A few years ago, I was teaching a group of pre-teens and the only way I could keep their interest was to show them some kinesiology. Guaranteed if I ask you to stand and hold your arm out and think negative thoughts about yourself, your arm would go totally weak. And when I ask you to think empowering thoughts about yourself, your body gets strong, without resistance. The thing that really startled these kids was when I got them to line up and there was one boy in the group that everyone hated. He came up to the front of the room and I asked them to think positive thoughts about him. They all giggled and laughed and said "No way". But they finally did, so we tried an experiment.

I got them to stand in a line and reach out and hold each other's hands, and I asked the whole group to think positive thoughts about little Joey. And when I touched the last person at the end of the line, everybody was strong. And when the group began to think negative thoughts about Joey, everybody went weak. And then I just took one person up and said, "You think negative thoughts about someone else for a moment", and their arm went weak. I didn't have to say another word. Very interesting. It's not just what we think about ourselves, it's what we are thinking and speaking about everyone else that is an indication of our power or our weakness.

A while ago, there was a story in the Creative Thought Magazine, written by Rev. Judith Churchman that illustrates this. She tells the story of years ago when she first found the Science of Mind teaching and philosophy. She had a small child named Derik, who had a lot of illness. He was a hyperactive two year old with allergies, which had endured numerous hospitalizations. She was hyper-vigilant and constantly worried about his health.

As her study progressed in Science of Mind classes, she saw how well-meaning parents, through their constant worrying, often help create poor health in their children; the very thing they are trying to avoid. She said that idea hit her like a ton of bricks. "We worried about Derik's health all the time" she said, "That's all we were thinking about." She and her husband decided to quit doing and saying things that added to Derik's self image as a sickly child. For example, he would say things like, "Mommy can I drink milk today or will it make me sick?" They decided to treat him like a healthy child and do their best to stop worrying about him.

Judith told him every night when she tucked him in what a strong, healthy boy he was. When he did get sick, she assured him he was a fast healer and could send the "disease" away. He believed her, unquestioningly as young children do. Within one year of consciously speaking differently, Derik was a different child. In fact, he did not see a doctor for two years until he had to have a check-up to start kindergarten. Derik is now a 6'3 healthy, handsome young man of 30. The power and influence we have on one another!