This short essay is about the power of thought and how what we deeply believe about ourselves and the world will have a profound effect on the outcomes and circumstances that we encounter throughout our lives.
Written by James Allen (November 28,1864 – 1912), a British national who was a philosophical writer best known for his inspirational books on self-help and poetry. "As a Man Thinketh" is his best known work and has provided a key source of ideas to numerous bestselling motivational and self-help authors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; such as Napoleon Hill, Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, and others.
Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
Quotes From As a Man Thinketh:
Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.
A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them your world will at last be built.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.
Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.
Right thinking begins with the words we say to ourselves.
Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.
You cannot travel within and stand still without.
As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
"As a Man Thinketh" is a literary essay of James Allen, published in 1902. The title is influenced by a verse in the Bible from the Book of Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The full passage, taken from the King James Version, is as follows:
"Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."
The passage seems to suggest that one should consider the true motivations of a person who is being uncharacteristically generous before accepting his generosity - while in the title and content of James Allen's work the passage is in a different context; In the Bible the passage is referring to another person, and in James Allen's work the passage is adopted to primarily refer to the reader himself.
James Allen is a literary mystery man. His inspirational writings have influenced millions for good. Yet today he remains almost unknown. Unfortunately, Allen's literary career was short, lasting only nine years, until his death in 1912. During that period he wrote nineteen books, a rich outpouring of ideas that have lived on to inspire later generations. James Allen starts us thinking - even when we would rather be doing something else. He tells us how thought leads to action. He shows us how to turn our dreams into realities.
"Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."
--James Allen
source:
http://www.sunbooks.com/james.html
Allen says - everything that is happening in our life (circumstances, achievements, actions) is because of the thoughts we are thinking all day. Everything - job, relationships, happiness, pain, winning, losing - all is because of our thoughts.
But we are not aware of our thoughts. We are not always aware of what we think all day. Do not assume that you know your thoughts, he says. Observe them. And then if you change them gradually - you will automatically create any circumstance you want by changing them.
James Allen's ideas are encouragement for people like me who believe strongly in the Jon Kabat-Zinn practice of Mindful Meditation to put one's self in touch with our thoughts and feelings and to be more present in our lives. Integrated thoughts and actions will help us produce the outcomes we want with our efforts to create happiness and avoid pain.
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.
Quotes From As a Man Thinketh:
Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.
A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them your world will at last be built.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves, and also that which it fears. It reaches the height of its cherished aspirations. It falls to the level of its unchastened desires - and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own.
Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.
Every action and feeling is preceded by a thought.
Right thinking begins with the words we say to ourselves.
Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.
You cannot travel within and stand still without.
As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.
Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err.
"As a Man Thinketh" is a literary essay of James Allen, published in 1902. The title is influenced by a verse in the Bible from the Book of Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The full passage, taken from the King James Version, is as follows:
"Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words."
The passage seems to suggest that one should consider the true motivations of a person who is being uncharacteristically generous before accepting his generosity - while in the title and content of James Allen's work the passage is in a different context; In the Bible the passage is referring to another person, and in James Allen's work the passage is adopted to primarily refer to the reader himself.
James Allen is a literary mystery man. His inspirational writings have influenced millions for good. Yet today he remains almost unknown. Unfortunately, Allen's literary career was short, lasting only nine years, until his death in 1912. During that period he wrote nineteen books, a rich outpouring of ideas that have lived on to inspire later generations. James Allen starts us thinking - even when we would rather be doing something else. He tells us how thought leads to action. He shows us how to turn our dreams into realities.
"Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."
--James Allen
source:
http://www.sunbooks.com/james.html
Allen says - everything that is happening in our life (circumstances, achievements, actions) is because of the thoughts we are thinking all day. Everything - job, relationships, happiness, pain, winning, losing - all is because of our thoughts.
But we are not aware of our thoughts. We are not always aware of what we think all day. Do not assume that you know your thoughts, he says. Observe them. And then if you change them gradually - you will automatically create any circumstance you want by changing them.
James Allen's ideas are encouragement for people like me who believe strongly in the Jon Kabat-Zinn practice of Mindful Meditation to put one's self in touch with our thoughts and feelings and to be more present in our lives. Integrated thoughts and actions will help us produce the outcomes we want with our efforts to create happiness and avoid pain.
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