THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING-NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING-NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

This book abstract is intended to provide just a glimpse of this wonderful book with the hope that you may like to read the original book at leisure and enjoy its real beauty.

CHAPTER 1

1. I can do all things through God who strengthens me.
2. To make mind powerful, even in the daily work, drive confident thoughts into consciousness.
3. If you have faith, nothing is impossible.
4. If God is with us who can be against us.
5. Attitudes are more important than facts.
6. God is with me, helping & guiding me.
7. Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. Basil King
8. They conquer who believe they can. Emerson.
9. Do the things you fear and the death of fear is certain. Emerson.
10. General, never take counsel of your fears. Gen Jackson.

RULES FOR SELF CONFIDENCE IMPROVEMENT

1. Always picture success/joy, no matter how badly things are going at the moment.
2. The moment a –ve thought is detected, cancel it with a +ve one.
3. Do not copy others, you are precious, unique individual.
4. Repeat ten times a day, “ If God be with us, who can be against us”.
5. Repeat ten times, “ I can do all things through God who strengthens me”.
6. Raise your ability estimate by 10 %. Repeat after achieving the same.
7. “God is with me, and nothing can defeat me. Right now I am receiving power from God”.

CHAPTER 2

1. Communicate. Tell God/Guru all your problems, worries. Even discussing with family members helps.
2. Empty your mind from –ve thoughts, and fill it with those of faith/hope.
3. Repeating soothing words like, Tranquility, Serenity with visualization helps bringing peace.
4. Some scenes (ocean, sky, mountain), pictures, music also have a calming effect.
5. Always talk peace to be peaceful. Same with joy/happiness.
6. Throughout the day, affirm peaceful, contented, happy thoughts.
7. Make frequent memory excursions to beautiful, soothing experiences.

CHAPTER 3

1. It is not the hard work, but emotional upheaval; that drains energy.
2. When mind, body and soul of a person are in harmony(Natural state), it provides continuous energy.

3. Be in harmony with nature, & God.
4. Even during the busiest part of the day, deliberately slow down the pace of work for a few minutes, periodically, by relaxing. Do something different-meditation, music, pictures.
5. The surest way to avoid tiredness is to lose yourself in something in which you have profound conviction. Get absolutely enthralled in something, and throw yourself with abandon.
6. The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.
7. Take periodic vacations to scenic, quiet place w/o work.

CHAPTER 4: Prayer Techniques

1. You can’t be physically healthy until you become spiritually healthy.
2. Affirmative prayers always get results.
3. Group prayers yield better results.
4. Fill the wall with optimistic prayers, thoughts.
5. Prayerize continuously, Picturize/Visualize desired result, Actualize(work hard).
6. Creative Idea Session : First all members pray, affirming that God is releasing proper ideas forthe success of a venture. Then all start talking, writing down on paper. No one criticizes at thisjuncture. The ideas are evaluated a later session.
7. Fall asleep while praying. Dropping prayers in your subconscious at the time of most relaxedstate has very powerful effect.
8. Shoot flash prayers of love and goodwill all the time while walking, to anyone you see.
9. Set aside few minutes every day. Do not say anything. Simply think about God. Mind becomesspiritually receptive.
10. Pray in simple, natural words. Communicate everything with God(good/bad).
11. Pray as you go about the business of the day. Close eyes and pray for a minute.
12. Do not always ask. Affirm God’s blessings are being given. Thank most of the time. Remember,‘Gratitude’ is the best prayer.
13. Believe that your prayers can reach out and surround your loved ones with God’s love &protection.
14. Always accept God’s will while asking.
15. Ask the ability to do the best & leave the result confidently in God’s hands.
16. Pray for people you don’t like, or those who have mistreated you. Resentment is blockage no. 1in spiritual process.
17. Pray for even people not connected with you. The last two are very important. They come backto you multiplied many times.

Chapter 5: +ve Affirmations

1. People were just about as happy as they made up their minds to be. A. Lincon
2. Say to yourself, “Things are going nicely. Life is good. I choose happiness”.
3. When you arise, say out LOUD three times, “This is the day Lord has made, I will rejoice and beglad in it”. Utter in a strong, clear voice and with +ve tone and emphasis.

4. While shaving/dressing/taking breakfast, say aloud, “ I believe this is going to be a wonderful day. I believe that I can handle all problems that may arise today. I feel good physically, mentally and emotionally.
5. What you are determines the world you live in. So as you change the world also changes.

