Have A Great Day by Norman Vincent Peale: 2012

Quiet and activity are the opposite sides of creative energy. I doubt that anyone can ever be a creative activist who is not at the same time a creative quietist.

Sing at least one song every day. This may not add to the enjoyment of your family or friends, but it will be a wonderful tonic for you. Actually, a hymn is best—a hymn with the morning shower will wash your mind on the inside as soap and water do on the outside.

September 22

Your mind will give you back exactly what you put into it. If, over a long period of time, you put defeat into your mind, your mind will give you back defeat. But if, over a long period, you put great faith into your mind, your mind will give faith results back.

September 21

Keep the mouth lines up. Smile and be happy. William James claimed that we are happy because we smile rather than we smile because we are happy. The smile comes first. It is also a fact that happiness in the heart puts a smile on the lips. Cultivate optimism, always looking on the bright side, and you will develop a happy state of life.

September 20 Autumn

. . . there is a harmony

In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,

Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been.

So wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley. "Harmony" and "lustre" are true of autumn. But I also see it as an exciting time of year. Another powerful adjective to associate with autumn is "glorious." "sensational" and "incredible" go well with it also. For surely woods, aflame with colors that make description difficult, and hills and valleys spread afar like an oriental rug, can hardly be depressing.

Oh, I know where the sadness concept comes from: the dying year, the early twilights, the passing of the fullness of summer, and all that. The last leaf clinging to the moldering wall brings long thoughts tinged with melancholy.

But enough of that. Let’s wander, on a late September day or one in crisp October, down a quiet country road in New England or New York or Ohio or Pennsylvania or wherever we can smell autumn. The aroma of burning leaves perfumes the air. Perhaps they contribute something to that "haze on the far horizon, The infinite, tender sky, The ripe rich tint of the cornfields, And the wild geese sailing high." Yes, indeed, as W. H. Carruth says, some of us call it autumn, but others call it God.

Hand in hand, down a winding country road with all this indescribable beauty all about and, at every turn, deep thoughts of home and memories of old days—this is the mystic gift of autumn.

Indian summer it is sometimes called in America, for in bygone years it was said that the haze lingering over the landscape was caused by the tires from the Indian wigwams and tepees. The Indians who peopled the country are long gone, but the old-time autumn haze endures. Could it be that the spirits of the warriors once again come trooping over storied hills and along river valleys famed in song and story in autumn time? Who knows?

Many an America, immersed in history and lore, can sense them in the gathering dusk of an October evening, As long as our country endures, the Indian tribes will surely come riding out of the past, down the silvery moon spread of autumn. So it is the mystic time, the romantic interval, the long dream time laced with history still with us, that is called the fall of the year.

And with it comes the music of the falling leaves. Silently they float downward, red, yellow, russet, piling up in windrows until one walks through them ankle deep. Strange about that sound. We became acquainted with it as childhood toddlers. But, at eighty years and beyond, it sounds exactly as it did on long-vanished October days—the rustling of the leaves.

The katydids, who dolefully warned us on September nights that summer was ended and fall had come, are silent now. The nights are still. The big, round harvest moon rides high. The air is cool and crisp. Inside the snug house, the fire bums brightly on the hearth. Apples and walnuts are ready at hand; cider is poured from the jug. It’s autumn, it’s October, it’s America, it’s home. There is nothing quite like it in all the world, an American autumn.

September 20

One of professional golf’s outstanding players once told me: "One secret of a good shot is ‘seeing’ the ball going where you want it to go before you hit it." And pianists have told me it is possible to practice a number in one’s mind without being near a keyboard. You need only visualize the notes with your inner eye and hear them with your inner ear. Whatever your goal, to reach it, fix in your mind a definite and successful outcome. Hold that image and go to work, for you have set in motion a realizable force.

September 19

A salesman who from being a loser became a winner, told how he did it:

I went to church one Sunday in a small town where I had to wait over until Monday. In the sermon, the pastor came up with this idea: "You are never going to get the most out of life until you give living all you’ve got. Don’t wait for living to give something to you; you give something to living." This was a new idea to me, exactly what I was not doing. It was as a door opened in my mind. I had an entire new image of myself” and decided I would give living everything I had. So, first thing next morning, I got up earlier than usual, took out the list of people I was going to see that day, and prayed for every one of them. I got to the first store before it opened. I helped the man open up and made my first sale before I would normally even have been up. And I had a wonderful day all day long. It was like magic! All along I had been expecting life to give me something and it hadn’t been doing it. Now I was giving something to life and it was giving wonderful things back.

