Finding Your Real Self: Practical Philosophy and Metaphysical Teachings

Mildred Mann's "How to Find Your Real Self" teaches the importance of forgiveness, meditation, and positive thinking for accessing one's true self.

### How to Find Your Real Self by Mildred Mann: A Practical Guide to Accessing Your True Self
* ✨ Mildred Mann's book provides a **clear, practical philosophy of life** that is livable and usable, based on the concept of **pragmatic mysticism**.
* 🧠 According to Mann, everyone is a "**special enterprise of God**," endowed with **self-consciousness, free will, and the power of original thought**.
* 🔄 The subconscious mind, as the eternal storehouse and powerhouse of the human being, plays a **crucial role** in creating both **problems and solutions**.
* 🙏 The "**resentment therapy**" outlined in the book involves making a list of all the people you have resented, and then **forgiving each one in turn**.
* 🧘 Meditation, described as the **food of the soul**, is a key practice for **connecting with God** and **transforming your life**.
* 🧭 Proper thinking, learning to live in the present moment, and developing the habit of relaxation are essential steps in the process of **self-discovery and transformation**.
* 💬 "Your thought is your magic wand, for it is through your thoughts that you can **carve out your life** in this plastic ether in which we live and move and have our being."

[Music] Welcome to the Reality Revolution. I'm your host, Brian Scott. I'm overjoyed today to read a beautiful book by Mildred Mann, How to Find Your Real Self. If you haven't heard of Mildred Mann, I'm not surprised. She's a sort of obscure New Thought author. Mildred Mann was an active component in the New Thought movement. She was one of the few students to be personally tutored by Emmet Fox. After many years of study with Fox, Mildred went on to establish her own teachings. She moved to New York where she taught metaphysics in the New Thought tradition, mainly from her apartment, much like Emma Curtis Hopkins did a few decades earlier. New Thought author Allan C. Anderson, who was also inspired by the teachings of Emmet Fox, would often take the train on a weekly basis from Hartford to New York to study with Mrs. Mann. For many years, she became the founder of the Society of Religious Pragmatism, which was later reorganized as the Society of Pragmatic.

mysticism. The teachings were based on the practice of the presence of God in the everyday world. Her book, What You Believe, remains influential. But the surprising thing, as a book collector, it's very hard to find. I've been able to find a sort of collection of papers that haven't been bound together, and it's really sad. A lot of her books have not been properly published. A metaphysical and symbolic interpretation of the Bible is good. She has a book called Mind and Consciousness that I'm trying to get a hold of. And Pragmatic Mysticism. She taught a very clear way of using the law of assumption or the law of attraction that involved desire, decision, ask, believing, work, gratitude, and expectancy. Very similar to what you would see in the movie The Secret. But I really enjoy her writings, and the book we're gonna read today is a good starting point. And I definitely will come back to her a few times. This book is a clear way of understanding how to access your true self and has some excellent tips.

really enjoyed it. I think you'll like it a lot. How to find your real self by Mildred Mann. Chapter 1: You are a special enterprise of God. There are certainly nothing more necessary in the world today than a practical philosophy of life. By a practical philosophy, I do not mean beautiful ideals and wonderful dreams in which we seek refuge from a terrifying world. I mean the kind of philosophy which is livable, usable, expendable. I mean the kind of philosophy that far out distances the abstract ideas of the world's great thinkers. I mean the kind of philosophy that Jesus demonstrated and taught: a pragmatic mysticism. Many people have asked, just what is that pragmatism? Is a term that came into favor about the turn of the century from William James. He was and still is the greatest of all American psychologists, and we might add the title of philosopher to him also. He said that pragmatism in terms of self is that which is usable, that which is expendable. In other words, pragmatism is anything.

that has a cash value not only in the sense of buying an article, but in the real sense of your own inner resources explored, developed, and used. Is it usable? Will it help you? Can you work it? Pragmatism is certainly very workable. In other words, it is what we call the metaphysical concept, or what I personally prefer to call pragmatic mysticism. It is not the kind of belief that makes you withdraw from the world, or live in a cave, or mortify the flesh, or deny yourself anything that makes for gracious living. It is a pragmatic, everyday usable union with God. That is what it is in simple terms. A number of years ago, before I had encountered metaphysics, I was in the business world. I had a photographic feature syndicate which supplied newspapers, magazines with picture feature stories of the type we find in Life, Look, etc. We would take a series of pictures that told a story. Sometimes they were sent to us by photographers throughout the world, and sometimes we made them with our own staff of

