Early Lessons in Healing - Thought and Condition

There were parts of my childhood and teenage years when I found myself visiting what I now think of as the cave of disparity. I was fortunate enough to find my way out. much of the credit goes to one essential shift that guided me toward stability if I my say: I stopped over-complaining about my condition and began paying attention to how my thoughts were shaping my state of being.

There was a quote I first heard back in high school that stayed with me. to this day, I still use it when explaining how deeply our thoughts and beliefs shape who we become. its for Mahatma Gandhi :

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

I memorized this quote in high school, and it still holds true for me today.

This idea came back to me recently while reading one of James Allen’s works, As a Man Thinketh . While reading his biography, I was surprised to learn that he was influenced by Leo Tolstoy , one of the greatest Russian novelists. Interestingly, both Gandhi and Allen were shaped by Tolstoy’s writings.as far as I remember, Although Allen himself was not very proud of this book, it turned out to be his most influential work, it focused on how thought can shape one’s condition.

The book opens with a powerful sentence:

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-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.

From there, the book walks through different aspects of the same idea: that our internal dialogue helps shape the person we become. In that sense, it is not very different from many growth mindset books.I remember watching some reviewers who even describe it as a foundation for many later, more famous works. That might explain why I questioned its usefulness for me personally. I had already stopped attaching myself to wretchedness and despair.

Still, I kept reading. I enjoyed the language, Allen’s choice of words, his vocabulary, and the comparisons he used to communicate his ideas.

I’ve read my fair share of growth mindset books, so I don’t see this one as especially valuable for me at this stage of my life. However, I would recommend it to anyone interested in philosophy writing and in understanding how the mind affects one’s state of being. This belief; that thoughts shape condition, was after all, one of the reasons I was able to escape my own wretchedness.