The Power of Positive Thinking Norman Vincent Peale " A peaceful mind generates power"

Go to bed with a mind full of peace, not trouble. "The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence." p 19. A primary method for gaining peace is to practice emptying the mind. p. 21 22: Definitely practice emptying your mind of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets, and guilt feelings. ... after you have emptied your mind of all the old, unhappy thoughts immediately start refilling it with creative and healthy thoughts. (pp) p.23 --- Take an inventory of all the things you have going for you and begin to really appreciate your assets. Health, eyes, hearing, friends, family, son, house, shelter, food, income, transportation, intelligence, etc. p. 12 --- Think of the factors supporting you. Not of those opposing you. p.14 Quote from Karl Menninger: Attitudes are more important than facts. p. 13 "Any fact facing us, however difficult, even seemingly hopeless, is not so important as our attitude toward that fact. How you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it." 13. "Feelings of confidence depend upon the type of thoughts that habitually occupy your mind. Think defeat and you are bound to be defeated. But practice thinking confident thoughts, and you will develop such a strong sense of capacity that regardless of what difficulties arise you will be able to overcome them. Feelings of confidence actually induce strength." p. 15 "Affirm it, visualize it, believe it and it will actualize itself." p. 15 Emerson: "They conquer who believe they can... Do the thing you fear and death of the fear is certain." "Practice confidence and faith and soon your fears and insecurities will have no power over you.... The secret is to fill your mind with thoughts of faith, confidence and security. This will force out or expel all thoughts of doubt, all lack of confidence. "Never think of failing ... the mind always tries to complete what it pictures" p. 16 "When a negative thought ... comes to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out." 16 "Do not build up obstacles in your mind. Minimize them." 16 "Practice the technique of suggestive articulation, that is repeat audibly some peaceful words. Words have profound suggestive power, and there is healing in the very saying them. Utter a series of panicky words and your mind will immediately go into a mild state of nervousness... If, on the contrary, " you speak peaceful, quieting words, your mind will react in a peaceful manner." p.23 "Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind... It is important to eliminate from conversations all negative ideas, for they tend to produce tension and annoyance inwardly." p. 27 Peale also says to spend some quiet time each day relaxing, and not thinking about anything much. He says picture your mind as a pond and see if you can achieve the state of smoothness and no ripples. p.28 "Fill your mind with all peaceful experiences possible, then make planned and deliberate excursions to them in memory." p. 31 He continues: "Saturate your thoughts with peaceful experiences, peaceful words, and ideas, and ultimately you will have a storehouse of peace-producing experiences to which you may turn for refreshment and renewal of your spirit. It will be a vast source of power." On energy: "You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired doing nothing. You don't have to be tired. Get interested in something. Get absolutely enthralled in something. Throw yourself into it with abandon. Get out of yourself. Be somebody. Do something. Don't sit around moaning about things, reading the papers and saying, "Why don't they do something?" The man who is out doing something isn't tired. If you're not getting into good causes, no wonder you are tired. You're disintegrating. You're deteriorating. You're dying on the vine. The more you lose yourself, the more energy you will have. You won't have time to think about yourself and get bogged down in your emotional difficulties." p. 42 One reason fear and guilt are self-defeating: "The quantity of vital force required to give the personality relief from either guilt or fear or a combination of each is so great that often only a fraction of energy remains for living. The result is that he tires quickly. Not being able to meet the full requirements of his responsibility, he retreats into an apathetic, dull, listless condition and is indeed even ready to give up and fall back sleepily in a state of enervation." p. 45 [From my own experience, I have found beyond a doubt that when I have things I want to accomplish during the day, it is easy to wake up, to get up and to stay awake and alert. When not much is going on, or I don't know what to do with myself, my mind does in fact get sleepy and feels tired. I am convinced that thoughts can create energy. - SH] He goes on to talk about how we can not possibly sleep well if we go to bed burdened with fear or guilt. He says, "You must eradicate fear and guilt before you will ever be able to sleep and regain your strength." p.46 As he talks about prayers, I found the following interesting: "Spend most of your prayers giving thanks [not asking for things]" and "Only use positive thoughts in prayers, never negative. Only positive thoughts get results." p. 69 When they asked an obviously happy aged man his secret to happiness he said, "I haven't any great secret. It is as plain as the nose on your face. When I get up in the morning, I have two choices--to be happy or to be unhappy. And what do you think I do? I just choose to be happy, and