Final Review of "The Power of Positive Thinking"

Finally, the final review of 'The Power of Positive Thinking' by Norman Vincent Peale. This blog is the last blog also covered my reading assignment in this semester. This post would be talking about the 13th until 17th chapter of 'TPOPT' book. 

Lets Check This One !

Chapter 13: Inflow Of New Thoughts Can Remake You

There is just no room for negative thinking in this process! Out with the negative old and in with the positive new!

Peale illustrates very plainly in this chapter how lack of faith and negative thinking can really prevent us from seeing a positive outcome. This presents a problem because if our head is buzzing with the negative, how can we expect to get an inflow of fresh thoughts which we will require to move toward a desired goal?

In order to move forward in the direction we wish to go we must first be able to see the end destination clearly and firmly in our mind. Yes! This does involve being able to see in detail what we want or where we want to be. Next you need to believe that if it is God’s will you will have what you seek.

It isn’t so much your environment that makes us who we are but the thoughts that we have that can make all of the difference in the world. If our thinking and doing are wrong than we will inevitably experience failure after failure. However, if weare willing to go to our Higher Power or God and ask for help as we work to change to right thinking and doing then we are poised to be successful in your life ventures.

We can think ourself right into trouble or out of it. We can make yourself sick by thinking about it but we can also make ourself well by thinking ourself into better health, too. Prayer or meditation certainly helps this process and if we already talk toyour Higher Power or God as if we would a person than we are well on our way to better things in your life.

When dealing with negative circumstances we do not have to accept them. The best approach is to develop a clear picture in our mind as to how those circumstances should be and use full detail. Pray or meditate about what we’ve just visualized, work at it and believe in what we see in your mind. In this way we can actually bring our mental picture into reality.

Peale tells us that the above is one of the greatest laws in the universe. Think in terms of the positive and we will get positive results! Think in terms of the negative and we will get negative results. We reap what we sow, right?

In addition to visualizing what you want as if you already have it you can do one more thing to help the process along. Put a thank you in advance into your prayer or meditation! When you write a letter to someone about a matter and you want a response from them, you may write, “Thank you in advance for your speedy reply.” Right? That’s pretty much what Peale is saying you can do with your prayer or meditation to God or Higher Power when it comes to attracting a positive resolution or situation.

Take an entire week and make it a point to look at everything in a hopeful, positive light. Then take two days off to look at everything in a more realistic fashion. Peale assures us that by sticking with this exercise for a week before taking two days off that our perception of what is realistic will have changed in a big way!

Make a list of the friends we have. Then stick close to the ones who are the most positive on the list until we’ve absorbed their spirit. Once we’ve done this for a time we can go back amongst our negative friends with our newly embedded positive spirit and thought patterns.

We don’t have to argue with the negative when they bring up subjects and express their negative point of view. What we can do is simply express our positive view of the matter and just leave it at that. If they would rather believe their version of perception as being correct than that is their choice alone. However, after a time, without them even realizing it, our positive outlook just might rub off on them. This happens without we having to do anything other than conduct ourself in accordance with our own newly acquired positive thought patterns and spirit!

Chapter 14: Relax For Easy Power

 

Peale points out that there are any number of times in an average day when we can take time to relax and pray or meditate. It could be while sitting in traffic, waiting for an appointment or even during down time while experiencing some other type of delay. He points out in this chapter that it is not the amount of time that we take to do this but the quality of it.

The more relaxed you are the better you can perform tasks and even handle stressful situations. From a position of calm it is very easy to remain friendly, think clearly and work toward a resolution even when the people you are dealing with are hostile.

Draw your energy from God, or Higher Power, and then allow it to return back to God again so that it may be renewed.

Taking ourself too seriously, trying to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, trying to do everything at once, is a sure fire way to cause ourself more stress and less efficiency in our life. If we choose to like our work then the work we do will be much easier to perform. The more knowledge we can acquire about the work we are doing the less stressed and better off we’ll be. After all, knowledge is power!

Practice staying relaxed and taking things as they come along. The tenser we are the less you will be able to accomplish or manage.