photographers. This one, too, which I now refer was our own brainchild. It was called What is a Human Being Made of? We decided to make the particular human being in question a pretty girl, and we then proceeded to analyze her. We discovered that she consisted of such things as salt, calcium, silica, sulfur, potassium, and sundry other elements. The cost of the various elements which make up the human body was, at pre-inflation figures, two dollars and 94 cents. That is what we each are worth as far as our physical bodies are concerned. It was a little more if you had gold in your teeth, and a little less if you had dentures, which seems reasonable, but that is the cash value of a human being in those days. I was very much of an atheist, and this value rather fitted in with my own idea of what humanity was really worth, including me. Then shortly after that, I discovered metaphysics. I was, as many of us have been, dragged to a lecture. During one of the first lectures I attended, a statement was made that was a

challenge to me the man who spoke was in my mind the greatest of all metaphysical teachers Emmett Fox. He had the most brilliant mind I had ever met. You couldn't ignore this man. You couldn't laugh him off. He made sense. He ended this particular talk by saying, Do you know who you are? Do you really know who you are? You are a special enterprise on the part of God. That hit me. There certainly was a wide gap between the two dollars and ninety-four cent cash value of a human body and a special enterprise on the part of God. I knew, as we do sometimes know with a tremendous inner conviction, that Dr. Fox was right. I knew that I was what we might term spiritually nearsighted, since I had never tried to see beyond the physical plane. The two concepts were as far apart as the North and South Poles, and I decided to explore for myself the vast territory that lay between them through the study of metaphysics. I had to find out for myself whether or not it was just a beautiful

dream or was there something which I could actually use in my daily living. So I had to first study, then absorb, and finally apply what I had learned. I discovered I was very much a special enterprise on the part of God, and so was every other human being. I also discovered that this was only the beginning. My mental acceptance of the idea did not help me very much in the manifestation of it. There was much more to be done. What does it mean to be a special enterprise on the part of God? You are, you know, whether you realize it or not. You are a special enterprise on the part of God. If you go into business, and most of us are in business of some sort or another, or you enter into an undertaking of some kind, you equip it. You equip with everything you think it will need. It is your idea, and you endow it. You clothe it. You activate it with everything that is necessary for its existence, and you expect it to function well. That is what God did with us. He created us in His

image after his likeness, he supplied us with everything we need, from the physical plane to the spiritual plane. He made us stand on our own feet by giving us free will to do as we pleased. We have done, often unknowingly, what we pleased, and the results have been anything but pleasing. We have lost sight of our own heritage, and because of environment and training, our strongest tendency is to blame the other fellow for our woe. If we do not blame fellow man, then we stoically and suddenly blame God by saying it is God's will. Both ideas are wrong and only help to prolong the difficulty. God created each one of us as a special enterprise, and he endowed us with a mind. He gave us self-consciousness; no other species on the face of this planet has that. You know who you are. You may not know be all of who you are, because no one does, but you do know I am so-and-so. You do have the power of original thought. You can form a concept; you can carry it out. There is an interesting

test you can try for yourself that is very revealing. Ask yourself, Who am I? Then watch the first three replies that come into your mind. You will inevitably find that your answers will include, I am a Salesman, or I am a housewife. But you are not that. That is your field of activity. That is not what you are. This is a simple way of learning just what you think about you. You have self-consciousness. You have the kind of mind that recognizes its own identity. You have free will. You have the potentiality and the possibility of developing that mind. You are not a slave. You do not have to live at the beck and call of every peril that seems to lurk in the outer world. You are supposed to live as a child of God, a son of God, a co-creator with God. That is the essence of being which is instilled in every human soul. You are not here to live a possible 60 or 70 years and for the most part of it go through hell. You are here to create something in your

life that only you can do for yourself. Only I can do it for me. Each one of us does it a bit differently. Each one of us offers God a slightly different unique experience as we begin to find ourselves and proceed to build our lives in accordance with the divine plan. That is why there are no two people exactly alike in the world. Not even identical twins are completely identical. No one else can do it in exactly the same way. You are a special Enterprise on the par. Chapter 2: How to find yourself. How do we find ourselves? We do so by going within. We get to know ourselves, to understand how we are made, and then we learn how to use the Magnificent power within us. We do it by understanding the mind, what it is, and how it works. There is nothing more fascinating than the mind. Actually, it consists of three sections: the conscious, the subconscious, and the superconscious. The part with which we are busiest is that which we call the conscious mind. That is the area through which we absorb all our knowledge of the

outer world. It is the part of the mind which we think. It is the part of the mind of which we are constantly aware. It is always busy thinking during our waking hours. It flits from pillar to post with the ease and rapidity of a wild monkey. It is the part of the mind that receives scholastic training and retains it just as long as it needs it. Surprisingly enough, it is the least important part of the mind. It is like a filter through which thoughts pass at random for the most part until we learn to use it. It is the intellect. Much more important is the subconscious mind. That is the part of the mind which makes you feel. It reminds you of things you have forgotten. In one sense, the subconscious mind is the eternal storehouse. Everything that has ever happened to you, everything that you have ever thought or done or said, even though you may have no conscious recollection, is stored in the subconscious. Your loves, your fears, your hates, your good deeds, your courage, your resentment, your animosities, your charities. They are all

