Psycho Cybernetics (a video book) – 17 chapter 5 – Bertrand Russell’s Method

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

I remember Jeff Paul.  Subscribed to his program for about 6 months back in the mid 2000′s ( I was the one who gave up!).  He has a wonderful series of CD’s to play in the car and his methods were very similar to what I am learning today with the money making system I subscribed to.

…just meant to be?  I have always been drawn to this logical thinking, just can’t seem to break from it…  So, it’s time to ‘just go with the flow’ and see what happens!

Here’s the text from today’s reading:

Bertrand Russell’s Method
In his book The Conquest of Happiness, Bertrand Russell wrote:
. I was not born happy. As a child, my favorite hymn was: ‘Weary of earth and laden with my sin.’ . .. In adolescence, I hated life and was continually
on the verge of suicide, from which, however, I was restrained by the desire to know more mathematics. Now, on the contrary, I enjoy life; I
might almost say that with every year that passes I enjoy it more . .. very largely it is due to a diminishing preoccupation with myself. Like others
who had a Puritan education, I had the habit of meditating on my sins, follies, and shortcomings. I seemed to myself ‘no doubt justly’ a miserable
specimen. Gradually I learned to be indifferent to myself and my deficiencies; I came to center my attention increasingly upon external
objects:  the state of the world, various branches of knowledge, individuals for whom I felt affection.

In the same book, he describes his method for changing automatic reaction patterns based on false beliefs:
It is quite possible to overcome infantile suggestions of the unconscious, and even to change the contents of the unconscious, by employing the
right kind of technique. Whenever you begin to feel remorse for in act which your reason tells you is not wicked, examine the causes of your feeling of remorse, and convince yourself in detail oftheir absurdity. Let
your conscious beliefs be so vivid and emphatic that they make an impression upon your unconscious strong enough to cope with the impressions made by your nurse or your mother wh~n you were an infant. Do not be content with an alternation between moments of rationality and moments of irrationality. Look into the irrationality
closely with a determination not to respect it and not to let it dominate you. Whenever it thrusts foolish thoughts or feelings into your consciousness,
pull them up by the roots, examine them, and reject them.

Do not allow yourself to remain a vacillating creature, swayed half by reason and half by infantile folly …
But if the rebellion is to be successful in bringing individual happiness and in enabling a man to live consistently by one standard, not to vacillate
between two, it is necessary that he should think and feel deeply about what his reason tells him. Most men, when they have thrown off
superficially the superstitions of their childhood, think that there is no more to be done. They do not realize that these superstitions are still
lurking underground. When a rational conviction has been arrived at, it . is necessary to dwell upon it, to follow out its consequences, to search out
in oneself whatever beliefs inconsistent with the new conviction might otherwise survive .. .
What I suggest is that a man should make up his mind with emphasis as to what he rationally believes, and should never allow contrary irrational
beliefs to pass unchallenged or obtain a hold over him, however brief.

This is a question of reasoning with himself in those moments in which
he is tempted to become infantile, but the reasoning, if it is sufficiently emphatic, may be very brief.

Ideas Are Changed Not by “Will,” but by Other Ideas

It can be seen that Bertrand Russell’s technique of searching out ideas
that are inconsistent with some deeply felt conviction, is essentially the same as the method tested clinically with such amazing success by
How to Succeed with the Power of Rational Thinking 89
Prescott Lecky. Lecky’s method consisted of getting subjects to “see” that some negative concept of theirs was inconsistent with some other
deeply held belief. Lecky believed that it was inherent in the very nature of “mind” itself, that all ideas and concepts making up the total
content of “personality” must seem to be consistent with each other. If the inconsistency of a given idea is consciously recognized, it must be
rejected.

In my original book, I told of my encounter with a salesperson in which I employed this technique of shining the spotlight on two conflicting
beliefs, to get rid of the unproductive one. .
One of my patients was a salesperson who was “scared to death” wheh calling on “big shots.” His fear and nervousness were overcome
in just one counseling session, during which I asked him, “Would you physically get down on all fours and crawl into the man’s office, prostrating
yourself before a superior personage?”
“I should say not!” he bristled.
“Then why do you mentally cringe and crawl?”
Another question: “Would you go into a man’s office with your hand out like a beggar, and beg for a dime for a cup of coffee?”
“Certainly not.”
“Can’t you see that you are doing essentially the same thing, when you go in overly concerned with whether or not he will approve of you? Can’t you see that you have your hand out, literally begging
for his approval and acceptance of you as a person?”

Two Psychologic Levers You Can Use to Remove Any “Mountain” in Your Way

Lecky found that there were two powerful levers for changing beliefs and concepts. There are standard convictions, which are strongly held
by nearly everyone. These are (1) the feeling or belief that you are capable of doing your share, holding up your end of the log, exerting a
certain amount of independence, and (2) the belief that there is “something” inside you that should not be allowed to suffer indignities.

Interestingly, NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), which is based on extensive work by Drs. Grindler and Bandler and has been popularized by Tony Robbins, offers a tool-kit of two items: pain and
accomplishment.

I do not think it coincidental that pain and the deep-seated belief that you should not suffer great indignities are the triggers that most
quickly or easily and definitively motivate people to action. Knowing this, you can use it to motivate yourself to constructive action.

Let me tell you of a person just so motivated. Today, one of the members of The Psycho-Cybernetics Foundation’s Board of Directors
and a coauthor of the Psycho-Cybernetics book Zero Resistance Selling, Jeff Paul, was once a Certified Financial Planner with some significant
success, but horribly unhappy in his work. He disliked the commute to the office, wearing a suit and tie, selling on the telephone and in
person, and the repetitive nature of ~e work. One day, he had the flash of rational thought that he need not continue making his living
doing something he intensely disliked doing. He correctly, consciously acknowledged there must be any number of other ways he could meet
his financial goals.

