Skip to content
  • Home
  • Videos
    • First Steps
    • Stories
    • Keys to Higher Yogas
    • Yoga Perspectives
    • Essential Life Skills
    • Spiritual Development
    • Devotional Yoga
    • Yoga in Daily Life
  • Talks
    • Higher Yogas Classes
    • Yoga Basics
    • Sunday Morning Talks
    • Bhakti Yoga
    • Sri Ramakrishna
    • Go Farther with Meditation
    • Theme of the Month
    • Devotional Chants
  • Writings
    • Yoga as a Spiritual Path
    • Discover the Miracle of Prayer
    • Keys to Higher Consciousness
    • Growing on the Path
    • Relating with Spirit
    • Spiritual Living
    • Interviews
  • Courses
    • Introducing Courses
    • Online Seminars
    • Online Retreats
    • Initial Mysteries
  • Explore
    • Lifelines
    • Topics
    • Yoga Terms
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Favorites
    • Recent Additions
  • About
    • Ramakrishna Ananda
    • Why Are We Doing This Now?
    • Our Ideals
    • Our Team
    • Donate
    • Get Updates
    • Contact Us
    • Terms and Privacy
  • Home
  • Videos
    • First Steps
    • Stories
    • Keys to Higher Yogas
    • Yoga Perspectives
    • Essential Life Skills
    • Spiritual Development
    • Devotional Yoga
    • Yoga in Daily Life
  • Talks
    • Higher Yogas Classes
    • Yoga Basics
    • Sunday Morning Talks
    • Bhakti Yoga
    • Sri Ramakrishna
    • Go Farther with Meditation
    • Theme of the Month
    • Devotional Chants
  • Writings
    • Yoga as a Spiritual Path
    • Discover the Miracle of Prayer
    • Keys to Higher Consciousness
    • Growing on the Path
    • Relating with Spirit
    • Spiritual Living
    • Interviews
  • Courses
    • Introducing Courses
    • Online Seminars
    • Online Retreats
    • Initial Mysteries
  • Explore
    • Lifelines
    • Topics
    • Yoga Terms
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Favorites
    • Recent Additions
  • About
    • Ramakrishna Ananda
    • Why Are We Doing This Now?
    • Our Ideals
    • Our Team
    • Donate
    • Get Updates
    • Contact Us
    • Terms and Privacy
Auther

Ramakrishna Ananda

With Them You Succeed — Without Them You Fail

Do you know how to capitalize on your good tendencies?

Would you like to know one more extremely important principle in the formation of new tendencies? The principle is this: intensity and repetition. Keep “intensity and repetition” in mind as you gather thoughts, emotions, vital force, and body together.

Memory experts say you can best remember information you seek to memorize by first paying attention with intensity and, then, repeatedly thinking about the information. Similarly, you can more easily create a new tendency with intensity and repetition.

Keys to Higher Consciousness, Habits, Transformation

Intensity

To give birth to a new tendency, focus intensely on it. Think vividly of your new success habit. Picture it as clearly as you can and get your positive emotions involved. Hold your thoughts and feelings on the ideal tendency as intensely as you can for a minute or two several times a day. Keep in mind, however, intensity does not mean strain. Your intensity needs to be comfortable — both before, during, and after focus periods — and invigorating.

Whether your new tendency is mainly a physical, emotional, or mental one, it is necessary that body, mind, and emotions join in focusing together — each one contributing its intensity. This does not mean the body muscles are to be tensed but, rather, raptly attuned with the new tendency. While you may have to spend weeks or months developing the knack of focusing your body, thoughts, and feelings intensely for short periods each day, you will enjoy the delights of feeling progressively more alive as you make progress. You will gain many benefits in addition to expertise in forming new tendencies. Of course the physical/mental/emotional intensity rouses your vital life force too and focuses its support on the new tendency as well. For example, you will find it much easier to think clearly and to harmonize your emotions.

Repetition

These periods of intensity must be repeated once or twice a day, each and every day, until the new tendency is established. Even when the new tendency seems established, continue your intensity and repetition from time to time. Refocus on established tendencies once a week, preferably. Alertly maintain the new tendency until it is strongly and undeniably a part of your life.

Remember, the same principles of unified intensity and repetition apply if you are striving to develop a new physical habit — a better backhand, for example. Use intense concentration, emotional agreement, and enthusiasm. Be sure your life force doesn’t stray — keep gathering it into the new backhand habit. Also, intensely repeat the physical movement of your hand and racket, coordinating them with your feet and whole body. Unified intensity must be repeated again and again and again for the new backhand to become a part of your life.

