Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
Meet the Impression with the Contrary Thought
The moment an undesirable impression (fear, lack, dread) arrives, deliberately meet it with the contrary thought and hold a steady ‘for-the-day’ idea in its place — governing the inner mental world from which, in her teaching, outer circumstance follows.
Meet the impression: The instant a fear or lack-thought lands, “meet the undesirable impression with the contrary thought” — don’t argue with it, set its opposite against it. “Cast out the poverty-idea and hold the plenty-for-the-day idea.” The impulse to dread is real but “you can restrain it.” Hold the chosen idea as your standpoint, and mind what you incubate — “your thoughts are the eggs. the chicks will be according to the kind.” Then take the practical step.
What it is
In How to Control Circumstances Gestefeld gives the practical, in-the-moment counterpart to her deeper individuality teaching. Her premise: your circumstances grow out of your habitual inner thinking, so to “control circumstances” you govern the mind that produces them.
The method is a quick, repeatable mental move: the instant an undesirable impression strikes — a thought of fear, lack, dread — you meet it with the contrary thought, and then hold a chosen “for-the-day” idea in its place.
Her vivid image: “Your thoughts are the eggs you are incubating; and the chicks you will hatch out will be according to the kind.” You are not at the mercy of whatever impression arrives; the real “I” can refuse it and supply its opposite.
She frames the inner standpoint as governing: “according to thy word be it unto thee.” Stripped of the metaphysics, this is rapid thought-substitution plus a held constructive focus — and Gestefeld insists you can do it: of the lower, fearful reaction, “you can restrain it.”
The Method
Faithful to How to Control Circumstances (short quotes only):
- Catch the impression as it lands. Notice the undesirable thought the moment it arrives — the fear, the poverty-idea, the dread — before you have begun “incubating” it.
- Meet it with the contrary thought. Her core instruction: “Meet the undesirable impression with the contrary thought.” Do not argue with it or dwell on it — set its opposite directly against it.
- Cast out the lack-idea; hold the supply-idea. For circumstance specifically: “Cast out the poverty-idea and hold the plenty-for-the-day idea” — replace the thought of lack with a steady, concrete sufficiency-for-today.
- Restrain the lower reaction. The impression rides on the “animal nature” / impulse; Gestefeld is blunt that this is within your power: “You can restrain it.” The real “I” governs, the impulse does not.
- Hold the chosen idea as the ‘word’ you stand on. Keep the contrary, constructive idea in place as your standpoint — “according to thy word be it unto thee” — rather than letting the original impression set the tone.
- Mind what you incubate. Remember the eggs: persistently entertained thoughts “hatch out. according to the kind,” so curate which thoughts you let sit and warm, all day, not just in the crisis moment. (Sourcing note: Gestefeld’s text is public-domain; lines above are attributed quotation and faithful paraphrase, not full reproduction.)
Source & Lineage
Ursula N. Gestefeld (1845-1921) developed the “Science of Being” after breaking with Christian Science. How to Control Circumstances (1901) is its applied, everyday face: the same teaching that the real “I” expresses Principle, brought down to the practical discipline of governing the thoughts one entertains. It stands on her individuality and Statement-of-Being work as its foundation.
The Traditions' versions
“Catch the bad thought, substitute its opposite, hold a chosen focus” recurs across New Thought and modern therapy; Gestefeld’s version is distinctive for pairing an immediate contrary-thought parry with a held “for-the-day” idea, framed as governing circumstance: - Fox’s Golden Key — also an in-the-moment switch, but to a single object (God), forbidding all problem-solving; Gestefeld substitutes a specific contrary idea and keeps practical thinking.
- Hamblin’s right thinking / thought-governance — a general regime of governing what one thinks; Gestefeld’s is the acute parry-and-hold.
- Mulford’s directing the thought-currents — steering one’s thought-stream deliberately.
- Beck’s thought record / cognitive reappraisal — the modern evidence-based cousin: identify the automatic thought, generate a balanced counter.
Common refinements
Arguing with the impression. Don’t analyse or wrestle the fear — set the contrary thought against it and move your attention to the held idea.
- Vague counter-thought. “Plenty-for-the-day” works because it is concrete and bounded. Choose a specific, believable contrary idea, not a grand denial.
- Forced positivity that suppresses signals. Some impressions are useful warnings. Substitute the catastrophising spin, not the legitimate information that says “take action.”
- Treating it as a substitute for action. Steady yourself with the contrary thought, then do the practical thing — budget, apply, treat, ask for help.
- Only doing it in crisis. Mind what you “incubate” all day; the held everyday focus matters more than the single emergency parry.