You are what you think, not what you think you are
“You are what you think, but not necessarily what you think you are.” — Chapter 7 from the book Your Forces and How to Use Them drives home this point very well. Worth a read. Excerpts from this chapter:
Scientific research in the metaphysical field has demonstrated the fact that man is as he thinks, that he becomes what he thinks, and that what he thinks in the present, determines what he is to become in the future; and also that since he can change his thought for the better along any line, he can therefore completely change himself along any line. But the majority who try to apply this law do not succeed to a great degree, the reason being that instead of working entirely upon the principle that man is as he thinks, they proceed in the belief that man is what he thinks he is.
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Man may think that he is great, but so long as he continues to think small thoughts, he will continue to be small. No matter how high an opinion he may have of himself, while he is living in the superficial, his thoughts will be empty, and empty thoughts are not conducive to high attainments and great achievements. Man becomes great when he thinks great thoughts…
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You may think that you are well, but you will not secure health until you think thoughts that produce health. You may persistently affirm that you are well, but so long as you live in discord, confusion, worry, fear and other wrong states of mind, you will be sick; that is, you will be as you think and not what you think you are. You may state health in your thought, but if you give worry, fear and discord to that thought, your thinking will produce discord. It is not what we state in our thoughts, but what we give to our thoughts that determine results.
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Your opinion of your mental capacity may be great, but if your idea of intelligence is crude, your intelligence-producing thought will also be crude, and can produce only crude intelligence. It is therefore evident that to simply think that you are brilliant will not produce brilliancy, unless your understanding of brilliancy is made larger, higher and finer. … When your thinking is brilliant, you will be brilliant, but if your thinking is not brilliant you will not be brilliant, no matter how brilliant you may think you are.
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When you think that you are beautiful, you are liable to think that you are more beautiful than others, and such a thought is not a beautiful thought. To recognize or criticise ugliness and inferiority in others is to create the inferior and the ugly in yourself, and what you create in yourself will sooner or later be expressed through your mind and personality.
(emphasis mine)
Your Forces and How to Use Them, as the name suggests, is a ‘personal development’ book from Christian D. Larson. A highly underrated book and an underrated author in my opinion. The book can be read online at sacred-texts.com — http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/yfhu/index.htm
Read more quotes by Christian D. Larson.
Truthful words:
…’When your thinking is brilliant, you will be brilliant, but if your thinking is not brilliant you will not be brilliant, no matter how brilliant you may think you are…’
A wonderful post.Thanks for sharing.
God bless.
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Indeed, they are truthful words. This idea, “You are what you think, but not necessarily what you think you are”, has opened me to new truths and that’s why I thought I will share it here. Thanks much for your presence and comments!
Awesome post. I had never heard of this book nor the author.
I found As a Man Thinketh by James Allen a little over a year ago. It has a very similar thought presented in it that had a resounding impact on me.
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”
And it all starts with a thought.
Thank you for reminding me and inspiring me to re-read it,
teevee
Yes teevee, it all starts with a thought. The book by James Allen is a very good book too. In fact, I have been in the habit of checking out more such public domain ‘personal development’ books of late, so watch out for more such posts and quotes in this blog.