This book explains how the state of our mind affects our general well being. The principles in this book will help us achieve our heart's desires - happiness, good health and wealth. We all deserve better than what we presently have because we do not thin

Think and Prosper

Strategies for getting the results we desireBy Manny Asuzu

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Manny Asuzu
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-6707-6

Contents

Preface....................................................................ixChapter 1 : The quest for success..........................................1Chapter 2 Life Turning point...............................................5Chapter 3 Avoidable Dangers................................................10Chapter 4 Personality Traits...............................................20Chapter 5 The law of attraction............................................29Chapter 6 Visualization....................................................45Chapter 7 Everything is Energy.............................................69Chapter 8 Our Subconscious mind............................................76Chapter 9 Auto-Suggestion..................................................103Chapter 10 Faith...........................................................117Chapter 11 The Law of Growth...............................................134Chapter 12 The Essence of Giving...........................................143Chapter 13 The Hidden Power of Silence.....................................156Chapter 14 Using our sex energy............................................169Chapter 15 Learn to Relax..................................................174Chapter 16 Gratitude Revisited with Empirical Research.....................196Chapter 17 And Finally ... Succeed in being yourself.......................208About the Author...........................................................213References.................................................................214

Chapter One

The quest for success

Where does happiness, good health and wealth come from?

How can we become healthy, happy and wealthy?

What conditions may exist for us to have a general state of well being?

Do we have to double our effort in our present job to become wealthy?

Do we have to leave our present job in order to increase our general well being? Do the friends we keep hinder or help our quest for success?

These are questions many of us ask every day.

Wealth may be acquired by inheritance or it could be self-made. Some of us may have married into wealth.

Inherited wealth often does not guarantee longevity, and in some instances may become an inherent problem. Those who remember the faith of The Marquess of Bristol in England who recklessly spent an estimated £7 million (US$22m) on drugs over a 10 year period. It emerged in a trial in London in 1993 that he was forced to sell his family mansion in order to repay loans. An estate which had been with the family for more than one hundred years vanished within the lifetime of one unfortunate and pitiful heir!

Inherited wealth may sometimes become inherited problem. The fact that we take on the good parts may mean that we also take on the bad, such as alcoholism, diseases, etc. A friend who inherited his father's business is terrified of taking any form of alcohol. At parties and dinner tables, he avoids alcohol like a plague. His father suffered from excessive drinking which, led to acute depression until his death.

The issue of inheritance and its implication on the transfer of wealth will continue to be major problems for us. A friend of mine told me a story of someone who was the first generation of an Italian family. He came to England with nothing and during his lifetime owned several restaurants in major cities in the UK. From his business, he built a portfolio of several houses. His first son attended the best school and one of the highbrow universities in England. However, academically, he was not very good. Upon the death of his father, a court case was initiated by the first son when the father gifted the running of the restaurants to a second son. It later transpired that the first son hired the mafia to kill the second when he visited the family mansion in Italy. The first son later committed suicide from depression. Now, we can see how inherited wealth may sometimes lead to tragic circumstances.

These events are by no means representative of most inherited heirs, as some turn out to become responsible and successful adults.

Wealth is only a function of happiness. Wealth alone does not guarantee happiness and good health. Someone who won a lottery may realise that he is no happier in the second and subsequent years than he is in the first year.

Wealth may also be acquired through self-effort. A friend of mine who is a successful businessman in the US never has time for his family. I spent quite a lot of time with him during one of his business trips. He has a terrible fear of being poor as he witnessed poverty as a child. His parents had nothing. He paid his own college fees attending evening classes. He refused to be as poor as his parents were. Why should someone so successful have such fear? This manual explains how we can deal with our personal fears.

Chapter Two

Life Turning point

Most people only "wake up" in life after surviving a "shockwave". These life- changing events may be the death of loved ones, divorce, loss of family home during an economic downturn, surviving a fatal accident, etc.

My personal shockwaves were three-fold: losing our dearest and beloved mother, surviving spiritual attacks and having to look after our daughter, who was only eighteen months, on my own, after my wife was ordered by a court, upon our separation, not to return to our family home in London. I hope the discerning reader will forgive me for not expanding on the matter of spiritual attack when our mother was being buried in our village in Africa. Apparently, an inner person wanted two dead bodies! To announce it publicly is to denounce evil.

Some people may crumble when such events occur, but help is always at hand for anyone who seeks solace from within.

