Chapter 6
The Mirror Technique for Releasing the Subconscious
The toughest problem that confronts most people is the lack of money, and while I have read and heard of people finding bundles of $1000 bills by using this Mind Stuff, I think that money comes as a result of combining Mind Stuff and energized action. Money certainly can be attracted by your thought, and once it appears on the horizon your thought will lead you to ways and means of acquiring it. While I was in the investment banking business I knew many people of large means, and I found that every one of them had a “money consciousness.” They thought wealth and their coming to possess it was quite similar to my own experience related earlier in this book.
It is always the same technique, no matter what your desires. Get the picture of what you want and keep telling yourself that you’re going to get it. But don’t think it is going to come to you if you merely indulge in a period of watching waiting. Go to work, always keeping your goal in mind, and start saving. Every dollar you save out of your weekly pay check is a step nearer to the fortune that is going to be yours. Consider it as such and save as many dollars as you can. The more you save, the faster you will build that fortune. Then put your savings out at interest, invest them where they will work advantageously for you, not by gambling or playing the market, but in securities of proven worth, in real estate, or in a business of your own. As your investment grows under your money consciousness, you’ll be agreeably surprised to find that the more you have, the more you accumulate. Furthermore, you’ll find it exciting and stimulating. Opportunities for profitable investments will come to you from many unexpected and unknown sources, but don’t make the mistake that many do and follow will-o’-the-wisps; get sound advice before you invest a cent.
I recall one woman and her daughter who in twenty-five years accumulated more than half a million dollars, which today is largely represented by apartment houses and store buildings. The woman’s husband died shortly after World War I, and she was left with a fairly large-sized house. She was at her wits’ end how to support herself and her daughter who had just finished high school. She had no previous experience in holding a job or carrying on a business, but she could cook and keep house. One morning the idea came to her to take in roomers and boarders. That was the start, and success came rapidly. Within two years she sold the house and the business, realizing a handsome profit, and then bought a much larger house directly across the street from a well-known men’s club, believing that with her high-grade cooking she could get much of the club’s overflow business. She did --and prospered; even though she employed plenty of help, no task was too lowly for her in a rush period.
A retired elderly business man who had taken up his home at her place one day suggested that she open a tea room. He said he would provide the necessary funds to fix up a place. The top floor of an office building in the business section was found and the tea room opened. With herself as hostess and her daughter as cashier during the rush hours, and at other times helping in the kitchen and directing her employees, she soon made the tea room a favourite eating-place for business men. That led to the purchase of a beach hotel through a mortgage company, and also to the profitable sale of the tea room. All of this time she was investing in securities and it wasn’t long before she had accumulated a nest egg of $25,000, which went as the first payment on a run-down apartment house. Remodelling under her direction made the building remarkably attractive, and it became very popular under her management. With the great results achieved her reputation came to the attention of an insurance company that owned other apartment houses in those days, and she was offered the management of a number of them on a salary and a percentage basis. As her capital grew, her opportunities to buy apartment houses followed, and the last time I heard of this woman with the “money-consciousness” she not only owned apartment houses in this particular city, but she had also purchased an apartment house at a near-by beach resort which previously had operated only during the summer months, but which she now operates all the year round.
It has long been by observation that a person with a workable idea seldom has any difficulty in getting money to finance himself. However, he must be thoroughly “sold” on the idea himself before he can convince others to lend him money. If you contemplate having your own business, think about this and use the science of belief, for you’ll find someone with money who will help you.
Great fortunes are not built in a day but come as a result of dollars adding themselves to those you already have or to those you earn and save. But if you want a fortune, you must put your mind and energies to work. It will come --just use the magic of believing.
