SCRATCH IT OUT

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO


Are there any against whom you bear a grudge or positively hate? There are? Then you need to do this exercise for your own health. The sooner you find time to do it, the happier you will be.

Draw out your hate list in decreasing order so that the one you detest most tops the list, while the one against whom you are least peeved is named last.

Begin with the LAST name on your list and work your way up as you perform this exercise. This will help you gain momentum as your work upon the eradication of your negative feelings.

Look at each name, close your eyes and visualise that person's features. Then recite out loud, slowly: "I forgive you. I absolve you from all obligations to me. I free you. And I free myself."

Memorise those few lines so that you are able to recite them like a nursery rhyme you know by heart. When you've uttered those lines, take a pencil and scratch out that name. Scratch it out so thoroughly the pencil marks obliterate every single letter of the name.

Go to the name above that one and repeat the procedure. Work your way up until you reach the one topping the list, your arch enemy. The higher up the list you go, the harder you should concentrate on what you are reciting.

Don't heed the instinctive reactions you may have at the notion of what you are doing. Ignore the sneers, jeers and objections your inner voice may make. You have probably convinced yourself the hatred and resentment you feel are justified.

Take time to consider this little home-truth. You don't justify the existence of a malignant growth that eats away at you and gives you misery. You remove it.

Dwell on the last three words of the recitation -- "I free myself." That is precisely what you are doing, breaking free of your prison of hate and resentment.

Repeat the exercise for twelve nights in a row before you go to sleep, making sure those names always appear in the same order. At the end of that period, examine your own feelings with regard to each and every person on your hate list. You'll find it's no longer a hate list. You've freed them and you've freed yourself.

NO APPLAUSE, NO JEERS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

The next time you wish to pass the hat round for a deserving cause, try this method. It makes everyone feel good about giving. It also ensures that no donor will suffer any embarrassment, however small the amount he can afford, or is willing, to give. And if any decide not to give at all, no one will be the wiser for it.

This is how it's done. Have a sealed donation box placed in an adjoining room. Let all who are requested to donate step inside that room, one at a time. Each person who goes into the room may drop any amount she likes, or can afford, into the box with the certain knowledge that no one will be aware of how much she is giving. If she opts to put in nothing, that too is her personal choice.

This is a most effective way of putting into practice what that great teacher once taught us about not letting the left hand know what the right hand does.

The large donor will receive no recognition and will have no cause for pride. When the donation box is opened, there'll be no way to ascertain the size of any single donation. The only reward that awaits the generous giver is the experience of the joy of giving.

At this juncture we should also remind ourselves that it is not the amount of a donation that counts. It is the percentage of the donor's resources that he gives away which marks his generosity.

There are some who are capable of "giving until it hurts", to coin a popular phrase. If you are one of those who possess such bigness of heart, then you truly understand the spirit of giving.

NOT WORTH THE SALT

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO


There's an oft-repeated tale of a student of the occult sciences who wanted to learn how to walk on water. To acquire this ability he went into intense meditation for thirty whole years, taking only such respites as were necessary to perform his bodily functions.

The day came when his efforts were crowned with success. Going to the river, he proceeded to cross over to the other bank in this novel fashion.

He was halfway across when he encountered a boat which ferried people across the river. In a voice haughty with pride, he said to the boatman, "I spent thirty years of my life mastering this skill so I may cross the river on foot!"

The boatman was flabbergasted. "Why are you so foolish?" he cried. "I would have taken you across in my boat for only three copper coins!"

Of course there's a moral to this story. It's that before you venture into any major undertaking it would be well to ask yourself whether what you're about to take up is worth the salt.

You can convince yourself it is even when it's not. After all, no one can deceive a man better than he himself can. If you persist in your stubbornness, the day may come when you awake to the sad realisation that you have thrown away thirty years of your life only to save yourself three copper coins.

The three copper coins may well be three priceless diamonds for all the difference they make. Those thirty years of your life are forever gone.

MEET YOUR MENTOR

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

The world is a classroom and life an education. You paid your entrance fee the moment you emerged from the womb and you're here whether you like it or not. You're going to pass out from this classroom like each and every other student, no matter how you perform in your studies.

Whether you get good grades or not is a matter that's entirely in your hands. You decide. If you graduate from this class, you walk out with your head held high, knowing you've made yourself a role-model for future students to emulate.