there and you are the sum total of all of that at this moment. If you would like to know a little of the ideas the subconscious holds, you can do so by watching yourself. The clearest answer will come by looking in a mirror at yourself because the body is the complete out picturing of what the subconscious mind is expressing. Its closest manifestation is through the physical body, and it reflects itself in the health, vitality, and appearance. Then watch what you do, watch what you say, watch your reactions. Are they what they should be? Do you flare up at others? Do you take offense easily and then blame it on your sensitive nature? Are you always busy protecting your pride? Do you go around the world with a chip on your shoulder? If you do, you will know that there is something stored in the subconscious that is causing a bit of trouble. Get rid of it because if you continue, sooner or later you are going to come a cropper and take a bad fall. Besides being the storehouse of memory, the subconscious is

also the powerhouse of the human being. Its function is to create, and that it does unquestioningly when the conscious mind gives the order. It cannot reason, and it knows no logic. It continues to carry out the orders until the conscious mind redirects it. The subconscious mind knows everything of the past and the present. It also has an idea of what the future might be because of past performance, but because it is plastic, it can and will change the future direction of your life, provided it is given the impetus and instruction to do so. The third part of the mind is actually the most important, and it is also the one with which we have the least knowledge in contact. It is that part of the mind which gives us life. It is called the super conscious mind, is what we termed the presence of God in us. It does not matter what we call it, whether it is called the present, the indwelling Christ, the divine spark, or my favorite term, I am. It is that within us which is our goal of conscious realization of the indwelling Christ.

conscious union with your real self. It is that presence, that super conscious mind, which is within you and gives you the ability to think, feel, and move. It is life incarnate, and you are its incarnation. When the presence decides you have done all you can in this life span, it withdraws from the physical body, taking with it the conscious and subconscious parts of the mind, until another incarnation. But at this stage of our evolution, the super conscious mind does little more than animate us. It is equally true that if your desire for union with the presence is strong enough, if you seek the giver more than you seek the gifts, you will find him. Then you will also find that having the giver, you have all the gifts. The subconscious is the part of the mind with which we are mostly. It grips the subconscious while it produces our goods for us. It also produces all of our problems. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever happened to you or to me or to any other human being in this world except that we have consciously or unconsciously brought it to pass, be it good or bad.

there is no sense blaming the other fellow for things that happen to you. you had nothing to do with it. he was merely an instrument brought to you by the law you set in motion. the law that governs the subconscious mind. when this idea is grasped and realized two things occur. the first is almost universal. I made this statement some years ago to a small group of people all of whom I knew intimately. I was startled to find some 15 or 20 pairs of eyes looking at me each one saying silently but so eloquently you can't include me in that. you know how awful my mother-in-law or my parents or my relatives general have been to me. it Ellis traits so clearly our intense dislike of admitting the fact that we could possibly be responsible or wrong. yet we are. when we can face this as the truth for it is. we have taken the first tremendous step in the right direction. it is the beginning of a soul cleansing. at the beginning of freedom lies in facing our own responsibility for what

happens in our lives, it must then logically follow that since we are responsible for both good and the bad in our lives, we cannot attribute it to other people and outside circumstances. People and circumstances that have hurt us are the instruments used by the law, which we have consciously or unconsciously invoked. It is the great cosmic law, and it is summed up simply in the words like attracts like. It brings back to us that which we have put forth. Once we understand this, we are free from all resentments, and we know by now that resentments are the cancers of the soul. Their inception and growth is due to our emotional reactions to people and instances in our lives. Suppose, for example, you were in a rush, and you ran through a doorway, colliding most forcibly with the door, and you were bruised. Would you hit the door back? Would you ball the door out for being in the way? Would you talk about the door to everyone you met? Would you brood over the door and rehearse the action again?

and again, of course, you wouldn't. But if someone by accident stepped on your foot in a crowded bus or subway, particularly if it happened to connect with your pet corn, you know what your action would be. The least you would do would be to glare. You would not get angry with the door for being in the way, but you would be more or less annoyed with yourself for being silly, for being stupid, for not being careful. Yet when it comes to another human being colliding with us, the reaction is one of indignation, antagonism, and fury. That is what we call our normal natural reaction, although it is neither normal nor natural. This is a trivial example, but the same attitude appears in deeper, more personal relationships. We are always concerned with what the other fellow has done, is doing, or will do to us. Is that attitude which we must change. When we reach the point of understanding that only we ourselves are the cause and effect of all that happens to us, then we overcome the greatest poison in our lives, resentment, which is the parent of most

of our problems. [Music] Chapter 3 problems. [Music] Do you know anyone who is free of problems? I am sure you do not. You see, problems, like the poor, are always with us. We all have problems, some of them are what we might call drastic ones, urgent ones. There are the problems that have to be met quickly. Others are what we call chronic. We have had them for such a long time, we have become quite attached to them, and we really do not want to lose them. We all know people who have gone along for years taking excellent care of their gallbladders, their migraines, their sinuses, nurturing them daily with their thought and their speech at social gatherings. Chronic ailments are wonderful as conversation pieces, as we all well know. It is only when they really become uncomfortable, when the scales weigh them, so to speak, when the health liability is greater than the social asset, do we go to work on them. We all have problems, and they all come from that creative dynamo, the subconscious mind. Why do we have problems?