Here’s another case where by using this science success followed in rapid order --in fewer than ten years. A corner druggist had gone into bankruptcy. The fixtures were owned by the owner of the building and most of the stock by a wholesale druggist. A young pharmacist heard about the location, but had no funds with which to proceed. Finally the wholesaler and the landlord got together, and the young fellow “sold himself” to both of them. The landlord, anxious to keep the place occupied, agreed to finance the young fellow for several months, and with necessary guarantees to the wholesaler the place was reopened. His wife helped behind the counter and at the fountain and the business began to grow. For a long time the young druggist had been interested in a preparation which he thought would help people, but he had never had the funds to finance himself. One day he decided to talk with the owner of the building, a man of considerable wealth. So thoroughly did he believe in his plan that he had no trouble in convincing the owner, who organized a company for the young fellow and put up $5000 to start. For months the preparation was bottled in the basement of the rented home of the druggist during evenings after the store was closed. People began to buy it in increasing quantities and the business began to expand. It spread all over the country, and within a few years not only was the landlord paid off, but he told me that his profit was better than $50,000 and that the young fellow’s income was now more than $100,000 a year.
Another remarkable story came to my attention a few years back in the midst of the so-called depression. The story is from the man’s own lips. He had been in clerical positions most of his life but one day found himself on the WPA payroll. His wife in an endeavour to get help for some of her troubles had taken up “religion.” The religious organization was one that insists upon tithing --that is, upon the payment by each member of 10 per cent of his income.
(By the way, there are thousands of people who are firm believers in tithing, and, as a matter of fact, one of our greatest industrialists, who preaches religion in his own organization and to outsiders, attributes much of his success to his practice of tithing. Another man who is very successful in the selling of baking machines and equipment, credits his success entirely to his tithing. Whether this giving of one-tenth of their income to the church or to some religious or charitable organization has anything to do with the success of these individuals, is, of course, something that the writer cannot answer; but surely these tithers believe thoroughly in the efficacy of their practices, and who is there to say that it doesn’t work for them?)
One night the husband on WPA was prevailed upon to accompany his wife to church and then “the light hit me,” as he told me. Upon arriving at his home, “something” led him to search for an old formula which his father had used in preparing a location or a tonic that could be used in all barber and beauty shops. With the finding of the formula, he began to gather old bottles from junk-shops and scrap piles, which he took home and washed --and they became the first containers. This man went personally from barbershop to barbershop, from beauty parlour to beauty parlour, and so convincing were his stories that it wasn’t long before he gave up his WPA job and opened up a plant of his own. He believed thoroughly that the tithing principle was responsible for his good fortune and for all of the ideas that came to him. His product became widely known throughout the country, but the trade was no longer supplied by the man personally --wholesalers pushed it and he had his own sales organization as well. Another demonstration of the magic of believing.
Everything on the material plane is first an idea, a thought in someone’s mind. A person selling a commodity is actually selling an idea --if it’s a machine, what the machine will do --if building material, how it can be used --if food, how nutritious and tasty it will be, and so on end endlessly. All businesses, all fortunes are the outgrowth of an idea, the workings of someone’s imagination followed by action.
For years I have watched the progress of the Jantzen Knitting Mills, makers of the famous Jantzen swimming suits. I have seen this manufacturing concern grow from practically nothing but an idea to an organization that circles the globe, and the success story of those behind it rivals any told by Horatio Alger. Several times I’ve discussed this science with J.A. Zehntbauer, president of the company and chairman of its board, and with his permission I quote a letter he wrote to me:
As you say, some people seem to possess an indefinable something which spurs them on to a successful and happy life, while others apparently work hard but without that something in their characters which brings them satisfaction and success.
I have never tried systematically to develop this indefinable spirit but believe it has been developed in me by my parents, and especially by my mother, who promptly fought our inclination as youngsters to say, “I can’t do this or I can’t do that,” by saying to us that we should not say we can’t do it, but that, of course, we can do anything anyone else can do, and all that was necessary to tackle the job and keep on trying until it was mastered; and that we would then be ready to tackle a bigger job, and to shrink from no job because it was great or unimportant. Then she was constantly resisting our inclination as youngsters to complain or growl about anything. When we were in a complaining disposition, she would say, “Don’t grumble but think what a privilege it is to live in such a wonderful world and instead of complaining, brace right up and keep smiling and enjoy the blessings at hand.”
