You do not need to use determination all the time; so it will be sufficient if your muscles are taught to be quickly responsive to determination of mind on any occasion. (You know it helps you to carry out a resolution if you stiffen your body at the moment you make up your mind to do a thing, but continued stiffness of the body in determination would be a strain likely to weaken your power of action unless backed by a tremendous, stored-up reserve strength of muscles.) Begin your practice for the development of determination, then, by training your muscles to tauten the instant you think determinedly. Your brain-mind center of determination will also be strengthened by the exercise that builds up the supporting habit of muscle action in coordination. Millions of men have failed in life because their determined thoughts were not reenforced by stiffened backbones.
Discrimination Between Determination and Persistence
Now let us discriminate between muscle training to develop the characteristic of persistence and the training already described for the building of determination. In order to strengthen your persistence, you must transmit through the distinct brain center of persistence to the corresponding mind center, the impression of muscles permanently developed in firmness, not just capable of temporary hardening on occasion.
The characteristically persistent man has gradually developed his lax-muscled, sagging, baby chin into a jaw that is habitually firm, whether or not he happens to be determined to do anything at a given moment. His muscles do not sag utterly, even when he is asleep. He probably wakes up in the morning with his teeth clenched. So, whenever his coordinated brain-mind center perceives that the quality of persistence is required, and starts to apply it, the mental impulse to persist is backed by a permanent firm muscle structure that can stand up as long as the mind needs the physical support.
A Slump in Determination
In contrast, the man who is only characteristically determined, but who lacks persistence in his determination, has developed just the habit of hardening his muscles for the time he is determined on doing a particular thing. That does not exercise his muscles sufficiently to make them firm all the time, whether under tension or not. Consequently his determination is likely to slump if his resolution is subjected to a long strain. He does not possess muscular structure sufficiently strong to support persistence in his determination.
Habitual lack of firmness in the jaw muscles, as you know, results in a sagging chin; which detrimentally affects the brain-mind center of persistence. A man whose jaw habitually hangs loose may be capable of great determination for a while, but he is not persistent in character. He might clench his teeth, stiffen his body, and plunge into the surf to rescue a drowning person; but his first resolution to effect the rescue would be weakened by the cold water and by fear. He lacks the quality of the bulldog that will die rather than loose its teeth from another dog's throat.
Muscles Express and Impress Ideas
The coordinated muscles express the mental attitude, as we have perceived; and equally they impress the mind with their attitude. If you have a sagging chin, you are incapable of the mental bulldog grip of persistence. So tighten up your jaw muscles, and never let them hang utterly loose, if you are resolved to develop the characteristic of "stick-to-it-iveness." Begin with muscle training, for your muscles must be utilized to start the process of building up your brain-mind center of persistence.
Developing Perception