“A person is buffeted by circumstances so long as
he believes himself to be the creature of outside conditions”
(James Allen, As A Man Thinketh)
One of the great
weaknesses of our society today is the growing attitude of victimization. Many
people claim themselves to be victims of some outside force. “I don’t know
the story of the Bible because my pastor doesn’t teach me…”; “If that driver hadn’t
pulled out in front of me…”; “I am like this because of my parents…”
When we are victims of
circumstances, or as James Allen says, a “creature of outside conditions,”
we have no power. We have given over the power in our life to the
circumstances. The longer we give power to our circumstances the worst our
circumstances become. In his other book, Above Life’s Turmoil, Allen
writes, “You imagine your circumstances as being separate from yourself, but
they are intimately related to your thought world. Nothing appears without an
adequate cause.”
To get control of our
circumstances we must first acknowledge personal responsibility for being where
we are. That was the hardest part for me because the ‘victim’ in all of us
doesn’t want to take that responsibility.
When we take responsibility,
we must then take control of our thoughts. And, yes, in the beginning, that can
be hard. It seems sometimes that it’s our nature to first think negatively. But
that’s just because it’s the habit we’ve developed. And like any habit, it can change
by replacing it with the habit of thinking the right way.
Emmet Fox once writes: “You
are not happy because you are well. You are well because you are happy. You are
not depressed because the trouble has come to you, but trouble has come because
you are depressed. You can change your thoughts and feelings, and then the
outer things will change to correspond, and indeed there is no other way of
working.” Think about it!
THINK BIG. START
SMALL. GO DEEP.
References:
1. As A Man Thinketh (1903) by James Allen
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