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Getting Your Thinking Straight, Part 1
From a 1985 talk by Harry Palmer

I want to talk to you about something I think is fantastic. And if you don't believe that it is fantastic, well all right, I'm willing to convince you. We're going to talk about deliberate thinking, about using the mind as a tool to shape physical reality.

Notice, I didn't say perceive reality. I said shape physical reality. I'm not suggesting you add any matter or energy to the universe that isn't already there. What I am saying, and intend to demonstrate to you, is that you can shape what is already there with your mind.

In order to shape something in the physical universe, you must first settle on an idea of the shaping process in your own mind, walk it through. You are going to use your mind as a test simulator. Running and becoming clear on the simulation is the first step in achieving success, or a lasting relationship, or peace of mind. This is where you get your thinking straight.

I credit my grandfather for the lesson, "First thing, get your thinking straight." He was a respected man and this was his approach to life. He could plow a rocky field with a team of horses or give a Sunday school sermon with equal proficiency. Experience had taught him that you didn't pick up something heavy until you figured out where to put it down. With a little forethought, you can avoid moving something twice if you move it to the right spot the first time.

This is a lesson that my brother and I would have done well to follow. Instead, we struggled to hold up a heavy couch while our mother changed her mind. "Let's try it over here. No. How about over here? No. How about under the window?" Likely as not, we'd end up putting the couch down in the same place we'd picked it up. Then we would both collapse on the couch in exhaustion.

My point is that there are an awful lot of people whose lives are in a collapsed state on that couch. And the reason is because they didn't get their thinking straight first.

Part of straight thinking is making decisions, and everybody knows that is risky. But, if your thinking is straight, the chances of making a wrong decision are reduced. Any reduction in mistakes is welcome. Most wrong decisions aren't made, they are shuffled into unthinking; then discovered when it's too late to turn around. Wrong decisions lead to failure.

You don't have to make very many wrong decisions before you shut up and follow someone else's directions. Then you can blame them.

For some people, thinking is something that just happens, some spontaneous reaction to something. Their minds are thinking, but there is no thinker, no one home. Huh? Well, you have to have a thinker before you can deliberately think something, otherwise you are just bobbing in the currents.

If you give someone a command like, "Think," what do they do? Some people wait for a thought to come along. They haven't quite come up to this idea of deliberately thinking something. Their minds are on autopilot. If you ask them pointedly, "Who is source of your thoughts?" They will tell you something like, "Well, I take a lot after my dad. My mom says I take after my dad." Of course, dad has been dead for ten years. If you are thinking like someone who has been dead for ten years, you are not making much progress.

So you begin working with this guy and you say, "Let's see if you can create a thought. Create a thought about an elephant."

And some mental image of an elephant pops up in his mind from God knows where, probably from a circus or a zoo that he remembers. Notice that he didn't create a new thought about an elephant; he retrieved an old memory about an elephant. You see, for some people this is thinking: you mix memories with perceptions and maybe you recognize something. This is animal level thinking.

Well, that's okay. Recall is better than just waiting around for another elephant to pass. And being able to select specific memories means that someone is home in his head. He is awake enough and separate enough to sort through his memories. So you push him just a little harder.

You tell him, "That's good. Now, let's see if you can create something new about that elephant. Put the elephant in swimming trunks, sunglasses, and a baseball cap."

You will instantly see him brighten up. Whaaat?

He will be amazed that he can do it. You see, he has been in total agreement with the past and with the universe, and you just pulled him out of the mind, empowered him, and had him create a deliberate thought. Now, if the responsibility of the whole thing does not frighten him too badly, you've got him on the route to source. He will imagine wings for the elephant, turn them neon colors, and have it leading a squadron of butterflies.

So this is how we ease into the concept of deliberate thinking. You don't have to be profound or original; you can, but you don't have to be. You just have to make sure that it's you who is creating the thoughts in your mind. You don't think something "because" or "spontaneously"; you create a thought deliberately that interests you. This is the awakening of creative ability.

It's climbing out of the knock-you-about, cause-and-effect stream of thinking, and realizing that you can be a source. You are the thinker. You can originate a thought that is not a response or reaction to anything that has happened or gone before. And in this moment, you have become the supreme being of your universe. You are the boss.

This is the realization that you have to maintain to think deliberately: I am not my mind. Then if you want to create the thought, "I'm okay," or "I'm happy," you can. Reality will begin to shape itself to your deliberate thinking.

Yes, there are some more mechanics to this. If the thought you create is in disagreement with your habitual flow of thinking, you're going to experience some backlash.

Look at it this way: You've placed a thought in the stream of your consciousness, and the currents of the past are hitting it. But as long as you didn't place the thought where the currents are irresistible, and by that I mean you don't try to violate some physical law like gravity, the current of the past can be managed and your thought will shape your future reality.

It all boils down to who is in charge of your mind. Is it the past? Is it society? Is it the environment? Or is it you?

Maybe you will have to apply some effort to shape reality the way you think it. That is okay; at least you know where you are going. You didn't pick up something heavy without any idea of where to put it down. Deliberate thinking, like any ability, improves the more you practice it.

When I tell you to think deliberately, I am not addressing your mind, I am addressing you. The mind is a good tool and storage device, but on its own, it just thinks in circles. So, I don't want to talk to the answering machine, or even your secretary; I want the boss. That's you. It is your mind; you built it, you own it. Now it is time you took control of it.

Who is the supreme being of your universe? You are, of course, but the mind has overthrown you. You have not separated your emotional life energy from your thoughts. And now they hop around like a handful of Mexican jumping beans.

Sit still for a minute and try not to think at all. Just decide to sit there for a minute and not think.

Not so easy, huh? Would you buy a computer that you could never turn off? If people drove cars like they run their minds, you might find a Chevy in your bedroom tonight. So your mind is a bit eccentric and doesn't always behave like it ought to: it pretends to be you, gets into worry loops, and entertains ideas, which if they ever saw the light of day would get you locked up.

I understand; I really do understand, and I am going to help you get your thinking straight. For some of you, this is going to mean some minor reality tweaking. For others, this is going to be the beachhead of a major campaign. Are you ready?

Decide that you feel the best you've ever felt. Well?

Do you feel the best you've ever felt? No? It's not so easy, huh?

As soon as you put that idea in your mind - I feel the best I've ever felt - your mind reacts with some doubts. You say, "I feel the best I've ever felt," but your mind says, "wait that's not true." Who is in charge?

I see some of you are going, "What's this mental stuff got to do with my increasing my income? I want to know how to make more money, and you keep talking about running the mind."

Okay, decide that your income is increasing. What happens?

Your mind says, "Well, we are in a recession and money is scarce and, and, and..."

Who is in charge here, you or the mental machine? Are you shaping reality or are you allowing reality to shape you? Remember, if you can't create a clear idea of something in your own mind, you don't have much of a chance of shaping reality toward that idea. Are you carrying a couch with no place to put it?

In the next issue I'll show you a powerful technique for getting your thinking straight.