How do I cope with looking after a little girl of such tender age? Of having to wake her up in the morning, wash her, brush her tiny teeth, feed her, dress her up and drive her to the nursery every weekday, before going to work. Later, after work, pick her back from nursery, feed her, dress her for bed and tell her stories to rest her little mind. I have never done any of these in my life! How on earth do I cut her tiny nails without chopping off her little fingers? Nothing prepares a man for these. It is simply not a man's job to do these tasks! I now find myself enjoying children's TV programmes like "Nuzzle and Scratch" and "Teletubbies" and I seldom ask her to move away when she blocks my view. Oh my God!

What's wrong with me? Asking a little girl not to block my view from watching "Nuzzle and Scratch?" - Have I gone out of my mind? Well, our little princess is now four years as I write — still at nursery, plays her keyboard and enjoys a full life in daddy's care, love and undivided attention.

I still consider myself lucky - at least I'm still standing. In the early days, the stress was unbelievable.. But in life, we have to learn to — get on with things and improve on them.

After we have gone through these tribulations, we begin to truly discover our self. Self-discovery is akin to tapping our inner resources. Non self-discovery is denying what is already ours. Everyone has an inner voice but not everybody is aware of how to tap into the immense resources hidden within us. The road map to start this journey is when we begin to apply the principles in this book.

What are your own life changing events? Do you allow them to ruin your life? Do you fall into deep depressive moods and let it control and destroy your life? Do you use it as a springboard to achieve greater heights in the meaning of your life? Let me tell you — most successful people have become what they are simply because of these life-changing events.

One may be tempted to ask if these events are intended to make us successful. We begin to question their primary purpose in life. We seem to move up gears with such intensity — the secret — it is our subconscious mind at work. It springs to life mostly upon the occurrence of these events. However, our subconscious mind must be naturally influenced by these events but they should never be intended. It is true to suggest that anyone who has had brushes with death tend to reorganise their lives to reflect their renewed realism. The principles in this book will show us how to nurture our subconscious mind to work for us and lead us to the path of success in our chosen endeavour.

Are these lives changing events really good for us? Please do not intend them — as intentions have immense invisible powers, which may manifest into its physical equivalent. It is better for nature to take its course.

We may be thinking? Do we have to wait for these events before we expect success to come our way? The simple answer is no — the principles in this book will guide us to apply the universal laws to bring inner peace, happiness, good health and wealth to us.

... Life turning points are spring- boards for personal growth

Chapter Three

Avoidable Dangers

Success does not come from being smart, educated or lucky. I am sure the reader will know some smart educated people who are struggling financially. Some of the most successful people actually dropped out of colleges. Bill Gates did not complete his Harvard education. Henry Ford was not particularly educated. But with their success, they could afford to employ the best brains to achieve their aspirations. Success is only achieved by following established principles — principles which existed before the first human beings were created. Success does not mean wealth alone.

To achieve what may be referred to as "integrated success", we need to be wealthy, healthy and happy in all aspect of our life.

However, it is unfortunate that many people place unusual burden on others on the concept of happiness. It is inappropriate for us to suppose that our partner, our children, our car, our house, or other possessions can make us happy. Happiness from people and things do not generally stand the test of time. Happiness comes only from within. It is only you who can make yourself happy! We should not rely on anyone to make us happy as we will only be disappointed. Only you can read your own mind. We are inviting grief, despair and gloom in our lives if we expect others to read our mind. Comments such as "you know its Tuesday and I always have my specials on Tuesdays" are invitations for misunderstanding and confusion. It is important that we make our intentions clear - if we want something we have to simply ask for it.

Until science has advanced enough to invent instruments, which are capable of reading the complex nature of the human mind, then we will be mistaken to rely on someone else for our happiness.

The concept of happiness is often interpreted as finding heaven. Some of us think heaven as a place we go only when we die. In fact, when we think of heaven as being in the present and future, we begin to realize that we have the option to change our life. In fact, the Bible tells us in Matt 16:19, that "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". In fact the advantage of having heaven in the present is that one has the opportunity to alter ones behaviour. The journey to heaven should ideally be heaven in itself.

However, in order to get to the road map of success, there are certain avoidable dangers, which should be borne in mind. These problems are intended to hinder us from achieving our goals. We see them as natural occurrence but it is our behaviour that sets their demons in motion. These pitfalls occur on a daily basis and it is easy to fall prey to them. However, with a trained mindset, determined readers will notice these bottlenecks before they become victims.

The "cause and effect principle" or "the law of action and reaction". This principle is powerful and is always working whether we are aware of it or not. The simple way to describe it is "what goes around comes around". We may also describe it as "You reap what you sow" These words are as real like the sun and the moon. In order words, for every cause, they must be a corresponding effect.