no one in their right mind consciously chooses to burden himself with something he is sure will hurt him. The reason for it is that somewhere in the past, something occurred which we had to meet and we did not meet it correctly. The idea entered into the subconscious mind, took root, and blossomed forth at a later date as a problem. There are about some 2000 billion people on the face of the earth, and every single one of them has a problem. Every one is perfectly sure that his problem is the very worst in the world. We are all convinced of that. No one else has ever had a whoa as difficult as our own. However, there's an old saying which tells us, if everyone put their problems out on a closed line, and we were all given the chance to look at them, we would all pull in our own problems immediately. That is true. When you have a health problem, you are pretty miserable. I am the last person in the world to say that pain is not real, it is, but it is not permanent pain and illness.

are changing things. You can change it. You can make a healing in your body provided that you can find out what it is in your subconscious mind that is causing the difficulty and then changing it. That is not too difficult. The problem of money and work usually comes from a feeling of inferiority, an inability to cope with other people, a sense of inadequacy. You will find that when the process of integration sets in, fear goes. Then you start to learn a bit about the real meaning of substance. The third one is the difficult one, and it contains a most amazing fact. You can never have a health problem. You can never have a money or work problem unless underlying that there was a personal relations difficulty. In reality, there is only one problem we ever have to solve. There is only one problem from which we all suffer to some degree, and that is the problem of personal relations. There was a well-known metaphysical teacher in New York some years ago who has since passed on. She was Florence Scovel Shinn. Have you had

an appointment with Mrs. Shinn. Upon your arrival at her apartment, she never said to you, What is the matter with you? She said, Who is the matter with you? She was completely right. Who is the matter with you? Do you have a problem? Then look for the who and get rid of that who. You cannot have a healthy, constructive, creative life as long as you suffer from resentments, from fears, from malice, from envy, from antagonism, from pride. That these are the cancers of the soul, these are the cancers of the subconscious mind. Sometimes they will manifest as cancer in the body, but they will more often manifest as an inhibition in your life and in your affairs. They need not necessarily be malignant, that is dependent on the intensity of your emotions. Chapter 4: Treatment for Problems. Do you want to be an integrated human being? Who does not, if you do, you must unload some of the junk you've carried around with you in your subconscious mind. That is the price we must all pay. You can make a program for

yourself, which is quite simple. Not easy. The program is called the resentment therapy. It is this: make a list of all the persons you have ever resented, or been hurt by, or been angry with, starting with the present crop and working back as far as your memory takes you. If done correctly, you will wind up in the very early years of your childhood. The usual reaction, in nine cases out of ten, is to say, Really, I don't resent anyone. Ignore that if you have that reaction, because it is not true. Think about it for a while, then take a pencil and a notebook (not a sheet of paper) and start working. Take your time over it. It may take you a week or two to complete the list. Once you have found the thread in the tangled skein of subconscious memory, after having seen hundreds of these lists compiled, I can report the average list runs to about 200 names. That is the first step. The next step consists of sitting quietly, keeping in mind the thought, Whatever has happened to me, no matter how bad or how sad, consciously or

unconsciously, I have brought it to pass. Therefore, I can have no feeling against so-and-so, absolutely none. So, I fully and freely forgive him now and so on, doing it with each and every name on the list. It is wise to spend no more than 10 or 15 minutes a day, starting with the names at the top of the list, then repeating the next day starting with the name at which you stopped until you come to the end of the list. Very simple, is it not? It seems so completely ineffectual. One of the things that always puzzles me about people is that they always put such tremendous belief, such faith in negative ideas. They will speak with dread in their voices and in their hearts about the dire things they know are going to happen. How often do we hear we are going to have another world war or we are heading into another depression or this new administration is going to ruin the country, I just know it and it is uttered with such conviction. If you reply, I don't think anything like that will

happen at all. Why be so pessimistic? Then you are told, Look how bad things are now. They can only get worse. I have never understood why we think good, positive, constructive thoughts are silly and practical and weak, but we do, do we not? It is probably because we have neither discovered nor tried the power of good constructive thinking. But to return to the resentment therapy, make your list, do it thoroughly. When you have completed it, you are apt to find that some of the names you have listed, particularly those which have nodded at you through the years, frequently pop back into your mind. If you have already forgiven them when you met them on this list, merely say, God bless you. You may find that you have to say that quite often, for the subconscious does not like to relinquish a memory about which it has deep feelings. But stick to it. Then, within a remarkably short time, a matter of days as a rule, there will be no more of the old resentments left in you. You will also find that your health will be 100%.

