Napoleon Hill wrote the famous book “Think and Grow Rich”, I don’t know how many persons have become rich by reading the book but one thing is certain that the author of the book became rich by earning a royalty of his book.
It may not be possible to become rich by simply reading the book and even by planning, but it is certain that one can get peace by right thinking.
The brain is an objective reality and whereas the mind is a subjective one. It is the subject of the science of psychology to probe into the functioning of mind there are several books written on this subject. Here we are not going to probe the theoretical aspect of mind. Out object is to use the mind to maximize the peace which is the longing for every human being.
A mind is a thinking machine that never stops. Even if we are asleep sub-conscious mind is working. There is nothing like a separate subconscious mind from the body of the brain, but it is a functional support system as prof. Zia has mentioned in his book “Thought Process control” How this system of the subconscious mind or functional support system or auto function works is itself a subject and we are not going to deal in this short article.
Everyone knows the activity of the mind and there is no need to understand through the book. It is enough if we understand what we are and how can we remain peaceful, secure, and confident.
Thought itself cannot move a pin by a quarter of an inch. All actions are preceded by thoughts. There is no time and limit to the process of thinking; creative thoughts converted into action have built advanced society whereas destructive thoughts followed by such actions have ruined many civilizations in the past.
Thought by itself cannot do anything; hence there is no need to be afraid of thoughts even if it can be most destructive.
Most important thing is that thoughts are accompanied by feelings, what we call worries, are the result of unpleasant thoughts created by circumstances, and similarly interesting and pleasure-giving thoughts give pleasure. Thus, thoughts are medium through which happiness or unhappiness is realized. Thoughts are of past, present, and future. They are negative, positive, or neutral. Thoughts continuously occupy a conscious mind. Thoughts of past events and future plans continuously hit the screen of the mind. Desires create thoughts of any type and they are undesirable. Thoughts are no problem but feeling generated through the thoughts is certainly meaningful. Feelings and thoughts are not easily separable. Thoughts of past failure, insult, emotional and material loss, if they hit conscious mind, it has definitely the effect of creating melancholy but not as much as they created a feeling of despondency when they first hit the screen of the conscious mind. The problem is not of thought but a negative effect it creates on the mind.
The question is how we can control the feeling of eliminating it. It would be a stupendous task to eliminate feeling. Feeling or emotion is a natural tendency of mind, the human mind is sensitive, and sensitiveness differs from person to person like balance which weighs gold and balance which weights iron and in between. Controlling of feeling/emotion is a solution to maintain the equilibrium of mind. Thoughts of physical loss or material loss or of whom you love create a storm of thoughts in mind which is not controllable at a particular point of time. But time heals the wounds and in course of time the effect of tragedy is nullified, and equilibrium of mind gets restored.
Intellect and reason are the best tools to control emotions but at times thoughts are not controllable and they challenge all logic and all philosophical approach. Time has to be allowed to be passed and intellect, logic, and philosophical approach will help restore the equilibrium of mind as compared to others. Who does not like to use these tools as they do not know about these things or either do not know how to apply?
Faith in God helps to overcome many emotional problems. The question is how faith works or how reason prevails. For example, your five-year-old son has gone to school and he has not returned by the time he returns usually. You start thinking. Thinking is either negative or positive. The positive thought will say some mechanical problems might have been with a school bus, but negative thought will say probably he might have been hit by some fast running vehicle while crossing the road you are in dilemma. The communication gap enhances your anxiety. As time passes negative thoughts are high. The necessity of time is to apply reason and think of god. God is the protector of all. Contact school authority but sometimes there is no response. The phone bell is ringing in school you are worried you contact your neighbor whose daughter is studying in the same class. He says that his daughter has also not yet returned home. You are satisfied that there must be some problem with the school bus. In the meantime, your son and neighbor’s daughter enter the compound of the building and you see them and heave a sigh of relief, you start questioning why you both are late. Son says, papa! One procession was passing through the road and traffic police stopped all vehicles for about half an hour. You are satisfied you blame yourself what a fool am I to think negative? In such a situation you have to remember God who protects and tries to establish communication with a person you are worried about.
Reason and logic are best friends and faith in God added to them solves many problems. Take the example of past thoughts of failure which leads to worry strengthen your reason and think that past is like a dead man neither can he harm you, nor benefit you. Then why care. If you have suffered a loss due to mischief of someone who cheated you and if the loss cannot be made good, think of God who controls everyone and say God will certainly punish the person who cheated me God’s justice always prevails and if anyone escaped punishment in this life, life hereafter is not far, he will certainly be punished. Everyone has to pay the price of his own deeds.
In every situation, faith and reason are best friends. Remedy to acquire peace of mind is within us. The question is how to apply negative thoughts are our worst enemies. The creation of thought or immoral desire is the insinuation of Satan.
All spiritualists and men of psychology agree that good and bad forces are acting on our minds. The choice is ours what to choose. However evil thoughts can be ward off by calling the help of God. Say “I seek the refuge of God from the mischief of Satan” and while starting any work say, “I begin in the name of God most beneficent and merciful”.
The human mind is like a big hall but without doors. So, any thought can enter into mind from any side. If you ignore evil or negative thought it may go out and may not disturb you. Take the help of God to ward off bad thoughts inviting pious thoughts by reading Holy Scripture and reciting the name of God will automatically reduce or eliminate negative thoughts, unnatural thoughts cannot be cultivated on the soil of reality. Increase your positive thought inputs to get maximum positive thought output. Meditation and remembering God will give peace of mind. Most religions prescribe rituals that are in the form of meditation or recitation of the name of god. The object is that believers in God may get peace of mind. For all ills, anxiety, worries, loss, sense of security, negative thoughts or inferiority complex can be ward off by prayers.
Some religions do not believe in God and believe that nature functions by its own laws and there is no necessity of controlling. Such people believe that karma the law of nature controls everything and things take their natural course, creation, or destruction.
Such people have to do what they can do and leave things to nature to happen.
Apart from negative thoughts, there are intervening thoughts which may be of past, present, and future. They disturb you while concentrating or meditating or praying. For example, a student is reading a book to prepare for an examination which is to take place the next day.
Thought of controversy which (Controversy) he had with his friend hits his mind. His concentration is disturbed. He is reading but the thought is obstructing him. He does not know what he read because his mind was somewhere else. The problem is of awareness. He is not aware of what he is reading. The solution is to increase awareness. It cannot be achieved without practice. One has to keep his mind present. If you are carrying small pins in your hand and one of the pins slips out of your hand, you should be aware of it. Awareness keeps thoughts away and helps to concentrate and remember.
Prayer with awareness can give miraculous results. It is up to a person as to how he can keep away unwanted thoughts and enjoy his life being positive.
Article by my father
M.J.Merchant
article from his original e book published on kindle