The Power of Concentration | Page 9

and habits of the person suffer from lack of
regulation, and the procedure of mental concentration is not good, not because the mind
is necessarily weak in the autonomic department of the faculties, but because the mind is
not properly trained.
When the self-regulating faculties are not developed the impulses, appetites, emotions
and passions have full swing to do as they please and the mind becomes impulsive,
restless, emotional and irregular in its action. This is what makes mental concentration
poor.
When the self-guiding faculties are weak in development, the person always lacks the
power of mental concentration. Therefore you cannot learn to concentrate until you
develop those very powers that qualify you to be able to concentrate. So if you cannot
concentrate one of the following is the cause:
1. "Deficiency of the motor centers." 2. "An impulsive and emotional mind." 3. "An
untrained mind."
The last fault can soon be removed by systematic practice. It is easiest to correct.
The impulsive and emotional state of mind can best be corrected by restraining anger,
passion and excitement, hatred, strong impulses, intense emotions, fretfulness, etc. It is
impossible to concentrate when you are in any of these excited states.
These can be naturally decreased by avoiding such food and drinks as have nerve
weakening or stimulating influences, or a tendency to stir up the passions, the impulses
and the emotions; it is a very good practice to watch and associate with those persons that
are steady, calm, controlled and conservative.
Correcting the deficiency of the motor centers is harder because as the person's brain is
undeveloped he lacks will power.
To cure this takes some time. Persons so afflicted may benefit by reading and studying

my course, "The Master Mind."[*]
[*] To be published by Advanced Thought Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.
Many have the idea that when they get into a negative state they are concentrating, but
this is not so. They may be meditating, though not concentrating. Those that are in a
negative state a good deal of the time cannot, as a rule, concentrate very well; they
develop instead abstraction of the mind, or absence of mind. Their power of
concentration becomes weaker and they find it difficult to concentrate on anything. They
very often injure the brain, if they keep up this state. To be able to concentrate you must
possess strength of mind. The person that is feeble-minded cannot concentrate his mind,
because of lack of will. The mind that cannot center itself on a special subject, or thought,
is weak; also the mind that cannot draw itself from a subject or thought is weak. But the
person that can center his mind on any problem, no matter what it is, and remove any
unharmonious impressions has strength of mind. Concentration, first, last and all the time,
means strength of mind.
Through concentration a person is able to collect and hold his mental and physical
energies at work. A concentrated mind pays attention to thoughts, words, acts and plans.
The person who allows his mind to roam at will will never accomplish a great deal in the
world. He wastes his energies. If you work, think, talk and act aimlessly, and allow your
brain to wander from your subject to foreign fields, you will not be able to concentrate.
You concentrate at the moment when you say, "I want to, I can, I will."
Some Mistakes Some People Make. If you waste your time reading sensational stories or
worthless newspaper items, you excite the impulsive and the emotional faculties, and this
means you are weakening your power of concentration. You will not be a free engineer,
able to pilot yourself to success.
Concentration of the mind can only be developed by watching yourself closely. All kinds
of development commence with close attention. You should regulate your every thought
and feeling. When you commence to watch yourself and your own acts and also the acts
of other people, you use the faculties of autonomy, and, as you continue to do so, you
improve your faculties, until in time you can engineer your every thought, wish and plan.
To be able to focalize the mind on the object at hand in a conscious manner leads to
concentration. Only the trained mind can focalize. To hold a thought before it until all the
faculties shall have had time to consider that thought is concentration.
The person that cannot direct his thoughts, wishes, plans, resolutions and studies cannot
possibly succeed to the fullest extent. The person that is impulsive one moment and calm
the next has not the proper control over himself. He is not a master of his mind, nor of his
thoughts, feelings and wishes. Such a person cannot be a success. When he becomes
irritated, he irritates others