As I began preparing to write this article, I was reminded of a statement made by Earl Nightingale, a pioneer in the field of self development, that the vast majority of people have no idea of the mind power they possess from birth and it is given to us for FREE! He went on to give this analogy. Imagine one of those giant earth-moving machine at a construction site, a huge and incredible machine, with a little person perched way up on top with the wheel in his/her hands controlling it.



How striking that analogy is to the human mind, and it offers a powerful clue as to what is necessary to begin mastering your mind power. The enormous machine will carry many tons of earth wherever the operator desires that it should go, but it takes the little person at the controls to give it direction.

It was over 40 years ago when Mr. Nightingale made that statement and gave that analogy. Amazingly, little has changed in terms of the lack of knowledge and understanding of the mind power each of us possesses and how you can take control of it. Most people give little thought to their minds and the tremendous power within them to do, to be, and to have more of what they would like to have in their lives. It seems that for the first few years of their lives they literally have no control over their minds and what they think.

Look at your own life. During those early years, the control of your mind was exercised by your environment, your parents and care-givers, for the most part. Then the educational and religious systems took their share of control in shaping what you learned to think, and perhaps even more importantly, shaping the limitations that were placed in your thinking.

Unfortunately, by the time you exited high school, your habitual patterns of thinking may as well have been set in concrete, and those habitual thinking patterns were essentially placed there by someone other than you. The consequences for you, however, were by the time you reached adulthood, most of your dreams were buried beneath hundreds or even thousands of negative, dream-sapping beliefs.

How many courses were you offered on the power of positive thinking in school? How many courses were you offered that taught you wealth-building principles in school? How many courses were you offered that taught you how your mind functions and how you can control it and direct it toward more of what you desire to be, to do and to have? Yet the very kinds of courses that were not offered to you were the very kinds of courses you must have to build a more successful, more fulfilling, and happier life.

Here is something I know for sure, however, you can claim or re-claim control of your own mind power. You are the most miraculous of all living beings on earth. You are the owner of a mind that is so stupendous, that as you truly begin mastering your mind power and consciously using it, there is no dream that you can dream that you cannot achieve.