September 18

If your predicament looks hopeless, remember there is no situation so completely dark that something constructive cannot be done about it. When faced with a minus, ask what you can do to make it a plus. Reject hopelessness; substitute faith; use intelligent, persevering effort and you can lift yourself out of hopelessness.

September 17

Changing one’s thought pattern may be a long and difficult process. But it can be accomplished by the practice of displacing unhealthy thoughts with healthy ones. You can pray out hate, for example. A man told me he had to pray 142 times to get rid of a certain hate but then, like a fever, it broke and he became a well man spiritually and emotionally. Don’t knock yourself out disliking or hating or resenting. It isn’t easy to shift from that habit to the love habit. But the person who does just that is in for a lot of happiness.

September 16

Rufus Jones, Quaker educator and philosopher, pointed out that the word individual implies a being who resists being divided. When you muster yourself on the side of the real you, you come alive, accomplish more, gain a sense of greater worth—and live with joy. The effort it takes to be your own individual really pays off in satisfaction.

September 15

Some persons simply refuse to grow old. I like that eighty-

year-old man who told me:

What’s wrong with being eighty years old? It isn’t how long you’ve been around; it’s what you’ve done while you’ve been around. Sure, I’ve been in the world eighty years. But I don’t have an old philosophy. I do not think old thoughts. I happen to own the business run. But I can still run it all right. When I find some bright young fellow who is as smart as I am, I’ll step down. Don’t think because I have a game leg that I can't handle the business. You don't run a business with your leg but with your head. And my head is okay. I don't intend ever to get old. I know there will come a time when my obituary will be in the paper, but I will have had the time of my life all my life.

Friday, September 7, 2012

September 14

Think negative thoughts and you thereby activate negative forces and tend to draw back to yourself negative results. Like attracts like. Send out hate and you get back hate. Send out fear and you get back fear. Send out defeat and you draw defeat to yourself. Conversely, send out positive thoughts and positive results will come to you. We defeat ourselves, or gain victories, by the thoughts we think.

September 13

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker once gave me an exercise for relaxing: Sit loosely in a chair, making yourself limp. Imagine yourself a burlap bag filled with potatoes. Mentally cut the string, allowing the potatoes to roll out. Be like the bag that remains. Lift your arms one at a time, letting them fall limply. Do the same with your legs and eyelids. Conceive of all your muscles as relaxing. Say, “All tension is subsiding, all stress is leaving me. I am at ease. I am at peace with God, with the world, with myself.”

September 12

On the plains, winter storms can take a heavy toll of cattle. The temperature drops below zero. Freezing rain and howling winds whip across the prairie. Snow piles into drifts. In the maelstrom, some cattle, I’m told, turn their backs to the icy blasts and slowly drift downwind, finally coming to a boundary fence barring their way. There they pile against it and many die. But other cattle react differently. They head into the wind, slowly working their way forward against it until they come to a fence. Here they stand, shoulder to shoulder, facing the storm. "We ‘most always find them alive and well," said an old cowboy. "That’s the greatest lesson I ever learned on the prairie: to attack difficulties head-on and not turn and run."

September 11

Here is a good way to end a day and get ready for a great day tomorrow: Do not carry the day into the night. Let it rest while you rest. Before you go to sleep, run over your personal world mentally and thank God for everyone and everything. Count your blessings; name them one by one. Then say to yourself, "God watches over me, over my house, over all my loved ones." Then go to sleep in peace. Let go and let God.

September 10

An old Chinese farmer was walking along the road with a stick across his shoulder. Hanging from the stick was a pot filled with soybean soup. He stumbled and the jar fell off and broke into pieces. The old farmer kept going, unperturbed. A man rushed up and said excitedly, "Don’t you know that your jar broke?" "Yes," the old farmer answered, "I know. I heard it fall." "Why didn’t you turn around and do something about it?" "It’s broken; the soup is gone—what can I do about it?" he asked.

September 9

A critic is an asset, though perhaps an unpleasant one. Consider criticism objectively and ask whether it is justified. If it is, then try to profit by it, even when it is unfriendly. If it isn’t valid, then forget it. Don’t criticize in return, just keep on doing your job to the best of your ability. Sure, it hurts, but we are not intended to go through life without some hurt. We are supposed to make strong people of ourselves.

September 8

The average man usually empties his pockets onto his dresser or desk before retiring. Personally, I rather enjoy standing over a wastebasket during this process to see how many things I can throw away: notes, memos, scraps of paper, completed self-directions, even knickknacks which I have picked up. With relief, I deposit all items possible in the wastebasket. It is perhaps more important to empty the mind as one empties pockets. During the day we pick up mental odds and ends: a little worry, a little resentment, a few annoyances, some irritations, perhaps even some guilt reactions. Every night, these should be thrown out for, unless eliminated, they accumulate and subtract from the joy of life.

