Here you will learn Self Confidence, Building Self Confidence ,build Self Confidence
Page 11 of
83.
Chapter
IV
THE POWER OF RIGHT THINKING
We should not apologize to ourselves. A sense of the dignity of life, and the
sovereignty of the soul, should keep us strong and positive. We should be too
big for the little habit of excuse-making. Self-depreciation never won a single
battle of life. It has, on the contrary, killed ambition, weakened the will,
and incapacitated thousands of men for noble work. Apology is weakness on
parade. Avoid it. Observe some man who comes toward you, walking with short,
jerky steps, his dress careless, the corners of his mouth turned down, keeping
well to one side of the walk. As he passes, he gives you a hasty, frightened
glance, which tells you unmistakably of despair, discouragement, and failure.
The man's whole life probably has been negative in its character and outlook.
The daily, and perhaps hourly, streams of false suggestions poured into his mind
have at last overwhelmed him and his life closes in an eclipse.
Many a man tormented by fear and timidity does not realize what a flood of
negative thoughts daily affects him. He hedges himself in with suggestions of
limitation, incapacity, and unworthiness. He constantly thinks not of how he
will succeed, but of how he will surely fail. When Washington Irving was asked
to preside at a public dinner to Charles Dickens, upon his visit to America, he
hesitated and said he would surely fail. It was pointed out to him that he was
really the man properly to direct that high function, and at last was prevailed
upon to accept. But to many friends he repeated his fear that he would fail. The
night came, and before a brilliant gathering Irving arose to speak. He made an
excellent beginning, but suddenly stopped and brought his remarks to a close. As
he sat down, he whispered to a friend on his left, "There, I told you I would
fail, and I did!"
In developing the habit of positive thinking--of seeing only the best in
yourself and others--of regarding yourself as capable of great things--it is
well to bear in mind that our thoughts really make us what we are. What you did
yesterday makes you what you are to-day, and what you do to-day determines what
you will be tomorrow. Suppose you put these practical questions to yourself:
Does negative thinking pay? Is it desirable for me to encourage thoughts in my
mind that break down, hinder, and incapacitate me for good work? Do I want
negative thoughts that inevitably bring discontent, unhappiness, and ultimate
failure in their train?
Your answer will be, of course, that you do not want them. But such thoughts
work insidiously, and will find an entrance into your mind if you are not
extremely vigilant. The surest way to keep them out, however, is to fill the
mind completely with vital positive thoughts, to think constantly of yourself as
a man of unlimited possibilities, growing daily in mental and spiritual power,
equipped for great things, a necessary part of God's glorious creation, and
moving forward toward a triumphant and immortal destiny.
It is difficult to construct positive thoughts out of the poor stuff from which
dreams are made. A man should devote himself particularly to the practical
things of life. Some men learn this lesson all too late, for, as Thoreau says,
'' Youth gets together the materials for a bridge to the moon, and maturity uses
them to build a wood-shed."
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