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An article which appeared in Life Positive Magazine on How to Change you Life & achieve Success in every sphere of Life. The Power & application of the Law of Attraction. History of Success Principles. By Dilpreet Singh, New Delhi, [email protected]TRANSCRIPT
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From the start of this century, there
have been two topics that have attract-
ed attention in the media as well as in
books. They are terrorism, and positive
thinking and living.
Although both are 180 degrees from
each other, there is an inherent correlation
between both, which I will point out later.
Presently my focus is on positive thinking,
which leads to positive living.
Positive thinking entered the mainstream
in India from 2003 onwards on account of
one book, which has gained massive popu-
larity and created a shift in anyone who has
had the opportunity to read it. The book
is The Secret, written by Rhonda Byrne. A
phenomenal best-seller everywhere in the
world, it brought even those not acquainted
with spiritual truth to the notice of the fun-
damental laws that govern the universe, and
that determine our health, happiness and
success. Indeed, even before the book was
made, came the video, a powerful and effec-
tive piece of communication that made its
message accessible even to those not given
to reading books. In addition, the video
was recently translated into Hindi, and
is readily available at leading music stores
and bookshops, enabling it to penetrate
deep into the minds of Everyman.
The basic premise of positive thinking
revolves around thought. It arises from the
understanding that ‘thoughts are made of
energy (matter).’ This revolutionary insight
has also been scientifically proved with the
help of sensitive instruments such as EEG
and MRI, that have traced the impact of
thoughts on our mental and physical being
revalues around.
Positive thinking in its modern avatar
(i.e. freed from religious beliefs or practices)
got its start in America during the Great
Depression. The stock market crash of
1929 led to the worst financial crisis of the
twentieth century. People lost their life sav-
ings, businesses closed, and unemployment
rose to 25 per cent. In the middle of the
Depression, two classic books on positive
thinking promised to change everything:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
(1936) by Dale Carnegie, and Napoleon
Hill’s all-time classic, Think and Grow Rich.
Dale Carnegie’s book focused on humani-
tarian ways of dealing with people in
the industrial age, but it was Hill’s book,
Think and Grow Rich which truly focused
on the concept of positive thinking and the
power of thought.
It can easily be said that the initial footing
or base that popularised the concept of pos-
itive thinking and the power of thought, was
provided by Napoleon Hill. It is said that in
the days of the Depression, every business-
man, especially the leaders of corporations,
carried Hill’s book, and distributed copies
to his employees to boost their morale.
Though Napoleon Hill was one of the key
influences, positive thinking as a concept
goes even further back, promoted by several
authors, previously obscure, but enjoying a
the secret has popularized the concept of positive thinking
all over the world, including india. where did it originate
from and what are the guiding principles that will enable
us to determine our own destiny?
by Dilpreet Singh
revival of interest currently in the wake of
The Secret’s overwhelming popularity.
Early exponentsJames Allen was one of the early authors of
the 19th century whose famous contribu-
tion to the world of Thought and Success
was his book, As a Man Thinketh, which was
published in the early 1900s. The essence of
the book was that ‘a man is literally what
he thinks, his character being the complete
sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs
from, and could not be without, the seed,
so every act of a man springs from the hid-
den seeds of thought, and could not have
appeared without them.’
As a Man Thinketh, is written in old style
English, and it may take some time to absorb
its message, but patience will pay.
The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace
Delois Wattles, is a classic that remains in
the forefront of motivation and success lit-
erature. Written in the early 1900s, it dwarfs
the other books he has written.
Its popularity may have something to do
with the motivation with which he wrote
it. The book, he said, was “intended for the
men and women whose most pressing need
is for money; who wish to get rich first, and
philosophise afterward. It is pragmatical,
not philosophical; a practical manual, not a
lot of theory. It is for those who have, so far,
found neither the time or the means, nor
the opportunity to go deeply into the study
of metaphysics, but who want prosperous
results and who are willing to take the con-
clusions of science as a basis for action.”
Wallace asserts, “The science herein
applied is an exact science, and failure is
impossible” and I thoroughly agree with
it. If there is one book you want to read
or start with, I highly recommend this
one. In fact, if you Google on the net,
there are a few sites that are offering it free
of cost, in the form of an e-book, as long
as you register with them or subscribe
to their newsletter.