better you will feel younger, and you will look younger. You will feel free. You will suddenly feel as though you could draw a deep breath, as though a tremendous load was gone from your heart. Although until the time of the therapy you had never realized what a load you had carried, you will find yourself wondering what has happened. You will find that quietly, gently, imperceptibly, which is the way God always works through us, life has become more comfortable, more pleasant, more serene. Chapter five proper thinking, that is one step that is very necessary. Then there is another step, which is equally important, which takes a little more time and a little more observation of yourself. Have you ever noticed that your mind, and my mind too, is either living for the most part in tomorrow or next week or last year? We are either regretting the things that have happened in the past, or we are dreading the things that are yet to come. We so very rarely hold that mind of ours in this particular moment, actually the only moment we can ever know is right

now, the moment you began to read this sentence is already in the past. It is gone, and there is nothing you can do to get it back. And before you finish this sentence, you will be in the future. The only thing that we really can know is this immediate moment. At this moment, your mind is in tune, the physical body is probably resting in a comfortable chair. The conscious and subconscious mind are in turn reading and digesting these words. We constantly rupture the mind, and it is one of the most dangerous things we do to ourselves. The subconscious mind knows no time or any measurement of time in any sense whatsoever. It is not interested in time. Time is purely a physical measurement. Always remember that. If you doubt it, ask yourself the difference between five minutes spent in the dentist's chair having a tooth drilled without novocaine - five minutes of the greatest happiness you have ever known. Which is the longer? We use time as a physical measurement for moving things through space. That does not concern the subconscious mind in any way. However, the subconscious mind

knows nothing but now that is the meaning behind the great metaphysical statement. I live in an eternal now. That is the way we are created to live, but we do not. The conscious mind runs back and forth from the past to the future, darting here and there in a constant tug-of-war with the subconscious, which wants to stay in one place with the physical body and the conscious mind. That is one of the great causes for fatigue from which too many of us suffer, and it results in a nervous tension from which few of us are free. Do you want to accomplish things in your life? Then learn to keep your mind intact. That is your job, that is my job. No one can do it for you but yourself. If you cannot hold your thoughts steady on the particular thing you are attempting to do at any particular moment, you are not going to get very far. Make a law for yourself that no matter what you are doing, be it trivial or be it important, you are giving your complete attention. Give it all of your mind. Practice it.

until it becomes a habit with you, you will see the results in clearer thinking, greater originality, getting twice as much done in half the time, without any sense of strain or fatigue. It is as though you have opened another facet of the mind. Why? Because you have centered all of your thinking and emotional energy in one spot. You are not living back there in the past. You are not living out there in the future. You are living right now, in an eternal now. Does that mean you cannot plan for the future? Of course it doesn't. When you plan things for yourself, they are always on the positive side. When you create your mental pictures and feed them with your desires or emotions, you are planting good ideas in the subconscious mind. When you worry, which is negative planning for the future, about the horrible things that can possibly happen, you are also planting ideas in the subconscious mind. Remember, your subconscious is already overloaded with negative ideas. Remember also, it has no power of deduction. One of its most important functions is to do what is told, good or bad, and it does just that.

when we learn to live consciously and subconsciously in one place at one time, then we learn to control our destiny. We begin to acquire a little of the dominion over our earth, as the Bible promised us. We all want this Dominion, but in order to attain it, we must institute something of a reorganization program in our lives. The simple steps outlined here, if they are put into effect, will stand you in good stead in every department of your life. The first one is you must learn to relax. You must learn to quiet down. That does not mean that you must sit in a corner like Little Miss Muffett of Mother Goose Fame. You have your pleasures, your social life, your routine is not upset in the least. The only thing you have to stop is the mad rush in which so many of us live. We are always in such a hurry that we barely take time to breathe. Someone once said that every country has its patron saint. England has St. George, Ireland has Saint Patrick, and America has Saint Vitas. It is very true. Have you ever

noticed how we all - here and there and the other place. Stop rushing. There is only one place towards which you are rushing. If you continue, and that is the last place in this world that you want to reach. It is the final stop on this planet, and that last trip is always taken at a very slow pace with a group of mourners. Take it easy. There's a wonderful metaphysical statement that says God is never in a hurry, so why should you be? You know, the Sun never fails to get up on time, the moon never fails to make its appointed appearance. Everything in this universe runs in majestic, orderly, quiet precision, everything that is except ourselves. Stop rushing. Tell yourself repeatedly, I have all the time in the world for the simple reason that I am now coordinating my energy, which makes me function with concentrated power in whatever I choose to do. And then do it. Learn to relax. Find five minutes at the beginning or the end of the day and lie down on the floor, flat on your back. Keep a clock where you

