstrated by well-documented "white coat hypertension" in which patient's blood pressure is significantly higher when measured by their doctor compared with readings measured at home. It's now widely held that much physical illness either has mental problems at its origin, or is worsened by the patient's state of mind.

Paradoxically, instead of saving time, technology is actually placing people under pressure to achieve more within the the finite limits of each day. And there's the rub. Many stress management techniques have been developed over the years, but often they require significant commitment from the already pressed subject. And often they don't get applied at all. (more…)

Your Invisible Power

Genevieve Behrend was the only personal student of mental scientist and pioneer of the "new thought" movement Thomas Troward. In 1921 Behrend wrote Your Invisible Power with the purpose and hope that its suggestions may furnish readers a key to open up the way to the attainment of their desires, and to explain that fear should be entirely banished from their efforts to obtain possession of the things they desire.

Behrend presupposes that the desire for possession is based upon the aspiration for greater liberty. For example, you feel that the possession of more money, lands or friends will make you happier, and your desire for possession of these things arises from a conviction that their possession will bring you liberty and happiness. (more…)

Think Big (and kick ass?)

Described by Jack Canfield (of Chicken Soup fame) as Donald Trump's version of The Secret, Think Big and Kick Ass must be causing librarians around the world a dilemma over whether it should be filed under business or self-help.

Think Big has arisen from Trump's association with the Learning Annex Wealth Expos and is co-authored with Learning Annex founder Bill Zanker. Real estate tycoon Trump's larger than life persona shines through every page as he shares the mindset and strategies that have taken him to the pinnacle of his chosen line of work.

Far be it from me to criticize Trump (wealthier than I by several orders of magnitude!) but some of his more controversial topics ought to be read with a degree of skepticism, or at least serious questioning as to whether they are right for YOU. In particular I refer to the chapters on Revenge and Pre-Nups. Trump is also scathing of those who seek to build win-win deals.

While these approaches have certainly done Trump no harm, I can't help feeling many of us would be better off without a string of enemies out there waiting to trip us up. And isn't entering a marriage with a pre-devised exit plan creating a self-fulfilling prophesy for failure?

The rest of "Think Big" is good, sound advice. Much of it echoes the messages of the classic self-help masters, but Trump presents them in his own inimitable style, illustrating the timeless principles in action with numerous examples from his own career. Each chapter concludes with Zanker's take on the topic.

The powers of thought and belief are the most powerful in the universe. If you think mediocrity, and think yourself mediocre, then that's the reality you will create for yourself. But by thinking and acting big you create the mindset and beliefs that will deliver big results. As Zanker says: "If you're thinking already, you might as well think BIG. It's your choice."

This book may not leave you loving Donald Trump, but it will give you stacks of proven, practical tips to aid your own personal journey to success.

See also Trump's classic first book, The Art of the Deal.

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The Prophet

Written in 1923 by Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer Khalil Gibran, The Prophet is a collection of 26 poetic essays covering all aspects of human experience.

The book tells the story of the prophet Almustafa, who has lived abroad in the city of Orphalese for 12 years. Almustafa is about to board a ship which will take him home. Perhaps the voyage is a metaphor for physical death. Before leaving he is approached by a group of people, with whom he discusses matters relating to life and its meaning. His beautifully expressed messages all give insight to our Spiritual nature.

The Prophet is one of those few books that can be read again and again, at different phases of one's life, each time yielding a different interpretation.

Read the Prophet online - Free

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

First published in 1989 Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has become one of the best-selling and most influential self help books of all time.

Covey, an international organizational and leadership consultant, clearly knows his stuff and bases his 7 habits well-researched, tried and tested principles. 7 Habits is easy to read with numerous practical examples of the application of the habits interspersed among their descriptions and theoretical justification.

At times the reader can feel just a little relieved that Covey isn't their father as he describes holding family council meetings with the family mission statement pinned to the wall!

In brief the 7 habits are:

1 Be Proactive. We each have a circle of concern (things that matter to us) and a circle of influence (things we can change). Since we can only have an impact within our circle of influence, this is where we ought to direct our efforts and energies. As we take control where we can so our circle of influence expands.

2 Begin with the End in Mind. Leadership is identifying where you want to go, management is the process of getting there. Without leadership, management is useless. This habit guides you through identifying your center towards the creation of a personal mission statement that will provide the guiding principles of all you do.

3 Put First Things First is concerned with time management. It defines the 4 quadrants of urgency and importance and advocates a shift of effort from quadrant 1 (important and urgent) quadrant 3 (urgent but not important) activities to quadrant 2 (important but not urgent) in order to increase effectiveness. Doing so will reduce the pressures that arise when important things become urgent.

4 Think Win/Win. There are various paradigms of human interaction, but one should always seek a mutually beneficial outcome.

5 Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. Effective communication begins with empathic listening, this is not just listening to the other's words, but seeking to place yourself in their position, feeling how they feel.

6 Synergize. The hardest, but potentially most productive of the habits, and the culmination of all the others. Synergy is where 2 or more individuals come together to produce results exceeding the sum of the individual parts.

7 Sharpen the Saw. To keep being effective you need to stay refreshed in the four dimensions of the physical, mental, social/emotional and physical.

Habits 1-3 are internal and are grouped under the heading "Private Victory" and reflect the fact that you must first change yourself before you can hope to change the world. Habits 4-6, "Public Victory," turn the improved you towards the world.