You know, a great many people never take that simple realization seriously.  Jeff then set about doing what we now call backwards goal-setting.
He mentally prepared a list of things he did not want to do at all. His list included having to wear a suit and tie; having to manage a staff;
some dozen or so items in total. Then he utilized his imagination to ”shop around” for ideas about other careers and businesses that he
might have some affinity for, but that would never require him to do the things on his I Never Want to Do These Things Again List.

After considerable thought, he decided upon the mail-order business. He recognized that a great many financial planners could benefit from the methods he had perfected for successfully attracting
clients. He envisioned a business in which he would publish that information in the form of books, manuals, and recordings, then sell the
products to members of his profession by advertising and direct-mail.

He could operate from an office in his home and have functions like order-taking, printing and shipping done for him by outside contractors.

He convinced his self-image he could do this by focusing on his strengths, such as his intimate knowledge of the desires and frustrations
of his peers, his possession of useful knowledge to sell, his evolving avid interest in mail order and willingness to learn. While his earliest attempts were markedly unsuccessful,he “course corrected”
by a number of means and ultimately achieved extraordinary success I will briefly enumerate here:

First, Jeff built a mail-order publishing business selling to financial planners and insurance agents that provided an income of more

Second, Jeff created a home study course, seminar, and other materials to teach his mailorder
business model to others, and he has thus inspired many others to create such businesses. A book he wrote about his experiences, to

Third, he developed such a high level of marketing and sales letter copywriting skills that he has become a much sought after, highly paid
consultant. Maybe most importantly, he has developed his businesses and significant wealth without conflict with his I Never Want to Do These Things Again List.

Jeff credits ·the use of Psycho-Cybernetics techniques, but also emphasizes what he calls “Accurate Thinking,” what I have called
“rational thought,” as the all-important starting point.

Examine and Reevaluate Your Beliefs

One of the reasons that the power of rational thinking goes unrecognized is that it is so seldom used.
Trace down the belief about yourself, about the world, or about other people that is behirtd your negative behavior. Does something
always happen to cause you to miss out just when success seems within your grasp? Perhaps you secretly feel unworthy of success, or that you
do not deserve it. Are you ill at ease around other people? Perhaps you believe you are inferior to them, or that other people per se are hostile and unfriendly. Do you become anxious and fearful for no good
reason in a situation that is relatively safe? Perhaps you believe that the world you live in is a hostile, unfriendly, dangerous place, or that you deserve punishment.

How many people do you suppose would love to have a perfect lifestyle business like Jeff’s, but, if asked about it, would quickly produce
a laundry list of reasons why they cannot do what he has done. These “reasons” are not reasons based on current rational thought at all. They are just beliefs, subject to change.

Remember that both behavior and feeling spring from belief. To root out the belief responsible for your feeling and behavior, ask your self why? Is there some task you would like to do, some channel in
which you would like to express yourself, but you hang back feeling that “I can’t”? Ask yourself why?
“Why do I believe that I can’t?”
Then ask yourself, “Is this belief based on an actual fact or on an assumption  or a false conclusion?”

Then ask yourself these four questions:
1. Is there any rational reason for such a belief?
2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief?
3. Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person in a similar situation?
4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it?

Don’t just pass these questions by casually. Wrestle with them.

Think hard on them. Get emotional about them. Can you see that you have cheated yourself and sold yourself short, not because of a “fact,”
but only because of an irrational and erroneous belief? If so, try to arouse some indignation or even anger.

Indignation and anger can
sometimes act as liberators from false ideas. Alfred Adler “got mad” at himself and at his teacher, and was enabled to throw off a negative definition
of himself. This experience is not uncommon.

An old farmer said he quit tobacco for good one day when he discovered he had left his tobacco home and started to walk the two miles
for it. On the way, he saw that he was being “used” in a humiliating way by a habit. He got mad, turned around, went back to the field, and never smoked again.

Just as the transaction was about to be completed, the lender’s wife spoke up and said, “Don’t be a fool. He will
never make enough money to pay it off.” Darrow himself had had serious doubts about the same thing. ‘But “something happened” when he
heard her remark. He became indignant, both at the woman and at himself, and determined he would be a success.

Walt Disney said that he went from exploring ideas to being determined to make a success of them, when a group of amusement
park owners criticized and laughed at his plans for Disneyland.

A businessman friend of mine had a very similar experience. A failure at 40, he continually worried about how things would come
out, about his own inadequacies, and whether or not he would be able to complete each business venture. Fearful and anxious, he was
attempting to purchase machinery on credit, when the man’s wife objected. She did not believe he would ever be able to pay for it. At
first his hopes were dashed. But then he became indignant.

Who was he to be pushed around like that? Who was he to skulk through the
world, continually fearful of failure? The experience awakened “something” within him-some “new self”-and at once he saw that this woman’s remark, as well as his own opinions of himself, were an
affront to this “something.” He had no money, no credit, and no way to accomplish what he wanted. But he found a way, and within three
years was more successful than he had ever dreamed of being-not in one business, but in three.

Interested in your own copy?  Get it here

And with that, we will meet again next time with chapter 5  The Power of Deep Desire

And, always keep smiling with love and light,

Nancy Holtzen
Skype: nancy.holtzen

Work With Prosperity Team – Your Opportunity

p.s.  why I joined the Empower Network (listen here)

previous post:  rational thinking
next post:  deep desire

Psycho Cybernetics (a video book) – 17 chapter 5 – Bertrand Russell’s Method