An excerpt from The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale
George Bernard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."
Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.
Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worryhis life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing... he becomes nothing.
How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.
Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision.
We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant.
Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his handone is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seedsone corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.
As it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."
Remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plantsone corn, one poison.
The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant must return to us.
You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.
This is the reason why 'changing' the way I think was so vital to my recovery ... my old way of thinking only led to misery ...
God Bless,
Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Along the very same lines, I not so long ago posted about being careful what we put in our "Thought Closet"... what we hang in it, is what we get to wear. :)
I remember that post John ... and I thought it was a great way to look at it ... it got me think'n 'bout cleaning my 'mind closet' and dumping the few remaining words out of my 'foul language' bucket ... thanks for the reminder ...
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I so appreciate this way of thinking, this is the one aspect that is giving me much releaf 2day. When I beleave it 2 b true, it is n my mind, the way i think is the way i act. When i trun my will and my life over, what i am doing is turning over the way i think and act. My will is my thinking, my life is my actions 2day. thank GOD for a little insight 2day.
