Pascal says that "the whole dignity of man is in thought," and that "his whole duty is to think correctly." This is a sweeping statement, and yet every word or act of ours is simply the expression of a thought. Unless we learn to think correctly, therefore life must be a failure. Instead of being the dignified, happy, and beautiful thing that the Creator meant it to be, it will be mean, unhappy, unlovely and unsuccessful.
The very first condition necessary to make life yield all its possibilities is health, — that abounding vitality and vigor of mind and body which make living joyous, — and health is dependent upon correct thought. Every function, every nerve cell, every organ in the body is powerfully influenced by the nature of our thoughts. There is no more firmly established scientific principle than that we experience the reaction of our thoughts, either in increased strength and vitality, or the opposite.
To have a perfectly healthy body, one must possess a cheerful, healthy, optimistic mind. Love, peace, joy, gladness, kindness, unselfishness, contentment, serenity, — these are the mental attributes which, by bringing all the bodily functions into harmony, produce a sound, healthy body. Anyone who chooses may externalize these attributes in himself by persistent, correct thinking.
"I have seen gleams in the face and eyes of the man," says Carlyle, "that have let you look into a higher country." It is in .that "higher country" that we must live continually if we would dominate our moods and attain that peace and serenity which insure health and happiness. It is not an easy matter to conquer wrong thinking. Captious moods, fretfulness, worry, anxiety, fear — all the little imps of the mind that perpetually seek to draw us from the higher to the lower country — can only be overcome by constant watchfulness and the greatest earnestness and persistence.
Wrong thinking is indicative of weakness; it is, indeed, a species of insanity, for a wrong thinker is continually tearing down and wrecking his own mental and physical structure. The right thinker is the only sane thinker, and he is the. happiest as well as the most successful man. He knows better than to keep constantly tripping himself up with the adverse thought which produces destructive conditions.
We all know the disastrous effects of wrong thinking. We know by experience how it cripples us mentally and physically. Physicians are well aware that anger poisons the blood, and that fear, anxiety, fretting, and all other inharmonious thoughts seriously interfere with the normal action of all the bodily functions. They are also alive to the fact that anxiety or apprehension of impending disaster, if of long duration, is liable to bring on paralysis. It is an established fact that a mother is not only seriously affected by her own thought, but that it affects her infant to such an extent that the same symptoms and conditions from which the mother suffers are reproduced in the body of the infant. Selfishness, jealousy, and envy long indulged in tend to produce serious liver troubles and certain forms of dyspepsia. La ck of self-control and habitual indulgence in violent passions shatter the nervous system, lessen the will power, and induce grave disorders. Worry is one of the greatest enemies of the human race; it carves its deep furrows wherever it goes; it carries gloom and unhappiness with it; it delays or prevents the processes of digestion and assimilation until the starved brain and nerve cells utter their protest in various kinds of disease, sometimes even in insanity.
Wrong thinking, whatever its nature, leaves indelible scars on mind and body alike. It affects character and material prospects equally. Every time you grumble or find fault; every time you lose your temper; every time you do a mean contemptible thing, you suffer a loss which cannot be repaired. You lose a certain amount of power, of self-respect, and of an uplifting and upbuilding character-force. You are conscious of your loss, too, which tends to weaken you still further.
A businessman will find that, every time he gets out of sorts, flies into a rage, or “goes all to pieces” when things go wrong, he is not only seriously injuring his health, but is also crippling his business. He is making himself repellent; he is driving away success conditions.
A man who wants to do his best must keep himself in good mental trim. If he would achieve the highest success, he must be a correct thinker. He cannot think discord and bring harmonious conditions into his business. His wrong thought will honeycomb and undermine his prospects in life.
Many a once prosperous man has gone down in financial ruin because he had not learned how to control his thoughts. He gave way to the "blues;" he began to worry and fret and find fault with everybody. The fault-finding habit became fixed and continued until he sank into a condition where nothing suited him and nobody could please him. His old employees left him; his customers dropped away; his business began to decline, and his creditors to question his financial soundness. There was a general slump in his affairs, and he finally "went to pieces."
We can conquer our moods; we can think correctly; we can be what we will to be; we can work miracles with ourselves by the power of affirmative or creative thought; we can make ourselves magnets to attract the conditions we desire, instead of repellent forces.
“Man is so made” says Pascal, “that by dint of telling him he is a fool, he believes it; and by dint of telling himself so, he makes himself believe it.” The converse is also true. Many people, by dwelling on their faults, only aggravate them. By constantly picturing them in the mind they help to fasten them more firmly. It is impossible for us to become what we wish to be while we hold the opposite thought. The only way to overcome evil conditions and to upbuild is to think constantly happy, helpful, loving, optimistic thoughts.
