As a WoMAN Thinketh, So is She

"A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts."

One of my favorite books is As A Man Thinketh. I read it first when I was a teenager and it has resurfaced several times in my life at learning crossroads. Last night it made it's way onto my night stand and into my hands. I needed the empowerment it provided and the reminder of the challenge to better control and use my thoughts. A reminder that I am the master of my mind and that so much of what happens in my days is a result of my perception, attitude, and desires. The power is in [us] wherein [we] are agents unto [ourselves]

"to live continually in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be in a self-made prison hole. But to think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all-such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor"(As A Man Thinketh-James Allen)

...and from a greater source

"I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and problems of life, and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life we concentrate on the positive. I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we halt the sounds of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort... What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that spreads through our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was inclined to speak critically of people or events, my father would say: 'Pessimists do not contribute, unbelievers do not create, doubters do not achieve'."(First Presidency Message,The Continuing Search for Truth-By President Gordon B. Hinckley)


Here's to being an optimistic contributor, believing creator and hopeful achiever...to the life long- moment by moment- journey of making my thoughts fit for the portals of heaven.