September 7

On the morning of our thirty-fourth anniversary, Ruth and I went into the church in Syracuse where we were married. How well I remember the day when I first saw her. I was holding a committee meeting following the church service. The door opened and in burst a girl. I had never before seen her but said to myself, That is the girl for me. Of course, I had a little job persuading her, but that was the start of a romance that now covers over fifty years. When she and I went into the church on our anniversary, there was no one there. So I said, "Ruth, please go back and burst through that door again." She did. Believe me, I would do it all over again! And she says she would, too.

September 6

Before this day is out, do something specific and concrete that will demonstrate your determination to change yourself and your life for the better. Pay a debt. Heal a broken relationship. End a quarrel. Offer an apology. Pray for someone. Visit someone who is sick. Restrain yourself from buying something you had planned to buy for yourself and give the money to charity instead. Do whatever you do quietly, without ostentation. And do it, not in hope of reward, but simply because you want to do it, because you prefer to be an inner-directed person.

September 5

The process of tranquilizing the mind is important in assuring a condition of body, mind, and spirit that will induce perfect rest. Deliberately conceive of the mind as completely quiet, like the surface of a pond on which there is not even a ripple. Picture the mind as motionless and filled with deep quietness. Think silence until an atmosphere of silence seems to surround you. Suggest tranquil ideas to the mind, remembering that your thoughts respond to suggestion. Slowly, deliberately image peace at the center.

September 4

Stronger than willpower is imagination. The word might be pronounced image—ing. This means the projection of mental images or pictures of a desired outcome. A basic fact of human nature is the tendency to become like that which we habitually imagine (image) ourselves as being. The deeply held mental image tends to realize itself in fact. If you visualize a goal and hold it firmly in consciousness, the mind has a tendency to complete the image.

September 3

Prescription: Until condition improves, every day

1. Take two minutes to think about God.

2. Read a psalm.

3. Read a chapter from the Gospels.

4. Do something kind for someone.

5. Get outside yourself by joining some human-betterment effort.

6. Go to church every Sunday and get into an atmosphere of faith.

7. Become a believer—in God, in life, in yourself.

September 2

The tough-minded optimist takes a positive attitude toward a fact. He sees it realistically, just as it is, but he sees something more. He views it as a challenge to his intelligence, to his ingenuity and faith. He seeks insight and guidance in dealing with the hard fact. He keeps on thinking. He knows there is an answer and finally he finds it. Perhaps he changes the fact, maybe he just bypasses it, or perhaps he learns to live with it. But in any case his attitude toward the fact has proved more important than the fact itself.

September 1

A person who dislikes himself because of guilt or inferiority feelings will often try to escape painful awareness of this condition by "taking it out on other people." He projects his self-dislike upon others. It is significant that the commandment which begins, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor," concludes with "as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). If you do not have a normal measure of esteem for yourself, you cannot genuinely like other people. Self-dislike is an enormous obstacle in developing or maintaining good relationships.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

August 31

I do not believe that you can ever be loved unless you truly love other people. Even a dog knows when you love him. I bought an old dog along with my house in the country. I bought him because he came up and put his paw on me and nudged me, looking at me with those beautiful eyes as if to say, “I’m here.”

August 30

If you traveled the world over, you would never find another person quite like yourself. Geneticists say if it were possible for one couple to have millions of children, no two would be exactly alike. Because you are different from everyone, there is something which only you can do in this world. The only way you may live a truly creative life, or know the highest happiness, is by being yourself—by developing your own unique potential.

August 29

There is pollution of the mind. If we harbor hate, prejudice, and negativism, we destroy our best thinking potential. We frustrate our highest achievements.

August 28

When energy runs low and discouragement creeps in, when you have to force yourself to keep going or when some unexpected obstacle throws you and you find it hard to pick yourself up and get going again, it is a time of crisis when the vital factor is simply good old perseverance. Have you got what it takes to stand up and go at it again—and still again? That’s the question. Of course you have.

August 27

With faith and patience and sound thinking, you can do many things that “can’t be done.” Things once thought impossible become possible. As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claims: “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.”

August 26

When tension begins rising in my mind, I often find one technique effective. I practice remembered peacefulness, returning mentally to and imaging the most peaceful scenes I have known. I affirm, “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding . . .” (Philippians 4:7).