The French pharmacist Emile Coue
(1857-1926) is another pillar of positive
thinking who introduced the concept of
autosuggestion as a method for applying
positive thinking in life. Coue is known
as the forefather of all inspirational writ-
ers and self-help authors, and the inventor
of autosuggestion. A hypnotist, he had his
patients repeat the affirmation, “Every day
in every way I am getting better and better,”
20 times, using a string with 20 knots to
tick off the repetitions. He called the mind
a sublime instrument to decide a person’s
destiny. It is said with just these words, he
was able to cure those patients, who had lost
all hope from medical science.
In the 1950s, several authors provided
a Christian version of positive thinking.
Illustration: Doll�� Dasil�a
june 2009l i f e p o s i t i v e26
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Water ��our thoughts and gather a bouquet!
Foremost in this field was the Rev. Norman
Vincent Peale (1898-1993), founder of
Guideposts magazine. Peale called his best-sell-
ing 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking.
Although positive thinking is usually secular in
nature, Peale created a Christian version of the
new thought philosophy.
Though of a religious bent, overall it is an
excellent book, highlighting the basic concept
and methodology of changing your life for the
better. In addition to this, there are a series of
other books, which too are correlated with the
same concept. Some of his other books have
elaborated on the various techniques to cultivate
positive thought, such as imaging for instance.
The book and movie, The Se-cret, sparked off my journey
into positive thinking. On reading how peoples’ lives had changed by changing their thought patterns, I too was inspired to try it out.
It worked! I will be taking up the job of my dreams in a month’s time. I had a very strong de-sire to do something spiritual, and I discovered that I was good at writing. During the last two months I kept visualising myself doing spiritual writing. I even wrote a resignation letter to my boss and colleagues in my present job as engineer (although I didn’t send it to them!). I went for all the workshops I could get my hands on, energy workshops, meditations, even Vipassana. Then I started writing short articles, so that I could get a job if someone liked them. The path unfolded itself slowly. One thing led to another, and just yester-day I got a confirmation, and will be joining Life Positive as a journalist.
Two very important requirements are intensity of desire and trust in the Divine. Don’t expect things to happen on their own. Opportunities will come up but you will need to catch and then pursue them.
Sharukh Vazifdar
the write work
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A good amount of positive literature,
which came to the forefront between the
later 1800s and early 1950s, had its roots in
Indian philosophy. In fact, even the modern
positive thinking gurus of today, have freely
borrowed it and some of them have even
accepted it, in their acknowledgements.
Hinduism and other Indian religions
have always given importance to the power
of thought in defining your life and des-
tiny. Here is what the Bhagavad Gita has to
say on the subject: “The last thought of a
man governs his future destiny. It is the last
thought of a man that determines his future
birth.” And again, “Whosoever at the end
abandoneth the body, thinking upon any
being, to that being only he goeth.”
Paramahansa Yogananda carried forward
Indian philosophy in a new avatar when
he founded the Self-Realisation Fellowship
(SRF) in Los Angeles in 1920. SRF pub-
lished a series of booklets on positive think-
ing and related new thought topics drawn
from Yogananda’s lectures. His famous,
all-time favourite book, The Autobiography
of a Yogi, has various examples that
highlight the power of thought and positive
mental attitude.
The Vedas have also acknowledged the
power of mind and thought. Thought has
the potency of creating or undoing the
world in the twinkling of an eye. Mind cre-
ates the world according to its own ‘sank-
alpa’ or thought. It is the mind that creates
this universe, say the Vedas. ‘Manomatram
jagat; manahkalpitam jagat’ and also
‘yad bhavam tad bhavathi’, you become
what you think.
The thought manifests as the word.
The word manifests as the deed. The deed
develops into habit. And the habit hardens
into character. So watch the thought and its
ways with care.
Swami Vivekananda articulated that seed
thought when he declared: “Whatever you
think, that you will be, if you think your-
selves strong, strong you will be. If you think
yourselves weak, weak you will be.”
Towards positive thinkingThe momentum to bring positive think-
ing out of the religious world and into the
secular started right around 1900. The man
who is known as the bridge between new
thought and positive thinking is Orison
Swett Marden (1850-1924), founder of
Success magazine. Success, first published
in 1891, offered a lightly religious version
of new thought for an audience of main-
stream businessmen. The magazine had
a unique stable of writers, including Napoleon
Hill and others who had best-selling books.
dreaming up a job
I got married a year ago and shifted into an area where I knew no one. Always interested in working with children, I gave my resume
to several neighbouring schools and nurseries. However, nothing worked out. Yet, I kept the faith. I even set a target that in one year’s time I would reach out to hundred children, directly or indirectly. I didn’t ‘hope’ for it to happen, I ‘knew’ it would happen.
