Don’t think in reverse, by Bob Proctor
Hillary Clinton supports Obama
Forgive
“That slight misdeed of yesterday,
why should it mar today?
The thing he said, the thing you did,
have long since passed away;
For yesterday was but a trial;
today you will succeed,
And from mistakes of yesterday
will come some noble deed.
Forgive yourself for thoughtlessness,
do not condemn the past;
For it is gone with its mistakes;
their mem’ry cannot last;
Forget the failures and misdeed,
from such experience rise,
Why should you let your head be bowed?
Lift up your heart and eyes!”
Selected
DON’T THINK IN REVERSE
“Let us not look back in anger
nor forward in fear
but around us in awareness.”
Leland Val Van De Wall
You will never obtain any substantial measure
of material wealth if you insist upon living your life as if you were looking back through the rearview mirror of your automobile. Nevertheless, this seems to be a very common error which many people have turned into a pernicious habit. That is to say, many of us spend most of our present moments,
“floundering mentally,” in the time zone of the dead and should-be-forgotten past.
Let The Dead Bury The Dead
Remember the old adage which says, “Let the
dead bury the dead.” In other words, what you want to do is to stop looking back in your life and worrying about things which have already occurred and which you can no longer alter. For pursuing that kind of mental activity will never lead to any worthwhile accomplishments in your life. You should understand, moreover, that all of the great achievers of the past have been visionary figures; they were men and women who projected into the future and did not belabor over things which had already past. They thought of what could be, rather than what already was, and then they moved themselves into action to bring these things into
fruition.
Think of the magnificent legacy which these
forward-thinking individuals have left for us living today. Due to their formidable efforts, we are now able to enjoy breakfast in Paris, lunch in New York and dinner in Toronto. We are now able to live our lives in brightness and light (twenty-four hours a day if we so desire). We can hear the voice of a loved one on the other side of the ocean, merely by pressing some buttons on a telephone. All of these miraculous possibilities, and so much more, are available to us, simply because ordinary human beings—like you and me—have built extraordinary images on the screen of their minds, of things which
had never been before.
The pioneering spirit of men and women of all
faiths, creeds, and color has been put to great use.
Those praiseworthy individuals were able to look
into the future, to see what could be rather than what already was, and then they ignored those who scoffed and said, “It couldn’t be done.” Also
understand that all great achievers always expect to do great things and then they turn around and do them! Do not be misled by your sensory factors—we are endowed with the same, basic mental tools which the Wright’s, the Edison’s and the Bell’s possessed, and we all have the God-given ability to employ those tools, just as they did. All of us have been blessed with the mental capacity to gaze into the future and to see our lives in a richer and much more satisfying state. Therefore, regardless of the present circumstances in which you find yourself, clearly understand that if you can build the image of something new in your mind, something that far surpasses anything that has occurred up until now, you have the ability to realize that result in the physical world. It could not be more clear, that all of us have been “Born Rich”, in the sense of having a magnificent God-given potential, which we owe ourselves to nurture.
Just how great is this human potential?
Let’s check with the experts. Dr. Alexander Rich,
Professor of Biophysics at M.I.T., has estimated our central nervous system contains from 10 to 100 million cells, each one of which has a storage capacity equal to that of a large computer. If his estimates are even close to being correct, it would imply that the human mind has the capacity to store all of the known information in the world—with room to spare!
Other specialists in the field of human creativity
are similarly convinced that all people have
uncharted reservoirs of untapped potential, locked up within the confines of their incredible minds. For example, Dr.W. Ross Addey, of the Space Biology Laboratory of the Brain Research Institute at U.C.L.A., has said that, “The ultimate creative capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite.” One must conclude, therefore, the more a person delves into the potential of the human being, the more that person will become aware of how great he or she truly is; and the more that person becomes aware of his or her own potential, the easier it will be to build images of ideas or things which have never even been contemplated up until the present time.
Now, pause for just a moment and reflect upon
the degree to which you have been utilizing this
incredible power to improve the quality of your own life, and the lives of those people who surround you.
