I chose to do my review on the book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. To me this is one of the most powerful and helpful books I have ever read. Norman Vincent Peale stated that he “wrote this book with the sole objective of helping the reader achieve a happy, satisfying, and worthwhile life.” The Power of Positive Thinking suggests techniques that help you achieve peace of mind, improved health, and a never ending flow of energy. One of the first sentences in the book reads “Altogether too many people are defeated by the everyday problems of life. They go struggling, perhaps even whining through their days with a sense of dull resentment at what they consider the bad breaks life has given them.” Before reading this book I went through my day feeling the same way. The Power of Positive Thinking has changed my whole outlook on life. I now know how to handle situations that come my way without going off the handle or thinking “poor me.”
The first chapter of the book is titled Believe in Yourself. To me this is one of the most important chapters in the whole book. “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” That is what the chapter is about. Believing in yourself and having faith in your own abilities is so very important in life. In order to take control of how you want your life to be you must first believe in yourself.
The Power of Positive Thinking takes the Bible and verses from the Bible and helps people apply it to their everyday lives. When it comes down to it faith is number one in life. “I can do all things thorough Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13).This affirmation is talked about a lot throughout the book. There are different stories throughout the book where Norman Vincent Peale tells many people to repeat this verse multiple times a day, and guaranteed them it would get them through anything they were faced with. I myself took his advice and still to this day repeat that verse many, many times a day. No matter what I’m faced with I know that I can get through it because I truly believe in what I am saying.
A peaceful Mind Generates Power is the second chapter of The Power of Positive Thinking. This is also a very important chapter in the book. “The essence of the secret lies in a change of mental attitude. One must learn to live on a different thought basis, and even though thought change requires effort, it is much easier than to continue living as you are. The life of strain is difficult. The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence. The chief struggle in gaining mental peace is the effort or revamping your thinking to the relaxed attitude of acceptance of God’s gift of peace” ( Peale, 2003). I read this and think to myself how true it is. At first when I started to change my though process from negative to positive, it was tough. I had to stop before I reacted to something and think do I really want to react this way? Do I want to get mad over small insignificant things that mean nothing when you break it down? I still catch myself slipping at times but right away snap out of it.
This book really changed my life. I wouldn’t say I was extremely negative but negative enough for me to change. I now read the Bible everyday as the book states and that is the main thing that helps me through my day. I repeat in my head different Bible verses for different situations I go through in my day to day life. Putting God first in my life has really helped me. I now can be put in any and every situation and get through it peacefully. I have such a different outlook on life after reading this book. I love my life and I can honestly say that I owe a big part of that to The Power of Positive Thinking.
Reference:
Peale, N. (2003). The Power of Positive Thinking. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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