Don’t put off work that could be done today simply because we don’t feel like doing it. A job becomes much harder to perform when we are working at it from behind the eight ball. In short, keep up with our work and don’t be a slacker!

Chapter 15: How To Get People To Like You

In this chapter we discover that it is perfectly natural for us to want to feel liked and even needed. Peale tells us that if folks tell us that they don’t care if they are liked or not than they are not being honest with themselves because desiring to be liked and needed is part of human nature.

There are a few ways in which Peale suggests that we can get people to like us better. Who doesn’t want to be liked more? Right? So, here we go!

People absolutely love it when you can remember their name. Hey, even if they are room service in a hotel or the waitress in a restaurant, remembering their name means a lot to them! If you remember their name and use it in interactions with them, no matter what it is, it’s going to work to your advantage!

Acquire and cultivate the quality of being easy-going and relaxed, if you aren’t already, so that people feel comfortable around you. Being tense and easily upset isn’t going to earn you new friends or even the respect of the people you deal with on a regular basis.

In your endeavor to be interesting make sure you don’t cross the line into being egotistical. Yes, people like and tend to gravitate toward people who are interesting. However, keep in mind that no one likes a know it all! So whatever you do don’t overdo it when you are attempting to keep people’s interest in you.

Take care to watch how you interact with others so that you can improve your own personality. Some people don’t mind folks who swear like a truck driver, who’s just been cut off on the interstate, during normal conversation but it may not do you any favors with the majority! No offence meant to truck drivers, of course! But you get the idea here. Those parts of your current personality that tend to drive people away from you are the elements you might want to curtail or even modify a bit.

Be the bigger person and settle grievances when they arise rather than just letting things fester. You want to be likable but not someone’s doormat. Nor does anyone else want to be something you wipe your shoes on. Resolving problems, which will inevitably come up in any relationship, helps to drain off the negativity in your own mind as well as the minds of those you may still be having issues with. This is not only beneficial on an emotional level, for all of you, but on a spiritual level as well!

Chapter 16: Prescription For Heartache

 

Peale talks in this chapter about how heartache can affect you physically in a negative way but is really only an emotional or spiritual pain. This is not to say that it is a bad thing but certainly can be if one allows it to take over them completely.

It is okay to yield to grief (heartache is an expression of grief). Crying is a normal and natural part of the process. It is rather unhealthy, as well as unnatural, to suppress the tears that should be allowed to come when we feel grief, regardless of what society may think and teach about the matter these days.

Succumbing to tears is only an issue when it gets to a point when you are in a tearful state way more often than what the situation may warrant. In that case it may be wise to seek some help. But, in the “normal” scheme of things, crying is permissible and allowable when in association with heartache.

Some ways of managing your heartache are talked about in this chapter, too. They include; staying physically active, working mentally and physically on worthwhile projects and keeping things as normal as possible with regard to your daily routine.

There is a tendency of people who have lost a spouse to avoid friends, associates, places and sometimes family members that they used to visit with their significant other while they were alive. The memories brought up by visiting these people and places after they’ve lost their loved one are too painful. Doing this is not really a good idea or the recommended way to go because it is isolating behavior. It gives way more control to the heartache they are experiencing in their life than what is necessary.

In the case of heartache brought on by death, Peale tells us that it is evidenced in the teachings of the Bible that there is life after death. We can take some comfort in that and also in believing that the dead never truly leave us which is also Peale’s personal belief. Peale tells us that there are plenty of stories to support this fact and that parapsychology is gaining validity in the scientific community.

Chapter 17: How To Draw Upon That Higher Power

 To draw upon your Higher Power, it is written by Peale, faith, positive thinking and prayer or meditation to God are all key components. You must have faith in your Higher Power or God as if he is a living breathing entity in your life. You will need to keep an open mind and a state of calm to let God’s power flow through you, work with you and guide you. This can come through thoughts, ideas, the people that you meet and, at times, raw energy that can manifest itself in each of us in a myriad of ways.

 And that's the end of the summary of ''The Power of Positive Thinking" . Thanks for reading it. Bye bye