I had stopped over at a workshop in Lonavla for a couple of hours. While walking in the rain with other participants towards lunch, a woman holding an umbrella in her hands, urged me to share it with her. The walk to the dining room was just two minutes but the right conversation unfolded. I asked her what she did. She replied, “I am the principal of a school.” Enthused, I told her I loved working with children. She asked where I stayed. She looked surprised, her school was in the same area – in fact, it was the only international school in the area and just 10 minutes away from my house. I asked her if there was an opening. She too seemed surprised at the coincidence of it all and responded, “As a matter of fact there is. One of my teach-ers handed in her resignation only last week.” The rest, as always, is history. I went in for my interview and conducted a demonstration class and I got chosen. The biggest surprise came to me when I found out that the number of children in the school was about hundred!
Megha Bajaj
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Success is still published and the editors published
a book about Orison Swett Marden in 1999.
The first positive thinking audio recording
came along in 1956, when Columbia Records
released, The Strangest Secret. Earl Nightingale
(1921-1989), which is in demand even today.
The strangest secret is, “We become what we
think about.” Through word of mouth, the
recording sold a million copies and won a Gold
Record for the first recording of its kind. It made
Nightingale the most recognised voice in
America for his daily radio programme.
In the second half of the 20th century, Jane
Roberts is believed to be the person who brought
the concept of ‘thought power’, again in the
open. Though she is relatively less known this
been there in mind, and hence, in life
It all started in July 2008, when I had this epiphany on how rotten my life really was. I was broke, in
debt, trapped in a hellish job that made me feel like a worker and not a human being; my partner and I were at each other’s throat all the time... in short, it was where I never wanted to be.
Just then, like a prayer answered, a friend intro-duced me to audio books. I begged, borrowed and stole and got my hands on The Secret and Anthony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within. It was like being woken up by a bucket of ice-cold water! For two whole days I devoured The Secret. I listened to it over and over and over, and I just knew I’d struck gold! I decided I was going to go on a challenge of the mind – two weeks of manifesting a big, fat juicy order for my partner, one that was going to make us enough money to cover our debts, and then some. I daydreamed all the time. Sure, it didn’t take two weeks, it took a month... but not only did we get that order, we also received a payment of Rs. 30,000 that we’d painfully written off as bad debt!! For the first time in two years, we were debt-free... and, we could afford a weekend out of town.
Shriyansi Jain
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side of the world, her books are famous in
the west, especially The Seth Material, and
Thus Spoke Seth. Jane Roberts was a natural
psychic and an excellent medium. She was
able to translate and speak the thoughts of
a spiritual entity called Seth, who transmit-
ted loads of information especially on the
power of thought. The essence of the mes-
sage was, we create our own reality, and our
point of power is the present.
One more noted personality was Prentice
Mulford and his famous book, Thoughts
are Things. Although Prentice Mulford
was one of the earliest pioneers of the new
thought teaching, he is still comparatively
little known or read, chiefly on account
of the high price of the six volumes known
as The White Cross Library, a compilation
of his essays.
Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People (1990) is a brilliant
example of a modern positive thinking
book. Covey was a business counsellor and
teacher who conducted effectiveness semi-
nars for large corporations. Other stars on
the positive thinking constellation include
Bob Procter, Oprah, from the Oprah Winfrey
Show, Brain Tracy, Famous for books like
beyond the half-full glass
So you are manifesting ob-jects of desire to the right
of you and to the left of you. Magic seems to be spraying from your mind wherever you turn. Your life is finally coming under your control and you are
racing along the fast lane of success and happiness. That’s wonderful, but look out for these speed breakers.
It’s not that the Law of Attraction does not work. Of course it does. But the fact is that positive thinking can sometimes be a trap. None of us (save the sages) are going to think positive all the time. There will be times when despair takes over. Or anger, pain, sadness and fear. If we have bought too deeply into the positive thinking mindset, we will actively re-sist these feelings. The more we resist them the greater their power, and very soon our positivity will be in shambles. In one of his books, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar narrated the case of a woman whose son had just died, and yet she kept repeating how positive she felt. Her need to be upbeat prevented her from getting in touch with her pain.
What is the way out? Nothing except solid hard inner work. Positive thinking needs to be made a state of mind – a natural extension of ourselves and not something we think ourselves into. For this we need to go deep into our mindstuff – thoughts, feelings, belief systems, fantasies, fears and so
on – become aware of them and accept them. Not only will we then know ourselves intimately, but we will have come to terms with who we are. We will befriend our shadow side, embrace our pain. Thus the dichotomy within us will heal and our positivity will be solid, unshakeable.