If you know, for a fact, that you have not been
tapping into these great reservoirs of talent and
ability, then you should ask yourself very candidly why you have not been. For if you do this, you might just discover you have been “telling yourself” for such a long period of time that you can’t do certain things, that you have actually manufactured a genuine “mental block” in your own conscious mind.
But, you should remove these mental blocks by
putting yourself into a very relaxed state and by then becoming consciously aware that you can do the things you want to do—you probably just don’t know how to go about doing them. If this is the position which you currently find yourself in, then you should start getting excited; for the ideas which are being brought to you in the pages of this book will show you exactly how to go about doing the things you most wish to do.
Also, please be advised you need not feel regret
because you have not fully utilized this great power in the past. For the truth is, there are few people anywhere who understand the real truth concerning their own “hidden resources.” That is the very reason why so few people live dynamic exciting lives and so many people live confused, unproductive lives.
Moreover, just on the basis of what you have read up to this point, you have already far surpassed most other people with respect to your understanding of this important potential.
It would appear to be the case, that the masses
of people have always lived their lives in the past tense. That is to say, by virtue of holding onto old images, they have limited themselves to only “half
a life.” Indeed, even as far back as the turn of the century, William James (1842-1910)—one of the world’s most distinguished early psychologists—reached the conclusion, the average individual was using only a small portion of his or her real potential (perhaps as little as 10%). He considered this to be one of his most important psychological discoveries and, in this connection, he wrote, “Most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a person who, out of their whole bodily organism, gets into the habit of using and moving only their little finger.”
One might have expected, that in this modern
age in which we now live, James’ findings would
have become anachronistic. But unfortunately, this is just not true. For the sad reality is, that most of us are continuing to live our lives in much the same manner as our grandparents did. The reason we do this, you will be interested to know, is that most of us have never been trained to measure our “true abilities” correctly.
Indeed, during the formative years of our lives,
we have been inculcated with the belief that our
results in school would be the factor determining
whether we would win or lose in life. This notion
has been “fired” at us from virtually every
conceivable angle, until eventually, most of us have not only come to accept it intellectually, but we have actually become emotionally involved with the idea as well. The result is: the lives of untold numbers of individuals have been needlessly sacrificed, “on the altar of failure.”
I feel time has come for us to free ourselves from these mental shackles of the past. Let us, therefore, begin this “healing process,” by getting in touch with the wide variety of beautiful images which we have the ability to form on the screen of our own minds. Then, let us begin to actually expect to receive the physical manifestation of each one of
these images, in our own lives.
Remember, if we are able to see ourselves doing, being or having something, on the screen of our conscious minds, then we are able to do, be, or have it, on the physical plane of life as well. You see, the adage is true: “What you see, is what you get.”
Therefore, always look forward into the bright future which lies just ahead of where you currently are situated.
Let me make it clear that I am not referring, in
this context, to the things which you can actually “see,” with your physical sense of “sight” (that is looking at what was or what is). Rather, I am referring to your creative inner eye which enables you to see what can be. The creative inner eye is that magnificent part of your personality which permits you to see into the vast reaches of the “creative, nonphysical world.” (This is the area where all life begins, or originates.)
The past, conversely, is the place where all life
ends. But unfortunately, it is also the place where 95% of the people spend 95% of their time (which is, sadly, also their life). For example, it is an accepted ritual in our culture, for old friends to spend hours upon hours reminiscing or harping back on, “the good old days” of yesteryear. Hours upon wasted hours, of precious present “living time” is squandered, discussing people who are dead and gone, or reflecting upon things which used to be,
but are no more. In fact, there are actually numerous individuals who spend their days collecting “things from the past”—or antiques, as they are sometimes called. These people collect everything from old match boxes to antique furniture.
Then, there is another large category of people,
who consume the majority of their waking hours,
reliving in their minds, past negative events which have occurred in their lives. They either spend valuable hours thinking of some past injustice which someone has done to them, or possibly about some unkind remark which someone had once directed in their direction. They bemoan and agonize over past failures, or missed opportunities which they somehow “let slip through their fingers.”
