Is It Possible That Being A Success Is Easier Than We Think?

She was a woman way ahead of the times in which she lived!

Florence Scovel-Shinn told us how to be a success in this world and did it better than thousands of other authors who tried to coax from success its secrets. A model, artist, illustrator of children's literature in magazines, and for much of her life. Her self-published book in 1924, The Game of Life and How to Play It, is as imaginatively real now as the spirit of its message during the heyday of the roaring twenties, Al Capone, bathtub gin, flappers, and prohibition.

Why the affirmations of Florence Scovel-Shinn work may be explained by the French healer Emile Coue's work. Coue', who operated a busy healing clinic in Nancy, is best known for the phrase, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." For more about Coue's astonishing career as a healer read my article Healing Words on the web.

From Shinn's books Your Word Is Your Wand, The Game of Life and How to Play It, and The Secret Door to Success, I've chosen the following success, health, happiness, and weath affirmations, a word which means "to make firm" by repeatedly saying and reminding your inner mind of their reality.

"Magical purse of the spirit. I rebuke the waves and winds of negative thought. The open door of destiny set before me is nailed back. My seemingly impossible good now comes to pass. The four winds of success now blow from North, South, East, and West towards me. I am more than equal to this situation. I gather in my harvest of endless opportunities. The tide of Destiny has turned and everything comes my way. As one door shuts, another opens. I have a magical work in a magical way, I give magical service for magical pay. My ships come in over calm seas. My barns are full. I am fearless in letting money go out and come in. I am at one with my heart's desire. The floodgates of my good now open. I shop Fifth Avenue, New York. My faith knows it has already received and acts accordingly. I am unmoved by appearances, therefore appearances move. Before I prayed, I was answered. I cannot lose what is rightfully mine. It will be restored or I'll receive its equivalent. All obligations are now wiped out under grace in a miraculous way.

"Faith never looks out the window at the blizzard, it has already prepared for all contingencies. My angel of destiny goes before me, clearing the way. If it's mine, I cannot lose it. I now fill the place no one else can fill. I now do all the things which I can do and no one else can. When I see myself as God sees me, I will become a radiant being, timeless, birthless and deathless. Light now streams through every cell. I will give you the land that you see. I see clearly now the perfect plan for my life. Before it rains, I dig my ditches. I have the power to bless and multiply. My part in this: Act rich, act blessed. Act as if I've already received. When I have no inharmonious response to a situation, it fades away from my pathway forever. My Unconscious is my silent partner at my side. Infinite Spirit, don't let me miss a trick. On awakening I say, "I give thanks for this day, miracle shall follow miracle, and wonders shall never cease." I look with wonder at everything. Grace gives me the power to "rub out" my mistakes. There are those who scatter, yet increase; those who withhold and end up in poverty. A bounder in space loses its weight; problems taken to God lose their weight.

"How long must I remain in the dark? Until I can see in the dark. I cast this burden of resentment on the Christ within and I go free to be loving and happy. Make believe you're wealthy. This impresses the subconscious. People I meet provide golden lines in the chain of my good. I salute the divinity in you. Infinite Spirit, reveal to me the way, let me know if there is anything for me to do. Spirit says, "I will restore to you the years the locusts have eaten." The telephone was seeking Alexander Bell. Father, I'll take nothing less than what I've asked for, but more. I am an irrestible magnet for all that belongs to me by Divine Right. My good now flows to me in a steady, unbroken, ever-increasing stream of success, happiness and abundance. All that is mine by Divine Right is now released and reaches me in avalanches of abundance, under grace in miraculous ways.

"My supply is endless, inexhaustible and immediate and comes to me in perfect ways; all channels are free and all doors fly open! The tide of destiny has turned and everything comes my way. With God and myself all things are possible. The warrior within me has already won, that I'm aware of. Something wonderful is about to happen. My seemingly impossible good now comes to pass, the unexpected now happens. I have MORE than I ever dreamed possible. Happy surprises come to me each day. Fields of divine activity open for me. All my money is sent forth fearlessly and with a blessing. I cheerfully pay my bills. I am able always to climb over the word impossible."

Shinn says to choose the affirmation which appeals to you the most and wave it over the situation which comforts you. It's my magic wand, for my word," she says, "is God in action. Choose words which bring a flash of the fulfillment you aspire to. "Never say 'I can't afford it.' Instead say, 'I can have that.'" "My word shall not return void but shall accomplish whereunto it is sent." "The subconscious," Shinn says, "has no sense of humor and people often joke themselves into unhappy experiences." "If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for." I give thanks that the end is already accomplished. We need others to help us hold onto our visions. This is what we can do for each other. By our words we make our laws (I always miss a car; I never miss a car). "Thus the invisible forces are ever working for man who is always "pulling the strings" himself though he does not know it; owing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract." "What's the matter with you?" is always answered by "Who's the matter with you?" Shinn says evil is a false law mankind has made for itself through soul sleep, a soul hypnotized by the race belief of sin, sickness and death.

Affirmations are magical, Shinn says, as there really is something in the power of the spoken word! "When you say, "'I don't want to,' or 'I need,' then you attract energies which sustain the 'need' or 'don't want.' She points out that "You may have to fight your reasoning mind on this one, and repeat such an affirmation (as 'I feel great' or 'My body is healthy in every way'), over and over until it clicks. But it truly works!"

Affirmations, which Dr. Emile Coue' might have call Conscious Autosuggestions, "can modify the way your subconscious mind works. Even when you feel things are hopeless, the spoken word can begin the healing." Shinn gives this example: "For instance, for more prosperity, you must catch yourself each time you think a thought of 'lack.' Immediately replace it with an affirmation such as, 'I accept all the abundance that is coming my way. Do this for 20 days and I know you'll see results."

"And once you say the affirmation, you must act as if it were true. For instance, regarding money, say a prosperity affirmation before writing out any check to make sure you aren't vibrating a fear or anxious thought about money. And when you are in a store and see something you'd love, but don't think you can afford, NEVER say 'I can't afford it.' Instead say, 'I can have that.'"

There is no mental struggle when we know 2+2=4 and we know we can have faith and confidence in our future. The Secret Door to Success was published just before Florence Scovel-Shinn's death in 1940 and about 1945 her followers and fans put together, from her writings and notes, a book called The Power of the Spoken Word.

Her books on success in life should be read more than once because each time they are read, to lift Dr. Coue's famous phrase and apply it here, they become "better and better," and I would add, "richer and richer."