When a doctor is called to prescribe for anyone who has swallowed poison, he immediately administers an antidote. So, when we are suffering from wrong thinking, it is because we have been poisoned by vicious thoughts, and the only way in which we can get relief or cure ourselves is by taking an antidote in the shape of right thinking. If a lamp should explode and the oil catch fire, we would not think of trying to put out the flames by pouring on more oil. We would, instead, pour on some chemical extinguisher which would immediately put out the fire. When one is aflame with passion, or afire with hatred, jealousy, or revengeful feelings, the flames will not be put out by adding more anger, more hatred, or more jealousy. A love-thought is the natural antidote to all angry, vengeful, or uncharitable emotions.
If you are morose, moody, or despondent; if you have a habit of worrying or fretting about things, or any other fault which hinders your growth or progress, think persistently of the opposite virtue and practise it until it is yours by force of habit.
When you feel unhappy and out of sorts with all the world nothing is more certain than that nursing such feelings aggravates them. Hold just the opposite thought from that which depresses you and you will naturally reverse the mood. The imagination has great power to change an unpleasant thought or experience. When you are the victim of vicious moods just say to yourself, "This is all unreal; it has nothing to do with my higher and better self, for the Creator never intended me to be dominated by such dark pictures." Persistently recall the most delightful experiences, the happiest days of your life. Look on some beautiful object in art or in nature, or read a passage in some helpful, uplifting book. Hold persistently in the mind such things as you have enjoyed; drive out the failure-thoughts by thinking of the successful things you have accomplished. Call hope to your aid, and picture a bright, successful future. Surround yourself with happy thoughts for a few minutes and you will be surprised to see how all the ghosts of blackness and gloom, — all thoughts which have worried and haunted you — have gone out of sight. They cannot bear the light. Light, joy, gladness, and harmony are your best protectors; discord, darkness, and sickness cannot exist where they are.
One of the brightest and most cheerful women I ever knew told me that she was prone to fits of depression or "blues," but that she learned to conquer them by forcing herself to sing a bright, joyous song, or to play a lively air on the piano whenever she felt an “attack” coming on.
Everything which depresses or arouses violent passions is a waster of mental force. Every time a wrong thought is indulged there is a waste of mental energy, of achievement-power. All wrong thinking is negative, and the mind can only create when it is positive and affirmative. Until we can control our moods and marshal our thoughts at will, as a general marshals his army, we can never do our best work. We must master our thoughts, or be their slave. No man who is at the mercy of his moods is a free man. He only is free who can rise to his dominion in spite of his mental enemies. If a man must consult his moods every morning to see whether he can do his best work or not during the day; if he must look at his mental thermometer when he rises to see whether his courage is rising or falling; if he says to himself, "I can do a good day's work today if the 'blues' don't strike me, if some unfortunate phase of business does not come up and disturb my equilibrium, or if I can only manage to keep my temper," he is a slave; he cannot be successful or happy.
How different is the outlook of a man who feels confident every morning that he is going to do a man's work, the very best that he is capable of, during the day. How superbly he carries himself who knows that he can work out the Creator's design each day, and has no fear, or doubt, or anxiety as to what he can accomplish. He feels that he is master of himself, and knows to a certainty that no moods or conditions have power to hinder him. He has come into his dominion.
Amid the feverish rush and turmoil of modern life, the fierce competition, and the nerve-exhausting struggle for existence in which the majority are engaged, we see here and there serene souls who impress us with a sense of power and of calm, unhesitating assurance, and who travel toward their goal with the rhythmic majesty of the stars. They have learned how to think correctly; they have mastered the secret of successful living.
It is true this supreme self-control, which enables a man to rise to his highest power, is one of the ultimate lessons of culture; but it is the first step to great achievement and is possible to all.
Sometime we shall all learn better than to harbor, even for an instant, any suicidal thought or emotion. We shall no more dream of entertaining thoughts of fear, envy, or jealousy, or worrying, fretful, or anxious thoughts, than we would of entertaining thieves or murderers in our homes. The time will come when intelligent people will no more indulge in fits of anger, will no more indulge in uncharitable thoughts, feelings of hatred or ill-will, or gloomy, depressing, downward-tending thoughts, than they would take poison into the system.
Thousands of people who never amount to much could do the work of giants if they could only conquer their moods.