400 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL POWER
We build our juture, thought by thought,
For good or ill, yet know it not,
Yet so the universe was wrought.
Thought is another name jor jate;
Choose, then, thy destiny and wait,
For love brings love and hate brings hate.
-ELLA WHEELER WILCOXIf your Imagination is the mirror of your soul, then you have a per-
fect right to stand before that mirror and see yourself as you wish
to be. You have the right to see, reflected in that magic mirror, the
mansion you intend to own, the factory you intend to manage, the bank
of which you intend to be president, the station in life you intend to
occupy. Your Imagination belongs to you. Use it! The more you use
it the more efficiently it will serve you.
COMMENTARY
You have already learned that the power of self-suggestion makes you become
the thoughts that you permit to occupy your mind. If you imagine that you have
no imagination, this valuable faculty will devote itself to nothing more than creating
images of yourself being unable to respond to opportunities and new situations.
What you must do instead is imagine yourself being imaginative.
Acquire a small notebook that you can keep accessible as much of the day
as possible. Get one for work and one for home, if you need to. In this book, as
often as you can, write down ideas that come to you for anything that it seems to
you could be done differently. You don't have to know how these things could
be done differently, just that a better way might be possible or useful. They can
be big, enormous things, or small, everyday things. Don't worry about feeling silly,
or that you're just making things up to put something on the page. Even making
things up requires that you use your imagination.