Unfortunately for them, these individuals maintain such a negative vibration, that there is not even the most remote possibility of a positive thought entering their level of consciousness.
Indeed, the only thing this type of thinking will
ever create is resentment and/or guilt—both deadly and emotional states. But until these poor souls come to terms with the fact that it is they themselves who have been the authors of their own misfortune, and until they realize it is up to them to alter the course of their own lives, they are doomed to repeat their past failures over and over again. As long as they persist in believing that others are the cause of their
problem, they cannot be successful (because, of
course, you can never successfully change anyone but yourself). Therefore, to the extent that these people hold onto their false beliefs, they will continue to “Think in Reverse;” and it goes without saying, you cannot move ahead while your mind is traveling in the opposite direction.
Take a good look at yourself. Could you be one
of the individuals whom I have just portrayed?
If you are, I would strongly suggest that you
bring your mind to a “screeching halt.” Then
reevaluate your present position and reexamine your future goal. Look straight ahead and fill your consciousness with great and grand thoughts of what you ultimately could do and what you eventually can be. Become acutely aware of the direction your mind is traveling, because ultimately, that is the way your life is going to unfold.
Polaroid Camera Analogy
I have often likened the human mind and the
material world to a polaroid camera and a
photograph. For once you have “snapped” a picture, the course for that photograph has been
incontrovertibly set. There is a short gestation period which must elapse, but then the photograph must begin to appear; and it will do so, exactly as it had originally been “shot.”
To carry our analogy one step further, I would
suggest that the shutter of the camera is quite like the conscious mind, in that it is responsible for “snapping” the picture. Similarly, the camera itself may be likened to the subconscious mind, because it is responsible for “doing the work.” Finally, the photograph is analogous to your results, as it merely shows the world the physical replica of the picture which you have already taken, “with your mind.”
Clearly, if you were to take a picture of the same
object—over and over again—you would do nothing more than reproduce the same photograph, over and over again. Yet this is precisely the course, which many people set, for their own lives. Therefore, you must constantly be reminding yourself, that if you persist in “thinking in reverse,” you will only
reproduce the same results in your life, over and over again. If you wish to change this pattern, on the other hand, you must look bravely into the bright future, which lies ahead, and see yourself already doing what you now only dream about doing, “someday.”
Patti’s Cruise
Patti Moir first came to my seminar, with her
parents, when she was only eleven years old. By the age of fifteen she was already speaking in the seminars and sharing with the audience the manner in which a concept in the seminar had moved her from failing miserably in French—at school—to honor’s grades (and in a relatively short period of time, to boot!)
Five years later she was working with me in the
seminar business. One day I noticed her attitude
seemed to be slipping badly and it appeared to me that she was not enjoying herself (note that
these are the first telltale symptoms of an individual who is without a goal). So I asked her what it was she really wanted and her immediate response was,
“What do you mean by that?” I explained to her,
that since she wasn’t working toward anything, she didn’t have anything to look forward to, and this made life extremely difficult, to say the least. Then she said, “But I don’t have any money, so I can’t do anything.” I reminded her, however, that it doesn’t cost even one penny to want or to dream. A radiant smile suddenly came across Patti’s face, and she told me that what she wanted, more than anything else,
was to go on a south sea cruise. I said to her, “That would probably be a lot of fun.” I told her I had done it a number of times myself, and I described to her how beautiful it was. I also expressed my expectation, that she would have a truly marvelous time. I pointed out, moreover, that she would retain the memories from the trip for the rest of her life and she could then relive them, over and over again, whenever she desired it. At this juncture, I asked her what was holding
her back. Again, the same response was forthcoming from Patti, “I don’t have any money.” This type of negative thinking had been crippling her, by preventing her from undertaking something in her life which she felt was very important.
