The world is full of “New Thought” Literature. It is helpful and inspiring to read. It is worth many dollars to any one who will live its philosophy.
I talked to a man who has been studying along these lines for some years. He said: – “Oh, I know all that philosophy, it is nothing new. I am perfectly familiar with it.” Yet this man was continually allowing himself to grow angry over the least trifle; he was quick to see and speak of the faults in others; he was demanding more of those he associated with in the way of consideration and justice than he was willing to give, and he was untidy in his person and improvident in his use of money.
Now it is the merest waste of time for this man to read “New Thought” literature or practice “deep breathing”, since he will not put into daily and hourly practice what is taught by the New Religion.
He is like the orthodox Christian who mumbles through the Lord’s Prayer and then goes forth to do exactly as he would not be done by in business, social and domestic life.
Man is what he thinks. Not what he says, reads, or hears. By persistent thinking, you can undo any condition which exists. You can free yourself from any chains, whether of poverty, sin, ill health, or unhappiness. If you have been thinking these thoughts half a lifetime you must not expect to batter down the walls you have built, in a week, or a month, or a year. You must work and wait, and grow discouraged and stumble and pick yourself up and go on again.
You cannot in an hour gain control over a temper which you have let fly lose for twenty years. But you can control it eventually, and learn to think of a burst of anger as a vulgarity like drunkenness or profanity, something you could not descend to.
If you have allowed yourself to think despondent thoughts and believe that poverty and sickness were your portions for years, it will take time to train your mind to more cheerful and hopeful ideas; but you can do it by repeated assertions and by reading and thinking and living the beautiful New Thought Philosophy.
“The Heart of the New Thought ” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1902)