Author: Mentor Ben Drake

Margi Starr, Springfield, Ohio

Chapter 1—Thoughts Are Things
I went to jail this week.
This past Sunday my church had Salt & Light Sunday. Instead of being comfortable inside our church, dozens of teams left the building and we WERE the Church. Some teams spread mulch at city playgrounds; some painted park benches; some painted school classrooms; and some cleaned the Children’s Rescue Center. Teams from our church literally spread across the city and served our community.
There were twelve of us who went to the county jail to lead worship and pray with inmates.
It was like entering a foreign land.
The security procedures were unnerving; the sounds were harsh; the environment was barren.
Several women and I were escorted towards the trailers. The jail chaplain led us through a maze of corridors and then took us down an elevator to the basement. What I had always believed was an underground parking lot turned out to a vast concrete area with six metal buildings that served as prison cells.
The chaplain left us standing by a thick chain link fence staring at these locked up trailers.
One by one the doors of the trailers were opened by the deputy. Inmates filed out from a trailer one-by-one and were shoved a plate a food. The inmates filed back one-by-one to their trailer to eat their food.
During this Sunday lunch, I started playing my guitar and the worship team started singing. With all the hard surfaces in that place, the music provided a starkly different backdrop.
To our great surprise, the deputy allowed the inmates to once again leave their cells so they could listen to our music. Blank eyes stared at us. Empty faces watched me strum my guitar. Young women wearing gray prison garb quietly stood as we continued to sing.
Many women came to the fence and some of worship team members prayed with them. The line for prayer grew.
I tried to connect with the women by looking into their eyes and thinking positive thoughts for them. We ended our serenade by singing a simple chorus…
“We love you with the love of Jesus, We love you with the love of the Lord. We see in you what He wants us to. And we love you with the love of the Lord.”
Thoughts are indeed things. Negative thoughts destroy and steal dreams. Positive thoughts heal and bring hope. Unconditional love, cannot be bound or chained. It is the most powerful energy in the entire universe. And it begins with a positive thought.
Each day is filled with choices. Each thought is either positive or negative. There is no middle ground.
I am grateful for each one in the Mastermind and especially for Michael and Linda Dlouhy. Together our thoughts are changing the world.
Unchained,
Margi Starr
Springfield, Ohio

Lesson plan from Margi Starr on chapter 1 for the 30 day mental cleanse.

