Quotes from Maxwell Maltz

When you do see a thing clearly in your mind, the creative Success Mechanism within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort, or "willpower.

You must daily have the courage to risk making mistakes, risk failure, risk being humiliated. A step in the wrong direction is better than staying 'on the spot' all your life. Once you're moving forward you can correct your course as you go. Your automatic guidance system cannot guide you when you're stalled, standing still.

Positive thinking" cannot be used effectively as a patch or a crutch to the same old self-image.

your mental picture of yourself "the strongest force within you.

Our aim is to find the real self, and to bring our mental images of ourselves more in line with the objects represented by our goals.

Lecky's method consisted of getting the subject to see that some negative concept of his was inconsistent with some other deeply held belief. Lecky believed that it was inherent in the very nature of "mind" itself that all ideas and concepts that make up the total content of "personality" must seem to be consistent with each other. If the inconsistency of a given idea is consciously recognized, it must be rejected.

For those who are interested in learning more about Lecky's work, I recommend securing a copy of his book, Self-Consistency: A Theory of Personality. (Note: This book is now out of print.)

List here an experience from your past that is explained by the principles given in this chapter:

It doesn't matter how many times you have failed in the past. What matters is the successful attempt, which should be remembered, reinforced, and dwelt upon.

let our light shine "so that your Father may be glorified.

God sees us as men and women in whom and through whom He can do a great work. He sees us as already serene, confident, and cheerful. He sees us not as pathetic victims of life, but masters of the art of living; not wanting sympathy, but imparting help to others, and therefore thinking less and less of ourselves, and full, not of self-concern, but of love and laughter and a desire to serve. . .

Lecky found that there were two powerful "levers" for changing beliefs and concepts. There are "standard" convictions which are strongly held by nearly everyone. These are (1) the feeling or belief that one is capable of doing his share, holding up his end of the log, exerting a certain amount of independence, and (2) the belief that there is "something" inside you which should not be allowed to suffer indignities.

The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe

I have discovered that much nervousness and anxiety is caused by mentally trying to escape or run away from something that you have decided to go through with physically. If the decision is made to go through with physically. If the decision is made to go through with it—not to run away physically—why mentally keep considering or hoping for escape.

I reported many such case histories in my book New Faces, New Futures. Following its publication, and similar articles in leading magazines, I was besieged with questions by criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, and psychiatrists.

Just say to yourself: "I am going to imagine myself acting this way now

The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior.

A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part, the kindness should begin on ours.

When you change a man's face you almost invariably change his future. Change his physical image and nearly always you change the man—his personality, his behavior—and sometimes even his basic talents and abilities.

Therapeutic forgiveness cuts out, eradicates, cancels, makes the wrong as if it had never been. Therapeutic forgiveness is like surgery.

one that is vividly imagined. If we picture ourselves performing in a certain manner, it is nearly the same as the actual performance. Mental practice helps to make perfect.

Henri Fehr, the famous Swiss scientist, said that practically all his good ideas came to him when he was not actively engaged in work on a problem, and that most of the discoveries of his contemporaries were made when they were away from their workbench, so to speak.

Today I am more convinced than ever that what each of us really wants, deep down, is more life. Happiness, success, peace of mind

Just because the mental imagery isn't clear when you begin does not mean it won't get clearer, more vivid, more detailed, and more powerful each time you practice.