Читать книгу The Pelman System of Mind and Memory Training - Lessons I to XII - Анон - Страница 56

13. The remedy is to give attention to other people and other things instead of focusing it on his own feelings and thoughts. This transfer of attention from the inward to the outward is best accomplished by having a definite aim in life. It is almost impossible to pursue ardently a business policy without losing practically all this absurd self-consciousness, even though it be inherited from one’s progenitors. A passionate desire to achieve something that is worth while soon diverts the attention from the self to the not-self; and instead of a man standing outside a Board Room with a beating heart and trembling knees, we have a man who is rather looking forward to the occasion as a chance of furthering his life’s work and bringing the goal a little nearer.

In addressing a public meeting, the self-conscious person is at his very worst; sometimes, indeed, he finds it impossible to utter a single word. With all eyes on him, his realisation of self becomes a positive torture. And yet we have known self-conscious people who have delivered thrilling speeches, the reason being that they were supremely anxious to advocate the claims of a particular mission that was very close to their hearts; and this desire completely overcame the habit of thinking of self; they forgot everything in the passion of the moment, and self was lost in the glow and fervour of speaking for a great cause.

It is the same principle as that we have been referring to all along. Mental gifts come to the fore, and mental hindrances are thrust into the rear, directly we have discovered the secret of human energy, and that secret is to have definite aims, purposes, objects, ideals, ambitions—call them what you will.