As with all books of this kind, 7 Habits should be read with an opened mind. Not every facet of every habit will apply to every reader, but all are food for thought, and should you choose to ignore any at least it will be a conscious and reasoned decision and not due to ignorance of the principle's existence.

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The Secret (law of attraction)

The Secret is a recent movie and book by Rhonda Bryan that claims to reveal the secret to a happy, healthy, wealthy and fulfilled life. Bryan draws on the words of some of the finest Spiritual and inspirational teachers in support of the Secret, which is basically the law of attraction.

The universe is likened to some great catalog ordering service. All you have to do is place your order, for whatever you want, by thinking about it with feeling and acting in the belief it's already in your possession. Amazingly the universe hears your request and pulls out all the stops to satisfy it.

Your thoughts and feelings are a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you feel good, you will be sent more to feel good about. If you think life sucks, it will. So all you need to do is change your way of thinking.

The Secret is fine so far as it goes. Positive thinking and feeling is pretty well necessary for any kind of success. You can be the world's greatest player, but if your mind isn't right you will under-perform and likely lose.

To my mind the danger of the Secret is that it continually implies that right thought and feeling are sufficient for success.

Let me explain why (I believe) that view is flawed.

There are only limited resources in the world. If everyone asks for a billion dollars and 20-room house on a huge lot. Some people will be disappointed, even though they follow all the "rules".

Additionally, life isn't about material acquisitions, it's about having experience - both positive and negative. If success comes just by thinking about it, who's gonna do any work, who's gonna learn anything?

And as most of life's lessons come from difficulties, if we wish our difficulties away altogether, won't life become pointless?

I'd recommend anyone to watch/read the Secret. I'd recommend anyone to put its lessons into practice. But I'd recommend they are put into practice alongside a practical action plan designed to get you from where you are now to where you wanna be.

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Reunions - Visionary Encounters With Departed Loved Ones

Dr Raymond Moody is the scientist who not only brought knowledge of the near-death experience to the masses, he also made a respectable discipline of research into the topic. In Reunions - Visionary Encounters With Departed Loved Ones, Moody brings the scientific method to the ancient, but much derided, practice of mirror gazing.

Reunions begins with the long history of mirror gazing, describing how many cultures have used looking into reflective surfaces to invoke altered states of consciousness. In its time it has gone from widespread acceptance, through condemnation as evil sorcery, to the rationalist ridicule.

Moody goes on to describe how he built a modern-day psychomanteum (apparition chamber) in his old gristmill in Alabama and how he prepared participants for their sittings. It seems that proximity to nature, stimulation through decor and art, and being somehow disconnected from the contemporary world (eg hiding all timepieces) are all positive factors in promoting apparitions. Relaxation and an attitude of not really trying also help facilitate visions.

Moody found that a surprisingly high proportion (more than 50%) of participants have some kind of experience at their first sitting and gives some remarkable accounts of what they reported. Rather than just seeing visions within the speculum (mirror), some participants reported apparitions leaving the mirror to be physically with them, others reported actually entering the mirror themselves. Particularly amazing is that some participants, including Moody himself, reported being visited by life-like apparitions some time after leaving the chamber.

Are the "apparitions" genuinely the spirits of departed loved ones, or are they merely creations of the subconscious minds of the percipients. The book does not pass judgment on this, but the observers' strength of certainty they were real suggests the former. The author has confirmed that participants have reported being given information by the apparitions that they did not previously know and that was later verified to be correct. The couple of accounts of shared visions are particularly interesting as these indicate that the observers were seeing something independent of their own individual minds.

The Spiritual view is that we are all essentially Spirit, temporarily encased in flesh. By altering our level of consciousness, disengaging with physical reality and going deeper within ourselves we draw closer to our Spiritual essence and hence to its connection to the Spiritual realm.

For my own part I must admit to being slightly, inexplicably, afraid to try the techniques described. Though I do admit that shortly after my father's passing I was just gazing aimlessly at my reflection in a glass-fronted piece of furniture when my appearance seemed to take on that of my father's. Of course the family resemblance may offer an explanation...

Also by Raymond Moody:
Life After Life
The Light Beyond

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No-mindness - mushin no shin

Suzuki's classic Zen and Japanese Culture talks at length about the unlikely relationship between the peaceful Buddhist faith and the brutality of the Samurai swordsman. It seems the most effective swordsmen had to go beyond mere mastery of technique to cultivate a state of mind known as 'mushin no shin', or no-mindness. In this state there is no conscious thought, no attempt to analyse the opponent's movements nor to consider their own. Instead the conscious mind is emptied or switched off with control being handed to the "unconscious". I guess this means our Spiritual essence takes over with the body becoming like a robot.

Luckily most of us will never have to face the life and death struggles so familiar to the Samurai. But we can all benefit from cultivating mushin no shin. We tend to feel and think too much. In Jungian terminology we rely too much on emotion and intellect, and not enough on intuition (and sensation).

The modern technologically-driven world over-emphasizes intellectual analysis. Sure, this has put men on the moon and found cures for many diseases. But it hasn't found a way to get people to co-exist in peace, and neither are its methods appropriate to many of the subjective questions humans face.

At such times we can over-analyze, think too much. Instead, there comes a time to put the matter to one side, embrace the situation, question etc. without thought or feeling. Just respond instinctively.

No-mindness is no excuse for inadequate preparation for life's events (eg not studying for an exam) nor for failing to acquire and continue to acquire a good education and broad experience. Such things are essential, for when we submit to the unconscious it is our prior knowledge that will be drawn on in determining our actions.

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