The secret has popularized the concept of positive thinking all over the world, including India. where did it originate from and what are the guiding principles that will enable us to determine our own destiny?
{Lead Article published in the June09 issue of Life Positive Magazine (www.lifepositive.com)}
by Dilpreet Singh
From the start of this century, there have been two topics that have attracted quite a lot of attention, by way of media as well as by plethora of books, which are being published on them, day in day out. These two hot topics are, first Terrorism & the second, on which I propose to give some information is ‘Positive thinking & living’.
The irony of the situation is that both of them are 180 degrees opposite to each other. Though there is an inherent correlation between the both, which I would bring about at the end of this work, but my main focus is on ‘Positive thinking’ which leads to ‘Positive living’.
From the year 2003, onwards there has been drastic shift in
The basic concept of positive thinking is based on the fundamental concept of thought. It is said, that ‘thoughts are made of energy (matter)’. This has also been scientifically proved with the help of sensitive instruments such as EEG and MRI.
If we look at the history of positive thinking and how it has affected the psyche of various societies, we would have to divulge deep into a number of books, related with the history & lives of some well known psychologists, doctors, philosophers, writer & innovative thinkers of the last two centuries.
Positive thinking got its start in
It can easily be said that the initial footing or base that popularized the concept of, positive thinking & the power of Thought, was Napoleon Hill. It is said in days of depression, each businessman, especially the leaders of corporations, carried with him Hill book & also distributed them to his employees to lift their morale.
Though Napoleon Hill, was on of the major persons, responsible for popularizing the above-mentioned concept, yet there have been quite a few number of authors before him, who had undertaken a lot of research on the this concept & had successfully published their works & laid the foundation of this concept. Though most of these authors’ works have been ignored previously but with the sudden interest in positive thinking, living & success, a good number of them have re-emerged from the forgotten realms.
I would initially, give a brief description of the famous authors who have contributed towards this concept & secondly I would summarize the basic concept of ‘Positive thinking & it correlation with Success’.
Famous Authors in the domain of Positive thinking, Though Power & Success
Among the early authors of the 19th century was a person by the name of ‘James Allen’, whose most famous contribution to the world of Thought & Success was his book, ‘As a man Thinketh’, which was published in the early 1900’s. The essence of the book was that, a ‘man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them.’
As a man thinketh, is written in the old style English, may take some time to get absorbed to it message, but a little bit of patience will definitely pay off.
One of the best, all time favorite, for any person who wants to become familiar with literature on being successful, should definitely add to his or her book collection, the title ‘The Science of Getting Rich’, by Wallace Delois Wattles. This is one of those classics that will always remain in the forefront of the ‘Motivational & Success Literature’. This book too was written in early 1900’s. Though there are few other books which have been authored by Wallace Wattles, but this one, is the most popular.
Wallace Wattles the author, has himself written in it that this book of his "Intended for the men and women whose most pressing need is for money; who wish to get rich first, and philosophize afterward. It is pragmatical, not philosophical; a practical manual, not a lot of theory. It is for those who have, so far, found neither the time or the means, nor the opportunity to go deeply into the study of metaphysics, but who want prosperous results and who are willing to take the conclusions of science as a basis for action."
Wallace has mentioned in his book, "the science herein applied is an exact science, and failure is impossible." & I thoroughly agree with it. If there is one book you want to read or start with, I highly recommend this one. In fact, if you Google on the net, there are a few sites that are offering it free of cost, in the form of an e-book, as long you register with them or subscribe to their newsletter.
Another pillar who popularized the concept Positive thinking by introduced the concept of Auto-suggestion, which is one of the ingredients for applying Positive thinking in life, was, the French pharmacist Emile Coue (1857-1926). Coue is known as the forefather of all inspirational writers and self-help authors and the inventor of autosuggestion. Coue studied hypnotism and taught his patients to repeat aloud "Every day in every way I am getting better and better" at least twenty times while falling asleep. Coue had his patients’ repeat the affirmation "Every day in every way I am getting better and better" twenty times, using a string with twenty knots to tick off the repetitions. He called the mind a "sublime instrument" to decide a person's destiny. It is said with just these words, he was able to cure those patients, who had lost all hope from medical science.
In the 1950s, several authors provided a Christian version of positive thinking. Foremost in this field was the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), founder of Guideposts magazine. Peale called his best selling 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking. Although positive thinking is usually secular in nature, Peale created a Christian version of the new thought philosophy.