Chapter 6: Cultivating Peace

1. Reduce the tempo of your pace.
2. Life can get muddled. But ‘Muddled water, let stand, will become clear’. Lao-tse
3. Mimic the way the bird begins its day slowly. Try to sing anything that will make you feel good.
4. Speak to your muscles, joints, nerves, every day saying, The peace of God is touching you. Feelpeace throughout your body.
5. Slow down. Assert, ‘I am at peace’.
6. Practice thinking peaceful thoughts. Memory of a lofty mountain, a misty valley, silver moonlight on water.
7. At least once in every 24 hrs, preferably busiest part of the day, deliberately stop whatever youare doing for a few minutes and practice serenity.
8. To make mind quiet, 1st make body and breath quiet. Meditate, pray.
9. When disturbed, try to lie down.
10. When arguments get heated, try to lower down your voice almost to a whisper.
11. Repeat slowly, quietly, bringing out melody in each, Tranquility, Serenity, quietness.

Chapter 7: Expect The Best & Get It

I merely learned the magic of believing
You will get only the things which are harmonious with God’s will.

People are defeated not because of the lack of ability, but because of lack of wholehearted ness.

Life can’t deny itself to a person who gives life his all.

Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.

The beauty of inner spiritual life is written on our faces.

Lot’s of people get nowhere simply because they do not know where they want to go. You can’t expect the best if you think aimlessly.

A man who is self-reliant, positive, optimistic, and undertakes his work with the assurance of success, magnetizes his condition. He draws to himself the creative powers of the universe.

If God be with us, who can be against us? Faith power works wonders.

11 Do not address your efforts to the entire mountain range of all your difficulties, but attack one thing that may be defeating you at the moment. Be specific. Take them one by one.

Chapter 8: I don’t Believe in Defeat

1. ” I have spent my entire life removing obstacles, and I never yet saw one that could not be removed, provided you had enough faith and guts, and were willing to work.
2. I can do all the things through God who strengthens me.
3. The first thing to do about an obstacle is simply to stand up to it and not complain about it or whine under it but forthrightly attack it. Don’t go crawling through life on your hands and knees half defeated. Stand up to the obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.
4. General Tudor: Just stand up to it, that’s all, and don’t give way under it, and it will finally break. Something has to break, and it won’t be you, it will be the obstacle.
5. What won him the championship was his staying power and the fact that he was never defeated by the discouraging vicissitudes of the game.
6. Practically speaking, there are only a few human stories and they have all been enacted previously. There are people who overcame every conceivable difficult situation, even the one you are in. The found a way out, way up, a path over, a pass through.
7. ” How do I get through a trouble? Well, first I try to go around it, if I can’t, I try to get under it, if I can’t, I try to go over it, if I can’t, I just plow right through it.
8. Eliminate certain expressions of thought and speech which we may call the “little negatives”.
9. A clean mind like a clean engine will always deliver more power.
10. The rough is only mental.
11. Thomas Jefferson: Always take hold of things by the smooth handle. Adopt a method with least resistance. Negative attitude is resistance.
12. Study for the wonder and glory of learning knowledge. Do not compete with others, compete with yourself.
13. In an exam or interview, pray and imagine that God is making you peaceful and providing answers.
14. Prayer: I believe I am always divinely guided. I believe I will always take the right turn of the road. I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.

15. With God all things are possible.

Chapter 9: How to Break The Worry Habit

•   Worry is simply an unhealthy and destructive mental habit. You were not born with this habit, you acquired it. You can change any habit or acquired attitude. Aggressive and direct action is required to eliminate it.
•   Anxiety is the great modern plague. A famous psychologist asserts that “fear is the most disintegrating enemy of human personality”., and a prominent physician declares that ” worry is the most subtle and destructive of all human diseases”. The destructive quality of worry is indicated by the fact that the word is derived from and Anglo-Saxon meaning “to choke”.
•   Arthritis is caused by financial disaster, frustration, tension, apprehension, loneliness, grief, long held ill-will, and habitual worry.
•   Measures to break the worry habit :Practice emptying the mind daily. Preferably before retiring at night to avoid the retention of consciousness of worries while you sleep. During sleep, thoughts tend to sink more deeply into the subconscious. The last five minutes before going to sleep are of extraordinary importance, for in that brief period the mind is most receptive to suggestion. I tends to absorb the last ideas that are entertained in waking consciousness.Must be done daily to prevent accumulation. Utilize creative imagination in the draining process. Picture all worry thoughts as flowing out as you would let water drain out from a basin after removing the stopper. Repeat the following affirmation. ” With God’s help I am now emptying my mind of all anxiety, all fear, all sense of insecurity”. Repeat this slowly five times, then add, “I believe that my mind is now emptied of all anxiety, all fear, all sense of insecurity.” Repeat that statement five times, holding the mental picture of your mind as being emptied of these concepts. Then thank God for thus freeing you from fear. Then go to sleep.In starting the curative process the foregoing method should be utilized in midmorning and mid afternoon as well as bedtime. Go to some quiet place for five minutes for five minutes for this purpose. Imagine you are reaching into your mind and removing fears one by one. Imagination is a source of fear, but it can also be the cure for fear.After emptying the mind, practice refilling it with thoughts of faith, hope, courage, peace. Say aloud affirmations as the following: ” God is now filling my mind with courage, peace, calm assurance. God is now protecting me and my loved ones from all harm. God is now guiding me to right decisions. God will see me through this situation.”A half dozen times each day crowd your mind with such thoughts. Fear is the most powerful of all thoughts with one exception “faith”. It can’t stand against faith.Bible says that the things you fear consistently are drawn to you. But it also says that “according to your faith be it done unto you.”

