PRELIMINARY THOUGHT.  You should fix firmly in your mind the fact that you are the Equal of any and every man.  You come from the same source.  You are an expression of the same One Life.  In the eyes of the Absolute you are the equal of any man, even the highest in the land.  Truth is “Things as God sees them”—­and in Truth you and the man are equal, and, at the last, One.  All feelings of Inferiority are illusions, errors, and lies, and have no existence in Truth.  When in the company of others remember this fact and realize that the Life Principle in you is talking to the Life Principle in them.  Let the Life Principle flow through you, and endeavor to forget your personal self.  At the same time, endeavor to see that same Life Principle, behind and beyond the personality of the person in whose presence you are.  He is by a personality hiding the Life Principle, just as you are.  Nothing more—­nothing less!  You are both One in Truth.  Let the conscious of the “I” beam forth and you will experience an uplift and sense of Courage, and the other will likewise feel it.  You have within you the Source of Courage, Moral and Physical, and you have naught to Fear—­Fearlessness is your Divine Heritage, avail yourself of it.  You have Self-Conscience, for the Self is the “I” within you, not the petty personality, and you must have confidence in that “I.”  Retreat within yourself until you feel the presence of the “I,” and then will you have a Self-Confidence that nothing can shake or disturb.  Once having attained the permanent consciousness of the “I,” you will have poise.  Once having realized that you are a Center of Power, you will have no difficulty in saying “No!” when it is right to do so.  Once having realized your true nature—­your Real Self—­you will lose all sense of Inferiority, and will know that you are a manifestation of the One Life and have behind you the strength, power, and grandeur of the Cosmos.  Begin by realizing YOURSELF, and then proceed with the following methods of training the mind.

WORD IMAGES.  It is difficult for the mind to build itself around an idea, unless that idea be expressed in words.  A word is the center of an idea, just as the idea is the center of the mental image, and the mental image the center of the growing mental habit.  Therefore, the Yogis always lay great stress upon the use of words in this way.  In the particular case before us, we should suggest the holding before you of a few words crystallizing the main thought.  We suggest the words “I Am”; Courage; Confidence; Poise; Firmness; Equality.  Commit these words to memory, and then endeavor to fix in your mind a clear conception of the meaning of each word, so that each may stand for a Live Idea when you say it.  Beware of parrot-like or phonographic repetition.  Let each word’s meaning stand out clearly before you, so that when you repeat it you may feel its meaning.  Repeat the words over frequently, when opportunity presents itself, and you will soon begin to notice that they act as a strong mental tonic upon you, producing a bracing, energizing effect.  And each time you repeat the words, understandingly, you have done something to clear away the mental path over which you wish to travel.