THE GREATEST REVOLUTION OF OUR GENERATION, wrote the psychologist William James, is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
Never a truer word, as they say. Life, so often, is a matter of perspective; of how you look at – or think about things.
Think of your husband, or your wife, or your lover, or your partner or your friend, or your son or your daughter as a world class superstar and you’ll be doing a great deal to bring their best qualities out of them. Think of any of them as drains upon your time, resources or freedoms and you’ll find that not only they but you, too, are as good as in prison.
Think of whatever you do and of the people you do it with as the worst, the most uninspiring and badly paid in the world and, guess what? As if by magic you’ll be living in the miserable world you’ve created.
But when we change the thought pattern, when we think positively about the people and the environment around us the world becomes a place filled with new delights and joys just waiting to be discovered.
Love a great deal and you’ll recognise that you yourself are loved a great deal.
Live life to the full and you’ll find that there’s no shortage of it to be lived.
The scientists tell us today that reality is bigger than our ability to perceive and since it grows forever in complexity it will probably always outstretch our imaginations and outwit our intelligence.
Now I find that exciting. The thought that there’s always something new and wonderful to live for, to learn and to reach out to … all that speaks to me of God and of an everlasting, loving goodness.
Retreat into your shell and complain about the world and you’ll find that others retreat into theirs whenever you do venture out into the highways and byways. Life mirrors our own thoughts and behaviours right back to us. Come out into God’s world, fresh every morning, and you begin to understand William James: “Human beings”, he said “by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, change the outer aspects of their lives.” You know, I’m going to give that another try.
PURE FM 107.8 – Thought for the Day