Norman Vincent Peale’s most famous book the ‘The Power of Positive thinking’, is another foundation to this concept. Though the book has a religious bent, bent overall it is an excellent book, highlighting the basic concept & methodology of changing your life for the better. In addition to this, there are a series of other book, which too are correlated with the same concept. Some of the books have taken each step or block that leads to positive thinking & has further elaborated on the same. For example one of main principles for Positive thinking is visualizing or imaging & a there is a good book written by him named ‘Imaging’.
A good amount of Positive literature, which came to forefront between the later 1800’s & early 1950’s, had its roots from the Indian religion. In-fact, even the modern ‘Positive Thinking’ gurus’ of today, have freely borrowed from our religious books & some of them have even accepted it, in their acknowledgements.
The Hindu religion teaches that all things manifest in the mind before outward expression. Hinduism & other Indian religions have always given importance to the power of thoughts in defining your life & destiny. On of the most important & sacred book for Hindus, which has gained international acclaim is Lord Krishna’s Bhagavad-Gita. In Gita, lord
Paramahansa Yogananda came almost three decades later during the height of the New Thought and Positive Thinking Movements. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in
The Veda’s too, have also acknowledged the power of mind & thought. Thought has the potency of creating or undoing the world in the twinkling of an eye. Mind creates the world according to its own ‘Sankalpa’ or thought. It is the mind that creates this universe, as written in the Vedas, ‘Manomatram Jagat; Manahkalpitam Jagat’ & also similarily said ‘ Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavathi’, i.e. You become what you think.
The Ashtavakra-Gita, by the famous sage, Ashtavakra, has also stated, ‘Yaa matih saa gatirbhavet’, i.e. one becomes what he thinks.
Buddism, is one of religions, in which Buddha, has stated in very clear terms, the importance of positive thinking. The Buddha declared, “All that we are is made up of our thoughts.” He also said, ‘What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow’. Our life is the creation of our mind.’
The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care
Swami Vivekananda has given us hope, when he said: 'Whatever you think, that you will be, if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be.
Transition from New Thought to Positive Thinking
The momentum to bring positive thinking out of the religious world and into the secular started right around 1900. The man who is known as the bridge from new thought and positive thinking is Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924), founder of Success magazine. Success, first published in 1891, offered a lightly religious version of new thought for an audience of mainstream businessmen. The magazine had a unique stable of writers, including Napoleon Hill and others who had best selling books. Success is still in publication and the editors published a book about Orison Swett Marden in 1999.
The first positive thinking audio recording came along in 1956, when Columbia Records released ‘The Strangest Secret. Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)’, which is in demand till date. The strangest secret is: "We become what we think about." Through word-of-mouth the recording sold a million copies and won a Gold Record for first recording of its kind.
Nightingale, most recognized voices in
In the second half of 20th century a lady by the name of ‘Jane Roberts’, is believed to be the person, who brought the concept of ‘Thought power’, again in the open. Though she is relatively less known in this side of the world but her books are more famous in the west, especially the ‘Seth Material’, ‘Thus Spoke Seth’. It has been written that Jane Roberts was a natural psychic & an excellent medium. She was able to translate & speak the thoughts of a spiritual entity called Seth, who gave loads of information through her especially on the concept of ‘Power of Thought’. The essence of the message was, we create our own reality, our point of power is the present.
Similarly one more noted personality was ‘Prentice Mulford’ & his famous book ‘Thoughts are Things’. Although Prentice Mulford was one of the earliest pioneers of the New Thought teaching, he is still comparatively little known or read, chiefly on account of the high price of the six volumes known as "The White Cross Library," in which form are published his essays in America.
Stephen R. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1990) is a good example of a modern positive thinking book. Covey was a business counselor and teacher who conducted effectiveness seminars for large corporations. Along with him, we also have ‘Bob Procter’, ‘Oprah, from the Oprah Winfrey show’, Brain Tracy famous for ‘Maximum Achievement, Eat That frog, Goal etc’, Abraham Hicks publications, famous for a plethora of seminars & books, most popular ‘Ask & it is given’ etc.
And lastly the most famous book, that has been responsible, re-igniting the interest in Positive thinking, living & success has been, ‘The Secret’, written by Rhonda Byrne.
How to use positive thinking to change your life:-
Before I start explaining about the process or method, which is to be followed, for using positive thinking, there are some important concepts which need to be understood as well as accepted by us, at each level of our being, i.e. body, mind & soul.
The first thing you have to understand, in very simple words, is that everything in this universe is made up of energy or vibrations. Every material is basically energy that has been transformed. Similarly our thoughts & words are also subtle energies or vibrations.
