| Introduction: |
| Modern psychology is in agreement that our behaviour is determined by our thoughts; "Whatever a man thinks, so he becomes" is widely accepted as a statement defining the etiology of character, habits, good deeds and bad, and even illness and health. |
 During the early part of the twentieth century, Dr Emile Coue became famous in France with his use of positive thinking and auto-suggestion. He would ask the patient to repeat, for a few minutes every day, the simple words, "Day by day, I am getting better and better". The results, with all forms of illness, were truly remarkable, so much so that patients came from all over Europe to consult him. Dr Coue's work was one of the early beginnings of what is now a worldwide movement towards self-healing and enhancing performance using prayer, positive thinking and affirmations. |
| Educare or Education in Human Values, as applied in Toogoolawa Schools, seeks to re-awaken in the student the recognition that his true character as a human being is to live according to the five Human Values of Love, Peace, Truth, Right Conduct and Non-violence. |
| One of the ways of doing this is to progressively change their habitual way of thinking through learning, understanding and practising certain quotations and prayers. As you will see later, the Silent Sitting or meditation session each morning includes both affirmations and prayers, while the 'Thought-for-the-Week' sets in motion a deeper exploration of the beauty and grandeur lying within each one of us. |
 At appropriate times during the year it is explained to the students why Toogoolawa has such a strong focus on re-programming the mind. One of the analogies used to do this likens the behaviour of the body to that of a farmer's cart, whose wheels can only follow the well-worn wheel ruts in the ground. The wheel ruts represent our habitual ways of thinking. For the cart to be able to automatically follow a different path, another set of wheel ruts has to be worn into the ground. |
| That is, if we want to behave and live according to the five Human Values, we have to create new habitual thought patterns in our mind. To do this we must rote learn and seek to understand those wisdom-based sayings which define and illustrate Values-based living. In this way we are re-programming our subconscious mind according to universal wisdom until such thoughts are permanent and constant. Like the cart, which follows the new and deeper wheel ruts, our behaviour will follow the more deeply-implanted thoughts associated with living a good and noble life. |
 There is another analogy which is useful for illustrating to students the importance of maintaining a constant vigil over what we allow into our minds - that of the flower garden. Left to itself, a garden will become full of weeds. Such is our mind if it is left unattended for some time. To have a weed-free garden we can spend all of our time pulling them out one by one - as another weed grows we pull it out again. A more effective way is to plant the garden absolutely full of flowers so that there is not even one space where a weed could grow. Similarly, when our mind is full of good and Godly thoughts, there will be no room for negative or selfish thoughts to exist. |
| Aims and Objectives: |
 We can see from these two analogies given above (wheel ruts, garden of flowers) why Toogoolawa students are encouraged and guided to think positively all of the time. Of course, thinking positively does not imply any denial of what is good common sense. For example, the man who lies down in front of the elephant who is leading a parade and thinks, "This animal will not hurt me, for all is God and God is love", is not thinking positively. He is thinking in a deluded manner because, although the man knows that all is God, the elephant does not know this and so will step on him and break his leg. Thinking positively means holding on to those thoughts which are in harmony with both worldly wisdom (common sense) and the wisdom of one's higher Self. Positive thinking is heart thinking; it is listening to the still, quiet voice of God within. |
| To develop positive thinking, students enrolled in the Educare system of schooling can be taught to recite and discuss those poems, prayers, quotations and affirmations that have elevated ideas. In this way the elements of a higher philosophy are imbedded in the sub-conscious mind, which automatically results in those good actions and habits illustrating the five Human Values. |
| The inclusion of prayer along with quotations in defining this Teaching Technique is of particular importance. In Toogoolawa Schools, prayer is not regarded as mere ritual and tradition, but rather a vehicle for opening the heart, purifying the mind and releasing noble emotions like forgiveness, compassion, humility and gratitude. These higher feelings are the perfect antidote to the darkness of despair, anger, greed, envy and self-pity. |
| Having explored its benefits we can summarise the aims and objectives of using the Teaching Techniques of Prayers/Quotations in Toogoolawa Schools as follows: |
 |
To use repetition, recitation and discussion for the learning of inspirational quotations, prayers, affirmations and poems which encapsulate the five Human Values of Love, Truth, Peace, Right Conduct and Non-violence. |
|
To develop supremacy of thinking, in both the sub-conscious and conscious minds, which enables the students to relate to the highest in themselves |
|
To encourage the children to re-programme their own minds with the wisdom of the ages so that, acording to the law of "Whatever a person thinks, so he becomes", their habits and character increasingly manifest their innate wisdom and goodness. |
|
To strengthen memory and intuition while progressively establishing an identification with the higher Self, with God. |
|
To promote analytical thinking about the five Human Values. |
Application of Prayers/Quotations |
| The Prayers/Quotations Teaching Technique can be applied in many different forms. The following approaches used in Toogoolawa Schools give only a small indication of this technique's usefulness. |
|
|
|