In the morning, before arising from bed repeat ” I believe”, three times. Thus at the day’s beginning condition your mind with faith, and it will never leave you. Start with creative +ve thoughts in mind.

Every morning spend 15 minutes filling mind with thoughts of God’s power. Then there is no room for worry.

A businessman’s strategy: At the end of the day he used to tear off the calendar page for the day, crumple it in ball, and drop it in the waste paper basket, and then pray as follows.

“Lord, you gave me this day. I didn’t ask for it, but I was glad to have it. I did my best and you helped me, and I thank you. I made some mistakes when I did not follow your advice. I am sorry for that. Forgive me. But I had some successes too, and I am grateful for your guidance. But now, Lord, mistakes or successes, the day is over and I am through with it, so I am giving it back to you. Amen.”

 Ten Point Worry Breaking Formula:
1. Say to yourself, “Worry is just a very bad mental habit. And I can change any habit with God’s

help.

2. You become worrier by practicing worry. You can become free by practicing the opposite and stronger habit of faith.

3. First thing in the morning before you arise out of bed say three times ” I believe”.

4. Pray using this formula, ” I place this day, my life, my loved ones, my work in Lord’s hands. There is no harm in the Lord’s hands, only Good. Whatever happens, whatever results, if I am in the Lord’s hands it is the Lord’s will and it is good.”

5. Practice saying something positive concerning everything about which you have been talking negatively. e.g. ” This is going to be a glorious day.” ” With God’s help I will do that.”

6. Never participate in a worry conversation. Shoot an injection of faith into all your conversations.

7. We are worrier since our mind is saturated with -ve thoughts. To counter this, mark faith passages from anywhere. Commit them to memory. Place these at places where you will see them often.

8. Cultivate friendships with hopeful/+ve people. This healthy, happy group keeps you stimulated with faith.

9. Help some people overcome their worry habits. This way, you get greater power over it within yourself.

10. Every day conceive of yourself as living in partnership with God/Guru. If He actually walked by your side, would you be worried or afraid? Say, ” He is with me.” Affirm aloud, ” I am with you always.” Then say, “He is with me now.” Repeat 3 times a day.

Chapter 10: Power to Solve Personal Problems

•   After any setback we feel disappointed and hurt. But, try not to allow hate to creep in, for animosity not only corrodes the soul, but disorganizes thought process as well. At such moments we need Divine guidance. We are unable to think objectively and rationally.
•   For a few minutes sit quietly in prayer. Imagine that God is present to quiet us and show us what to do. Pray for blessings for those who seem to trouble you directly or indirectly. Request for a peace of mind.
•   Another effective technique is to take God/Guru as partners in all your ventures, simple or difficult. make it a rigorous, daily practice. Think that He is present, and talk matters with him, and believe that He guides you. Have a conversation as follows.” Lord, I am in a terrible mess. I can’t get any ideas except panicky ones. I am baffled, bewildered, and very discouraged. Please help me, although I don’t even know how You will help me. I put my job, my family, and my future in Your hands. I don’t even know how You are going to tell me what to do, but I am ready to hear and will follow Your advice if You will make it clear.When you start doing this, things may worsen at times, but you shall remain peaceful, and get ideas to tackle the situation. Your creativity will improve considerably.
•   Suggestions for solving personal problems.
  1. Believe that for every problem there is a solution.
  2. Keep calm through meditation and prayers.
  3. Don’t try to force an answer. Be relaxed. The solution will pop up at the right moment. 4. Assemble all the facts impartially, impersonally and judiciously.
  5. List these facts on paper for clarity and objectivity.
  6. Pray about the problem, affirming that God will flash illumination in your mind.Chapter 11: How To Use Faith In Healing1. Pray for the doctor2. Do not become panicky, for if you do, you will send out -ve, destructive thoughts in the direction of your loved one(or self) when he(you) requires +ve and healing thoughts to assist him.3. Completely surrender your loved one(yourself) into the hands of God.