August 25

Be a tough-minded optimist. That is one who does not break apart in the thought processes or attitudes, whatever the stresses. It is one who continues hopefully and cheerfully to expect the good no matter what the apparent situation. This optimist stays right in there, everlastingly slugging away.

August 24

What a stupendous framework God provides as a setting for our lives! The endless galaxies of innumerable stars; the tempestuous, enormous oceans; the great sighing, surging winds; rolling, reverberating thunder; dashing rain; the drama, mystery, and diversity of the recurring seasons; the thrill of the rising sun and the glory of its going down; the romance of silver moonlight—these are wonders round about us all our lives for us to get thrilled about.

August 23

There is one certain way to decide whether you are old: What is your attitude when you arise in the morning? The person who is young awakens with a strange feeling of excitement, a feeling which he may not be able to explain but which is as if to say, “This is a great day; this is the day on which the wonderful thing will happen.”

The individual who is old, regardless of age, arises with the spirit unresponsive, not expecting any great thing to happen. This day will be just about like all the rest. The person may hope it will be no worse. Some people retain the spirit of expectation at threescore and ten; some lose it early in life. The measure of one’s age is actually how well he retains the romance of youth.

August 22

To have friends, be friendly and kindly to everyone. Be happy and outgoing. Get a lot of fun out of everything. Act so that people will have a good opinion of you. Have a spirit-lifting and inspiring personality. Like people. Help those who are having it rough. This is the way to real happiness.

August 21

Many people suffer poor health not because of what they eat but from what is eating them. Emotional ills turn inward, sapping energy, reducing efficiency, causing deterioration in health. And, of course, they siphon off happiness. This situation can be improved by a big daily dose of faith and positive thinking.

August 20

Storms bring out the eagles; little birds take to cover. Little people try to run from storms and are sometimes smashed by them. But big persons ride storms to better things.

August 19

Some people shrink from going to places that remind them of their departed loved ones; others shrink from doing things that they once did together with others, especially as husband and wife. This is understandable, because it can sharpen the sense of physical loss. The antidote is to remind yourself that the loved person is not only still with you in a spiritual sense but is far more constantly with you than was possible when he or she was alive.

When my wife, Ruth, telephoned to tell me my mother had died, she said: "I know you will find this hard to believe right now, Norman, but your mother is going to be with you and nearer to you from now on to a far greater degree than she ever was before. In the past, you have always made plane trips to be with her for a few days or even a few hours. Now she can be with you always.” This was true and, once I was able to grasp it, my sense of grief and loss was vastly diminished.

August 18

Hope is like a pointing finger painted on a door that is closed to you. It points, directing you to another door further on that will open to your big opportunity. Look for that other door—that open door.

Friday, August 17, 2012

August 17

A homing pigeon, released in the air, instinctively heads for home. Birds in migration over thousands of miles unerringly return to the same place from which they came. Every rivulet is pulled by the lure of the sea. We come from God; He is our home. Every human life feels the tug of God. The instinct is to return to Him and love Him always.

August 16

There’s a story about a rusty pickax found in the old Colorado gold country. The handle had long since deteriorated, but the rusted pick remained driven into the ground a hundred years or more. The manner in which it was driven hard into the earth revealed the defeat felt by some frustrated prospector. It seemed to say: “Oh, what’s the use? I’m through.” The pathetic fact—which this unknown defeated prospector never learned—was that a few yards farther on was a rich vein of gold that later produced millions. If only he had persisted.

August 15

God has confidence in us. He gives us the power of private judgment. He makes us free moral agents so that we can do what we want to do—even contrary to His will. That is a big God. If God were a little God, He would tell us exactly what to do. But He leaves us free. Still He hopes we are smart enough to do right.

August 14

You can reach any goal . . .

IF you know what the goal is;

IF you really want it;

IF it is a good goal;

IF you believe you can reach it;

IF you work to achieve it;

IF you think positively.

August 13

Have you ever noticed how people who master words and use them well, bringing out their beauty and employing their persuasiveness, are those who go far in life. One does not need be a great platform speaker. The fine choice of vocabulary in daily speech will mark one as different and of extra quality and in a quiet way that person will become a leader. Just think what wonderment is inherent in a combination of words.

August 12

“Let your requests be made known to God,” says the Bible (Philippians 4:6). But it also says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Ask for what you want but always be willing to take what God gives. It may prove better than what you ask for.

August 11

When you get discouraged, when you cannot seem to make it, there is one thing you cannot do without. It is that priceless ingredient of success called relentless effort. You just never give up, never quit.