There were four youngsters in our family, three boys and one girl. We have always been exceptionally happy and I attribute it to the training of our parents; mother, with her constant training and father corroborating her often by saying: “Always look on the bright side, never on the dark side of things.”
If one has not been fortunate enough to have the advantages of such influences, I can see where it would take a great amount of self-discipline and training to bring one up to the point of view which you clearly point out is necessary to get the most out of life. Regardless of one’s present circumstances, I am sure the application of your science would be valuable to him.
In a postwar world, the competition is unusually keen and naturally the person best prepared for a certain position is in a far better position to get it than one who is not. I say this because I do not wish to give the idea to any of my readers that a man who has had neither the education nor the experience can step out of the army, or out of a job in an industrial plant, and immediately take over the reins of a large industrial corporation simply by using this science of belief. There may be exceptional cases of men doing this, but they are few and far between.
First things come first, always, and if a man feels and believes he is entitled to a better job and has prepared himself for it, then with the use of this science he can get that job or some other as good or better.
A well-known executive once said to me, “The difficulty I see with most people seeking employment is that they are so wrapped up in themselves that they make no effort to impress their prospective employer with what they can do to help him, overlooking the fact that the other fellow is only interested in you to the extent that you can help him.”
To some of my readers this may appear a cold-blooded attitude, but in the world of competition, self-interest is a reality that all prospective employees must face.
There is an old saying that “If you do not follow your own thoughts, then you will follow the thoughts of the fellow who followed his,” and it means exactly what it says --it marks the difference between a leader and a follower. You who do not think or use your creative ability are always being given orders by those who do. Unless you are willing to think, you will have to labour physically, and this means you will receive less for your work.
Therefore, visualize the kind of job you want, and use your cards and your constant affirmations until belief in your goal becomes a vital part of you and you feel it in your blood, your bones, and in every tissue of your body. See yourself actually doing the things you visualize and it will all work out, because every thought held constantly and persistently sooner or later materializes after its kind. All of you sometime in your life have taken vacation trips. Did you ever stop to analyze the mental processes involved? First you got the idea of the trip, then you decided where you would go, and shortly you began to visualize yourself in the mountains, at the seashore, or visiting some new city, and the vacation turned out as planned because you saw yourself doing it --actually before the vacation trip became reality. Could anything be clearer? Whatever you want to do, just apply the same principles and you will get the same successful results.
You will remember the card device, which I explained in detail. There is another device, which I call the mirror technique. Before explaining it, I want to tell you how I how I happened to discover what a truly wonderful thing it is, and how it can be used to bring quicker and more effective results.
Many years ago I was the dinner guest of a very wealthy man who owned many patents covering logging and sawmill machinery. He had invited a number of newspaper publishers, bankers, and industrial leaders to his suite in a prominent hotel, in order to explain a new method he had devised for mill operations. Liquor flowed freely and it wasn’t long before the host himself was very much intoxicated. Just before dinner was served, I noticed him staggering into his bedroom and pulling himself up abruptly before his dresser. Thinking that I might help him, I followed him to the door of his room. As I stood there, I saw him grab the edge of the dresser top with both hands and stare into the mirror, all the time mumbling as a drunken man sometimes does. Then his words began to make sense and I moved back a little to watch the performance. I heard him say: “John, you old --, they tried to get you drunk, but you’re going to fool them. You’re sober, you’re sober, cold sober, this is your party and you’ve got to be sober.”
As he kept repeating these words, while continuing to stare at the reflection of his eyes in the mirror. I noticed that a transfiguration was taking place. His body was becoming more erect, the muscles of his face were tightening, and his drunken look was disappearing. The whole performance was over in perhaps five minutes, but in all my experience as a newspaper man and more especially as a police reporter where I had opportunity to observe many drunken people, I had never seen such a rapid change. Not wanting him to know that I had observed him, I made for the bathroom. When I got back to the dining room I found the host at the head of the table, and while his face was still a little flushed, to all appearances he was sober. At the end of the dinner he presented a very dramatic and convincing picture of his new plans. It wasn’t until long afterward, when I got a better understanding of the power of the subconscious mind, that I understood the science involved in transforming the obviously drunken man into a cold-sober host.