Whatever has been scientifically proved by science (Quantum Physics). Simply put, anything and everything in the physical universe is the result of varying degrees of vibration.
The second concept which you have to understand is that, similar vibrations & energy are attracted to each other. This is a universal law that is applicable to all things, called the ‘Law of Attraction’.
The simplest definition of this law is "like attracts like." All forms of matter and energy are attracted to that which is of a like vibration. To explain in a layman’s language, you like to make friends with those persons, who have a similar thinking like you (or similar vibrations), ‘Birds of a father, flock together’. We are basically living magnets who are transmitting our ‘thoughts (thought vibrations)’ into the universe & also attracting ‘similar vibrations’ to us, constantly. It is because of vibrations, that for no logical reason, we are sometimes immediately attracted to some persons & also repelled to some people, though we are meeting them for the first time.
Whatever we think about, good or bad, irrespective is transmitted out into the universe in the form of thought energy or vibrations. The stronger our thought or the more often we think about a particular thought, the stronger become its vibrations. We are all radiating that which we are; we are all giving and receiving vibration signals on many different levels. What you are seeking to be or do in this life has a vibrational pattern to match.
Everything you have ever dreamt, whether spoken or unspoken has been transmitted by you on one level or another. Your consistent thoughts and feelings about any particular subject are being brought into your experience whether you intend them or not.
Thoughts, feelings & mental images are made of matter, just a very subtle kind of matter. This subtle kind of matter, is the soil of the universe, when you focus your thoughts, feeling and mental images (some also call this as mental hologram), you launch your creations into this soil of the universe.
If you know how law of attraction works, you know that you get what you vibrate. Your vibration is based on your thoughts, since thoughts drive feelings and feelings are what comprise your vibration. The universe returns what you have given freely a thousand times over. What you sow is what you reap. In order to receive you must give. If you wish someone to have more blessings and love, you will receive blessings and love a thousand times more. If you wish someone illness and misfortune, you will receive bad luck and misfortunes a thousand times more. I am sure you have noticed that when you are in a good mood, everything seems to fall into place. However, when you are angry or depressed a string of bad luck seems to follow you all the more.
When you think about anything very strongly with emotions, it becomes your dominant vibration, which is being sent to the universe. Based on the law of attraction, the universe then creates such circumstances, which will bring that particular thing or event in your live. There could be a delay in manifestation of that thing, but if you are consistent in your thought, it will come. It is said, that our work is throw our desires & goals to the universe, how it manifests in your life, is the work of the universe. The more clear & consistent you are in your desire, the quicker that particular thing will manifest in your live. It could be a materialistic thing, a relationship, a particular self-improvement, anything for that matter. In addition, for the universe there is no difference in manifesting Rs. 100.00 or Rs. 1 crore. The difference is in our thinking, the extent of our faith or, in our own self worth, for the universe, what it takes to manifest rupee coin is the same it takes to provide crore rupees.
This universal law is working in your life right now, whether you are aware of it or not. You are attracting the people, situations, jobs and much more into your life. Once you are aware of this law and how it works, you can start to use it to deliberately attract what you want into your life.
How do you create your desires using the powerful law? There are just a few basic steps.
1. Get very clear on what you want
2. Visualize and raise your vibration about it
3. Start feeling good about it, just you would feel as if it is already with you.
You must be very clear on exactly what your desire is. Focus on it. Give it all your positive energy. Feel good!
A major factor behind this Universal Law is the energy and vibrations of our emotions and feelings. Any thought you may have, when combined with emotion, vibrates out from you to the universe and will attract back what you want.
Now all you have to do is Allow It. Sounds easy, right? This can be the most difficult part to do. Be doubt-free. All you need to do is expect it. Act like you already have it. Be grateful.
For getting it right there are some things you need to be very careful, if you want use this law. Firstly is The ‘Right Speech’, don’t use negative language, for negative will attract negative in your life. Be very careful of not saying anything negative either for you (procrastination) or someone else, it will come back.
Secondly, use the power of affirmations & visualize the thing in such a manner, as if you already have it. Visualize or image it in detail with color & feelings, as much as you can. Never forget your focus, even if it takes time, you will finally get it.
By now you must have realized for increase in terrorism in the world, if we focus on insecurity, fear, terrorism, recession, we indirectly attract it in our life
Happy positive lives……
AUTHOR DETAILS
Dilpreet Singh
(A trainer, with a leading life Insurance Company, in
Can be contacted at:
or
(Permanent Postal Address)
50-K, Sarabha Nagar,
Ludhiana, India - 141001
Phone: 91-161-2455550
No comments:
Post a Comment