The Power of a Clear Mental Image

In The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles teaches us how doing everything in what he calls a Certain Way allows riches to be attracted to us.  One of the most important characteristics of that Certain Way is to have a Clear Mental Image of exactly what it is that we want.  Before I get into that, though, I want to point out that although we are attempting here to attract riches, that does not necessarily mean that we are wanting to attract mere money.  I want us to remember that although we are focusing on spending dollars here at the Prosperity Project, money is a only a tool that allows us to have the real riches we are seeking.  What we really are wanting is to be able to live all of the life we are capable of living.  We really want to have everything we need to work on all those projects and ideas that are floating around in our mind.  And we also are wanting that for the people we love.

So, back to the idea of a Clear Mental Image.  The Universe, or what Wattles calls Formless Substance ... God, if you will ... wants us to have whatever it is that our hearts desire.  The Universe is set up so that if we want something to appear in our lives, all we need to do is think about it and we will begin to attract it.  (Of course, there's more to it than that, but thinking is the all-important first step.)  The more clear and focused our thinking, the faster we will attract what we are thinking of.   Unfortunately, most of us are better at compulsively thinking about all the things we don't want.  We call that worry.  Universal laws being what they are, we begin to attract exactly what we've been worried about.  We have all learned to be quite clear about what we fear most, and if we spend a lot of time thinking about that, what we fear most is exactly what we attract into our lives.

It is much more difficult to be clear about what we really do want.  Often, we just don't know.  Or, we want two things that cancel each other out.  Or, we alternate between wanting something and being terrified that we won't ever have it, in which case we attract it and repel it at the same time.  So here on the Prosperity Project, the most important work we are doing every day is to spend some time thinking about exactly what it is that we really want out of life.  We are also going one powerful step further: we are declaring what it is that we want.  We are speaking it into existence.  This is very powerful work we are doing here, and we are guaranteed to see results.

I want to take the time and space here to reproduce a rather long passage from The Science of Getting Rich, because it illustrates what Wattles means about having a Clear Mental Image:

"I recall now the case of one student who was told that he must get in mind a clear picture of the things he desired, so that the creative thought of them might be impressed on Formless Substance.  He was a very poor man, living in a rented house, and having only what he earned from day to day; and he could not grasp the fact that all wealth was his.  So, after thinking the matter over, he decided that he might reasonably ask for a new rug for the floor of his best room, and an anthracite coal stove to heat the house during the cold weather.  Following the instructions given in this book, he obtained these things in a few months; and then it dawned upon him that he had not asked enough.  He went through the house in which he lived, and planned all the improvements he would like to make in it; he mentally added a bay window here and a room there, until it was complete in his mind as his ideal home; and then he planned its furnishings. 

Holding the whole picture in his mind, he began living in the Certain Way, and moving toward what he wanted; and he owns the house now; and is rebuilding it after the form of his mental image.  And now, with still larger faith, he is going on to get greater things.  It has been unto him according to his faith, and it is so with you and with all of us.

The bold text in that excerpt is mine.  I wanted to emphasize that having a Clear Mental Image of what we want is only Phase 1.  Phase 3 is Profit!  (Remember the Underpants Gnomes?)  The all-important Phase 2 in the process of allowing abundance is living in the Certain Way.  Could Wattles be any more vague?  Actually, he spells out pretty clearly what he means by that, and we'll go into it in more detail in another clue.

For today, though, I want to leave you with the encouraging thought that by participating in this Prosperity Project every day, we are doing the tough mental work that most people won't tackle.  We are  focusing to laser clarity our mental image of what we really desire.  I've followed the example of the student in the above excerpt, in that in my mind I've totally remodelled a house that I don't even own.  It doesn't matter that I may not always live here; every day I am sharpening my image of what my perfect life looks like.  The same is happening with Bob's workshop and Robyn's insurance agency.  As we write down the improvements we are making to our surroundings, I can actually see in my mind what these spaces look like, and can totally visualize the happy work being done there.

To a desire this clear, the Universe has one resounding reply:  Your wish is my command!