Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstance, the outer conditions of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state. This does not mean that a man’s circumstances at any given time are an indication of his entire character, but that those circumstances are so intimately connected with some vital thought-element within himself that, for the time being, they are indispensable to his development.

James Allen helps us understand here that the circumstances around us are always a reflection of the conditions inside us. Therefore, to change our outer world, we must change our inner world.

What steps can you take today to begin to build and improve your inner character? Whom can you forgive? Begin with yourself. Then watch for the changes around you to occur.

Make Some Light!

It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it. – Somerset Maugham

Make Some Light!

Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind-elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny.

Here James Allen reminds us that we are the master-gardeners of our souls. We must discard thoughts that are fearful or unfaithful to the vision of our worth ideal, and we should nurture with great care the thoughts that are faithful to it.

Which thoughts and thought patterns that are unworthy of you and your vision could you disrupt and discard today? What are some thoughts that are faithful to your vision that you could replace them with?

Make Some Light!

Do the thing, and you will get the energy to do the thing.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make Some Light!

A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seed will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

In this paragraph, James Allen provides the inspiration for “The Seedling” itself with the idea that we must choose the seeds we plant and cultivate in our minds or receive whatever weed thoughts find their way into us by default. Ultimately though, the abundant power of our minds will create our lives.

What thoughts can you choose to plant and cultivate today to intentionally create the life you really love?

Make Some Light!

Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, every-day occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power. In this direction, as in no other, is the law absolute that “He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened”; for only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the Door of the Temple of Knowledge.

Here James Allen makes clear that you are the gold mine. You are the cavern filled with rough diamonds waiting to be unearthed. It may require considerable effort to find, develop, and reveal the true gems of your own hidden value. But really, this is the purpose for which you were created, and you have the power to bless the earth with what is inside you.

What talents have you been blessed with? What decision can you make today that will help you to develop and begin to reveal that hidden gem in you?

Make Some Light!

Mind is the master power that molds and makes
And man is mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of thought, and shaping what he wills
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass
Environment is but his looking glass

– James Allen

Make Some Light!

Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his household. When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the conscious master, and man can only thus become by discovering within himself the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self-analysis, and experience.

In this paragraph from As a Man Thinketh, James Allen helps us to understand that each of us is truly in the driver’s seat of our lives. Our hands are each on our own steering wheel, and that steering wheel is our thoughts. When we fully comprehend that no one can think for us, we see that we cannot delegate our responsibility for our results. But once we get this, we can begin to steer much better, in the direction that we intentionally choose.

What do you want to create with your life? What new direction can you begin to take to get there?

Make Some Light!

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. – Vincent T. Lombardi

Make Some Light!

As a being of Power, Intelligence and Love, and the Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills.

Here James Allen helps us remember that there is a power within us that has the ability to unlock any situation we may find ourselves in. Any circumstance, any problem, and difficulty can be transformed and re-created for our good. All it takes is a new idea. Each of us has the power to regenerate our lives into something we really love.

What do you really love? What ideas can you come up with to begin to create more of what you love?

Make Some Light!

Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this-that man is the master of thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.

James Allen here reminds us that we are full of divine promise. We can become like our creator. We begin to grow towards this worthy ideal by seeing and seizing responsibility for our own thoughts and feelings, and using those God-like creative powers to purposefully shape our character, conditions, environment, and destiny.

What are you experiencing right now that you can change for the better by purposefully taking responsibility for your thoughts and feelings?

Make Some Light!

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.

- Abraham Maslow

Make Some Light!

Man is a growth by law, and not a creation by artifice, and cause and effect is as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things. A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harboring of groveling thoughts.

In this life, we rise no higher or sink no deeper than the most dominating desires of our hearts. That is the law. In this paragraph, James Allen helps us understand that we truly love, what we truly cherish determines who we ultimately become. We will either become more and more like God, or more and more unlike Him, depending on which thoughts we cherish, nurture, and grow with. Being a victim or being a hero is not a matter of chance or luck or talent or a sign of God's favor or displeasure. It is a matter of long-cherished choice, as a matter of law.

What do you really love? What can you do to focus on that today?

Make Some Light!

If you have caused pain and sorrow for yourself and others, repay these debts with Joy. Joy is the currency of the spirit.

- Ross Kellyn Moore

Make Some Light!

Thought in the mind hath made us.

What we are

By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind

Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes

The wheel the ox behind. . .If one endure

In purity of thought, joy follows him

As his own shadow-sure.

In this poem, James Allen reminds us of the inevitable outcome of our thoughts. Really, there are ultimately only two choices-pain, or joy. The natural and even immediate result of evil thoughts is the pain felt by all victims and villains that live in the paradigm of scarcity. Gratefully enough though, joy is the natural, inevitable, and even immediate result a hero receives as a reward for choosing pure thoughts and living in abundance.

So which do you want today? Pain and victimhood, or heroism and joy? You get to choose today, and the result of today's choice is inevitable.

Make Some Light!

Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Each of us has planted and nurtured the seeds of many different kinds of thoughts in our minds and hearts. These seeds are alive and inevitably grow, putting out shoots and tendrils, which root them into beliefs. Our own beliefs are sacred to us, and they are the basis for decisions we make and the actions we perform.

Which of your ideas and beliefs should you nourish more fully today, and which should you let whither with inattention? Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Make Some Light!

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.

Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment; and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.

-Harold V. Melchert

Our Greatest Fear

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Marianne Williamson

As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called "spontaneous" and "unpremeditated" as to those which are deliberately executed.

Here James Allen speaks aloud what each of us really knows in our hearts: There is nothing that we do in this life, consciously or not, that does not begin as the seed of a thought in our minds and hearts.

There have probably been many times in your life when you have acted heroically to help someone else, perhaps even in a life or death emergency. There have also probably been many times when you have responded to a disagreeable situation with a flash of anger, or even violence that has hurt someone instead. In either circumstance, those acts-whether heroic or victim-like-stem from the seeds of thoughts and beliefs we have silently nurtured in our hearts, whether we are consciously aware of them or not.

The question now is, which kind of thoughts will you choose to plant and nurture today?