I have for many years given the mirror technique to thousands of people, with some very unusual results. During these years a large number of people came to me for help with their problems. There were a surprising number of women, and practically all of them started their stories with weeping spells. The first thing I did was to stand them before a full-length mirror and have them take a good look at themselves; I made them look into their eyes and tell me what they saw there -crybabies or fighters? Their crying soon ceased, and those cases convinced me that a woman cannot weep while looking herself in a mirror. Whether it be pride, shame, or the repudiated idea that they are weaklings that stops them short, is of no moment. The fact remains that the tears cease flowing.
Many great orators, preachers, actors, and statesmen have used this mirror technique for years. Winston Churchill, according to Drew Pearson, never made a speech of importance unless he made it before a mirror first. Pearson also declared that Woodrow Wilson employed the same technique. It’s what I call a supercharging method of stepping up the subconscious forces of the speaker so that when he appears before an audience those forces flow out to and affect his listeners. By using the mirror in rehearsing the speech as you are going to deliver it, you are creating at that moment a picture of yourself, your words, the sound of your voice, and your sight of the audience, to which the immediate future is to bring reality. By looking into the mirror, you increase the mental vibrations by which the force and meaning of your words will quickly penetrate to the subconscious minds of your audience.
This mirror technique gives a clue to the power and the personal magnetism of Billy Sunday, the evangelist. I knew Bill Sunday in his heyday and often heard him preach, but in those days, knowing little or nothing about this Mind Stuff, I was puzzled as to how he, as well as Gypsy Smith and other great evangelists, was able to influence people to such a remarkable degree.
However, we now have proof that Billy Sunday was versed in the use of the mirror technique; it is given by Eric Sevareid, Columbia Broadcasting System commentator, in his book Not So Wild a Dream, published in 1946. Mr. Sevareid tells how he as a young newspaper reporter secured an interview with Billy Sunday.
“He bounded about the hotel room, now peering intently out of the window, with one foot on the sill, now grasping the dressing-table firmly in both hands while lecturing his reflection in the mirror.”
One of the most outstanding insurance salesmen in America who early accepted the science of belief told me that he never called upon an important prospect without first giving his sales presentation in front of a mirror. His sales were phenomenal.
Every salesman has heard the statement, “If you can convince yourself, you can convince the other fellow,” which is basically true. Every great mass movement in history from religious to military has come about through one individual, whose flaming belief in his own cause gave him the power to convert thousands of others. A man need not be a student of psychology to know that enthusiasm is very contagious and can readily be transmitted to others if one is bursting with it. The mirror technique is a simple and effective method by which a person can strengthen his belief in his own sales ability and thus intensify the power of his enthusiasm.
When the mirror technique is considered in the light of the science given in this book, it becomes a master method by which the mighty forces of the subconscious mind can be employed to influence those with whom you are dealing.
Whether we know it or not, we’re all engaged in selling something --if not our wares, then our personalities, our services, our ideas. As a matter of fact, all human relationships are based upon selling of one kind or another, and we all engage in it whenever we undertake to persuade others to our way of thinking. Legally a contract or an agreement is based upon a “meeting of the minds,” and unless you can get the other person to think your way, you do not get very far. But once the minds meet on the major issues, the rest is easy, and the name on the dotted line is but a matter of a few more moments.
During the “depression” days when I was working with many business and sales organizations to increase their business, I introduced this mirror method with some startling results. In one concern, a pie-making organization, I had mirrors fastened to the inside of the back doors of all the trucks, so that when the driver-salesmen opened the doors to get their goods for delivery, the first thing to be seen was the mirrors. I always admonished each man to determine before calling upon a customer how many pies he was going to sell him, and then to tell himself in the mirror that pies to that number would be left on the customers’ counters. One driver told me that for many months he had been trying to sell one woman restaurant owner, but she had always refused to purchase. Then he decided to try the mirror technique. That day he sold her ten pies. At the time he related his story to me he was selling her an average of fifteen pies daily.
