WHEN YOU ARE DISCOURAGED
The man who has acquired the power of keeping his mind filled
with the thoughts which uplift and encourage, the optimistic
thought, the cheerful, hopeful thought, has solved one of the
great riddles of life.
“Don’t hunt after trouble, but look for success,
You’ll find what you look for, don’t look for distress;
If you see but your shadow, remember, I pray,
That the sun is still shining, but you’re in the way;
“Don’t grumble, don’t bluster, don’t dream and don’t shirk,
Don’t think of your worries, but think of your work.
The worries will vanish, the work will be done,
No man sees his shadow who faces the sun.”
A young salesman who has mastered himself and also the secret of success
recently wrote from the field:
“Yesterday it seemed as though everything was going against me. There
appeared to be something the matter everywhere I called, and although I
put up a most determined fight failure after failure met me, until very
late in the evening. I had not then taken a single order, but I made up
my mind that I could not go back to my boarding place until I had done a
decent day’s work. It was this resolution that saved the day, for I took
fifteen orders before I got home at nine o’clock. If I had given up to my
discouragement I should simply have said to myself, ‘What’s the use? This
day is gone and I might as well go home, take it easy, and make the best
of it.’ But I said, ‘No, young man, you are not going to bed to-night
until you have done a good day’s work.’
“Many a time such a resolution has saved me when, otherwise, I would have
made a miserable showing. I just make up my mind that no matter what
attractions come in my way, no matter what discouragements I meet, I will
conquer before the night or I will stay up all night. I find that victory
usually follows such a resolution.”
The prospect feels the influence of such a determination on the part of
the salesman. We radiate our moods, our discouragement, or our courage.
The man we approach feels what we feel, and when we approach him with the
spirit of a conqueror, when we go to him with victory in our face, we
generally win out.
A notably successful salesman says that he made his first great hit after
overcoming a fit of deep discouragement, consequent on the loss of his
position. When he got another place he said he started out the first
morning with one word ringing in his mind, “Determination.” He resolved
not to return without an order. He was determined to make that day a
red letter day in his life, to show his new employer what was in him,
to convince his prospects. He approached every one that day with the
determination of victory uppermost in his mind.
“One man afterwards told me,” he said, “that I overwhelmed him with my
dead-in-earnestness, won him by my determination.”
The power of the mind, whether favorable or unfavorable, is tremendous.
When a man gives way to discouragement he loses his grip and begins
to go down. The bottom seems to drop out of things, and everything
helps him the way he is going. His thought connects him with all the
thought currents of misfortune, poverty and failure. He attracts those
things, for it is a psychological law that failure attracts failure,
discouragement more discouragement, poverty more poverty. To a salesman
discouragement is fatal, for when a man assumes the discouraged, failure
attitude, he loses power and magnetism, there is nothing inspiring in
him, and he not only loses confidence in himself but his fellow men also
lose confidence in him. You will find it next to impossible to make
a sale with a mind filled with discouragement, pessimistic, failure
thoughts.
The exercise of a little will power is all that is necessary for the
control of our moods, to change discouragement and depression into
courage and hope.
We all know how quickly a child will work itself into a fearful spasm
simply by beginning to pity itself. The more he indulges in self-pity,
the louder and louder will he cry, until he completely upsets his mind
and becomes hysterical.
When inclined to be blue and discouraged, men and women are like
children. The temptation is to begin to pity ourselves, then we go on
hanging up more dark pictures on the walls of the mind, until we have
our whole mentality dressed in mourning. It is not very difficult at the
beginning of a discouraged mood to shut it off by resolutely turning our
minds in the opposite direction. Instead of adding to our depression by
pitying ourselves the thing to do is to tear down the black flags, the
hideous pictures, the gloomy visions of our imagination, to clear them
all out of the mind, and let in sunlight and joy, peace and happiness.
These will very quickly drive away the gloom and discouragement, and
they are just as ready to enter our minds and to stay with us as their
opposites, if we will only make room for them.
When you feel downhearted and mentally depressed; when, perhaps,
business is dull and you begin to fear you won’t make any sales this
trip, go somewhere where you can be alone and give yourself an audible
self-treatment. If this is not possible, then give yourself a silent
or mental one, the form in both cases may be the same. But the audible
treatment is apt to be more effective, since the spoken word makes a
deeper impression than that which is merely thought or passed through the
mind.
Say to yourself something like this: “I am a child of God, I have a
living, vital connection with the great Source and Sustainer of all
things which nothing can sever. Therefore I have nothing to fear. I have
strength and ability to do whatever it is necessary for me to do. I was
made to be successful, to be happy. This is my birthright and nothing
can rob me of it. I will succeed in everything I undertake to-day. I
will be cheerful and happy. _I am happy_, because I was made for joy and
gladness, not for gloom and sadness. They are foreign to my nature, and I
will have nothing more to do with them.”
Just fill your mind with good, cheerful, uplifting thoughts and you
will find that your feeling will quickly correspond with your mental
attitude. After a few minutes of this auto-suggestive treatment you
will be surprised at the complete transformation of your outlook. It is
astonishing how we can brace ourselves up by auto-suggestion, replacing
the distressing, blue, discouraging thoughts with cheerful, hopeful,
optimistic thoughts.
There are men who are usually quite level-headed but who do the most
foolish things when discouraged or suffering from the “blues,” acting
under the influence of their moods, when the brain is clouded, inexact,
uncertain in its processes, instead of clear, active, and well balanced.
Discouragement colors the judgment.
Whenever you see a person who has been unusually successful in any field,
remember that he has usually thought himself into his position; his
mental attitude and energy have created it; what he stands for in his
community has come from his attitude toward life, toward his fellowmen,
toward his vocation, toward himself. Above all else, it is the outcome
of his self-faith, of his inward vision of himself; the result of his
estimate of his powers and possibilities.
Self-depreciation is one of the characteristics of those suffering from
the “blues.” Most of us do not encourage ourselves enough by optimistic
thinking, by auto-suggestion.
If you are a victim of your moods, push right into the swim of things,
and take an active part, as well as a real interest, in what is going
on around you. Associate with people. Be glad and happy, and interest
yourself in others. Keep your mind off yourself. Get away from yourself
by entering with zest into the family plans, or the plans and pleasures
of others about you.
The expelling power of a contrary emotion has a wonderful effect upon the
mind. The cure for bad moods is to summon good ones to take their places
in the thought and thus force them out.
I know of a woman who was prone to fits of the “blues,” who conquered
them by forcing herself to sing bright, joyous songs, and to play lively,
inspiring airs on the piano whenever she felt an “attack” coming on.
Do not let anybody or anything shake your faith that you can conquer
all these enemies of your peace and happiness, and that you inherit an
abundance of all that is good.
If we were properly trained in the psychology of mental chemistry, we
could change the state of our mind as quickly as we can change our
clothing. The simple fact, however, that _two opposite thoughts or
emotions cannot live together an instant_ gives us the key to the whole
matter. Every sane person can control and guide his mind. He can choose
his thoughts, and the good encouraging thought will neutralize the evil,
depressing one. It is just a question of holding in the mind the antidote
of the thought that is torturing us, robbing us of our birthright, of
success and happiness.