My post this week will be shorter than the last.

It’s honestly been a challenging week with various difficult problems popping up, computer issues and a broken furnace among them. But what I found interesting is my ability to respond to those challenges. The world within creates the world without and I seem to be getting much better at worrying less about things I can’t change which makes my interaction with the world without easier.

Yes there were problems but feeling stressed wasn’t actually required in those situations. Yes my computer didn’t work and I was powerless to fix it immediately but I could at least start. Two days later my computer was functional again and I spent those two days with considerably less stress than I thought I’d have. In the case of the furnace I called my landlord. He arrived later that day and diagnosed the problem and had it fixed the day after. All I had to do was wear two sweaters and know that it was being handled and would soon be resolved.

This week the quote from our texts that stuck out for me the most is from Haanel. It seems like common sense when thinking about forming habits but this week it struck me as describing what is going on in my mind. I am now able to better shrug off the stress of unexpected challenges much easier than before just be choosing to do so. My quote is from page 33 of “The Complete Master Key System” by Charles Haanel (paperback edition published in 2010 by BN Publishing):

23. The subconscious mind cannot argue controversially. Hence, if it has accepted wrong suggestions, the sure method of overcoming them is by the use of a strong counter suggestion, frequently repeated, which the mind must accept, thus eventually forming new and healthy habits of thought and life, for the subconscious mind is the seat of Habit. That which we do over and over becomes mechanical; it is no longer an act of judgment, but has worn its deep grooves in the subconscious mind. Charles Haanel

It seems doing our readings three times a day is starting to have some sort of effect. I don’t think I have a superhuman subconscious or anything but there’s at least a teeny sprout of progress. I get to choose how I respond to the world without and with a stronger world within I will meet the challenges that external world provides. Sometimes computers and furnaces break but that’s just the nature of computers and furnaces.

Three repetions of the readings each day is all it takes to start. Massive change hasn’t happened yet but I have a strong feeling that it’s coming.