It is not the writer's intention to provide a moral blue-print to rule the discerning reader's life, but he is highlighting why only about three percent of people control the entire wealth of this planet. Why are there few very wealthy people in all countries of the world? Is it by chance?

Now let us carefully look at how this principle may affect us in a negative way if we do not have a positive mindset:

Sex, alcohol and deception are agents of negative energy. When we have developed our mindset to a degree that we can spot these before they surface, we are truly on the road to self-discovery.

When we intentionally harm someone — harm will eventually come to us in some way.

When we intentionally steal from someone, someone else will steal from us. We may wake up one morning and realize we have lost one of our valuables!

Another matter of equal importance is sex. A subject many believe they cannot control. The writer is not suggesting that there is something wrong with consented adult fun but to preserve the special sanctity of marriage, they should not involve married people. Why chase after a married person, when they are countless singles out there?

There are principally two phrases - which are responsible for most of these problems;

-If it feels good, do it.

- I will do what makes me happy.

These are essentially good phrases but are usually applied inappropriately.

Most relationships have "hit the rocks" because one of the partners has resorted to doing what made him/her happy, and the person felt good at the time. A lot of careers have also been ruined by the inappropriate applications of these phrases. Several business contracts have also been lost by the use of these phrases.

A former colleague who runs a human resources company lost a huge contract because he slept with the wife of the person who approves the contract. When we attract negative energy, we receive negative results. My friend has other wonderful qualities but it seems his brain is between his legs.

These temptations are practical problems in modern day life, and people do not realize the consequences of their actions. Causes have their corresponding effect.

The way to avoid them is simple — do unto others as you would do unto yourself. We should put our self in the shoes of the victim and get a feel of the hurt and despair our actions will cause. We have to do our utmost not to become agents of destruction. There are instances where friends confide on others on problems in their relationships — they end up sleeping with each other as a way of consoling the aggrieved party. By so doing, we are not only damaging an already troubled relationship, we are also doing harm to our selves. It seems our self interests blinds our need to console others.

What are the remedies? What happens if someone is already engaged in these activities? How can we rebuild the road map to success?

Yes — help is always available for those who seek it, but help will only come within our self.

We have to change our mindset completely. We have to learn to say goodbye to our yesterday

A friend of mine who used to be a "bad boy" was getting ready for married life and wanted to change his ways. He sort advice from several people and finally decided on the following:

He was advised to forgo something that he enjoys for a short time. The answer is not chocolate, biscuits or sex, but food. He was advised that he has to forgo something in order to get something. In addition, the food has to be his main meal of the day. More importantly, he was asked to pray for all the poor people in the world and for all troubled areas in the world before he prays for himself. He works all day and he could not imagine himself doing without food. But he was equally determined to change his ways because he knew if he continued, his marriage may not last. He fasted every Wednesday for five weeks. He found the experience painful but spiritually uplifting. It is pleasing to know that my friend has been happily married for some four years and is now a completely changed person.

We have to truly believe we can say goodbye to our yesterday!

We have to realise that our body has capacity to sustain us during times of need. We also need to know that we do not live by bread alone.

While it is clear that fasting worked for my friend, we need to ask ourselves if it will work for us, but the major factor at play is our mindset. We are the mirror of our inner self and a realignment of our thoughts and attitudes are often what are required.

The concept of fasting has several applications to help us achieve our aims and aspirations. It can be applied to help with weight loss, spiritual uplifting and in some instances it can be applied to avoid jetlag. In a BBC television programme, two people were tested simultaneously. One was asked to drink only water during a long-haul flight from London to New York, the other was asked to eat normally. The person who drank only water did not suffer from jetlag on arrival, while the person who ate normally suffered severe jetlag on arrival in New York.

.... When we think right ... we avoid dangers

Chapter Four

Personality Traits

How much do we trust our friends? Do they trust us equally? Can we trust our friends with our valued possession? Do we choose our friend or partner because of what we can get from him/her?

Our personality will also determine whether we become successful in our chosen endeavour. In simple terms, our attitude will ultimately determine our altitude" In order words, our character will determine how far we climb the ladder of success.

Attitude has no correlation with the level of education. It is simply acquired from life experiences.

If we have borrowed money from a close friend before and did not repay, when we are really hard up and ask for help from the same friend, she will be highly reluctant to help us again — we cannot be trusted.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Think and Prosperby Manny Asuzu Copyright © 2010 by Manny Asuzu. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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