August 10

Beneath the tension-agitated surface of our minds is the profound peace of the deeper mental levels. As the water beneath the surface of the ocean is deep and quiet, no matter how stormy the surface, so the mind is peaceful in its depths. Silence, practiced until you grow expert in its use, has the power to penetrate to that inner center of mind and soul where God’s healing quietness may actually be experienced.

August 9

While driving your car, if you become annoyed by impolite and careless actions on the part of another driver, instead of reacting in kind, remain affable and send up a sincere prayer for him. You can never know what pressures motivate him. Perhaps your prayer may reach his problem. One thing is sure, it will reach you.

August 8

To cure worry, spend fifteen minutes daily filling your mind full of God. Worry is just a very bad mental habit. You can change any habit with God’s help. Start practicing faith, the number—one enemy of worry. Every morning say, “I believe,” out loud, three times. Pray: “I place my life, my loved ones, my work in the Lord’s hands. There is only good in Your hands. Amen.”

August 7

A long while ago, there was a man who had to hook up his wife’s long dresses every day. They used to hook from top to bottom and he got tired of the job. It was most exasperating. He nearly lost his religion every time he did it. He is the fellow who developed the zipper. He met a situation with creativity.

August 6

A prayer for energy: Dear Lord, I need more energy and strength. I seem drained and tired. I do not seem to possess what it takes to do all that I must do. I know that the wrong kind of thoughts can make one tired. Change my thoughts that they may be in harmony with Your power. Keep me in close contact with You who are the Source of energy, energy that never runs down. I accept this strength and energy now. I thank you. Amen.

August 5

How do some people rise above calamities that leave others crushed in spirit, bitter and defeated? In the Book of Job we find a clue: “When he [God] giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” (Job 34:29). The first essential for meeting misfortune sturdily is to achieve quietness, calmness, serenity at the center of yourself. Out of such quietness at the center arises simple gratitude—for the gift of life, for present blessings, for advantages and possibilities you do have. This thankfulness, in turn, opens doors to happiness and opportunity which otherwise remain closed.

August 4

Enthusiasm is no Pollyannish, sweetness-and-light, inborn and fortuitous concept. It is a strong, rugged mental attitude that is perhaps hard to achieve, difficult to maintain, but powerful—so powerful!

August 3

A prominent businessman whose daily schedule is packed to the limit, his responsibilities many and his activities widely diverse, always handles himself with impressive quietness. “I have learned to begin and end each day calmly,” he says. “I repeat to myself this line from Isaiah: ‘In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength’ [Isaiah 30:15]. That is my secret.”

August 2

My method for awakening is this: When I return to at least a semiconscious state after a night of sleep, while still lying in bed, I repeat this phrase from Psalm 139: “When I awake, I am still with thee” (verse 18).

These words emphasize the greatest truth known to man—that we are not alone. Then, just before getting out of bed, I repeat that glorious old passage from Psalm 118: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (verse 24). He made this day to be a precious thing full of opportunity; He gives it to us. We must do something good with this day.

August 1

Say to yourself every day, especially when things get dark and trouble stares you in the face, “I am a child of God.” Asserting and affirming your divine origin will strengthen you and you will realize that whatsoever comes you have Someone watching over you and helping you. This practice will help you to have a great day every day.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

July 31

Positive thinking is how you think about a problem. Enthusiasm is how you feel about a problem. The two together determine what you do about a problem.

July 30

If you will set aside a few minutes, ten or even five, to think about God and Christ, to confess your sins, to pray for those who have done wrong against you, and to ask for strength—and if you do this consistently day after day—a true faith will begin to send spiritual health and power through your personality.

July 29

Many of the world’s finest Oriental rugs come from little villages in the Middle East, China, or India. These rugs are hand-produced by crews of men and boys under the direction of a master weaver. They work from the underside of the rug-to-be. It frequently happens that a weaver absentmindedly makes a mistake and introduces a color that is not according to the pattern.

When this occurs, the master weaver, instead of having the work pulled out in order to correct the color sequence, will find some way to incorporate the mistake harmoniously into the overall pattern. In weaving our lives, we can learn to take unexpected difficulties and mistakes and weave them advantageously into the greater overall patterns of our lives. There is an inherent good in most difficulties.

July 28

The best way to deal with a problem is this: Write it down on a piece of paper. Study its component parts. Think it through. Then put it aside and think of God. Forget the problem. Think of God. The more you think of Him, the more He will put ideas into your mind when you pick up the problem again. You will get your answer. God answers. If you don’t get it that first time, you will the second or the third. Shift from the problem to God.

