07 Jul Creating Harmony & Success | Self-Development Podcasts

Podcast Transcript: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast, brought to you in part by Book of Zen, makers of inspirational fashion and gift ideas. Visit them online at BookofZen.com. Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from “Success Through Thought Habit” by Benjamin Johnson, published in 1908.

To the person earnestly seeking success, nothing seems more difficult to accept and understand than the advice that they must change their habit of thought. “Spend time in practicing right thinking!” they say. “That’s ridiculous!”

They want something more tangible, something more difficult than mere thinking, and besides they are quite sure they have been using the best and most uplifting thoughts for years. If only that were true.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson has said, thinking is actually the hardest thing in the world. Constructive thinking in addition to being difficult also requires constant effort, and that is why so many people try to get out of it. They want success, happiness, prosperity, but they object to the price at which these qualities are sold.

Look at your successful friends and acquaintances and you will find that invariably they have paid for whatever they have attained.

The successful musician has spent long, hard hours in practice, each day for many years until finally their very soul is filled with song and they give to the world the poetry of their music. The gallery artist has studied patiently to understand not only the technique but the secret of blending their colors, and after patient years of work the laurel wreath crowns their efforts. The architect has studied form as well as materials, has traveled and observed, and then put their knowledge into actual service by producing in stone, wood, and mortar what they have created in their thought world.

Nothing has been an accident; all successful careers have been earned by the persistent application of individual habits until finally every obstacle has yielded, and victory has been won.

Scientists have affirmed that everyone is nothing more than a collection of habits. To change your life, you must first of all change your habits. This idea does not alone mean to change your manner of eating, sleeping, dressing, and working. Most important of all (and first of all), your habits of thought must be re-made or remodeled, and then the other matters will follow as a matter of course.

But where shall we begin? Success means different things to everyone. But they all must share something in common. Philosophers, poets, and religious seekers have for ages struggled to discover that mysterious something that will make the problem of living a simpler and more enjoyable process. And, ultimately, they have all arrived at the same conclusion: that the one thing necessary to the living of a perfect life is the possession of the quality familiar to many but really known to few — it’s called Harmony.

Harmony is a condition of mind that can only come from within (and be maintained within), despite the adverse circumstances, environment, and almost overwhelming odds against it.

“Secure Harmony First” is the best advice—for where Harmony exists, there can be no nervous tension, sorrow, bitterness, recrimination, resentment, unhappiness, envy, or anger. Instead there will be exemplified peace of mind, health of body, a contented spirit, freedom from want, and abundance for all desires.

The very word “Harmony” is in itself a marvelous combination of sounds. There is something strangely soothing about it, a hidden meaning that implies far more than the accepted definition of being in accord with things. It seems to hint at latent power. And just as any observer notes that harmonious sounds will control, influence, and uplift an audience, so a truly harmonious personality influences everyone for good and leaves a memory full of inspiration…..

Read The Entire Essay in Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons

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