Man is buffeted by circumstances so long as he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions. But when he realizes that he is a creative power, and that he may command the hidden soil and seeds of his being out of which circumstances grow, he then becomes the rightful master of himself. ~ James Allen

Few people on earth have come to the realization that they are a creative power, an agent of cause in the world they center. Most instead place their identity at the level of outside conditions. If you don’t believe me, take a few minutes to listen to how most people describe their relatedness with those people, places and things outside of themselves.

Statements like: “She made me mad,” “This beach makes me feel so good” or “I’ll be much happier when I get that car” give evidence of an individual who is buffeted by circumstance. As with the experience of turbulence in an airplane, the buffeting is both upward and downward. The roller coaster experience is equated with life and the individual, particularly in the bad times, shrugs his shoulders and says “That’s life!”

If you’re point of centering is in the circumstances that surround you, your life will feel like a roller coaster. If, conversely, you learn to “command the hidden soil and sands of your being” you will find that no matter what comes your way you can remain not just stable, but ready for action.

So how do you become this rightful master? Were we to ask Mr. Allen he would likely point to another pearl of wisdom he left for us more than a century ago:

A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life.

The first step to becoming the rightful master of yourself is to abstain from both complaint and all forms of hatred, both lesser and greater. Instead of whining about or reviling the outside conditions you face, challenge yourself to reveal only the highest and finest of which you are capable as you seek to creatively handle the circumstances you’ve been dealt.

Whether pauper or billionaire, your inner resources will always be vastly greater than your outer resources. This is a little known fact as the tendency to identify with outer circumstances tends to dumb down the individual. Instead of digging deep down and drawing on his “hidden soil” he feels impotent, saying “How can I possibly get this done with so few resources or with this group of idiots?”

Before you disparage the hand you’ve been dealt, complain about the configuration of circumstances you must face today or tomorrow or resort to disliking or reviling others, take a moment to think about the seeds that will be planted in your field of circumstance by so doing. All seeds come to harvest and naught but woe will be unto you if you deliberately, stubbornly and defiantly plant weeds in the garden of life because of a refusal to accept that you can and should be a creative power in the world you center.

A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. ~ James Allen