can see it without turning your head. Watch the minute-hand tick off five minutes, during which time you are not to move a muscle in the body, except for the eyes and the eyelids. You will find it to be one of the most difficult things you have ever attempted, but if you persist, you will gain complete control over the body. Once you have built in the idea of relaxation, the body will immediately respond to your order. When tension or pain suddenly appears, you must learn to control the body because you will not get very far until you do. Never forget that the subconscious mind is accustomed to using this body and until now has had its own way. It occupies it and it is very fond of all of its quirks, its illnesses, its idiosyncrasies. It enjoys prolonging them. If that statement surprises you, reflect for a moment on the glowing terms with which we describe our various indispositions to kind friends who unwittingly and unguardedly asked how are you. We never tire of telling the gory details of our

indigestion our pains and aches. The reason it is harmful is that it only strengthens the subconscious belief in discomfort, illness, and tension. Don't pamper the body, train it. This body has no life in it except that which you give it. Always remember, I am a soul, I have a body. Don't forget it is worth $2.94. You should learn to wear it as you wear your clothing, for it is the clothing of the mind. The only way you can properly wear it is through the foundation garment of relaxation. [Music] Chapter six concentration and meditation. The next stage of the program deals with the conscious mind. You must learn to concentrate. In one sense, everyone knows how to concentrate on subjects with which they are familiar and which have constituted their fields of interest. You will rarely find a man who cannot spend hours reading, talking, and thinking about various events in the world of sports. He spends hours debating the qualities of the Dodgers and the Yankees, mentally and vocally. You will rarely find a woman who

cannot spend hours reading, talking, and thinking about fashions, to say nothing of a little choice tidbit of gossip. We all know how to concentrate; what we do not know is how to use the same technique on an unfamiliar subject. Concentration is nothing more than becoming engrossed in a particular subject. As long as you are giving it your full attention, you are concentrating on it. Now we know that we first must learn to relax. Then we must also do some concentrated work on a specific subject. God, when we concentrate our thoughts on God, we call it prayer or meditation. Meditation is to the soul what food is to the body. The tragic thing is that few people have realized this. But in the past quarter of the century, more and more people have learned it. We should spend about 10 or 15 minutes each day with God. What is meant by meditation? You take an idea, any idea that happens to interest you, but not your problems. That is the rub because we love to dwell on our problems. You start with a positive idea, such as

what you think God is think what God means to you, and then think what you mean of God. Do not forget that you are a special enterprise on the part of God. Think it through in those terms. Nobody uses exactly the same words. It might happen because it happens to many people that, in spite of your loquaciousness with your fellow man, you find yourself tongue-tied. Now, it is an odd sidelight on our habit patterns, but a very real one. If you find this to be the case in your instance, release your shyness with the realization that God loves you with a far greater and deeper love than that of your parents, your husband or wife, your children, or your dearest friend. He knows you not only as you should be but as you are. He cares for you. Your welfare is dear to the heart of being. I am inevitably asked, How do you do it? My own form usually runs in this manner: God is the only presence. God is the only power. Then I begin to think about what this really means to me.

there are beautiful ideas, but unless they have some meaning for me, they will not do anything for me or to me. The presence is that which gives me life. I am the power. Is the law which sustains the universe and everything in it. I am a child of God, and so are you. My birthright and your birthright is to learn how to use that law to create my life in accordance with what it should be. I start with the premise that my birthright gives me perfect health, perfect harmony, and perfect fulfillment. That is not something for which I should have to work to bring to pass. That is what I should have because that was God's gift to me when he created me. But since I have not reached the stage of evolution where I completely manifest it, I work towards that by treating it in prayer. A treatment is a short form of meditation through which we change the pattern and belief in the subconscious mind. I meditate on the aspect of God which is necessary for me to build in my conscious and subconscious mind.

are seven main aspects of God, or to put it in simpler terms, there are seven qualities through which we can, to some degree, comprehend and understand God. They are life, love, truth, wisdom, spirit, soul, and principle. Whichever you find lacking in your own life, that is the one to be explored in meditation. If it is health, meditate on God as life. If it is lack, meditate on truth or soul. If it is difficulty with other people, meditate on love. If it is fear and age complexes, meditate on spirit. Meditate frequently on wisdom, particularly if you need guidance in making decisions, and even if you do not, for we all can use more wisdom. When the problem seems stagnant, meditate on principle, which is the law of God in action, the one and only power in the universe. Spend ten or fifteen minutes of each day on it. People often say, I just can't find the necessary time. Can you get the time to draw a breath? Can you get the time to go about your business? Can you get the time to have a

