15 July, 2009

What Says You?




An excerpt from

The Strangest Secret

by Earl Nightingale

George Bernard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."

Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing... he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision.

We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant.

Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds-one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

Remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants - one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant it must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

Life is Good!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

helow sou do Brasil, sejam my friends

blushing rose said...

Oh, how I wish I had had G B Shaw's passage a few days ago. That says it all very poignantly & profoundly. TYSM That made my day ... TTFN ~Marydon

Cheryl said...

A great post!

*karendianne. said...

That's why sometimes I like to say to myself "Let me think like God thinks" over and over -> because when I open my mind to what God might be thinking it opens up the flood gates to possibilities. ...and I don't even need my Complaint Free Bracelet (which actually I never did get but should because I don't always remember to "Let me think like God thinks")

Quiltdivajulie said...

Why I love the beautiful colors in my quilt studio more than the often-contentious words on the computer screen that I deal with from 8-5...

Wonderful post, Mrs. G!

Rebag said...

So True!! thanks for such inspiration

Tanya said...

This is SO true! And I think especially about what we decide to teach our little ones instead of just letting society plant seeds for us.
I'm back from a month of non-blog visiting. I've read through your posts this month and had a good time visiting with you again!