that is all there is to it." Abraham Lincoln also said, "People were just about as happy as they made their minds up to be." p. 70 Peale says, "You can be unhappy if you want to. It is the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. Go around telling yourself that nothing is going well, that nothing is satisfactory, and you can be quite sure of being unhappy. But say to yourself, "Things are going nicely. Life is good. I choose happiness," and you can be certain of having your choice. Peale asked his daughter if she was happy. She said yes. He asked why. When pressed for an explanation she said, "I'll tell you what it is. My playmates make me happy. I like them. My school makes me happy. I like to go to school. I like my teachers. And I like to go to church. And I like Sunday school and my Sunday school teacher. I love my sister Margaret and my brother John. I love my mother and my father. They take care of me when I am sick, and they love me and are good to me." p. 71 [This reminds me of the song "My favorite things" from The Sound of Music.] He tells a story of a man who seemed overly happy and someone said sarcastically, "You certainly seem to be happy this morning. Why all the cheer?" "Yes," the man answered, "I am happy. I make it a habit to be happy." p. 74 So Peale says, "The happiness habit is developed by simply practicing happy thinking. Make a mental list of happy thoughts and pass them through your mind several times each day. If an unhappiness thought should cross your mind, immediately stop, consciously eject it, and substitute a happiness thought. [personal note from 1995 --- For me there are several things that I repeat on a regular basis. That I am happy to be alive to have another day to do what I choose and want to do. That I am happy to be in Florida. That I am happy I am getting my condo. That I am fortunate to be healthy and to have the time to do what I want. My time is so much more valuable to me now than it was before I realized how much choice I had in how to spend it. And before I really started to appreciate being alive and realizing that it is a very temporary state. And that each day gone is gone forever. So I feel it is more important now how I spend my time. And now I have so many things I want to do. I am much, much more motivated than ever before. My days are fuller, and I sleep better at night. If I can think of nothing else to be thankful for, I can always be thankful that I am single again! It is truly like being let out of prison. I appreciate my freedom so much more now, if I think about it. -- Note from 2006: now this is not so easy to do. I feel depressed and too negative to even try these suggestions. But they did help me back then. And maybe they would help if I read them over a few more times or made a tape of them and listened to it.] He says, each day when you wake up, think of things to be thankful for, happy about. Think about things you want to accomplish. See yourself accomplishing them. A little quote Peale likes: "The way to happiness: keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised." p. 79 Then he goes on to say that many will say "there is nothing new in that." But he says, "what is the value in knowing these principles all your life if you have never made use of them? Such inefficiency in living is tragic. For a man to have lived in poverty when all the time right on his doorstep is gold indicates an unintelligent approach to life. (!) "... what you are determines the world in which you live, so as you change, your world changes also." p. 83 William James said, "Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that insures the successful outcome of the venture." p. 107 Peale tells the story about a baseball team that was in a slump. Then a famous preacher came to town and the coach took the bats away, came back and told the players the preacher blessed the bats. Of course the next day, the team won easily. And then won the league. For many years, it was said, other players would pay a large sum for one of these bats. p. 108 --- A quaint little example of the power of suggestion and perception! (And of people's gullibility!) Another coach advises his high jumper, to "throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow." p. 111 Peale recommends we think about what we want to do if we could do anything. And to think about what we are good at. p. 117 --- This is pretty much the way I decided what I would do in FL. Combining what we want to do with what we think we are good at. Then we are able to "throw ourselves into something because not only do we want to do it, but we think we will be successful at it. He says that faith and belief supply staying power. He says that if you talk to your subconscious, you can convince it to change its mind about things. But that it is naturally very reluctant to do this. So you must be firm and persistent. p. 132 He says to remember that "mighty oaks from little acorns grow". I like that. He says that as a clean engine delivers power, so too a clean mind.