social life. Of course, you can. There is a wise statement from an unknown source: We always find the time to do the things we want to do. Do you think, in the final analysis, that there is anything really more important than this - the welfare of your body and your soul? We so often have the idea that if we go to church on Sunday and we use that period for prayer, we have done the job for the week. But no one would be so foolish as to think that Sunday dinner would be sufficient to keep the body well for the balance of the week. This is the bread of the soul. Meditation is the food it needs. There are various ways of meditation. There's what we call the free meditation, which is touched on in the above paragraphs. This is sometimes a bit difficult for the beginner. He has not learned to control his thinking sufficiently to hold his thought on one idea. Then, too, he sometimes finds himself stumped for ideas. It is equally good to take up some book that gives you a spiritual lift. There are many excellent

metaphysical books, which have been written with just this in mind. Of course, the Bible is the greatest book of all. There's hardly a page in which you will not find some text that answers your need or that will fail to give you the necessary boost. Or if you prefer, you can take something with which you are familiar. The 23rd psalm, for instance, what is more beautiful than that? In fact, the whole book of psalms is a small Bible in itself. Ask and claim understanding and then read the psalm through. Reread it and this time put it in your own words. That is the way in which it is most effective. The Lord is my shepherd. Then say to yourself, who is the Lord? The presence of God in me, my own I am, the indwelling Christ. What does that mean to me? Well, I know that he is interested and concerned in my welfare. My body is his temple, my life and affairs are his manifestations. I am a special enterprise on the part of the language does not matter, the feeling.

does remember that God is never impressed with oratory. All he wants is that you turn to him and seek Him. In the beginning, it is wiser to set aside the time daily until you get into the habit of it. The subconscious mind thrives on what we call the habit pattern. Once it gets to the point where it knows that a certain time of the day is a meditation period, it will not give you any peace until you observe that time. In that way, a short trial period will convince you that this is so. Chapter seven conclusion. So far we have been concerned with the meditation period in a relaxing program. The resentment therapy is to be done at your own convenience. The sooner the better. The first two steps constitute a time investment of 20 minutes a day. The next and final step is the outgrowth of the first: to learn to think properly, learn to think positively, realize that your thought is your magic wand, for it is just that. This ether in which we live and move and have our being is a plastic.

substance by which you can carve out your life properly by using your thought properly. Get rid of negative thoughts. Do not voice them mentally or vocally. You know when you are thinking positively, and you know when you are thinking negatively. Live up to the highest. You know God never asks more than that of anyone. But start it, stick to it, and you will find you have begun to recreate your life. This is a pattern for living, a design for living. If you follow it, most people think these ideas are new, radical. Many were astonished to find that a new field in medicine, psychosomatic states, that most illness rise from the subconscious mind. They treat not only the body but the mind. They have just taken a page from metaphysics. Both psychology and psychiatry are other pages from metaphysics. Their terminology is different, but they all work in the same area, the subconscious mind. Their work is limited because they confine it to the subconscious and conscious thought, while we deal with the whole man, his spirit, his soul, and his body.

these ideas are part of what is called the eternal verities. They have always been true. They are true now, and they always will be true. Nothing in the universe can ever change them. The only change we can ever make is in ourselves when we consciously choose to use and appropriate them. It is up to us. We have free will, and no one can or will make you do anything about it. You must do it for and with yourself. Always remember one thing: you need no intermediary between you and your God. Your God knows you, but you have not yet known your God. Go find him, and you will then discover that you really are a special enterprise on the part of God. And that concludes how to find your real self by Mildred Mann. I really love this book. It's very simple and basic, but there's important lessons in it and some interesting techniques that I highly recommend. My favorite thing from this book is resentment therapy. Make a list of everybody that has wronged you in your life. And she's right. You might think, Oh, I don't have that.

many resentments you do going all the way back to elementary school. When I did the resentment list, I really started going through my whole life, and I remembered in elementary school, I went and spent the night with a friend of mine, or at least I thought he was, and the next day he said, I never want to be your friend again. I never knew what I did, but it was like an instantaneous abandonment, and I resented him for years. It was just this one moment in time. And so forgiving him, people in high school, people in college, girlfriends that broke up with you, friends that wronged you, you have more than you think, and they limit your views of the world, they limit your ability to take action, they limit your ability to trust others. It's a real thing. We're not talking about magic, but there is magic with it because when you get rid of these resentments, your health gets better, your life is more comfortable. If you're having some kind of neck pain or pain in your back or joints, guess what, it could be related to.

somebody in your life that you have not dealt with or forgiven. It's amazing when you do it. I love how she teaches meditation in this. Try the technique if you're just beginning. What she says is a very good way to start. And that's lay back on the floor, back straight, and count five minutes trying not to move and stay still, only moving your eyes. And if you can do that, it's an amazing accomplishment. At first it sounds simple, but give it a try. I recommend that you lay down for five minutes. This form of meditation is also what Joseph Benner somewhat recommends. In that you look at the presence of God within you. So you can do it in the morning right when you wake up. You can. You just think about that presence of God within you. And it's an effective way for anybody that finds meditation hard or complicated. It's really not. But who is your real self? That's the question that she asked. And this really gives you a guide on how to find your real self and your real self.

