The Problem … The Solution

     It will help us get our minds in order to write down the problems and solutions to them on paper. Draw a line down the center of the paper; head one column “The Problem” and the other “The Solution.” Some examples are as follows:

       The Problem                                       The Solution

1.  I misunderstand the world.                                        1.  Make sense to myself.
2.  I am my own enemy.                                                 2.  Drop associative thinking.
3.  I fear the loss of someone.                                         3.  Refuse usual responses.
4.  I fear there is no answer.                                          4.  Study while being afraid.

Intimidation

     The state of feeling intimidated blocks your awareness of what is going on, so it is necessary to observe this.
    Someone you are afraid of makes a minor contemptuous remark and you don’t even notice it. You grin weakly. Will you stop that defensive weak smile when people make cutting remarks to you. KEEP THAT FACE OF YOURS STRAIGHT. Look them right in the eye and send them a message like “Knock it off.”
     Did you know that if you were being intimidated by the six billion people on earth and were free there would be no reaction. This can be yours.

Work Assignments 

WHO SAID THAT? You can begin to catch your false behavior by asking the question “Who said that?” and you will catch false personality being pleasant, sarcastic, and so on. As often as you can, you will interrupt yourself and say “Who said that?” and if it is negative in any way at all, that is the invented self speaking in your name.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. Watch how influenced you are by facial expressions. Catch as many as you can as often as you can every day. Say to yourself “That severe look has bluffed me for the last time.”

HOW TO BUILD STRENGTH. The next time you find yourself in a strange embarrassing situation, caught out of a role, and you catch yourself saying “What if people should find me out,” why don’t you find yourself out.