The mirror technique was used with great effectiveness in insurance companies, financial houses, rubber mills, automobile agencies, cookie manufacturing plants, and many other organizations where there were salesmen or where there was a combination of salesmen and production operators. In my own old organization, where a complete about-face movement had to be made to avert disaster, I first used this technique by placing a mirror in a back room of the office where the employees left their hats and overcoats. It was so placed that everyone had to see it when entering or leaving the room. At first I pasted strips of paper with such slogans as “We’re going to win,” “Nothing is impossible to an indefatigable mind,” “We’ve got the guts, let’s prove it,” “Let’s show the world we’re not licked and then go to town,” “How many are you going to sell today?” and a great many others. We then took to using soap to write slogans directly on the face of the mirror. Every morning a new slogan appeared, with the sole purpose of convincing our employees that they could get business even though other firms in the same line were having a struggle to keep their doors open. Later this setup was augmented by a second mirror placed alongside the doorframe of the main door to the office, which would always be the last thing seen by the salesmen as they left the office. Subsequently I had mirrors placed alongside calendar frames on the desks of all salesmen and executives, and the startling thing about it all was that during the worst of the “depression” days the salesmen --and I mean all of them-- trebled and quadrupled their incomes, and they have maintained their progress ever since. There are a number of men whose monthly income probably never exceeded in the best of times $300 who now and for several years have averaged better than $1000 a month. This may sound incredible to some of my readers, but it’s true. In my files are many letters from executives, salesmen, and others who have testified to the effectiveness of the mirror idea.
Now to outline the technique. Stand in front of a mirror. It need not be a full-length mirror, but it should be of sufficient size so that you may at least see your body from the waist up.
Those of you have been in the army know what it means to come to attention --stand fully erect, bring your heels together, pull in your stomach, keep your chest out and your head up. Now breathe deeply three or four times until you feel a sense of power, strength, and determination. Next, look into the very depths of your eyes, tell yourself that you are going to get what you want --name it aloud so you can see your lips move and you can hear the words uttered. Make a regular ritual of it, practice doing it at least twice a day, morning and evenings --and you will be surprised at the results. You can augment this by writing with soap on the face of the mirror any slogans or key words you wish, so long as they are the key to what you have previously visualized and want to see in reality. Within a few days you will have developed a sense of confidence that you never realized you could build within yourself.
If you are planning to call on an exceptionally tough prospect or are proposing to interview the boss whom you may have previously feared, use the mirror technique, and keep it up until you are convinced that you can make the proper presentation without any trepidation. And of course, if you are called upon to make a speech, by all means practice before a mirror. Gesticulate --pound your fist on the palm of your other hand to drive home the arguments-- use any other gestures that come naturally to you.
As you stand before the mirror, keep telling yourself that you are going to be an outstanding success and that nothing in this world is going to stop you. Does this sound silly? Don’t forget that every idea presented to the subconscious mind is gong to be produced in its exact counterpart in objective life, and the quicker your subconscious gets the idea, the sooner your wish becomes a picture of power. Certainly it is not good business for you to tell anyone of the devices you employ, because you might be ridiculed by scoffers and your confidence shaken, especially if you are just beginning to learn the science.
If you are an executive or sales manager and you want to put more push into your entire organization, teach your employees the mirror technique and see that they use it, just as many organizations now do.
Much has been written about the power of the eyes. The eyes are said to be the windows of the soul; they reveal your thoughts, They express you far more than you imagine. They permit others to “get your number,” as the saying goes. However, you will find that once you start this mirror practice your eyes will take on a power that you never realized you could develop (something that writers have referred to as a dynamic or fascinating power); this power will give you that penetrating gaze that causes others to think you are looking into their very souls. Sooner or later there will come an intensity that will bespeak the intensity of your thought, which people will begin to recognize. It will be recalled that Emerson wrote that every man carries in his eye the exact indication of his rank. Remember that your own gradation or position in life is marked by what you carry in your eyes. So develop eyes that bespeak confidence. The mirror will help you.