July 27

Having asked God for forgiveness, accept release, then truly forgive yourself and turn your back definitely on the matter. Fill your mind with hopeful, helpful, and positive thoughts. Have faith and go forward. “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13).

July 26

You need not fear if you know an action is right. Pray about it to be sure it’s right, for if it isn’t right it’s wrong, and nothing wrong can turn out right. Knowing you are right, there is nothing in this world that can defeat you. It may go hard; you may receive blows. But God will not let you down. He will see you through. Know you are right, then fearlessly go ahead.

July 25

What’s wrong with having problems? The only people who have no problems are in cemeteries. Problems are a sign of life. So be glad you’ve got them. It means you are alive. The more problems you have, the more alive you are. lf you have no problems, better get down on your knees and ask: “Lord, don’t You trust me anymore? Give me some problems.”

July 24

The world needs millions of acts of forgiveness and repentance to flush out hate, resentment, and bitterness.

July 23

Help others to overcome fear and worry and you gain greater power over these problems yourself. Every day think of yourself as living in companionship with Jesus Christ. If he actually walked by your side, you would not be worried or afraid. Say, “He is with me now.” Repeat it every time you feel fear or begin to worry. Recommend the practice to others as I do to you. It works.

July 22

Every last one of us possesses the power to live a truly wonderful life; yet we settle for being unhappy, when it isn’t necessary. We should ask ourselves what we have done with the talents and abilities which God built into us. Every human being ought to look inside himself and thank the good Lord that he has unused strength he has never drawn on—and then start drawing on it.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

July 21

“Don’t you know the world is full of problems?” asked the negative thinker. “But the world is also full of the overcoming of problems,” replied the positive thinker.

July 20

God answers prayer in three ways: yes, no, and wait awhile. If you receive a no answer, look for the lesson the no answer teaches. God sometimes shuts doors to lead you to the right open door. If you experience difficulty and hardship, perhaps it is because God wants to do something for you other than you expected or have yet experienced.

July 19

Practice changing critical attitudes toward your fellowmen. Get in the habit of looking for something to praise, something good to say. Once you start picking at people critically, you will find yourself criticizing everything they do. Reverse this mental attitude by finding something, however small, to praise in everyone. It will greatly add to your own happiness.

July 18

Life for most of us contains many tough and difficult problems; we need all the confidence and reassurance we can get. Nothing builds confidence and reassurance like a word of praise. Nothing restores our self-esteem and recharges our batteries like a little admiration. Why, then, needing appreciation ourselves so badly, do we deny it so often to others?

July 17

One of the greatest things you will ever be able to say in your lifetime is this: “I have realized the potential that Almighty God put into me.”

July 16

Deep within the individual is a vast reservoir of untapped power waiting to be used. No person can have the use of all this potential until he learns to know his or her own self. The trouble with many people who fail is that they go through life thinking and writing themselves off as ordinary, commonplace persons. Having no proper belief in themselves, they fail to utilize their talents. They live aimless and erratic lives very largely because they never realize what their lives really can be or what they can become.

July 15

What are the essential factors in creative and exciting successful living? Number one is to be chief executive officer over your life and over yourself. When you feel life is pushing you around, or you are being pushed around by a variable self, you are not happy or effective. But when you become supervisor of your life, there is no joy in the world equal to it or to the excitement and satisfaction you will feel.

July 14

Don’t be an if thinker; be a how thinker. The if thinker mouths, “If only I’d had a break.” The how thinker emphasizes the hows: “How do I compensate for this shortcoming?” or “How do I accomplish it?”

July 13

If a person habitually thinks optimistically and hopefully he activates life around him positively and thereby attracts to himself positive results. What you mentally project reproduces in kind. Positive thinking sets in motion positive and creative forces and success flows toward you.

July 12

The late Mrs. Thomas A. Edison told me that when her husband was dying he whispered to his physician, “It is very beautiful over there.” Edison was a scientist, with a factual cast of mind. He never reported anything as fact until he saw it work. He would never have reported, “It is very beautiful over there,” unless, having seen, he knew it to be true.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

July 11

In this life, we must learn to develop the quality of urbane imperturbability. This is the ability to accept people as they are, and not let their annoying actions get under your skin. It will, in time, even get you to loving people.

July 10

A physician tells me that 35 to 50 percent of the ill are sick because they are basically unhappy. “Joy has significant therapeutic or healing value,” he says, “whereas gloom and depression militate against creative life processes.” Learn to live the joy way, for “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).

