Lessons I Learned From The Book ‘As a Man Thinketh’

1) You Become What You Think

You are what you are right now because of the thoughts you once had or have. If you want to change yourself, you should first start with changing your thoughts. All the actions of man arise from the hidden seeds of thoughts.

Just with the right choice and application of thought, man can ascend to divine perfection; while with wrong choice and application of thought, he can rise below the level of the beast.

Good thoughts and results can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.

2)Your Mind is Like a Garden

The author creates an analogy of our mind with the garden. We either choose to cultivate our mind wisely or let it run wild. If we don’t plant the seeds of beautiful flowers in our garden, the garden will itself produce some useless weeds.

Just as the gardener weeds out all unnecessary plants it is the responsibility of every individual to plant the right seeds, nurture them, and at the same time put out all the weeds. When we do this, our life becomes beautiful. But if we do the exact opposite and feed the weeds, our life becomes a mess.

3) Thoughts Not Just Affect Mentally, But Also Physically

How and what we think has a significant impact not just on the mental level but also physical level. The body is the servant of mind and it obeys the order of mind be it deliberately chosen or automatically expressed.

The author argues that the people who live in constant fear of disease are the ones who actually get it. Therefore being healthy is not just about the body, it’s also more about the mind.

Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts.

Thoughts also affect how we age. If we just pause for a second and observe the people around us, we can see people in their nineties with bright smiling faces. But we also can see the people who are just in their mid-thirties whose face is drawn into unharmonious contours.

4)You Are Not Shaped by Your Circumstances

If you believe you can’t get something just because you came from a different background or because your environment doesn’t support you, you are wrong my friend. You are not shaped by the circumstances rather the outer world of circumstances shapes itself into the inner world of your thoughts.

No matter what the circumstances are, you always have the freedom to choose how to respond. And the best response is always to choose to focus on the areas you have control of. When you focus on what you have control over and improve that way, you win in life.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they, therefore, remain bound.

5)Actions And Thoughts Must Go Together

The knowledge preached by some of the self-help gurus about thoughts is that you will achieve whatever you think if you just believe it. This is also represented as a law of attraction and the idea is sold to many people.

James Allen, who is also considered as the pioneer of the self-help movement was clear that just having thoughts are not enough. Thoughts are just the starting point. And if we don’t harmonize our thoughts with the right actions, we will never accomplish what we are set to.

Just wishing for things and waiting for them to come to you will not help you in any way. You must go out, take action and earn it, whatever it is you want

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