(--- Free from negative thoughts, guilt, hate, bitterness, fear, etc) p. 133 He says that Thoreau believed the secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind. p. 137 Jefferson said, "Always take hold of things by the smooth handle." Peale said (in 1952!) that physicians found worry to be a factor in arthritis.He goes on to talk more about the link between mental and physical health. He mentions how a child responds to the game of kissing away a hurt or throwing away a fear. Partly because of childrens "superior imaginative skill". p. 145 So he says to "visualize your fears being drained out of your mind and in due course the visualization will be realized." p. 145 --- a modern tape I just listened to says exactly the same thing! "Worry is a destructive process..." p. 151 He, as well as other authors, suggests we surround ourselves with positive people and friends. And that we "never participate in a worry conversation" p. 155 He says "do not let hate creep in because not only does it corrode the soul, but disorganizes thought processes as well." p. 157 Peale's problem solving tips: p. 169 1. Believe that for every problem there is a solution. 2. Keep calm. Tension blocks the flow of thought power. Your brain cannot operate efficiently under stress. Go at your problem easy-like. 3. Don't try to force an answer. Keep you mind relaxed so that the solution will open up and become clear. 4. Assemble all the facts, impartially, impersonally, and judicially. 5. List these facts on paper. This clarifies your thinking, bringing the various into orderly system. You see as well as think. The problem becomes objective, not subjective. 6. Trust in the faculty of insight and intuition --- believe in your own ability to come up with a satisfactory solution. Don't get paralyzed by focussing on the idea that you must have the "perfect" or the "best" solution. Probably several solutions would somehow work out. Suggestions on Anger: "Since irritation, anger, hate, and resentment have such a powerful effect in producing ill-health, what is the antidote? Obviously it is to fill the mind with attitudes of good will, forgiveness, faith, love, and the spirit of imperturbability. Here are some practical suggestions: 1. Remember that anger is an emotion which is always warm, even hot. Therefore to reduce an emotion, cool it. When a person gets angry, the fists tend to clench, the voice rises in stridency, muscles tense, the body becomes rigid.(--- & the mind) Psychologically you are poised for a fight, adrenalin shoots through the body. This is the old caveman hangover in the nervous system. So deliberately oppose the heat of this emotion with coolness-- freeze it out. Deliberately, by an act of will, keep your hands from clenching. Hold your fingers out straight. Deliberately reduce your tone; bring it down to a whisper. Remember that it is hard to argue in a whisper. Slump in a chair, or even lie down if possible. It is very difficult to get mad lying down. 2. Say aloud to yourself, "Don't be a fool. This won't get me anywhere, so skip it." --- I say to myself, "Everything is okay. It is not that big a deal. Everything is all right. It is ok." 3. --- Basically here he says to employ your mind with other thoughts. For example, try to name all 50 states in the USA.. Visualize a state that you have positive associations with. When you get to that state, relax. Or picture yourself doing something you enjoy in each state. 4/5 Anger is a great term expressing the accumulated vehemence of a multitude of minor irritations. These irritations, each rather small in itself, having gathered force by reason of the one being added to the other, finally blaze forth in a fury that often leaves us abashed at ourselves. --- Then he says to make a list of all the minor irritations. And find a reason for them not to irritate you anymore. Then cross them off. Do not leave any irritations uncrossed off. "The purpose of doing this is to dry up the tiny rivulets that feed the great river of anger... In this way you will weaken your anger to the point where you can control it." 6. Train yourself so that every time you feel the surge of anger you say, "Is this really worth what it is doing to me emotionally? I will make a fool of myself. I will lose friends (--- & respect from others & for ourselves)." Practice saying, "It is never worth it to get worked up or mad about anything." It isn't worth it to spend $1,000 worth of emotion on a five- cent irritation." 7. When a hurt-feeling situation arises, get it straightened out as quickly as possible. Don't brood over it for a minute longer than you can help. Do something about it. Do not allow yourself to sulk or indulge in self-pity. Don't mope around with resentful thoughts. The minute your feelings are hurt, do just when you hurt your finger. Immediately apply the cure Unless you do so the situation can become distorted out of all proportion. So put some spiritual iodine on the hurt at once, [by using a healing thought.] 8. Apply grievance drainage to your mind. --- He gives the example of pouring out your feelings to someone you trust, or to yourself on paper, until "not a vestige of it remains within you. Then forget it." 9. --- For those who believe in power of prayer he offers this technique: Pray for the person who you feel caused the hurt. Over and over and over until "... you feel the malice fading away." --- I would say find something loving to say to yourself about the person Peale tells us that Emerson also said: "A man is what he thinks about all day long." p. 204 "To change your circumstances, first start thinking differently." p. 204 --- Later he offers more facts on how worry, hate, guilt cause ulcers and other physical illness (p. 219) and other authors and doctors corroborate the psychosomatic link. So our bodies actually like us better when we are happy as well as other people liking us more. "... The laws are so precise and have been so often demonstrated when proper conditions of understanding, belief and practice are applied that religion may be said to form an exact science." "Self-knowledge is the beginning to self-correction."