Our inner conversations-the continuous dialogue we have with ourselves throughout each day-are more powerful than most realize. They aren’t just random thoughts but the very force that shapes our reality and creates the circumstances of our lives. Neville Goddard, a key figure in the New Thought movement, emphasized the importance of controlling these inner dialogues to manifest our desires. His philosophy states that we create our reality by our thoughts or by the human imagination.
The Creative Power of Inner Speech
Speech is the direct expression of mind, and our inner speech reveals our deepest beliefs and assumptions about life. When we discover the creative power of our inner talking, we begin to understand our true function and purpose. Every word we speak internally carries creative power. When we maintain negative inner discussions, criticizing others or justifying our failures, we’re actively creating more of the same experiences. Our attitudes toward others, expressed in our mental conversations, can either rob them of their ability to be kind and generous toward us or inspire their best behavior.
How Mental Diet Creates Our Reality
Every moment of our lives, we engage in ceaseless self-talk. This internal dialogue is as natural and persistent as breathing. While we can’t stop this inner conversation any more than we could stop eating or drinking, we can consciously direct its nature and content. Most people remain unaware that these inner conversations are actively creating their life circumstances. Our thinking follows tracks laid down by our habitual inner speech, creating patterns that manifest in our external world. To change our life circumstances, we must first change these internal conversations.
Understanding Mental Conversations
Our inner conversations don’t disappear into the past as we might assume. Instead, they project forward into our future, manifesting as the circumstances and experiences we’ll encounter. They are like seeds we plant that must eventually bear fruit in our external world.
Consider the story Neville shares about a young woman struggling with her employer. She was convinced he unfairly criticized her best efforts. Upon examination, she realized she spent her days mentally arguing with him, rehearsing negative conversations in her mind. When she consciously changed these inner conversations to ones of praise and appreciation, her employer’s behavior transformed to match her new mental attitude.
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The Science of Mental Diet
The relationship between inner conversations and external reality isn’t mystical - it’s a practical science that can be tested and proven. Just as a chemist can demonstrate their formulas, we can demonstrate how our inner conversations clothe themselves in physical reality.
Think of your mental diet as the blueprint for your future experiences. Your inner talking is constantly being externalized in the conditions and circumstances of your life. If you don’t like what you’re experiencing, it’s a clear signal that your mental diet needs adjustment. Neville Goddard did not ask us to visualize; he asked us to close the loop between the imaginary and reality, getting so detailed that the subconscious cannot distinguish the two. Neville understands that in order to manifest the life you desire, you need to imprint your desires on your subconscious.
Mastering Your Inner Conversations
Success in any area requires that our inner conversations match our desired outcomes. What you want to see and hear in your external world must first be seen and heard within your own mind. This isn’t about positive thinking - it’s about maintaining inner conversations from the perspective of already having what you desire.
Consider your current aims. Do your inner conversations align with these goals? They must match if you hope to achieve them. Success comes through consciously exercising your imagination while maintaining inner dialogue that matches your fulfilled desires.
Practical Application
To transform your mental diet, begin by becoming aware of your current inner conversations. What do you consistently tell yourself about your life, your relationships, your capabilities? Notice these patterns without judgment, then consciously choose new conversations that align with your desires.
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Remember the principle: what you hear and see in your imagination must precede what you experience in your external world. Practice having inner conversations from the perspective of your wish fulfilled, maintaining the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Techniques for Mental Dieting
Neville Goddard provided specific techniques to align your inner conversations with your desires. One such technique involves creating a lifelike representation of your desired state, engaging all your senses to make it feel real.
Living in the Wish Fulfilled
Imagine you want a home but lack the financial resources. Neville advised creating a vivid mental image of the home you desire, complete with all the details you want. Before sleeping, imagine you are in that house, feeling the furniture and moving from room to room. Fall asleep in that state. This technique involves putting your wonderful imagination right into the feeling of your wish fulfilled and letting it remain there and falling asleep in that state. From his own experience, you will realize the state in which you sleep - if you could actually feel yourself right into the situation of your fulfilled desire and continue therein until you fall asleep. As you feel yourself right into it, remain in it until you give it all the tones of reality, until you give it all the sensory vividness of reality. As you do it, in that state, quietly fall into sleep. And in a way you will never know - you could never consciously devise the means that would be employed - you will find yourself moving across a series of events leading you towards the objective realization of this state.
