R.A.D.I.C.A.L. Thoughts
"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I know that life is much more than just thinking that something will happen, and it happens. But when I was growing up, my Dad had in his library all sorts of books about positive thinking as well as all sorts of religious commentaries and translations of the Bible. Norman Vincent Peale's "Power of Positive Thinking" was on the shelf as well as "Psycho-Cybernetics," "Believe" and others. I am totally convinced that how our lives turn out depends on our thinking. Positive thoughts attract positive realities. Mental images become tangible. One of those books showed the results of a test on athletes who used positive mental images to practice and before their athletic events. It makes a difference. Seeing yourself as victorious gets everything around you in the victory mentality. Seeing yourself happy sets in motion events that make you happy. Our thinking and visualizing ( including prayer, faith and meditation) get the universe primed for what we visualize, to happen. I don't know how that works but it does. Here is one little personal example ... not about some spiritual accomplishment, but about a real, physical thing. I have never had much interest in cars. As long as it got me where I was going, it was okay. Well after my divorce, I came across a picture in a magazine of a darling little car ... called a Chrysler Crossfire. I knew there was no way I could afford to buy it, but just on a whim I put that picture of it on my refrigerator. I didn't pray for it; I didn't visualize driving it; I just had it in my peripheral vision all the time. Well, every so often I would look at the ads in the paper to see if there was one even close to my price range. I didn't do that every day, but every once in a while. One day, I saw an ad that I was sure was a misprint. The price was about $10,000 less than the going rate. I called and found out that the son-in-law of the owner of the car dealership had bought this little car and shortly after found out his wife was pregnant. He had to sell the car and the dealership was in a rural area where people wanted pickup trucks, not little two-seater sports cars. It had 5,000 miles on it, but was like new. So in a little Mid-life "craziness" of my own, I bought it. And I love driving it. I'm not saying that God particularly planned for me to have that car, but I do think having that car started out in my head. What do you want? Happiness? A job you love? A house that "looks and feels like Thanksgiving?" Peace? Start out by planning those things in your heart and your mind, then God, and his universe and power start to make those things happen.
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."
Proverbs 16:9
