PUPIL: You make it seem that my disposition and self-control need much of my attention. I will admit that I am not patient; and of course I am intolerant, but only with those who deserve it -only with those who do not seem to try to do their part do I lose my temper.

MASTER: It is not my intention to be personal about your disposition. But I do say earnestly that every person who wishes to enjoy the blessings of true freedom must learn careful thought-selection, which means absolute thought-control, or self-control. In this way you will very soon entertain only the thought-guests you admire and enjoy. The uncouth, the grouchy, the selfish, the condemnatory, the suspicious, the tramp thoughts, all of whom will try to make a convenience of your mental domain, must be turned out of your mind. The best way to do this is put your whole feeling into an affirmation, whatever one appeals to you at the moment. Hold steadily to that thought and feeling until everything unlike it is out of your mind. Then lock your mental doors and use your will to keep out thoughts you have dismissed from your presence.

PUPIL: This making my mind do my new will is not going to be easy. I will practically have to make over completely my habitual mental processes.

MASTER: No, it will not be easy. But the goal the discipline will lead you to is worth a thousand times the effort required, however much effort that may be. If you will mentally stick tight to your resolve to make your mind a conscious center of divine operation, even for one week, seeing yourself growing steadily into what you wish to become, you will be amazed at your own growth and the genuine interest you have in everything around you. Also you will discover many, many wonderful things about yourself that you never knew before. Once you focus your attention and your intention on the Intelligent Life within you, and try to reproduce it in your own self, you will begin to get results that will seem almost phenomenal to you, and at once. Keep your consciousness focused on the fact that the Spirit of Life has no fears, no anxiety, and soon your feeling will correspond with It. Just try this, say for two weeks, without slipping; then ask yourself if you would go back to your old estate, if you could.