This mirror technique may be used in many different ways and with very gratifying results. If you have a poor posture, or are slovenly in your talk, you will find that practice before a full-length mirror will work wonders for you. Your mirror shows you the person others see when they look at you, and you can fashion yourself into any kind of person you would like them to see.
It is said that if you act the part you will become that part, and here again is no better way than rehearsing your acting before the mirror. Vanity has no part in this science. Consequently, don’t use the mirror in a supercilious manner, but use it to build yourself into the person you wish to be. Surely, if some of the world’s most outstanding men and women use this mirror technique to build themselves and increase their influence over other people, you can use it for your own special requirements.
Much has been written about intuition, hunches, and the like. Some psychologists claim that ideas which come to us intuitively are not something “out of the blue,” but come as a result of our accumulated knowledge or because of something we may have seen or heard in earlier times. That may be true to some extent with chemists, inventors, and others who work by the “trial and error” method of using their knowledge and the results of previous experiments, but it’s the writer’s belief that by far the greatest number of discoveries, illuminations, and inspired works come from the subconscious mind, without previous knowledge having been planted in the mind. Every custom we follow, everything we utilize was first an idea in someone’s mind, and those ideas came first in the way of “hunches,” intuitive flashes, or call them what you will. So it is wise to heed your intuitions and to trust them to the end.
Many great leaders, industrialists, and inventors have openly declared that they have followed the hunches which have come to them in odd moments of relaxation or in periods when they were engaged in some other task than trying to solve their problems. A good way to let your subconscious mind solve a problem is for you to tackle it from all angles consciously; then some night just before dropping off to sleep, order the subconscious mind to bring you the answer. You may awaken in the middle of the night with the answer, or it may come to you upon awakening in the morning or at some odd moment of the day when you are engaged in something quite different. Be quick to grasp it when it comes and waste no time in following through with it.
You may have a hunch to call on or telephone a certain man. He may be the head of some concern and in a position to be of great help to you. However, because of his position you may fear to make the move and you struggle with your “hunch” on one hand and your fear on the other. The fear too often wins. The next time fear or doubt enters your mind, ask yourself this question: “What have I got to lose if I do see him or call him? What harm can I do?” Your fears and doubts can’t answer that question. So obey your hunch without delay.
A word of warning should be given here, however. Many people like to gamble. Some play cards, others bet on the horse or dog races, and many play the market. Undoubtedly there are those who say that they follow their hunches and now and then make a “killing,” but the writer urges you not to use your hunches in an endeavour to get something for nothing. There is something fundamentally wrong about it, because most gamblers die broke. Also, beware of hunches that would lead you into untried fields. They may not be hunches at all, but just sudden fanciful longings. The true kind of hunch is always concerned with something that is related to you directly or indirectly, and it gives you the idea to do a certain thing, followed by the momentum to carry out the necessary action.
The writer takes it for granted that none of his readers will assume that this book is an open-sesame to riches and fame overnight. It is intended only as a key to unlock the door that opens on the roadway which will lead to the goal of your desire. Certainly it wouldn’t be wise to rush into undertakings far beyond your capabilities or your development. If you would be the head of a great utility concern, you would naturally have to know the business, just as you would if you aspired to become head of a huge transportation system. But by using this science, you could learn the various steps which would take you to the top. However, you must have a plan of action before any program is undertaken. You wouldn’t go to the corner drugstore and ask just for drugs. You would be specific and name the drugs desired. And so it is with this science. You must have a plan of action --you’ve got to know what you want and be specific about it.
If you have definitely determined what you want and have fixed a goal for yourself, then consider yourself extremely fortunate, for you have taken the first step that will lead to success. As long as you hold on to the mental picture of your idea and begin to develop it with action, nothing can stop you from succeeding, for the subconscious mind never fails to obey any order given to it clearly and emphatically.
