by Jim Davidson
Henry Ford (1863-1947) once said,
"thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few people
engage in it." Today I would like to share some thoughts with you on the important
subject of "thinking" and I've titled this column "Thinking On A Higher
Plane." In the Bible you will find these words recorded in Proverbs 23:7a, "As a
man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The Roman Emperor Marcus Arelius once said,
"A man becomes what he thinks about all day long." Back in 1957, the late Earl
Nightingale wrote and recorded a motivational message titled "The Strangest
Secret", which became the only one of its kind to ever sell a million copies. The
Strangest Secret is that "We Become What We Think About." It was my good fortune
to work personally with Mr. Nightingale for several years.
Yes, from King Solomon on down through the ages,
the most successful writers, teachers and philosophers have all come to the same
conclusion: It is the quality of our thinking that will ultimately determine the quality
of our life. At this point, it might be in order to ask you some very pertinent questions.
What do you think about most of the time? Is most of your thinking done on a higher plane?
That is, do you reach for the stars in your thinking or is most of your thinking done in
the gutter? The truth is, we have only to look about us to see where we are and to see
what we have to see the fruits of our thinking.
For fear that I may be misunderstood, I want to
make it very clear that we don't have to be a religious person to desire a good, decent,
honest and moral life. Sometimes we forget that the greatest have as citizens of this free
country is the power to choose. Regardless of who we are or what we have done in the past,
we can choose the quality or level of our own thinking. Isn't it great to be able to say,
"the past is gone" and I can't do anything about it but from this point forward
I'm going to improve my life by improving the quality of my thinking? As I said a moment
ago, the choice is yours. What is so tragic for me to realize is that millions of people
could have more and be much happier if they only knew it.
While its an individual thing, you may ask,
"how do I go about it?" While it's not easy, it's very simple. Station a guard
at the entrance of your mind. You must be very careful when you select the television
programs you watch, the books and magazines you read and the people with whom you
associate. In short, if we are to improve the quality of our thinking, we must be very
selective as to where we get our information.
It took several years for me to come to the
realization that if I'm going to improve my life, when a filthy program comes on T.V., or
even the radio, I just turn it off Its a choice I make because I now realize what it will
do to my thinking. How about you? Have you ever given any serious thought to this before?
Remember please that "birds of a feather flock together" and you may have people
tell you that it does not make any difference what you watch or read or who you spend your
time with. But it does. We can trust the words of King Solomon here: "As a man
thinketh in his heart so is he."
