The exercise for Week Three of The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel seems simple — deceptively so.

Mr. Haanel wrote that this week you are to “not only be perfectly still [the exercise from Week One], and inhibit all thought as far as possible [the exercise from Week Two], but relax.”

Relax.

In many of my responses to questions about The Master Key System, I type that word a lot. Why?  Because it’s the foundation of everything that you will be doing from this point onward.

That’s why this exercise — relaxing — is very important.

As Haanel explains:

Tension leads to mental unrest and abnormal mental activity of the mind; it produces worry, care, fear, and anxiety. Relaxation is therefore an absolute necessity in order to allow the mental faculties to exercise the greatest freedom.

In order for you to be able to benefit from the exercises in The Master Key System, in order for you to effectively use any techniques from the personal development field, in order for you to truly acquire the mental fitness that you so desire, relaxation is the key.

A relaxed state allows you to …

… think clearly …

… to see truly …

… and to cogitate efficiently and purposely.

It allows “things” to happen fluidly and easily.

It brings to bear your entire mental arsenal and provides an alacrity that cannot be had otherwise.

Mental tension leads to physical tension. Mental tension begets constricted thoughts, much like a zipper that is stuck: it may wiggle and perhaps move a space or two, but it doesn’t flow and do what it is supposed to do.

That’s why this exercise is key.

As Haanel states, physical relaxation is a “voluntary exercise of the will.” It is something that we allow ourselves to be.

No matter the surroundings or the situation, we either choose to be relaxed or we choose to not be relaxed.

Thus …

Choose to allow yourself to be relaxed.

Allow yourself to become relaxed physically.

Lose the tension that you may feel in your muscles, in your joints, on the surface of your skin.

Allow all of it to drop from you.

In a word …

Relax.

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You will like these books because these books are relaxing.