James Allen's book As a man thinketh is known as one of the most foundational books in self-improvement and that is because this book stressed on one idea. An idea is so important that if you implement it fully in your life, your life will transform and become the ideal life you dream of, the fundamental idea of this book is that your life is literally shaped by your thoughts
James tells us that every thought you have is like a small seed you plant in your garden and if you plant negative seeds in your mind you will get negative results but if you plant positive thoughts in your mind you will get positive results
but one thing is for sure your garden whether you like it or not will give you something that's why it's your job to go inside your mind and make sure that the thoughts they are positive and aligned with the aim you have in your life and remove the weed-like thoughts that will not help you.
so in this Article, I'm going to share with you the five main lessons that I got from this book:
5 Powerful Life Lessons From As a Man Thinketh
Effect of Thought on Circumstances
James gives us an example of three people to show us that no matter what situation you are in life your thoughts are responsible for it, the first is a very poor man who is extremely anxious and wants to improve his surroundings and his life and yet all the time he complains about his work and feels justified to lie to his boss in order to get a higher salary this man does not realize that not only will he never be able to get out of his situation by having such a negative attitude he is actually digging himself a deeper hole
The second is a wealthy man who has a very painful disease and he will pay large sums of money to get rid of it but he will not give up his desire for unhealthy food he's not even willing to give up his thoughts that lead him to eat unhealthy food and therefore he will never be able to cure his disease no matter how much money he has.
The third example is that of a businessman who does not pay his employees fair wages and does nothing to make sure that they are happy safe and secure when his business eventually goes bankrupt and he's not able to find anyone to work for him he blames the economy and other external factors but what he does not realize is that he himself had caused all the problems.
James Allen tells us that our situation does not make us it only reveals us.
A lot of people believe that because they're going through a tough time they have the license to act badly people think it's okay if I smoke now because I'm under a lot of stress at work or it's okay to watch a movie all day and waste your time because everyone's in lockdown.
Always remember this your situations only reveal your true character, if your character is being a very lazy person then in a challenging situation you will become lazy however if you're mentally strong on the inside then whenever you face a challenging situation you will shine.
if you ever want to improve your situation always ask yourself this question first how can I improve my thoughts?
Do you always think about how you wish you were smarter or you wish that you were just a little bit luckier etc?
Well these are the thoughts that will keep you in the same situation but if you start thinking about how every morning you're going to be grateful for what you have and you're going to do everything you can to purify your thoughts and actions then you will be able to handle any problem you face
Thoughts and purpose
According to James Allen until thought is linked to a higher purpose you will never be able to achieve any big accomplishment to explain this let me give you an example
let's say there's a girl who wants to get into the Olympics but she doesn't really have a strong purpose she tries to keep positive thoughts and works out very hard but every time a small problem comes she gets disappointed in spite of working very hard when she doesn't get selected for the Olympic team she gets very sad and finds it hard to keep going on the other hand, there's another girl who also wants to get into the Olympics but she has a higher purpose of making her country proud whenever she faces any problem all she is able to think about is her purpose and she keeps going
if she doesn't get selected on her first attempt she keeps going because she has her higher purpose in mind even if she never gets selected she will still find a way to make a country proud because that was a purpose any amount of positive thoughts will not result in anything unless you channel that towards a purpose but
what if you can't find your purpose and it feels like it's too big of a question to ask yourself?
well in that case, James Allen tells us to do our work as best as we can whatever work you have in front of you whether it's studying or working with boring Excel sheets do it to the best of your ability this way you will be able to focus your thoughts towards a useful goal
but what if you feel it's just too hard to keep your thoughts clean and positive all the time that's okay just like when someone is physically weak it takes time for them to become strong it's the same thing with your mind but
through practice, over time you can change how you think and that will change your actions which will change your life.
Thought factor in achievement
James Allen tells us that before a man can achieve anything he must give up his slavish animal desires he may not have to give up all of it but at least some of it to achieve any results if a man wants to start a business because he thinks that he can drive big cars and go to parties and meet girls etc such a man will never be able to think clearly enough to create a business anyway
it's only when you put your animal desires aside and keep your purpose in mind that you will have the clarity of thought to do the things you need to do it can also happen that a person can achieve a lot of success in this world and even in the spiritual world
but fall prey again to animal thoughts and selfish desires and then descend back down again and lose everything they built so even after you achieve what you want you always have to stay vigilant and monitor your thoughts and remember there is no achievement without sacrifice and the most basic sacrifice that we all can make is to give up our confused animal desires.
Visions and Ideals
In my opinion, this is the most powerful point made in this book James Allen tells us that dreamers saved the world every big accomplishment of humanity always started out as someone's dream putting a man on the moon was once a dream until we made it a reality.
similarly now Elon Musk dreams of putting humans on Mars, James Allen tells us to keep this vision alive in our hearts he gives us an example of a poor boy who's working in a dirty workshop and has to work very long hours but in his heart, he has a vision of one day becoming educated living in a
big house and changing the world as long as he keeps that vision alive at some point the workshop will not be able to contain him and he will move closer to his vision through his actions the vision and ideal you have in your heart is the most precious thing you have because one day this will become you.
serenity calmness of the mind
It is one of the main results of wisdom it is the result of long and patient self-control if you ever meet a monk the first thing you will notice is how calmly they speak the more you learn to give up your animal desires the calmer you become the more you achieve because of that calmness other people gravitate towards a calm person
and you can give strength to them and inspire them even an ordinary businessman will find that he's more successful when he's calm because people will always prefer to deal with someone who's calm so to summarize this book your thoughts literally shape your life.
1. They affect your circumstances
2. These thoughts will only result in something if you have a purpose
3. To achieve anything you have to give up your animal desires
4. your vision is the most precious thing you have
5. once you purify your thoughts you will become calm which will further help you in everything in life.
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