You can participate in the 30 day mental cleanse at http://www.30daycleanse.com

Download our free eBook at

http://bdrake.successin10steps.com/?mad=52669
ben@ben-drake.com

http://www.ben-drake.com

Call anytime

+61421464549

Russ Aker, Portland, Oregon USA

Think and Grow Rich
Chapter 1, Thoughts are Things (review)
“What a different story men would have to tell if only they
would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand by that
purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming
obsession!”
Here is what I have discovered about opportunity. Find a
vehicle, make a plan, work your plan, adjust as necessary.
Here is what matters, that you have a plan and that you
start implementing it along the principles of this book. Be
persistent, don’t give up.
You can dream up all the scenarios in the world as to how
your plan & success will be played out but it is my personal
experience what actually happens will always catch you by
surprise and Hill confirms this in the following paragraph.
“When the opportunity comes, it may appear in a different
form, and a different direction than you expected. That is
one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping
in by the back door.” Hill goes on to say, “Often it comes
disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.
Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity.”
I and many of my associates can attest to this. But
because of what we have learned at MFF we’re willing to
come awake to the opportunity presented, and upon
opening our eyes discover it to be a virtual windfall
opportunity, just as Edwin C. Barnes was able to see the
opportunity in Thomas Edison’s dictating machine where
others could not.
Hill, “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to
meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some
failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and
most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the
majority of men do.”
If you have read chapter one of Think and Grow Rich you
will understand what Hill means as he relates the story
of Mr. Darby’s lesson on quitting “THREE FEET FROM GOLD”.
The folks here at this forum, just like the junk man in Hills
story searched out Specialized Knowledge (success principle 5)
and were advised similarly, they’ve discovered their vein of GOLD
was just three feet away…in the free skills training, tools and
mentoring available here at Mentoring for Free.
The next lesson in this chapter is, “A FIFTY CENT
LESSON IN PERSISTENCE” (principle 7). Years later
when Darby recounted the story of his Uncles defeat he
asked Hill, “What can you make of it? What strange power
did that child use, that so completely whipped my uncle?”
Hill says, “The answer to his question will be found in the
principles described in this book. The answer is full and
complete. It contains details and instructions sufficient to
enable anyone to understand, and apply the same force
which the little child accidentally stumbled upon.”
I believe the girls PERSISTENCE was created by a strong
“why”, her burning DESIRE (principle 2). To get that 50
cents from Hills uncle was more powerful than her fear
chapter 15. There was no inDECISION (principle 8) on the
girls’ part and no doubt that she would not leave before
she had that 50 cents.
Hill says, “When you begin to THINK AND GROW RICH,
you will observe that riches begin with a state of mind, with
definiteness of purpose” ( just like the little girl that
defeated Darby’s uncle).
Here is why we quit. We know all the rules of quitting (like
reasons and excuses) we’re reminded by well meaning
family and friends as well. We are often told by these well
meaning people, quit “day dreaming” and be realistic.
Sometimes their message is not so direct but more covert
through innuendo, undertone and body language and we
succumb to it. Combine that with our fears and no "principle"
skills as our first line of defense and we are sure to quit.
Look at the story of Henry Ford and the V8 engine,
“Impossible” his engineers told him over and over for a
year. He would not accept their reasons or doubt.
Hill says Think & Grow Rich was written for those who are
seeking the rules which make others successful.
We are talking about success principles. If you are never
introduced to them you will never come to know their
power. You’ll continue to reinforce the habit of quitting
rather than persistence. But once you are introduced, you
should not ignore them but study them and come to a true
understanding. Then, if you quit you will always know in
your heart, regardless of what you tell others, my lack of
success in network marketing is my fault.
The “Mental Cleanse” forum is about the introduction of
and helping us come to understand the Principles of
Success and actually begin to set in motion the mindset
and fruitful activities of these principles in our daily lives.
Russ Aker
Portland, Oregon

Lesson plan from Russ Aker on chapter 1 for the 30 day mental cleanse.

You can participate in the 30 day mental cleanse at http://www.30daycleanse.com

Download our free eBook at

http://bdrake.successin10steps.com/?mad=52669
ben@ben-drake.com

http://www.ben-drake.com

Call anytime

+61421464549

Tony Koker, Stoughton, Massachusetts

From Figments to Reality
Although the title and topic of our discussion this week is that "Thoughts are Things", we were also immediately asked to consider desire, being definite, having purpose, being persistent, even bordering upon obsession.
Every chapter of this book lays out pieces of all of the secrets. Some chapters only focus on a few, or even try to focus on a single one, but every single chapter is woven with the strong fabric of knowledge. The knowledge that we are the most powerful creatures on this planet. The knowledge that our power can be positive or negative. The knowledge that when we combine the power of all of the positive, the total is far greater than the simple sum of the parts.
I have been thinking heavily, lately, of the progress I've made and also where I haven't made any progress.
I have been in similar states like this before. Finding myself on a road with a fork in it. Do I stay on the path I've been on? Do I continue much as I have so far? Or, do I take this turn?
Once I decide, I know there are few if any roads back, and those are more difficult to travel, or worse yet, in a reverse direction back to that same fork.
I know that it won't always be clear that I've made the correct choice along the way. There will be desire-threatening obstacles. But I have made these decisions before. I haven't always executed them perfectly. I even had to settle for good enough (very challenging for my personality). But I also know there will be an almost unconscious blur that can occur in the knowing it works, when it's working.
To be in an excited state of not being able to go to sleep at night.
To anticipate the dawn of the new day and awake, even before the alarm goes off, jumping out of bed to advance our cause.
It is all found in this book. And the journey begins within our own minds. It begins with our thoughts. Thoughts become all manner of things.
with gratitude and in service,
Tony, Lisa, Michael and Amanda Koker

Lesson plan from Tony Koker on chapter 1 for the 30 day mental cleanse.

You can participate in the 30 day mental cleanse at http://www.30daycleanse.com

Download our free eBook at

http://bdrake.successin10steps.com/?mad=52669
ben@ben-drake.com

http://www.ben-drake.com

Call anytime

+61421464549