If you flop, you still leave -- but with a bitter taste in your mouth. You'll know you've not only failed your exams, you've also failed yourself. And you'll wonder what was the point in attending the class in the first place when you have nothing to show for it.

While you're here in this classroom, you have the best of all teachers to instruct you in the art of living. His name is Experience. In the teaching profession, he's the best around. If you can't learn from him, you're totally incapable of learning. It's pointless trying to look for another instructor.

Your teacher is often harsh. His mode of punishment frequently involves a lot of pain. That's understandable because the course you've enrolled for is no piece of cake. Your teacher really has no choice but to teach you the hard way.

While you're here in this class, the best thing you can do for yourself is to learn everything your mentor has to teach you. That way you'll not only derive the highest benefits from the course you're taking. You'll also save yourself a lot of unnecessary grief as long as you remain in this classroom.

UNLOCKING THE DOOR

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

If you're very sick and in great pain, the best thing you can do for yourself is to imagine you're perfectly well and in tip-top condition. This may seem ridiculous at first glance. How can one imagine such a thing? The pain is very real and you're suffering it now.

You can and you must imagine you are healthy. At such times you need such mental conditioning. Do you think dwelling on your sickness and the pain will do any good? You'll only let them dominate your mind to the exclusion of everything else.

The real healing is generated inside your head. Your brain sends the command to effect a change and your body obeys. That's the principle along which a placebo works. A placebo is something harmless with neutral properties. When you take it, believing it is an effective solution to your problem, you send a message to your brain along the same lines. Your mind goes about its work directing the appropriate bodily response and the cure is brought about.

There are countless examples of how our minds control our bodily functions. We shed tears when we are emotionally overwrought, we salivate if we dwell on food under certain conditions, and we sweat when we experience intense fear.

Think of fire-walking. It appears to be a physical impossibility, yet it's done. If the mind says yea, Nature herself won't say nay. There countless other examples of the power the mind wields over the body, but you shouldn't need any more convincing.

If you are ill, tell yourself you are well. Say it out loud if you want to. Don't say you are going to get well. If you propel a thought into the future, no matter how near, it will keep on going forward. What you wish for will always stay one step ahead, in the future, and will never come about.

Use every ounce of your imagination in visualising yourself in perfect condition. FEEL strong and healthy. BE happy. Don't let doubt or any negative thought creep into your mind. If it does, push it out, gently but firmly. Unlock your mental door to your own healing. If countless others have done it in the past and are doing it now, YOU can do it too.

POSSIBLE HORIZONS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Helen Keller, American author and humanitarian, was born blind, deaf and dumb. As a child she had the good fortune to have for a governess Anne Sullivan, a remarkable young woman who chose to see possibilities instead of limitations.

Using the sense of touch alone, Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller how to read and write. More than that, she showed her protege how to come to terms with life and make the best of whatever assets the latter possessed. Helen Keller grew up to be an outstanding human being who was a source of inspiration and encouragement to thousands.

Let's now look at ourselves. We may have our own set of handicaps and disadvantages. Life may not have been as kind to some of us as it has been to others. But let's ask ourselves an honest question and try to provide an equally honest answer. Has the going ever been as tough for any of us as it was for Helen Keller?

Let's survey the landscape of our lives. The horizon seems so very far away and we wonder if it can ever be reached. As we ponder, let's recall Helen Keller. She never posed herself that question. She merely plodded on until she reached her destination.

KEEPING UP ILLUSIONS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Is it important to you to keep up with the Joneses? Do you always try to keep pace with your contemporaries by acquiring all the things they have? Are you obsessed with upgrading your lifestyle so that it is at par with theirs?

If your answer is "yes" to all those questions, you're being unjust to yourself. How so? Because you're probably making a good many sacrifices you don't have to. You're putting yourself to unnecessary expense and wasting your time and effort trying to achieve something which is of no consequence at all.

You have to remind yourself that how the Joneses live their lives is really no concern of yours. When you acquire something for yourself, it should be because you really want or need it. Not because you feel you MUST have it to create a suitable impression.

And while you're trying to hold your own in this spirit of competition, does it ever occur to you the Joneses may have problems with which you're not burdened? For all you know, they may be wishing they were in YOUR shoes. Externals tell very little. That's why comparing and competing are exercises in futility.

You have no reason at all to try to "keep up" with anybody. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Just live your life and enjoy what you have. That way you'll be really fair to yourself and to those who depend on you.