4. It is important that harmony prevail in the family. 5. Visualize your loved one(yourself) in perfect health. Chapter 12: When Vitality Sags Try This Formula

1. Remember that anger is an hot emotion. Adrenaline shoots in the body, and muscles tense, tone rises. Deliberately oppose this by consciously keeping calm and relaxed, reducing tone to a whisper. Slump in a chair or lie down in a bed.

2. Remind yourself that getting angry is foolishness. 3. ” Count to ten” when angry.

4. Anger is created by multitude of minor irritations. Therefore, make a list of everything that irritates you. No matter how inconsequential it may be, list them. The purpose is to dry up the tiny rivulets that feed the great river of anger.

5. Make each irritation a special object of prayer. Get victory over each, one at a time.

6. When a hurt feeling situation arises, straighten it out as quickly as possible. Put spiritual iodine on the hurt at once by saying a prayer of love and forgiveness.

7. Apply grievance drainage to your mind. Go to someone you trust and pour it out. 8. Pray for the person who hurt you. Sometimes it may take quite a while.
Chapter 13: Inflow of New Thoughts Can Remake You

1. For next 24 hrs, deliberately speak hopefully about everything(job, health, future). Go out of your way to talk optimistically about everything. After doing it successfully for a day, do it for a week. Then you can be ” realistic” for a day or two.

2. Commit some faith passages to memory.
3. Make a list of your friends to find the most +ve thinker and deliberately cultivate his society.
4. Avoid argument, but whenever a -ve attitude is expressed, counter with a +ve and optimistic opinion. 5. Offer gratitude prayers
Chapter 14 :Relax for Easy Power

•   Every morning after breakfast, we go into the living room for a period of quietness. One of us reads aloud some inspirational piece to get us into the mood of meditation. Then we sit quitely, each praying or meditating according to individual moods, then we affirm that God is filling us with strength and energy. This is 15 minute ritual and we never miss it.
•   Practice the art of just sitting in the sun.

•   Relaxation Formula: First, collapse physically. Practice this several times during a day. Let go of every muscle in the body. The second element is to drain the mind several times every day, all resentments, disappointment, frustration, annoyance. This prevents accumulation of unhappy thoughts to a dangerous level. Third, at least 3 times a day, turn your mind to God.
•   Prayer: When you feel pressure building up during the busiest period, suddenly stop, lean against the desk, and talk to the God. ” Look, Lord, I am pushing myself too hard. I am getting jittery. Touch me with your healing peace. Give me composure, quietness, strength, and conserve my nervous energy so that I can help those people who come to me.
•   In a traffic jam use potentially irritating delays to relax. Shut off engine, slump in the seat, pull the head back, close eyes, and go to sleep. Others will wake you up. This can be just a couple of minutes at most, but they have energy renewal value.
•   Dale Carnegie used to leave office when stressed, to a nearest church, and spend 15 minutes in prayerful meditation.
•   When meeting hostile group, breathe deeply, talk quietly, speak sincerely, be friendly and respectful, , hold temper, trust God to see you through.
•   Relaxation results from recreation, and the process of recreation should be continuous.
•   Ten Rules:1. You are carrying the world on your shoulders. Don’t strain so hard.2. Determine to like your work. Then it will be a pleasure, not a drudgery. You don’t have to change your job. Change yourself and the work will seem different.3. Plan your work-work your plan. Lack of system produces ” I am swamped feeling”. 4. Don’t try to do everything at once.5. Get correct mental attitude. If you think it is hard, you make it hard. Think it is easy, it becomes easy.6. Become efficient in your work. 7. Practice being relaxed.8. Discipline yourself not to put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Accumulation builds up pressure. Keep work up to schedule.9. Pray about your work.10. Take God as partner in your work. He will take off load from you.Chapter 15 : How t Get People Like You

 One of the deepest drives of human nature is the desire to to be appreciated. The longing to liked, to be held in esteem, to be a sought after person, is fundamental in us.

•   First, become a comfortable person. Such a person is easy-going and natural. He has a pleasant, kindly, genial way.
•   Essentially, getting people to like you is merely the other side of liking them. Don’t find faults with others.
•   Another important factor is building up of ego of other persons Elevate their self respect. They will be grateful to you.” Norman, I have always liked you. I believe in you. You have great possibilities. I shall always be proud of you. You have got it in you. Rules:
  1. Learn to remember names. It is very important for others. 2. Be a comfortable person.
  3. be relaxed and easy-going
  4. Don’t be egotistical.
  5. Be an interesting person.
  6. Sincerely attempt to heal.
  7. Practice liking people.8. Always compliment, congratulate others for any achievement, and sorrow/sympathy for any loss.