“He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure.” – As A Man Thinketh

I have come to believe that the greatest diseases of mankind are doubt and fear. That’s not to lessen the seriousness of some of our other afflictions, but doubt and fear rob more people of more life than all the other diseases of the world put together.

Why do I think they’re diseases? Well they’re acquired, we weren’t born with them. They’re communicable – much of the time they’re passed from one person to the next. But even more clear is the Merriam-Webster dictionary which says a disease is “a condition of the living animal…that impairs normal functioning.” Sounds like fear and doubt to me.

Doubt keeps us from going for the promotion that we certainly would have gotten had we gone for it; from asking for the big order that the next person got because they asked; from making positive and long lasting changes in our life because they “rock the boat.”

Fear causes us to make weak and irrational decisions that sell out our future for the sake of today. It takes our happiness, our sleep, our very life.

For the “patient” who finally admits they have a disease, there are cures for doubt and fear.

In her outstanding book, Conquer Fear!, Lisa Jimenez lists “The Seven Truths” that can help us overcome fear:

“Truth #1
Fear is the dominant problem in your life today.

Truth #2
Fear is a gift that was instilled in you as a means of protection and a way to bring you closer to God.

Truth #3
When you run from or deny your fear, you leave the gift unopened.

Truth #4
When your fear of success or fear of failure is exposed, you break through their control over you.

Truth #5
Your belief system is the driving force behind your behaviors and your results.

Truth #6
Your everyday habits are broadcasting your belief system, your fear, and your unmet needs loud and clear.

Truth #7
Change your beliefs and you change your behaviors.
Change your behaviors and you change your results.
Change your results and you change your life.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

“As a being of thought, your dominant mental attitude will determine your condition in life…Thought is causal and creative, and appears in your character and life in the form of results.” – Above Life’s Turmoil

In his outstanding book, The Miracle of Right Thought, Orison Swett Marden has a great chapter entitled “Working For One Thing and Expecting Something Else.” It very neatly explains why many of us get the results we do despite our desire for better.

“To be ambitious for wealth and yet always expecting to be poor, to be always doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying to reach East by traveling West. There is no philosophy which will help a person to succeed when he is always doubting his ability to do so, and thus attracting failure.”

When you are faced with a difficult circumstance do you expect the worst or expect the best? Both Allen and Marden tell us that whatever we expect we attract. If it’s your habit to always expect the worst you’re simply adding fuel to the fire, creating more negative circumstances that will create more negative expectations on your part.

And it is a habit. At some point in your life (and it may have been many years ago) you began to expect the worst. Eventually it became a habit. Want to change your results? Change your habit of expectation. Learn to expect the best.

Negative expectations are really nothing more than a manifestation of fear, so look the fear in the face. What is the worst that could happen? Is there some action you can take that will change it? If so, take the action — nothing conquers fear faster than action. If no action on your part will change it, then have the Faith that you will handle the outcome. That thought alone is a positive expectation. Take to heart the ages old wisdom that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

In the final analysis, always expecting the worst is living a life in fear. Always expecting the best is living a life in Faith. As the ancient writer Paul noted, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” And Marden described the power of Faith in The Miracle of Right Thought: “Faith is the bed rock upon which all other foundation stones in every great character rest. Thus the person who has an invincible faith in his mission, an unconquerable faith in himself and his God, has power in the world.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

“A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not another man’s. They are brought about by himself and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His sufferings and his happiness are evolved from within.” – As A Man Thinketh

How often it is we find ourselves attempting to change someone else’s life. Usually it’s someone close to us — someone we hold near and dear like a spouse, a child or a sibling. Our intentions are generally good and aimed at making life better for someone we care about.

But, oh, how next to impossible it is to control someone else’s life. And so painful!! Wayne Dyer writes that most of our suffering in relationships is tied to the failure of other people to meet our expectations; of them failing to do what we think is right for them (or that satisfies us).

I have been helping my 16-year-old, who will be a high school senior this year, plan for college. My experience and knowledge suggests a path for him that I think best utilizes his talents and gifts. But it is not a path that he wants to pursue — and no amount of persuasion on my part will change that. It is frustrating — and somewhat painful — for me to deal with that. As parents, we always want the best for our children — at least what we think is best.

However, I must allow my son to go down the path he has chosen, with full knowledge that “his condition is his own, and not another man’s.” And that ultimately “his sufferings and his happiness are evolved from within.” While I can offer him advice, my best help will be by becoming the best example I can be of James Allen’s teachings.

We can directly measure our progress down our path by how detached we can become when the direction of another’s life conflicts with what we think is best for them. When we can act with the assurance that they must follow their own path just as we must follow ours, we will have taken a great leap in our personal growth.

Should we have high expectations of those who are close to us? Absolutely! As Denis Waitley says, “Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You may not get what you want, but in the long run you will get what you expect.” So how do we handle it when others don’t do as we’d like? In the words of Wayne Dyer, “love them for what they choose to be regardless of your opinion about what they choose.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

“To dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor.” As A Man Thinketh

This may be the hardest of all principles for me to practice on a daily basis. It seems those days that don’t get off on the right foot sometimes get worse and worse. First, there’s a technical problem with one of your websites and people can’t access it. Then your phone system is knocked out by lightning for the third time in a year. It wasn’t Mother Nature that I had the harmful thoughts toward, it was the local phone company who didn’t want to send out a technician on my schedule. And on, and on.

In the end, it was me who was harmed by the thoughts I directed at these faceless and innocent victims. Whether by the Law of Attraction or the Law of Sowing and Reaping, it is impossible to give without getting in return – when you give out thoughts of anger, frustration or ill will, they are certain to be returned to you.

I love this quote from John Kanary’s book Breaking Through Limitations:

“If I knew you and you knew me,
and each of us could clearly see,
the meaning of your heart and mine,
I’m sure that we would differ less,
we’d clasp our hands in friendliness,
if I knew you and you knew me.”

As John says, we’re a whole lot more alike than we are different. The same wants, needs, loves and hurts. Truly understanding that will help us to dwell in thoughts of peace towards others.

In Above Life’s Turmoil, one of the books of the James Allen Trilogy, Allen writes, “The man who thinks hateful thoughts brings hatred upon himself. The man who thinks loving thoughts is loved…The man who sows wrong thoughts and deeds, and prays that God will bless him, is in the position of a farmer who, having sown tares, asks God to bring forth for him a harvest of wheat. He who would be blest, let him scatter blessings. He who would be happy, let him consider the happiness of others.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

“All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought.” – As A Man Thinketh

Have you ever heard the expression that most people spend more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives? I would expand that expression by adding that most people spend more time “thinking” about their vacation than they do thinking about what’s important in their life.

While rest and relaxation are a must in living a balanced life, it’s not what we were created to do. After all, the Master Creator took his R&R on the seventh day, only after six days of “definitely directed thought.”

Wallace D. Wattles wrote “There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work in the world.” And yet it is the first and primary labor of achievement.

Have you given some “definitely directed thought” to your life’s purpose or your personal mission statement? Is it written down? Do you review it and think about it often? Is your life organized around your purpose and a set of goals that support that purpose? Are the actions you take everyday in harmony with your purpose?

Without purpose and goals – definitely directed thought – you are like the proverbial “ship without a rudder,” wandering everywhere while going nowhere. There is power in your purpose and in your goals. It is the power that takes you over obstacles, the fuel that propels you toward the life you envision. As Bob Proctor says, “Purpose gives meaning to WHY you’re doing what you’re doing.”
And that’s worth thinking about.