But the real reason I bring this story up here, is
to illustrate that even though Patti was mature, had no ties and had no real reason not to go on the trip, her own thinking was holding her back from doing so. Clearly, she was a young lady who was “thinking in reverse.” She had thoroughly convinced herself it was a lack of finances which thwarted her desire,
but of course, that just wasn’t the case. Nevertheless, whatever the source of her real frustration may have been, it was certainly holding her back from realizing her dream.
Understand, that untold numbers of people are
making the same error Patti made—daily—and it is a great tragedy. Perhaps you have been making this same error in your own life. If you have, I hope “Patti’s story” will be the inspiration you need to get you moving in the direction you wish to go.
In any case, one day Patti and I went to lunch
together and we had a very serious discussion. I said, “Listen Patti, if you really want to go on a cruise, you must quit looking back or looking at “what is,” because looking at present results is a very common form of thinking in reverse. You must commence to look ahead and you must start applying what we profess in the seminars. So go ahead and book your trip—make definite plans—and don’t give one
thought to anything going wrong. Know that
whatever you need for your goal to materialize, will begin to be attracted to you, as soon as you accept the idea that you are going, and make definite plans to do so. If it is money that you need, you will have it. It might not all be in place until the very last moment; but if you see it, and you believe it, and you expect it, you most certainly will receive it.”
I won’t bore you with the details of how things
all came together, but I will tell you they came
together in wondrous and unexpected ways.
Eventually, Patti actually attracted more money than she required for her trip. I was at the airport at approximately 6 a.m. with Patti’s parents—on the morning that she left, and it was a tremendously gratifying experience for me, to see her face aglow with nervous excitement. Suffice it to say, she went on her cruise. She had enough courage to travel alone and she enjoyed a trip which she will surely remember all the days of her life. But what is even more important than the trip itself is the awareness Patti gained from the experience. For she now knows, through her own personal experience, that
if you think in reverse, you will only see reasons
why you can’t. However, if you will but look into
the future with a positive, even expectant attitude, you will see that you “can do.” Patti will be able to apply this awareness toward the achievement of all of her future wishes.
Have you been dreaming of a trip? If you have,
go out and book your reservations. It doesn’t matter if the reservations are for six months or a year from now; make them immediately and then enjoy the anticipation which precedes the actual event. I honestly believe that in Patti’s particular case, the excitement leading up to her trip was equally as enjoyable and exciting as the actual trip itself (notto mention the enjoyment which she will derive from the memories of her trip, which she will carry with her for the rest of her life).
The probable reason that so few people make
plans or set goals, similar to the one discussed
above, is that most people are unable—in their own mind—to figure out how everything necessary will come together. But you must understand, you need not know how everything will come together. All you have to understand is the underlying principle, by which your good comes; namely, everything which you receive in life comes by virtue of the “Law of Attraction.”
The Paul Hutsey story—in chapter three—is an
excellent example of a conscientious, intelligent, hardworking person, who was attempting to do something which was tantamount to a person jumping off the front porch of his home, and then expecting, somehow, to land on the roof—you know
that this is never going to happen. Yet Paul had spent twenty years:
1) letting the sales sheets in his office
control the image that he held of his
operation, and
2) attempting to improve the results he was
getting through sheer force of will,
dogged determination and long hard
hours of agonizing toil.
Everybody—by doing all of these things—
certainly will improve their results to some degree; but they will never witness a dramatic improvement in their results, until they have first altered the image, which they are holding in their mind’s eye.
Paul Hutsey is a prime illustration of a person who fully believed he was looking ahead, when in actual fact, he was guilty of “thinking almost completely in reverse.” For he spent the vast majority of his time consciously focusing on present results, present thoughts and present images.
If you have been guilty of allowing your sales sheets, your bank account, or the x-rays the doctor takes of your body, control the way you feel, think, or view your sales, financial position or health, I can assure you that—just as certain as it’s going to get dark tonight—there will not be any marked improvement in your life in any of these areas. On the other hand, if you will let the present, physical results serve only as an indication of the images which you have been holding in the past, and then you proceed—by virtue of your own higher mental faculties—to look into the bright future and to build
an image of the good that you desire (just as Patti and Paul did), you will see your image materialize.
