One of the Japanese anime TV shows my hubby watches often starts off with one of the characters asking, ”Want to hear something amazing?” This was what I was thinking when I watched Earl Nightingale’s “The Strangest Secret”.

Yesterday I watched “The Strangest Secret” twice. I chose a video with illustrations because I’m a visual learner and it made the narrative more relatable and interesting for me. I also turned on the closed captioning so I could read along with the dialogue and take notes. I later realized this video was only the first part of “The Strangest Secret”.

Towards the beginning of the video were quotes by well respected men who stated in their own words the common theme: We become what we think about.

Marcus Aurelius said, A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson agreed with this statement when he said,

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

William James elaborated this when he said,

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

Even the Bible talks about it in Mark 9:23 (King James Version)

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Nightingale explains how a farmer plants into the land. The land doesn’t care what the farmer plants. He explains how the mind is like the land.

The mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant.

If you plant corn, it’ll grow in abundance. But if you plant nightshade, a deadly poison, it will grow poison in abundance. You decide what you will plant.

In earlier Master Key Experience (MKE) lessons, we were told a similar story how the land doesn’t care what we plant, just like our subconscious mind doesn’t care what we think about. However, whatever we concentrate on thinking about, that’s what will manifest itself.

Mark J keeps telling us when we do our weekly service, Subby can’t tell the difference between a simple task or a complicated one. When we complete the task, we need to celebrate it so Subby will want to keep completing these new tasks, simple or complex, to create a new mental blueprint.

What we plant, it must return to us

Earl Nightingale.

The question was asked, “Why don’t people use their minds more?” Nightingale gives an elaborate explanation of how people put very little value on things they acquire for free, like our mind, body, hopes, dreams, and love of family and friends, to name a few. However, things that can be bought are replaceable. For example, if your house burns down, you can build a new one.

Nightingale tells us

The human mind isn’t used because we take it for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. It can do any kind of job we assign it but generally speaking we use it for little jobs instead of big important ones.

Want to hear something amazing?

Nightingale then explains “The Strangest Secret”. “The very law that gives us success is a two-edge sword. We must control our thinking. The same rule that can lead a man to a life of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things he ever dreamed of for himself and his family that very same law can lead him into the gutter. It’s all in how he uses it for good or bad. That is the strangest secret in the world.”

The video ends with the quote

Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass away.

Earl Nightingale.

I’ve skimmed through several transcripts of the whole essay that talks about a 30-day experiment that includes a five step plan.

1. Think — You will become what you think about.
2. Imagine — Remember the word imagination and let your mind begin to soar.
3. Courage — Concentrate on your goal every day.
4. Save — Ten percent of what you earn.
5. Action — Ideas are worthless unless we act on them.

Want to hear something amazing?

Four of these steps we already do in the MKE program!

1. Think –This is our affirmation “I can be what I will to be” and our Definite Major Purpose (DMP).
2. Imagine — This is our Press Release, imagining our DMP as if it has already happened. It is also our SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timed) goals.
3. Courage — Reading and listening to our DMP (including movie trailer and billboard), Blueprint Builder, SMART goals shape sheets, Plan of Action (POA) card, Personal Pivotal Needs (PPNs), and looking at our Movie Poster (Vision Board) daily.
4. Action — Doing what we said we’d do. “Do it now!” “I always keep my promises.”

This evening I’ll watch the longer version of “The Strangest Secret” so I can learn more amazing things about the strangest secret.