May 31 – What You Think Upon Grows Day

nPostednMay 31, 2015

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nInread in several places that “What you think upon grows” is a bitnof Eastern philosophy, and perhaps it is – although not necessarilynin those exact words. I did some research and couldn’t find anythingnquite like this in the sayings of Confucius or Buddha.

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It’snnot the same as the Eastern belief in karma – a sort of “whatngoes around comes around” – the idea that the sum total of anperson’s actions in a previous life decided his or her fate in thisnlife, and that the sum total of a person’s actions in this life willndecide his or her fate in the next life. Note: There is no evidencenfor karma, nor for any earlier or “next life.”

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nThenclosest I could come to “What you think upon grows” is the oldnCherokee story:

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nThe Cherokee nation is not what I think of when I hear “Eastern”—I think of Chinese or at least Indian peoples and philosophies.nStill, I live in California, and the Cherokee certainly did and donlive east of me!

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nAnotherninstance of the idea of thinking positive thoughts is from the Bible,napparently written by the apostle Paul: “…whatevernis true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,nwhatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellentnor praiseworthy—think about such things.”n– Philippiansn4:8

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nThenidea is, if you dwell on why you are angry at a person, how you cannget revenge on someone who wronged you, how mean someone is, or hownbitter you are that someone else got the position that younwanted…

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nWell,nthose negative thoughts can spiral you down more and more. You willnget angrier and angrier, or more vengeful or bitter. Possibly yournanger and envy will consume you!

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Actually, when you smile, changes
happen in your brain, and you WILL
start to feel better!

nInstead,nyou should try to climb on an upward spiral. Try to think the best ofnsomeone who hurt you – try to meet unkindness with kindness – trynto find a silver lining to a bad situation. Sometimes, when you trynto be more positive, you can get back a smile, a kind word, somethingnthat can make you feel more positive. And when you feel a bit better,nyou can act even more positive, and gain even nice, more positivenresponses from others…and on and on, in an upward spiral.

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nThendate for “What You Think Upon Grows” Day is the birthday ofnminister and author Norman Vincent Peale, who was born on this datenin 1898. He is famous for writing The Power of Positive Thinking.

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nWarning:nThe reality is that Peale’s idea of the brain is overly simplistic,nand some people may have been harmed by the advice in his book. Also,nover-emphasis on positive thinking and optimism can be harmful tonpeople who are feeling down, because they often feel guiltynabout feeling negative, which of course brings them down evennfurther. People can’t always just think their way into a morenpositive state of mind!

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nWhatndo you think about the maxim “What you think upon grows”?

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nAlsonon this date:

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