The power of positive thinking by norman
vincent peale summary from four-minute books written
by nicholas cooke and read by craig traylor
one sentence summary the power of positive thinking will show
you that the roots of success lie in the mind and teach you how to believe in
yourself breaking the habit of worrying and take control over your life by
taking control of your thoughts and changing your attitude favorite quote from the author
the way to happiness keep your heart free from hate
your mind from worry live simply
expect little give much
scatter sunshine forget yourself think of others
try this for a week and you will be surprised
norman vincent peale was an american minister and author of one of the
world's best widely recognized motivational speakers in the 20th
century his most popular book the power of
positive thinking has sold over 5 million copies worldwide
and takes the christian perspective and real real-world approach to a positive
psychology since peel wasn't a scientist many
mental experts disregarded the ideas from his book
and it received a lot of both favorable and highly critical feedback
however it's hard to deny the real world impact
his ideas have had for himself being living proof that they
work after a long and by any measures
successful life he died at age 95 on christmas eve in
1993.
It's not every day that you get to learn
from someone who received the presidential medal of freedom so let's
not waste time shall we here are three lessons to help you think
more positively one start with confidence and what your
problems shrink two
your world is nothing more than the thoughts you have about your experiences
three in order to live worry free first imagine a worry-free life
all right let's pump up the positive jam lesson one believe in yourself and
visualize your goals to see how small your problems really are
yes confidence is important because if you feel inferior you'll act inferior we
know confidence alone doesn't solve all problems after all it's not the same as
competence and telling a kid who's horrible at math that she's great won't
make her study more for the next test however
the case of believing in yourself that peel makes is one that we've all
experienced the self-fulfilling prophecy
it's a common idea from self-help books to napoleon hill that already addressed
it 80 years ago when you start a new job and go in on
the first day thinking that no one will like you that
you'll probably screw up and not fit in well
well guess what you'll behave in a way that makes sure it comes true
even worse when you then get back the feedback that you were right this drives
even more negative thoughts thus starting a vicious cycle
it is up to you to actively change your thoughts and believe that you can bring
value where you go peel suggests an exercise to help you do
that which happens to be backed by science
visualize your goals and the positive outcomes you want
what should your life look like in six months
which goals do you want to achieve then contrast those by visualizing the
problems and obstacles that you might face along the way
this is called mental contrasting and has been proven to cause changes in
behavior that lasts for weeks with as little as a few minutes worth of
exercise lesson two
your attitude determines your entire life
this quote really struck me your world is nothing more than the
thoughts you have about your experiences of course all the problems in your life
are real and yes some of them might take a few
years to solve like debt or a serious illness
but how you react to those problems is entirely up to you
you might not be able to solve those problems at the push of a button but
your attitude is something you can change from one second to the next
your world your reality is only determined by what you think about with
everything you experience in life for example if you leave your house
tomorrow morning and you're almost hit by a car
which breaks the last second you can treat this as a bad sign to
spend the rest of the day walking around afraid of everything and anything
alternatively you can take this experience as a wonderful gift a miracle
even and live your life to the fullest enjoying every single second of the day
and being grateful don't choose negative thoughts
when you can choose positive ones ever lesson three
imagine your life free of worry to become less concerned about the future
here's a super meta hack for worrying less imagine yourself
as a worry-free person in the future just imagine that it's possible for you
to live without worry will take a lot of your current worries away
just imagining that is possible for you to live without worry will take a lot of
your current worries away worrying is a major source of stress and
thus often leads to heart disease arthritis and other sickness which cause
your life expectancy to go down so it's in your best interest to
eliminate it wherever possible close your eyes
look into the future and imagine yourself a few months or a
few years from now living free from all the worries that currently plague you
and you'll feel much better when you open your eyes again
peel calls this the draining your mind and it's specifically helpful before
going to sleep because then positive thoughts will sink
into your subconscious instead of negative ones
hey this is nick the founder of four minute books and i want to thank you so
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