Promotion Example
If you desire a promotion, visualize the additional responsibilities, actions, and conversations that come with the new role. Imagine seeing, touching, doing, and acting as you would in that position.
Finding a Mate
If you seek a partner, imagine doing things that imply you have found them. For example, if you are a woman, imagine feeling a wedding ring on your finger, making it seem solidly real as you fall asleep.
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Revision
Another powerful technique is revision. Each day, relive the day as you wish you had lived it, revising scenes to conform to your ideals. Rewrite letters or conversations mentally to align with your desired outcomes.
Revision Example
A lady who was ordered out of her daughter-in-law’s home with no correspondence for two years used revision to change her reality. She constructed two letters each night for seven consecutive nights, one from her grandson and one from her daughter-in-law, expressing affection and wondering why she hadn't visited. On the eighth day, she received letters that practically duplicated the imaginary letters she had written.
This art of revision can be used in any department of your life. Take the matter of health. Suppose you were ill. Bring before your mind’s eye the image of a friend. Put upon that face an expression which implies that he or she sees in you that which you want the whole world to see. Just imagine he is saying to you that he has never seen you look better, and you reply, “I have never felt better.”Suppose your foot was injured. Then do this: Construct mentally a drama which implies that you are walking - that you are doing all the things that you would do if the foot was normal, and do it over and over and over until it takes on the tones of reality. Whenever you do in your imagination that which you would like to do in the outer world, that you WILL do in the outer world.
The one requisite is to arouse your attention in a way, and to such intensity, that you become wholly absorbed in the revised action. You will experience an expansion and refinement of the senses by this imaginative exercise and, eventually, achieve vision in the inner world. The abundant life promised us is ours to enjoy now, but not until we have the sense of the creator as our imagination can we experience it. Persistent imagination, centered in the feeling of the wish fulfilled, is the secret of all successful operations. This alone is the means of fulfilling the intention. Every stage of man’s progress is made by the conscious, voluntary exercise of the imagination. We could no more stop talking to ourselves than we could stop eating and drinking.
The Path to Transformation
Changing your mental diet requires patience and persistence. Old thought patterns and inner conversations have created deep grooves in your consciousness. Creating new patterns takes consistent practice and awareness.
However, the results of maintaining a healthy mental diet are profound. As you master your inner conversations, you’ll notice external circumstances beginning to shift, relationships improving, and new opportunities appearing that align with your transformed inner dialogue. Initially, it is not going to feel natural to turn over every single thought and continually reaffirm yourself in order to keep your mental diet in check. Persistently applying a mental diet is, obviously, the fastest way to notice changes in your daily life. It does, however, also mean applying the premises even when the world around you seems to show exactly the opposite of what you would like. It is just a technique that, when the mental diet is aligned with what you desire, helps you get there quicker. Mental diets help you keep track of your thoughts, which then helps you to decide what thoughts you should put your energy into, obviously, you want to choose those that will propel you forward, toward the person you want tobecome.
Like regular dieting, mental diets take discipline and focus and are best done over a brief period that may help kickstart your transition to a new way of thinking. You can be feeling anxious, sad, angry, concerned, etc., and still have your presentation, so long as you keep up with the mental diet and turn around any negative thoughts. You will eventually get to a place where your natural thinking is the thinking that you want reality to be. When your thoughts are natural, you will see your mental diet will become more centered on your internal dialogue.
The Importance of Inner Conversations
Neville Goddard emphasized that our inner conversations dictate our future experiences. By controlling our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, we can change the course of our lives. Our inner speech is directly tied to our deepest beliefs, and by consciously directing this speech, we can manifest our desires. Once we understand, we can control much more in our lives than we imagine, as long as we keep our minds focused on the right things rather than feeling hopeless. Neville Goddards Mental Diet is basically looking at negative thoughts as less healthy food, and eliminating these thoughts or thinking positive thoughts is similar to eating healthier food. So, the choice is in our hands, now it's time for action!
Neville Goddard: A Pioneer of the Law of Assumption
Neville Goddard (Born February 15, 1905, in Barbados) was a Barbadian New Thought author and mystic. He taught various self-help methods for testing his claim that the human imagination is omnificent, therefore God. He achieved popularity by reinterpreting the Bible and the poetry of William Blake. Known as one of the most influential teachers in the New Thought movement for many years, he gave hundreds of lectures all over the United States and even had his own TV show in Los Angeles in the 50's! His philosophy states that we create our reality by our thoughts or by the human imagination.