July 9

A friend once had a problem that had been agitating his mind for days and to which he could not get an answer. He decided to practice “creative spiritual quietness.” He went alone into a church and sat for an extended period in absolute silence. Presently, he began to be conditioned to quietness. Finally, he “dropped” his problem into a deep pool of mental and spiritual silence. He meditated upon God’s peace rather than upon the specific details of the problem. This seemed to clarify his thinking and, before leaving that quiet place, an answer began to emerge which proved to be the right one.

July 8

An old man appeared on a popular television program. He had received a prize for having won a contest. He stole the show with his exuberant spirit and quick wit. “It’s easy to see,” remarked the admiring master of ceremonies, “that you are a very happy man. What’s the secret of being as happy as you are? Let us in on it.” “Why, son,” the old man answered, “it’s as plain as the nose on your face. When I wake up in the morning, I have two choices. One is to be unhappy; the other is to be happy. And I want you to know, son, that I’m not as dumb as I may look. I’m smart enough to choose happiness. I just make up my mind to be happy . . . that’s all there is to it.”

Sunday, July 1, 2012

July 7

There is no circumstance in your life where God will not stand with you and help you, no matter what the trouble may be. He understands all your problems, all your frustrations and disappointments. He sympathizes in your weaknesses. He loves you.

July 6

The head of a university hospital once said, “When a person becomes ill he should send for his minister, priest, or rabbi as he sends for his doctor.” That is to say, the sick may be helped in two ways: through the science of medicine and surgery, and through the effective use of faith and prayer.

July 5

A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative; he refuses to dwell on it. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions.

July 4

Winston Churchill once gave a talk to the boys of Harrow, his old school. He stressed the importance of believing they could win. “Never, never, never, never give in,” he told them. Four times he said “never.” Churchill gave those boys the basis of success: Never quit.

July 3

Thomas Edison is supposed to have made a curious remark which is fascinating: “The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.” That is to say, you are what you think and your life is determined by what goes on in your brain. The brain is the center of thought, memory, feeling, emotion, dreams, prayer, faith; in short, it is the creative and directing center of the entire person. The body may become old, feeble, suffer disability; but so long as the brain is clear and in working order, so long do you really live.

July 2

There is a spiritual giant within each of us telling us we need not remain enslaved by weakness or victimized by frustrating limitations. The giant within you is always struggling to burst his way out of the prison you have made for him. Why not set him free today?

July 1

What is hope? Hope is wishing for a thing to come true—faith is believing that it will come true. Hope is wanting something so eagerly that, in spite of all evidence that you’re not going to get it, you go right on expecting it. And the remarkable thing is that this very act of hoping produces a strength of its own.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

June 30

Here is a five-day mental diet. It’s good for healthy-mindedness. It will help give you a great day every day.

FIRST DAY: Think no ill about anybody—only good about everybody.

SECOND DAY: Put the best possible construction, the most favorable interpretation, on the behavior of everybody you encounter or have dealings with.

THIRD DAY: Send out kindly thoughts toward every person you.

FOURTH DAY: Think hopefully about everything. Immediately cancel out any discouraging thought that comes to mind.

FIFTH DAY: Think of God’s presence all day long.

June 29

Gloom drives prosperity away. Prosperity shies away from dark and negative thoughts, veering off from minds filled with pessimism and doubts. So think bright thoughts and attract prosperity. Note that the word scarcity is built upon the word scare. Be careful not to think scarcity and so scare prosperity away. Think plenty and stimulate abundance.

June 28

The only way you can rid yourself of a thought or thought pattern is by displacement—by putting another thought in, by substitution or thought-switching. lf you entertain in mind a defeat thought, a discouragement thought, a frustration thought, or any negative thought, practice thought substitution. Deliberately open the mind and substitute the contrary thought pattern, one positive in nature. Such thought conditioning can change your life.

June 27

Brother Lawrence, a saintly character of the Middle Ages, was a humble man, a cook and a great spiritual discoverer. His secret of the good life was the practice of the presence of God. He believed that always, at any hour of the day or night, in whatever circumstances or condition, the Lord is actually present.

June 26

When you have done your best and something frustrating happens, instead of being discouraged, examine the interference. It may mean improvement. Thorvaldsen, the famous Danish sculptor, looked with satisfaction on a finished figure of Christ he had made out of clay, with face looking toward heaven and arms extended upward. It was the imperious figure of a conqueror.

That night, sea mist seeped into the studio, the clay relaxed, the head and arms dropped. Thorvaldsen was bitterly disappointed. But, as he studied the figure, something about it moved-him deeply.

