The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
Genre- Self Help Book
Publishing Year- 1952
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale was on the New York Times Best Sellers list for almost 186 weeks. The title of the book is intriguing and this could be the reason why the book sold more than 5 million copies. Without wasting anymore time, lets understand what the book “The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale” is all about.
For better explanation, the book is divided into 17 main chapters. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale emphasises on how with the help of positive thinking, we can live out life in a better manner. Through self believe and trust in God, we can achieve anything. It is the pathway of our happiness and success.
What Will You Get After Reading The Book?
- It clearly explains the importance of positive thinking
- With positive thinking, we can have peace of mind
- Health issues are dealt properly
- We have to trust God and believe in ourselves
- Nothing can stop us if we have faith
Chapter 1
Believe in Yourself — To develop positive thinking, we must first and foremost have faith and belief in ourselves, our abilities. Author says that people who are less confident about themselves tend to think the other way round and generate negative thoughts. Thus in order to attract positive feelings or thoughts, we must feel confident about ourselves.
Now the question is how we can have self confidence or self belief?
Well, in the book The Power of Positive Thinking, author Norman Vincent Peale suggests certain exercises which we can do. People should try this affirmation before sleeping and after getting up “I can do anything with the strength that I have got from God”. Norman suggests that we should be happy and content with what we have. Be it our looks, appearance, knowledge, family or anything. We should never assume ourselves lesser than others.
Chapter 2
A peaceful mind generates power — Human mind can be in peace if it is powerful. But how to give it peace? Well, the answer is simple. We can make our mind peaceful by cleaning it up on a regular basis. If any issue or problem is making the mind vulnerable then the author suggests that we should share it with someone we trust. We can also write our problems / anything that is worrying us on a piece of paper to empty the burden that our mind is carrying.
Remember, only a peaceful mind will only be able to generate power and positivity.
Here, in the chapter of the books The Power of Positive Thinking, there is a GO-TO-SLEEP plan, whereby the author speaks about thanking God for all his gratefulness.
Chapter 3
How to have constant energy — In this chapter the author explains the basic rule of tit for tat i.e. what we feed our mind, our body will react to it accordingly. We must understand that everything around us has a rhythm and those who understand it and mix it are always able to attract positivity and work better.
Chapter 4
Try prayer power — We all know that God is the source / creator of all the energies. This fact is used by the author in the book to which he further adds that in order to attract positivity we should use the “Prayer Therapy”. This helps us in getting a healthy mind, body as well as soul.
For those who are beginners and don’t know how to pray, you can follow-
Author Norman says that when we pray, we are dealing with the greatest power. Hence, the results are sure to be positive.
Chapter 5
How to create your own happiness — In this book, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, we have two choices i.e. be happy or be unhappy. We will get what we choose. According to author, to make ourselves happy, we must start our day with positive affirmations like-
Chapter 6
Stop fuming and fretting — Author says that by thinking negatively, we have made our lives complicated and difficult. This leads to lower energy generation. Remember that a negative person cannot be happy.
Chapter 7
Expect the best and get it — There is a saying that “learn to expect not to doubt”. Adding to it, the author says that when you expect the worst, you get worse. This means, we must think good at all times and with full faith. The Power of Positive Thinking book says we must remember four formulas i.e. Faith, Power, Works and Wonders.
Chapter 8
I don’t believe in defeat — Main reason why we can not do anything is because we obstruct ourselves mentally. We must remove mental hurdles. we must think positive in whatever we do. The author says, “A clear engine always delivers power so does a mind”. According to the author, we must make our mind believe that “I don’t believe in defeat”.
Chapter 9
How to break the worry habit — Worry is unhealthy for both mind and body. Author says following on how to stop worrying? 1- Trust that we can do anything with God’s help and 2- We must empty our mind and refill it with faith, hope and courage.
Chapter 10
The power to solve personal problems — Problems are with everyone. Author says that when are in any problem God is always around us. Hence to think positive we must consider that God as our partner in everything we do.
Chapter 11
How to use faith in healing — Faith is considered as the unseen hand of God. Studies suggest that in order to heal health, we must have faith.
Chapter 12
When vitality sags, try the health formula — Author says that the main cause of health issues has certain contributing factors like hate, jealousy, anger, irritation. If we control these, we can remain healthy. Thus, we must fill our mind with faith, love, goodwill and forgiveness.
Chapter 13
Inflow of new thoughts can remake you — Power of thoughts can not be avoided. Experts suggest that we can achieve anything with our thoughts. It is said “we are what we think”. Thus in this chapter of the book The Power of Positive Thinking, the author suggests that we must flush out old and tired thoughts from our mind.
Chapter 14
Relax for easy power — In our day-to-day life we all have tension, stress, lack of sleep and other health related issues. This ultimately leads to unhappiness. Thus the author suggests that we must slow down our daily lives and drain out the empty thoughts. We must think about God and thank God for all the things we have.
Chapter 15
How to get people to like you — Author says that we cannot make everyone like / love us. People have choices. What we should do is, try not to be bothered about that. Accept everyone as they are instead of criticising them.
Chapter 16
Prescription for heartache — We must try to find a solution to our problems i.e. we must get ourselves busy in any physical activity to think otherwise. Sometimes we can cry to decrease our heartache (this shouldn’t be done on a regular basis). Avoid sitting and thinking for a longer period.
Chapter 17
How to draw upon that higher power — We must have a positive attitude towards everything. Then only we can be happy.
This book “The Power of Positive Thinking” is definitely a read for all those who are having a tough time in their lives and want some changes. Although this book doesn’t need any recommendation yet I would suggest everyone should read it once in their lifetime. It will surely leave greater impact that you think.
Originally published at https://www.bookishmb.com.