But again, as long as you continue to let your present or past results control your thinking process, you will never live to see your dreams come true.
Therefore, look up, look ahead and form the
image of the life you choose to live, then everything you touch or come in contact with will grow and expand and express itself in a greater and greater way.
Individuals who are thinking in reverse, very
rarely, if ever, originate ideas which lead them to
providing meaningful service to others. The reason for this is that they are only able to see what someone else has already done. As a result of their limited mind-set, the rewards which they will ultimately receive in life are destined to be equally limited.
The 333 Story
I was doing a seminar, which ran from Thursday
night to Sunday, at the Deerhurst Lodge, which is a resort approximately 100 miles north of Toronto. On the Friday night, a tornado swept through Barrie, Ontario, a town about 40 miles south of Deerhurst.
The tornado killed a dozen people and did millions of dollars worth of damage. On the Sunday night,
as I was coming home, I stopped the car when I got to Barrie. I got out on the side of the highway and looked around. It was a mess. Everywhere I looked, there were smashed houses and cars turned upside down.
That same night, another gentleman, Bob
Templeton, was driving down the same highway. He and I had never met, however, an idea from my seminar was about to bring us together in a lasting friendship. He stopped to look at the disaster, just as I had, only his thoughts were different than my own. Bob was the Vice-President of Telemedia Communications, a company which owns a string of radio stations in Ontario and Quebec. As he stood there viewing the disaster, he thought there must be
something he could do for these people (with the
radio stations he had). That thought kept returning to his mind that night and all the next day.
The following night, I was doing another seminar
in Toronto. Bob Templeton and Bob Johnson,
another vice-president from Telemedia, came in and stood at the back of the room. They were evaluating my seminar, trying to decide if I could help their company reach its goals, which I ultimately did.
Because of Bob Templeton’s influence, I
subsequently worked for the entire Canadian
broadcasting industry. He loved what I was doing in my seminars because it was in harmony with his way of thinking. Bob Templeton became fascinated with the laws of the universe, particularly The Law of Polarity or as it is often referred to, The Law of Opposites. This law clearly states everything has an opposite. You cannot have an up without a down,
hot without cold or in without out. By the same
token, if you can figure out why something you want to do cannot be done, by law, you must be able to figure out how it can be done. People who accomplish great things are aware of the negative, however, they give all of their mental energy to the positive. After the seminar, Bob Templeton went back to his office. He told me it was late but this one idea he picked up had him excited. It also had him committed to the idea of raising millions of dollars and giving it to the people who had been caught in the tornado, and he was going to raise the money immediately! Furthermore, he was not remotely interested in why he couldn’t.
The following Friday he called all of his
executives at Telemedia into his office. At the top of a flip chart in bold letters, he wrote three 3’s. He said to his executives “How would you like to raise 3 million dollars, 3 days from now, in just 3 hours and give the money to the people in Barrie?” There was nothing but silence in the room.
Finally someone said, “Templeton, you’re crazy.
There is absolutely no way we could raise 3 million dollars, in 3 hours, 3 days from now!”
Bob said, “Wait a minute. I didn’t ask you if we
could or even if we should. I just asked you if you would like to.” Bob Templeton was wise; he was appealing to the charitable side of their nature. It was important for those present to openly admit that this was something they wanted to do. Bob Templeton knew that his new idea could show anyone how to accomplish anything they wanted by working with the law.
They all said, “Sure, we’d like to.” He then drew
a large T underneath the 333. On one side he wrote,
‘Why We Can’t.’ On the other side he wrote, ‘How
We Can.’ Under the words, ‘Why We Can’t,’ Bob
Templeton drew a large X. As he placed the X on
the flip chart, he said, “Now there is no place to
record the ideas we think of which explain why we can’t raise 3 million dollars, in 3 hours, 3 days from now, regardless of how valid they might be.” He continued by explaining, “When anyone calls out an idea which suggests why we can’t, everyone else must yell out as loud as they can, NEXT. That will be our command to go to the next idea. Ideas are like the cars on a train, one always follows the other.
