“Come out of your closed chamber of limitation. Breathe in the fresh air of vital thoughts. Exhale poisonous thoughts of discouragement, discontentment, or hopelessness. Never suggest to your mind human limitations of sickness, old age, or death, but constantly remind yourself, ‘I am the Infinite, which has become the body.’
Take long mental walks on the path of self-confidence. Exercise with instruments of judgment, introspection, and initiative. Feast unstintingly on creative thinking within yourself and others.
Above all, cultivate the habit of meditation. This is the inner switch you turn on to connect yourself with the Infinite. Hold on to the after-effects of meditation by your attention. You will then find that you are a reservoir of power in body, mind, and soul. By constantly holding in mind the peaceful after-effects of meditation, by feeling immortality in the body, and by feeling the ocean of God’s bliss beneath the changeable waves of experiences, the soul can find perpetual rejuvenation.
You are all gods, if you only knew it. You must look within. Behind the wave of your consciousness is the sea of God’s presence. Claim your Divine Birthright. Awake, and you shall behold the glory of God.”
~ Paramahansa Yogananda from How to Awaken Your True Potential
This is our fifth Note on one of Yogananda’s great little books/booklets.
We started with The Law of Success and How to Be a Success. Then we covered Living Fearlessly and To Be Victorious in Life. We’ll be covering his Autobiography of a Yogi soon.
For now, it’s time to Awaken Your True Potential.
As we’ve discussed in the other Notes, Yogananda was born in 1893. He was the kind of kid who meditated for SEVEN hours a day (!). In 1920, at the age of 27, he left India and came to the United States to fulfill what he and his Master perceived to be his sacred duty: To bring the wisdom of the East to the West.
He reminds me of a spiritually-centered mix of other thought leaders of the era—including guys like Orison Swett Marden, Napoleon Hill, and Dale Carnegie. He brings the same intensity with a focus on awakening to our TRUE potential—connecting to and expressing the Divine within.
The book (get a copy here) is packed with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
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