Secret Door To Success, Chapter 1, Florence Scovel Shinn by #73810 Blog entry

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Secret Door To Success, Chapter 1, Florence Scovel Shinn

Chapter 1 - Secret Door To Succsss

Date: 12/27/2007 11:02:35 PM ( 17 y ) ... viewed 1810 times

Chapter 1 - The Secret Door To Success
"So the people shouted when the priests blew with
the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people
heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people
shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell
down flat, so that the people went up into the
city, every man straight before him, and they took
the city."--Joshua 6:20
A successful man is always asked - "What is the
secret of your success?"
People never ask a man who is a failure, "What is
the secret of your failure?" It is quite easy to
see and they are not interested.
People all want to know how to open the secret
door to success.
For each man there is success, but it seems to be
behind a door or wall. In the Bible reading, we
have heard the wonderful story of the falling of
the walls of Jericho.
Of course all biblical stories have a metaphysical
interpretation.
We will talk now about your wall of Jericho: the
wall separating you from success. Nearly everyone
has built a wall around his own Jericho.
This city you are not able to enter, contains
great treasures; your divinely designed success,
your heart's desire!
What kind of wall have you built around your
Jericho? Often, it is a wall of resentment -
resenting someone, or resenting a situation, shuts
off your good.
If you are a failure and resent the success of
someone else, you are keeping away your own
success.
I have given the following statement to neutralize
envy and resentment.
What God has done for others, He now does for me
and more.
A woman was filled with envy because a friend had
received a gift, she made this statement, and an
exact duplicate of the gift was given her - plus
another present.
It was when the children of Israel shouted, that
the walls of Jericho fell down. When you make an
affirmation of Truth, your wall of Jericho
totters.
I gave the following statement to a woman: The
walls of lack and delay now crumble away, and I
enter my Promised Land, under grace. She had a
vivid picture of stepping over a fallen wall, and
received the demonstration of her good, almost
immediately.
It is the word of realization which brings about a
change in your affairs; for words and thoughts are
a form of radio-activity.
Taking an interest in your work, enjoying what you
are doing opens the secret door of success.
A number of years ago I went to California to
speak at the different centers, by way of the
Panama Canal, and on the boat I met a man named
Jim Tully.
For years he had been a tramp. He called himself
The King of the Hoboes.
He was ambitious and picked up an education.
He had a vivid imagination and commenced writing
stories about his experiences.
He dramatized tramp life, he enjoyed what he was
doing, and became a very successful author. I
remember one book called "Outside Looking In." It
was made into a motion picture.
He is now famous and prosperous and lives in
Hollywood. What opened the secret door to success
for Jim Tully?
Dramatizing his life - being interested in what he
was doing, he made the most of being a tramp. On
the boat, we all sat at the captain's table, which
gave us a chance to talk.
Mrs. Grace Stone was also a passenger on the boat;
she had written the "Bitter Tea of General Yen,"
and was going to Hollywood to have it made into a
moving-picture; she had lived in China and was
inspired to write the book.
That is the Secret of Success, to make what you
are doing interesting to other people. Be
interested yourself, and others will find you
interesting.
A good disposition, a smile, often opens the
secret door; the Chinese say, "A man without a
smiling face, must not open a shop."
The success of a smile was brought out in a French
moving-picture in which Chevalier took the lead,
the picture was called, "With a Smile." One of
the characters had become poor, dreary and almost
a derelict; He said to Chevalier "What good has my
honesty done me?" Chevalier replied, "Even
honesty won't help you, without a smile." So the
man changes on the spot, cheers up, and becomes
very successful.
Living in the past, complaining of your
misfortunes, builds a thick wall around your
Jericho.
Talking too much about your affairs, scattering
your forces, brings you up against a high wall. I
knew a man of brains and ability, who was a
complete failure.
He lived with his mother and aunt, and I found
that every night when he went home to dinner, he
told them all that had taken place during the day
at the office; he discussed his hopes, his fears,
and his failures.
I said to him, "You scatter your forces by talking
about your affairs. Don't discuss your business
with your family. Silence is golden!"
He took my lead. During dinner he refused to talk
about business. His mother and aunt were in
despair. They loved to hear all about everything,
but his silence proved golden!
Not long after, he was given a position at one
hundred dollars a week, and in a few years, he had
a salary of three hundred dollars a week.
Success is not a secret, it is a System.
Many people are up against the wall of
discouragement. Courage and endurance are part of
the system. We read this in lives of all
successful men and women.
I had an amusing experience which brought this to
my notice. I went to a moving picture theatre to
meet a friend.
While waiting, I stood near a young boy, selling
programs.
He called to people passing, "Buy a complete
program of the picture, containing photographs of
the actors and a sketch of their lives."
Most people passed by without buying. To my great
surprise, he suddenly turned to me, and said -
"Say, this ain't no racket for a guy with
ambition!"
Then he gave a discourse on success. He said,
"Most people give up just before something big is
coming to them. A successful man never gives up."
Of course I was interested and said, "I'll bring
you a book the next time I come. It is called
“The Game of Life and How to Play It”. You will
agree with a lot of the ideas."
A week or two later I went back with the book.
The girl at the ticket office said to him - "Let
me read it, Eddie, while you are selling
programs." The man who took tickets leaned over
to see what it was about.
"The Game of Life" always gets people's interests.
I returned to the theatre in about three weeks,
Eddie had gone. He had expanded into a new job
that he liked. His wall of Jericho had crumbled,
he had refused to be discouraged.
Only twice, is the word success mentioned in the
Bible -- both times in the Book of Joshua.
"Only be strong and very courageous to observe to
do according to all the law which Moses, my
servant, commanded you: turn not from it to the
right nor to the left, that you may have good
success wherever you go. This book of the law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate therein day and night, that you may
observe to do all that is written therein, for
then shall you make your way prosperous and you
shall have good success. Turn not to the right
nor to the left."
The road to success is a straight and narrow path;
it is a road of loving absorption, of undivided
attention.
You attract the things you give a great deal of
thought to.
So if you give a great deal of thought to lack,
you attract lack, if you give a great deal of
thought to injustice, you attract more injustice.
Joshua said, "And it shall come to pass, that when
they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and
when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the
people shall shout with a great shout: and the
wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the
people shall ascend up, every man straight before
him."
The inner meaning of this story, is the power of
the word, your word which dissolves obstacles, and
removes barriers.
When the people shouted the walls fell down.
We find in folk-lore and fairy stories, which come
down from legends founded on Truth, the same idea
- a word opens a door or cleaves a rock.
We have it again in the Arabian Night's Story,
"Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves." I saw it made
into a moving picture.
Ali Baba has a secret hiding place, hidden
somewhere behind rocks and mountains, the entrance
may only be gained by speaking a secret word. --
It is "Open Sesame!"
Ali Baba faces the mountain and cries - "Open
Sesame!" and rocks slide apart.
It is very inspiring, for it gives you the
realization of how YOUR own rocks and barriers,
will part at the right word.
So let us take the statement -- The walls of lack
and delay now crumble away, and I enter my
Promised Land, under grace.

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