As a Man Thinketh (As a Man Thinks)
by James Allen

I just finished reading the book, As a Man Thinketh. And then I skimmed through it again. It was worth reading. It was wonderful.

(Src-Photobucket) As a Man Thinks is a book about really changing your thoughts

What Does the Author Talk About Essentially?

Essentially, Allen says - everything that is happening in your life and mine (circumstances, achievements, all actions) is because of the thoughts we are thinking all day. Everything - job, relationships, happiness, pain, winning, losing - all is because of our thoughts, he says.

Now you may say - if everything is because of thoughts - why don’t we feel it to be that way? Why do we feel at times that we are not lucky, that sometimes other people have a lot of control over our lives, that someone is cheating us? Why doesn’t life appear to be fair - if it was all so simple - with whatever you think, happening?

Because, says James Allen, we are not aware of our thoughts. We do not know what we think all day. If we only knew, he says, then we would realize that our life sucks because we are thinking - ‘my life sucks, my life sucks’ all day. And so do not assume that you know your thoughts, he says. Observe them. And then if you change them gradually - you will automatically create any circumstance you want by changing them.

Interesting isn’t it? Here are some quotes from the book that blew me over.

Master Quotes from As a Man Thinketh

*“Men do not attract what they want, but what they are.”

*“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.”

*“Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.”

*“ Man is..unconsciously the cause of his circumstances, and that, whilst aiming at a good end, he is continually frustrating its accomplishment by encouraging thoughts and desires which cannot possible harmonize with that end.”

*“The circumstances which a man encounters with his suffering are the result of his own mental disharmony.”

*“Men imagine that thought can be kept secret but it cannot ; it rapidly crystallizes into habit and habit solidifies into circumstance.”

*“The world is your Kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colors, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you, are exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever moving thoughts.”

*“Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment.”

*“As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts, can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.”

*“You cannot travel within and stand without.”

How Did As a Man Thinketh Affect Me?

The one ‘aha’ moment that As a Man Thinketh gave me was when I realized that I may indeed not be aware of what I was thinking all day. How could I not be aware of what I was thinking all day? But what if I really wasn’t? What if I was creating circumstances I did not want by thinking crap all day and did not even know it? That was unnerving.

Very recently I detected these two things in me:

1 Many, many times, I abused myself by denying to myself my needs and going out of the way to help friends. This might be wonderful at times, but doing it always, giving myself low priority always, did not make me feel good. For example I would skip working on this website which I loved, to simply accompany a friend on a pleasure trip where my presence would not make a difference at all and which I did not want to go for deep down. It was deeply ingrained in me that this is what I “should” be doing. And I felt unhappy about it in the end.

Had I continued with this belief, I would keep abusing myself to do what I “should” be doing and then keep feeling not good. And like all of us, I would blame circumstances when I would feel bad.

But the actual culprit was the belief that I “should” be abusing myself all the time to help my friend in the smallest possible way!

The moment I became aware of this belief, I smiled at how I was creating circumstances by thinking thoughts that were not nice for me.

So I gave up the disempowering belief and felt very, very happy.

2 Some time after having read the book, I found myself dwelling in the past - a bit too much. Like I would be eating food in a restaurant and replaying yesterday’s events and conversations in my mind again and again, sometimes not even savoring the food. This made me feel confused and muddled. And in such a frame of mind, like all of us, I would blame my circumstances for not feeling good.

Then I suddenly realized that I could enjoy my food and savor the surrounding ambience of the restaurant without having to play any movies in my head! And I felt very fresh, and smiled at the waiter like this - :). So instantly as I became aware of how I was thinking things I did not want to think about, I let go.

And as soon as I let go of dwelling too much on what had happened yesterday, today morning and a couple of centuries ago, I felt so much better!

These were 2 examples of how I was thinking thoughts without knowing I was thinking them and the thoughts wee effecting my life circumstances.

How could you observe your thoughts more and actually choose them and then change them to what you really want them to be? As a Man Thinketh might make you ask yourself this question. Then you can read the article negative thoughts which talks specifically about the answer to this question. :)

There’s no doubt, that if you read As a Man Thinketh with unwavering concentration, it will give you your own life changing ‘aha’ moments. There is also a pretty good chance that you might gain more insights about who you are and what you are doing here.

Where Could You Buy As a Man Thinketh?

Amazon is an excellent option for the Paperback or Kindle versions. If you are from India though, you could buy the book from Flipkart. An online version is available for free here .

Reading As a Man Thinketh can be fun and insightful. Why not read it? I mean, why not? :)

As a Man Thinks: Related Stuff

A summary of The Little Prince - a book that connects you back with your innocence

A law of attraction book that influenced me: Ask and It is Given

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo - a fable about following your dreams

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