We will keep saying Next until a positive idea
arrives.”
Bob smiled and continued to explain that,
“Opposite the X on the other side of the flipchart, directly under the words, ‘How We Can,’ I will write down every idea that we can come up with on how we can raise 3 million dollars, in 3 hours, 3 days from now.” He also suggested in a very serious tone of voice, that everyone will remain in the room until
we figure it out. “We are not only going to think of how we can raise 3 million dollars immediately,
after we originate the ideas we are going to execute them!” There was silence again.
Finally, someone said, “We could do a radio
show across Canada.”
Bob said, “That’s a great idea,” and wrote it
down under, ‘How We Can.’
Before he had it written on the right hand side
of the flipchart, someone said, “You can’t do a radio show across Canada. We don’t have radio stations across Canada!” Since Telemedia only had stations in Ontario and Quebec, you must admit that was a pretty valid objection. However, someone in the back of the room, in a rather soft tone said, “Next.”
Bob Templeton replied, “Doing a radio show is
how we can. That idea stays.” But this truly did
sound like a ridiculous idea, because radio stations are very competitive. They usually don’t work together and to get them to do so would be virtually impossible according to the standard way of hinking.
All of a sudden someone suggested, “You could
get Harvey Kirk and Lloyd Robertson, the biggest
names in Canadian broadcasting, to anchor the
show.” These gentlemen are anchors of national
stature in the Canadian television industry. Someone learly spoke out saying, “They’re not going to go n radio.” But, at that point the group yelled,
“NEXT.” Bob said, that was when the energy
shifted; everyone got involved and it was absolutely mazing how fast and furious the creative ideas egan to flow.
That was on a Friday. The following Tuesday
they had a radiothon, where 50 radio stations, from ll across the country, agreed to work in harmony or such a good cause. They felt it didn’t matter who ot the credit, as long as the people in Barrie got he money. Harvey Kirk and Lloyd Robertson nchored the show and they succeeded in raising 3 illion dollars, in 3 hours, within 3 business days!
You see, you can have whatever you want; all
things are possible when you put your focus on how you can and “Next” every idea telling you why you can’t.
This may be a difficult exercise in the beginning,
however, when you persist “Next-ing” any and all
negative concepts, the flow of positive ideas will
roar into your marvelous mind.
Alfred Adler, the renowned psychologist, coined
the extraordinary phrase “I am grateful to the idea that has used me.” There can be no doubt that creative, forward-thinking ideas literally breathe new life into every fibre of your being. They awaken a part of you that you never even knew was sleeping.
Bob Templeton never received five cents for the
leadership role he played, in marshalling 50 radio
stations from right across Canada, to raise the three million dollars for the people of Barrie, Ontario in Canada. However, you must remember that this is truly an orderly universe; God’s way of running this show is exact—when you put good out, it must come back.
I shared this story, when it happened, with two
good friends of mine, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. They were so intrigued by the story, they published it in their book Chicken Soup for the Soul.
I was recently doing a satellite television
broadcast for RE/MAX Real Estate with Mark Victor Hansen and he was telling me that, at last count, they had sold six million copies of their book. He also told me they are constantly receiving letters from people who read the ‘333 story’ and use it to perform similar mental magic in their lives.
Think of it, millions upon millions of people are
making positive things happen in their lives because Bob Templeton would not listen to the reasons why he and his staff could not raise 3 million dollars, in 3 hours, just 3 days after they began to brainstorm the idea. By the way, Bob Templeton has told me he and his staff have formed the habit of ‘333-ing’ their wants and, as a result, he has gone on to become the President of NewCap Broadcasting company, a
highly profitable corporation, with stations right
across Canada. It is my opinion that Bob Templeton has set up a force for good that will follow him wherever he goes. Profit has become his second name. Begin at once to ‘333’ all of your wants and profit will follow you as well.