Secondly, not all dreams manifest. There is such a thing as karmic entitlement. Only that which is meant to come our way will; what is not meant to will not. So if despite your best efforts something does not manifest, console yourself with the thought that it was never meant to be. And who knows, perhaps it is in your best interests that you didn’t get your way.
Which brings us to the zone beyond manifesting your de-sires. There comes a time on the path when you no longer want your ego to drive you. You recognise more and more clearly that the Supreme Power has your interests at heart much more than you ever could and you actively start to pre-fer what He has in mind for you rather than what you want. “Thy will be done” becomes your mantra. You joyously re-ceive all that comes your way, using it as an instrument of your growth. Instead of attracting things to you, you simply surrender and allow life to bring you what you are meant to receive. The paradox is that with all resistance gone, your path will be strewn even thicker with magic but none of it is of your making. You are simply one with the Universe.
Suma Varughese
there are limits to positive thinking
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Maximum Achievement, Eat That Frog, and
Goal, Abraham Hicks’ publications, famous
for a plethora of seminars and books, most
popular Ask and it is given etc.
Let us end as we have begun, with Australian
Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret. She happened
upon the ‘secret’ of positive thinking or
‘law of attraction’ as she puts it when going
through a low phase and business trouble.
Amazed to find that it was indeed possible to
control one’s destiny, and fired with a mis-
sionary zeal to spread the word, she brought
together a team of film-makers, taught them
the philosophy, waited until they had ingested
it and then set out to make the path-breaking
video. She used it herself to lose excess weight
and to get her eyesight back to normal. And
with the shekels pouring in through the phe-
nomenal success of the book and the video,
her business troubles, one imagines, are
well behind her.
Thinking positiveSo how can one use the principles of posi-
tive thinking in one’s life?
The philosophy behind this concept is
that everything in this universe is made up
of energy or vibrations. Every part of the
universe, even the rocks and minerals, is
basically energy that has been transformed.
Similarly, our thoughts and words are also
subtle energies or vibrations.
Quantum Physics confirms that anything
and everything in the physical universe is
the result of varying degrees of vibration.
Secondly, similar vibrations and energy
are attracted to each other. This is a univer-
sal law that is applicable to all things, called
the ‘Law of Attraction’.
The simplest definition of this law is ‘like
attracts like.’ All forms of matter and ener-
gy are attracted to that which is of a like
vibration. For instance, you are drawn to
like-minded people (similar vibrations). We
are basically living magnets who are trans-
mitting our ‘thoughts (thought vibrations)’
into the universe and also attracting ‘similar
vibrations’ to us, constantly. It is because
of vibrations, that for no logical reason, we
are sometimes immediately attracted to
some persons and also repelled to some
people, though we are meeting them for
the first time.
Whatever we think about, good or bad,
is transmitted into the universe, in the
form of thought energy or vibrations. The
stronger our thought or the more often
we think about a particular thought, the
manifesting negativity
Our house construction had started. Based on some ear-
ly experiences with the builder, I came to believe that he was not to be trusted to deliver a good product and it was upto me to supervise and crosscheck. I was constantly looking out for errors,
and as one can imagine, there were plenty. It even extended to the other vendors I interacted with for the house construction. For exam-ple, while the marble slabs were being delivered to our house, two slabs got broken! After the staircase steps were laid the third time, (for some reason, the experienced workers could not get it right in my house alone…), there was a mishap and two steps were broken by the workers! I seemed to be exuding an aura of negative energy.
I had a veritable war of words with everyone I dealt with for two years. Finally, I had to go abroad on a business visit for five months. And during my absence, things went smoothly! Everyone seemed to be doing their part very well, without any supervision. The house was ready for me!
I realised that what I had constantly thought about was what hap-pened in reality for me. Now I know better. Murphy’s Law manifests now and then, but so what? I look for the silver lining in the cloud. Believe it or not, the builder and I are good friends today. And I have not replaced the broken steps since they symbolise a great learning for me. ..
Akila Jaikumar
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stronger become its vibrations. We are
all radiating that which we are; we are all
giving and receiving vibration signals on
many different levels. What you are seeking
to be or do in this life has a vibrational pat-
tern to match.
Everything you have ever dreamt, wheth-
er spoken or unspoken has been transmit-
ted by you on one level or another. Your
consistent thoughts and feelings about any
particular subject are being brought into
your experience whether you intend them
or not.