Now Christ looked down with love and compassion. This was a greater conception. That statue, Come Unto Me, became immortal.

June 25

God must surely be interested in our having good, strong, sound bodies—for does not the Bible tell us the body is the temple of the soul?

June 24

Talking with Herbert Hoover in his later years, I asked him how he had been able to endure all the hostile criticism and hate that was heaped upon him during his last months in the White House. He said, “I’m a Quaker, you know . . .” and reminded me that Quakers are taught from childhood to practice and develop inner calm. “When you have peace at the center, the trying experiences cannot overwhelm you.”

June 23

You have vast undamaged areas within yourself! No matter what life has done, no matter what you have done; the renewal power is there within you. If you bring spiritual power to bear upon those undamaged areas, you can rebuild life, no matter what has happened to it.

June 22

During the Civil War, a man once stayed overnight at the White House in Washington. In the middle of the night he awakened suddenly and thought he heard Lincoln’s voice, as though in pain, somewhere nearby. He jumped up, and went out into the dimly lit hall and, walking slowly in the direction of the voice, came to a door left ajar. Peering in, he beheld the lanky form of Lincoln prostrate on the floor in prayer, arms outstretched. Lincoln was humbly beseeching God to strengthen him against his sense of inadequacy. Lincoln knew he needed the great gift of God—“My peace I give unto you” so he sought and prayed for it with all his mind and heart.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

June 21

How can a person gain promotion in a job? I suggest seven

rules:

1. Be intent only on doing your present job well

2. Don’t think about being promoted; think only of being efficient now.

3. Word hard

4. Work early and late

5. Study, study, study until you learn real know-how

6. Work your head off

7. Try not to have a heart attack

June 20 Summer

Now comes the good old summertime. It is that time of year when nature, quietly but impressively, demonstrates its growing power. Trees have completed the old but ever amazing process of putting forth their thousands of leaves. I’ve always wondered how a tree knows when to adorn itself with leaves and how it does it. From the stark, bare branches of winter to the green leaves of summer is one of the astonishing miracles by which nature adds charm and beauty to our lives.

Flowers everywhere are adding to summer’s festive character and the songs of birds joyously fill the air. Nests are in the trees and other nooks which father and mother birds have carefully selected. Balmy breezes blow softly and golden sunshine filters down through branches to fall gently upon clipped green grass. Corn is coming up in the fields. As the old saying goes, “It will be knee-high by the Fourth of July.” Wind ripples caressingly over the growing wheat. At such times we may find ourselves repeating those familiar and famous lines from The Vision of Sir Launfal by James Russell Lowell:

And what is so rare as a day in June

then, if ever, come perfect days

Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune

and over it softly her warm ear lays

Whether we look, or whether we listen

we hear life murmur, or see it glisten

Every clod feels a stir of might

an instinct within it that reaches and towers

And, groping blindly above it for light

climbs to a soul in grass and flowers

Everything is perfection since good God, the Creator, designed and made it all. And He never did anything badly. But, with all respectful deference, I cannot help wondering, come every summer, just why the Lord thought it necessary to make mosquitoes and flying insects. Oh, I know it has to do with nature’s balance and all that; still I must confess those creatures surely interfere with the perfect pleasures of summertime.

A few years ago, I purchased two old—fashioned rocking chairs from a firm down in Georgia that has been making them since before the Civil War, or if you’re reading this down South, the “War Between the States.” We have an 1830 house in Dutchess County, New York, just over the Connecticut line. It stands on a hill overlooking a great valley, its white pillars marking the wide front porch, which looks west toward the Hudson River.

Around the corner is a side porch looking over a valley southward. And the back porch off the kitchen looks over another valley into Connecticut. Here were placed these great rocking chairs. From this peaceful vantage, we look over a wide sweep of land, through great maples, across the valley to hills beyond.

On a warm summer afternoon or in the cool of twilight, I like to sit here with my wife, Ruth, rocking in perfect enjoyment until the mosquitoes surge in to attack all exposed parts and the gnats come en masse, buzzing and stinging. So, finally, I retreat inside the house thinking not the most kindly thoughts about summer. But actually, not even that affects the joy and glory of summer, the beautiful season at the fullness of the year. Sometimes on a peaceful and lovely summer day I find myself reciting these lines of Robert W. Service:

The summer—no sweeter was ever

The sunshiny woods all athrill

The grayling aleap in the river

The bighorn asleep on the hill

The strong life that never knows harness

The wilds where the caribou call

The freshness, the freedom, the farness—

O God! how I’m stuck on it all

From childhood to old age we love it, the good old summertime.