Book Review – “The Magic in Believing”
I’ve read lots of self help books over the years. In every case I’ve been able to glean some value from each book and apply it to my life. But, there have only been a few books that have made such a profound difference as “The Magic of Believing” , by Claude Bristol.
First though, a funny story about how I came to discover this book….
I’m not sure exactly when I found it in a local library, I know I was going thru a divorce and a huge financial burden. My life was totally in the toilet and I was looking for help. Based on a sticker in the book it was roughly 1991 that I found it. I checked the book out, but honestly I don’t remember reading it… or maybe I did read it and I just wasn’t ready to ‘listen’ to it’s teachings at the time. Anyway, shortly after checking it out, I moved to a new place and it wound up in a box of unimportant things that I had to store due to lack of space. When the library sent me a nice letter that the book was overdue (Ooops!) and I couldn’t find it, I went to the library and paid for the book. Over the years the book went with me each time I moved and eventually collected loads of dust on a shelf.
Fast forward to April, 2017. At that point, I’d been unemployed for 4 months and was feeling pretty hopeless about it. The day I re-discovered the book, I happened to lay down next to my dog who was on his bed that was right in front of my book shelf. While petting him, I looked up and saw the book nestled in-between many other self-help books I owned. It was looking quite old and yellow, but I pulled it out, opened it to read something on a random page and just kept reading. I decided to start from the beginning and read it all the way thru. That moment of despair was the turning point to a positive mindset and the understanding of a powerful, yet invisable universal energy that exits all around us.
Enough about me…
Mr. Bristol was curious guy who at one time was a newspaper man. His military service and work required that he travel all over the world. He met lots of people over the course of his life and kept an open mind about mental sciences, religion, cults and voodoo type things. He refers to it all as “Mind Stuff”. All of his combined knowledge on the subject really came down to one common factor, believing. The copy of the book I own was written in 1948 and the concepts Claude describes were not always well received at the time. The idea that merely ‘believing‘ that something could happen because of your thoughts could earn you the reputation of being a wack back then, but there were a few that did and paid attention to their own subconscious energy. The results people achieved were proof it worked and the book sites many examples of it.
He explains that the underlying glue to the concept of belief is that it works because our subconscious mind is electrically connected to the outside world. Some believe that their religion is the source, while others think it’s source energy or vibrational energy that allows our subconscious minds to communicate with each other, even over great distances. Dis-believers call it coincidence or sometimes, fate. He never claims to know what the true energy source is and it’s not my place to say what it is either, but it does exist. The thoughts that come to us thru it are commonly recognized as our intuition or imagination.
This book goes into detail to explain this un-seen energy and the author provides a few techniques to help you use it to your advantage. Because of the age of the book, I think it’s probably been the inspiration for many newer authors over the years. The concept of belief is more readily accepted nowadays, than it was back then. Still, there are many folks that don’t tap into it’s potential and never realize that the subconscious mind is trainable and you can teach it to get you what you want.
This belief he speaks of is also known as the Law of Attraction and it’s the first step in accomplishing anything. I know from my own experience that once I started believing, then things started changing. It began with my attitude. Once my attitude was more hopeful and I started using some of his suggestions to open my mind to the ideas that would get me a new job. And it did!
A few of the topics in the books are:
- You are what you think, the power of suggestion
- How to communicate with your subconscious mind, the techniques to get you what you want
- Visualization, patience and following thru with the impulse messages
If you are stuck between what you have and what you want, I really believe “The Magic of Believing” may open a few doors for you. It’s personally opened my eyes to the power we all have at our disposal, but few actually take advantage of. It’s changed the direction of my life and I really believe if you apply yourself to his teachings, that you too will see limitless potential.
Wishing you all the best in conquering your dreams!
Stacy
