Develop Self Confidence: God's Glorious Creation
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 today 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.
Leigh Everett