For new mental tendencies — learning a language or the multiplication tables, for example — relax your body and sit calmly in a state of well being for a minute or two. Then direct your feelings of happiness toward the new knowledge you seek; be happy, enthusiastic, or pleasantly calm in focusing your feelings on your subject. A focused enthusiasm will greatly increase your ability to learn and will substantially diminish the too-common sabotage from emotions which wander while you are trying to concentrate your mind.

Then, with your physical and emotional support, focus your thoughts on your new knowledge. Let your thoughts energetically pour into the subject. Leaving other thoughts and subjects aside for awhile, let your thoughts penetrate deeply into what you seek to know. Become absorbed in your concentration. You will likely gain your new mental abilities more quickly, more lastingly, than ever before. And you will find the experience exhilarating!

New Emotional Tendencies

For new emotional tendencies, the same harmony and cooperation are extremely helpful. Suppose you want to be a more supportive — less cynical and grumpy — person. Take ten minutes each day and sit quietly. Relax your body thoroughly. A tense or fidgeting body will thwart your intensity. Now, let your mind cooperate. Too often, the turbulent mind prevents emotional focus and transformation; so, encourage your mind to realize the new behavior appreciatively. Let your mind understand the absurdly high cost of cynicism and negativity — in hampering your personal happiness and your relationships.

Think of the new behavior, the new tendency, in its many aspects; analyze and let go of the old tendency which prompted the old behavior. When your mind is free to focus on the new ideal tendency, bring your new feelings fully into your attention. Patiently generate the emotions which you wish to become your new way of feeling and being. Let go of old feelings, old emotional habits, as you direct your emotions to move intensely, joyously, toward your new way of living.

Of course, these ten-minute periods of intensity will prove an excellent beginning of change but you will need to practice your new skills in the real world often. Practice redirecting your feelings and thoughts away from old tendencies whenever they try to return. Guide your feelings and mind back toward your ideal, kindly and patiently, but with persistence.

As your new feelings gain strength, a powerful momentum will establish both the new tendency and a new life. Intensity and Repetition will win!

Don’t Ignore the Principle of Transformation

Whatever your area of focus, when you are speaking of success, and especially when you are seeking to know your higher consciousness, you are striving to transform old physical habits into new physical habits; old movements of the life force into a new movement of life force; old emotional tendencies into new ones; and old mental tendencies into new ones. People who ignore this important principle of transformation do not succeed. They certainly never find their higher consciousness. Each person who finds higher consciousness capitalizes on his or her good tendencies. Each aspirant patiently, perhaps even relentlessly, day by day, through attention and repetition, gathers mind and heart together and establishes undeniable, powerful, and exhilarating successful tendencies.

When all your tendencies are constructive, an ongoing sense of well being and a freedom from inner conflict occurs. You feel more a master of your life and less the victim of circumstance. You have established yourself as a likely candidate for higher consciousness. You become capable of maintaining the rights and privileges which are bestowed on one who knows the higher consciousness. With the right tendencies you succeed; without them you fail.

Hopefully this entire website will be of great help to you in choosing and creating those tendencies which will greatly reward you.

Reflection

My tendencies are mighty rivers
Flowing toward my future.

Watch Next

How to let your deepest yearnings lead you to higher consciousness
Find out how compassionate despair helps you be more clear and loving
Tips for finding your path to higher consciousness
9:44
Want to know how to let go of unwanted thoughts?
7:16
How being a sincere person leads to spiritual awakening
Samadhi is..
1. The pause between thoughts in meditation
1. The pause between thoughts in meditation
Try Again
2. Food that is served in Indian temples
2. Food that is served in Indian temples
Try Again
3. A deep experience of higher consciousness
3. A deep experience of higher consciousness
Correct
Hear more about the different meditation experiences you’ll have as you progress in yoga.
4. A flash of insight
4. A flash of insight
Try Again

New This Week

How to enjoy true self-esteem, confidence and harmony
Have you met your inner guru?
Home > Writings > Keys to Higher Consciousness >
Next
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Talks
  • Writings
  • Courses
  • Explore
  • About
  • Search
  • Home
  • Videos
  • Talks
  • Writings
  • Courses
  • Explore
  • About
  • Search

© Copyright 2025 Yoga World Fellowship

  • Terms and Privacy
  • Sitemap

How to Succeed

As you may know, we do not charge for our courses. All Yoga World content is free and available to you with our blessings. However, we do have a simple, but important request that’s key to the transformations necessary to succeed on the path.

We ask you to commit two hours a week to selfless service. This service can be anything you choose ranging from helping a family member or neighbor to volunteering at a nonprofit organization.

I Commit to Serve

This commitment is solely between you and your inner self.

Why the Commitment?

Share with a Friend

NOTE:  We will not share your information with third parties.