The Power of Positive Thinking (Summary)
A businessman was so consumed with hatred for his partners that it was making him physically ill, plagued by high blood pressure and sickness. His doctor gave him a strange prescription: for two minutes every day, he was to actively pray for his partners, picturing them succeeding and sending them goodwill. The man was furious at the suggestion, but desperate enough to try. Within two weeks, his hatred dissolved, his health returned, and his business relationships healed. This is the power of a changed mind.
Your Mind is a Mental Movie Screen
We can reshape our reality by consciously controlling the images we project in our minds. By repeatedly visualizing success and desired outcomes, we program our subconscious to achieve them.
Peale tells of a failing salesman who was instructed to spend several minutes each day vividly picturing himself succeeding. He imagined closing deals, shaking hands with satisfied clients, and seeing his name at the top of the sales chart. This practice built his confidence so profoundly that he soon became his company's top performer.
Practice 'Mental Drainage' to Defeat Worry
Anxiety and worry are destructive habits that clog our thinking. Peale prescribes a technique of consciously 'draining' the mind of these negative thoughts to create space for peace and creative solutions.
An executive suffering from insomnia due to constant business worries was told to visualize his mind as a container of murky water. Before bed, he would imagine pulling a plug and watching all his specific anxieties—late shipments, difficult employees, financial pressure—flow out until his mind was clear. This mental exercise cured his insomnia.
Prayer is a Practical Power Source
Prayer is presented not as a passive, religious ritual but as an active, powerful technique for tapping into a higher power to gain tangible strength, guidance, and energy for solving real-world problems.
A family facing a high-risk surgery for a loved one didn't just ask for a good outcome; they followed Peale's method of 'prayer in depth.' They repeatedly affirmed that a divine, healing power was actively at work, guiding the surgeon's hands. The patient went into the operation with a sense of peace and experienced a remarkably successful recovery.
Starve Your Doubts, Feed Your Faith
Feelings of inferiority are not inherent traits but mental habits. They can be overcome by systematically replacing self-doubt with powerful affirmations rooted in faith.
Peale encountered a young man who was brilliant but crippled by a sense of inadequacy, leaving him tongue-tied and awkward. Peale gave him a single phrase to repeat constantly: 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.' By clinging to this affirmative thought before every meeting or social event, the man systematically dismantled his inferiority complex and became a confident, effective person.