Thoughts, feelings, and mental images
are made of matter, just a very subtle kind
of matter. This subtle kind of matter, is
the soil of the universe. When you focus
your thoughts, feeling and mental images
(some also call this a mental hologram),
you launch your creations into this soil
of the universe.
If you know how the law of attraction
works, you know that you get what you
vibrate. Your vibration is based on your
thoughts, since thoughts drive feelings,
and feelings are what comprise your
vibration. The universe returns what you
have given freely a thousand times over.
What you sow is what you reap. In order
to receive you must give. If you wish some-
one to have more blessings and love, you
will receive blessings and love a thousand
times more. If you wish someone illness and
misfortune, you will receive bad luck and
misfortunes a thousand times more. I am
sure you have noticed that when you are
in a good mood, everything seems to fall
into place. However, when you are angry
or depressed a string of bad luck seems to
follow you all the more.
When you think about anything very
strongly with emotions, it becomes your
dominant vibration, which is being sent to
the universe. Based on the Law of Attraction,
the universe then creates such circumstanc-
es, which will bring that particular thing or
event in your life. There could be a delay in
manifestation of that thing, but if you are
consistent in your thought, it will come. It
is said that our work is to throw our desires
and goals to the universe. How it manifests
in your life, is the work of the universe. The
more clear and consistent you are in your
desire, the quicker that particular thing will
manifest in your life. It could be a material-
istic thing, a relationship, a particular self-
improvement, anything for that matter. In
addition, for the universe there is no differ-
ence in manifesting Rs 100 or Rs 1 crore.
The difference is in the extent of our faith
or, in our own self-worth.
This universal law is working in your life
right now, whether you are aware of it or
not. You are attracting the people, situa-
tions, jobs and every other circumstance of
your life. Once you are aware of this law and
how it works, you can use it to attract what
you want into your life.
How do you create your desires using the
NapoleoN Hill
A pioneer in the field of
positi�e thinking and the
power of thought
a streetcar named desire
After I learnt driving and was confident on the roads, I developed a fancy for a Honda City. And when one of
my friends said that ladies could not drive the Honda, I was sure I wanted to have it, but we could not afford it. Just then my husband Santosh joined an MNC and the package included a car.
But when the actual package was worked out the allotment towards the car fell short of a Honda City. If we still wanted it, we would have to shell out Rs 4,000 from our pockets every
month. I could not get over it. I wanted a Honda City and that was that. My resolve became even stronger. To my immense surprise the very next day there was an email from his office saying the car al-lowance has been increased as the taxes are higher in Mumbai. And there came our Honda City without anything extra from our pocket.
Aruna Joshi
june 2009l i f e p o s i t i v e 33
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powerful law?
• Be very clear about what you want
• Visualise and raise your vibration
• Start feeling good about it, just as you would
feel if it is already with you.
You must be very clear on exactly what your
desire is. Focus on it. Give it all your positive
energy. Feel good!
A major factor behind this universal law is the
energy and vibrations of our emotions and feel-
ings. Any thought you might have, when com-
bined with emotion, vibrates out from you to the
universe, and will attract back what you want.
It’s also important to take the necessary action
to make your dreams come true.
Now all you have to do is allow it. Sounds easy,
right? This can be the most difficult part to do.
Be doubt-free. All you need to do is expect it. Act
like you already have it. Be grateful.
To get it right be very careful about some factors.
First is ‘right speech’. Avoid negative language, for
negativity will attract negativity in your life. Be care-
ful about what you say, either about yourself or oth-
ers. At the same time do not get paranoid. We will
almost never be able to be positive all the time, for
many of our thinking patterns are unconscious. Stop
worrying if you have been running yourself down or
someone else. It’s okay. Simply use the opportunity
to recommit yourself to the goal of self-awareness.
Secondly, use the power of affirmations and
visualise your object of desire vividly, as if you
already have it. Visualise or imaging it in detail
with colour and feelings, as much as you can.
Never forget your focus. Even if it takes time, you
will finally get it.
Oh yes, terrorism. If we focus on insecurity,
fear, terrorism, and recession, we indirectly
attract terrorism in the world. So use the law of
attraction to draw a happy, peaceful and loving
world around us. Voila! Problem solved. [Dilpreet Singh is a trainer, with a leading life insurance company, in New Delhi.
Contact: [email protected], Mobile: 9873552617
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article. Mail us at [email protected]