y alchemist ever held; a secret which
shall give you whatever you desire.

Think of your body as the silver jewel box, your mind as the silk
lining, your spirit as the gem. Keep the box burnished and clear of
dust, but remember always that the jewel within is the precious part of
it.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A
whole, clear, glorious year lies before you! In a year you can regain
health, fortune, restfulness, happiness!

Push on! Achieve, achieve!

The Sowing of the Seed

When you start in the "New Thought" do not expect sudden illumination.
Do not imagine that you are to become perfectly well, perfectly
cheerful, successful, and a healer, in a few days.

Remember all growth is slow.

Mushrooms spring up in a night, but oaks grow with deliberation and
endure for centuries.

Mental and spiritual power must be gained by degrees.

If you attained maturity before you entered this field of "New Thought"
it is folly to suppose a complete transformation of your whole being
will take place in a week--a month--or a year.

All you can reasonably look for is a gradual improvement, just as you
might do if you were attempting to take up music or a science.

The New Thought is a science, the Science of Right Thinking. But the
brain cells which have been shaped by the old thoughts of despondency
and fear, cannot all at once be reformed.

It will be a case of "Try, try again."

Make your daily assertions, "I am love, health, wisdom, cheerfulness,
power for good, prosperity, success, usefulness, opulence."

Never fail to assert these things at least twice a day; twenty times is
better. But if you do not attain to all immediately, if your life does
not at once exemplify your words, let it not discourage you.

The saying of the words is the watering of the seeds.

After a time they will begin to sprout, after a longer time to cover
the barren earth with grain, after a still longer time to yield a
harvest.

If you have been accustomed to feeling prejudices and dislikes easily,
you will not all at once find it easy to illustrate your assertion, "I
am love." If you have indulged yourself in thoughts of disease, the
old aches and pains will intrude even while you say "I am health!"

If you have groveled in fear and a belief that you were born to poverty
and failure, courage and success and opulence will be of slow growth.
Yet they will grow and materialize, as surely as