WHAT AM I? By Orison Swett Marden

I AM____?

I am the vital principle of life—the greatest of all success and happiness assets.

I am that which gives the plus quality to human beings. I put pep, ginger, vim, into human effort.

I am the source of physical and mental power. I give the body vigor and buoyancy, the brain vital energy and originality.

I am your best friend—the friend of the high and lowly, the rich and the poor alike—but, be he king or beggar, who violates my laws must pay the penalty.

I am often sought in vain by the man who rides in his limousine, but am generally found in the company of the man who walks to his work and takes plenty of exercise.

I am the great multiplier of ability, the buttress of initiative, of courage, of self-confidence, the backbone of enthusiasm, without which nothing worthwhile was ever accomplished.

I am the greatest constructive power in the life of man.

Without me his faith weakens, his ambition sags, his ardor oozes out, his courage faints, his self-confidence departs, his accomplishment is nil.

Without me wealth is a mockery, a palatial home a bitter disappointment.

Next to life itself, I am the greatest gift God has given to man; the millionaire who has lost me in piling up his fortune would give all his millions to get me back again.

I am that which gives buoyancy to life, which makes you magnetic, joyous; forceful, which brings out your resourcefulness and inventiveness, that which raises efficiency to its maximum and enables you to make the most of your ability.

I increase every one of your forty or fifty mental faculties a hundredfold. I am the leader of them all. When I am present they are up, at their best; when I am absent, they are down, at their worst.

I am the friend of progress, the stimulator of ambition, the encourager of effort, the great essential to efficiency, to success, the promoter of long life and happiness.

I am a joy bringer. Where I go, good cheer goes. Where I am not, depression, discouragement, the "blues," are present. My absence means declining powers, often thwarted ambition, blighted hopes, mediocrity, failure, a shortened life.

The wise man guards me as the apple of his eye; the fool often abuses and loses me through ignorance, indifference or neglect.

I AM GOOD HEALTH