is that divine spark that I am-ness that she's talking about. I love the beginning of this and her emphasis on reactions. Reactions are so much more important and a lot of new thought authors don't really look at that. But in the moment, your anger or your emotion will affect your entire day. We talked about this in transferring with the idea of the way of a fortune by creating a moment at the beginning of the day that you have a powerful reaction to something. You end up having these amazing days. So looking at your reaction is very powerful. You are a special enterprise of God, don't forget it, and the real you is within you. Let go of your resentments, find stillness. What are your problems? You have all kinds of problems or you don't have any, which is unlikely. All of your problems can most likely be related to your subconscious mind, and she does a fantastic job of explaining that the subconscious mind is creating your reality all the time. Check out Dr. Joseph Murphy. A lot of this reminded me of Dr. Joseph Murphy and

we'll definitely beginning to those teachings again very soon, but I really thought that you would enjoy this. There's an important teaching in this. It's simple, it's powerful, and we're going to return. We're going to try to read become what you believe volume 1 and then volume 2. It's a really well-worded system that goes into further explanation of meditation, and there are some unique techniques that she recommends, and I love them all. Add Mildred Mann to our library that is ever-growing of wonderful metaphysical teachers that showed us the way so many times, so often, and it's so easily forgotten. You get caught up in your daily experience. Don't forget these teachings. If you listen to my podcast every day, it may seem redundant, but part of that redundance is speaking to your subconscious, and over time you will find that you change the way you think, and when you do, you will change your reality. All episodes of the Reality Revolution can be found at the reality revolution calm, and welcome to the Reality.

How To Find Your Real Self By Mildred Mann (Unabridged Audiobook With Commentary)

Brian Scott

Mildred Mann was a significant figure in the New Thought movement, personally tutored by Emmet Fox, and later establishing her own teachings in New York.

She founded the Society of Religious Pragmatism, focusing on the practice of the presence of God in everyday life.

Mann's practical philosophy and pragmatic mysticism were influenced by William James and focused on the usable, everyday union with God.

- Each individual is created as a special enterprise by God, endowed with self-consciousness and free will, and is meant to live in accordance with the divine plan.

- Finding one's true self involves looking within, understanding the power of the mind, and recognizing the importance of the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious parts of the mind.

- The subconscious mind serves as a storehouse of memories and emotions, reflecting in one's actions and reactions, and it is crucial to address and eliminate any negative stored experiences.

The Power of the Mind: Conscious, Subconscious, and Superconscious

The subconscious mind unquestioningly carries out orders from the conscious mind and holds all past, present, and potential future knowledge.

The superconscious mind, also known as the presence of God, gives us life and the ability to change our future.

Understanding that we are responsible for what happens in our lives helps us overcome resentment and realize that we are the cause of our own problems.

Overcoming Problems through Resentment Therapy

Unresolved past experiences can manifest as current problems in our lives, affecting our health, work, and relationships.

The key to resolving these issues lies in identifying and forgiving all those we have resented or been hurt by, through a simple yet powerful resentment therapy.

This process of forgiveness and letting go can lead to the elimination of old resentments and ultimately result in improved health and well-being in a short amount of time.

The Power of Living in the Present Moment

Living in the present moment brings a sense of freedom and lightness, relieving the mind from the burden of the past and the anxiety of the future.

By learning to focus on the present, individuals can experience clearer thinking, greater productivity, and reduced fatigue.

The practice of conscious living allows for better control of one's destiny and the ability to plant positive ideas in the subconscious mind for a more fulfilling life.

Mastering the Art of Relaxation and Concentration

Learning to relax is essential for gaining control over the body and the subconscious mind.

Concentration is the key to focusing on unfamiliar subjects, and meditation is emphasized as crucial for the soul.

Meditation on the different aspects of God is recommended to address various challenges in life, with a suggested daily practice of ten to fifteen minutes.

The Importance of Meditation for the Soul

Meditation is essential for the well-being of the body and soul, and can be achieved through various methods including free meditation and spiritual reading.

Establishing a daily meditation habit is crucial, as the subconscious mind thrives on habit patterns.

Meditation not only impacts the mind and spirit but is also linked to psychosomatic states in medicine, showing its profound effect on overall health.

Resentments from the past can have a long-lasting impact on health and well-being, limiting one's ability to trust and take action.

Practicing forgiveness can lead to better health and a more comfortable life.

A simple yet effective meditation technique involving stillness and focusing on the presence of God within can be a powerful tool for personal growth.

The subconscious mind plays a crucial role in creating one's reality, and by changing the way we think, we can ultimately change our reality.