PDF Summary:The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale

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Since then, The Power of Positive Thinking has been reprinted numerous times and translated into dozens of languages. We wrote this guide using the 2003 Touchstone edition (ebook).

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Imprint: Touchstone (defunct)

The Book’s Context

Historical Context

The Power of Positive Thinking came out in 1952, a time when the U.S. population—and its interest in Christianity—was growing quickly. The surging church attendance was due at least in part to the Cold War: The threat of nuclear war drove many to seek comfort in religion. Also, as the U.S. was still recovering from the Great Depression and World War II, struggling people flocked to Peale’s promises that faith and positive thinking would bring them prosperity.

Intellectual...

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To do so, it reframed God and “Higher Power” (both of which are prominent in the Big Book) to mean any power that you accept as greater than yourself. To give some examples, that power might be:

• A deity

• Your family

• Your community

• AA itself

• Your ideal self

You can take the same approach to The Power of Positive Thinking: Rather than taking Peale’s talk of God and Jesus literally, you can choose to envision whatever higher power will inspire and comfort you.

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* Perhaps your older brother got straight A’s in school, but you only got C’s and felt like a disappointment to your family. Thus, you end up believing that you’re destined to get C’s for your whole life, and your brother is the one who will be a success.

(Shortform note: Many people find the root causes of their self-esteem issues in their childhood experiences, such as overly critical parents or poor performance in school. However, the same problems can come from an abusive partner, life events like divorce and unemployment, or ongoing medical issues, just to give a few examples.)

• Develop a deep faith in God. Peale argues that developing a deep faith in God will give you faith in yourself. The key to acquiring faith is prayer. More detailed prayer techniques and formulas will be discussed in a later chapter, but for now, it’s important to note that the type of prayer is important—the bigger your problem, the bigger and more heartfelt your prayer should be.

(Shortform note: If you don’t want to use Peale’s concept of God (the Christian God), this would be an...

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Faith Is Tied to Healing

For many centuries, religious faith was tied to healing activities. It’s generally understood that there’s a connection between how a person thinks and how he or she feels: The mental state has an effect on bodily health. Since religion deals with thoughts and attitudes, it fits that the science of faith would be involved in the healing process. Therefore, to keep yourself healthy and happy, it’s important to use medical science to the fullest but also apply the techniques of spiritual science.

Peale claims that God works through both doctors and ministers, and many physicians agree. Peale encountered many doctors who believed the physical and spiritual are closely interrelated, finding that people’s feelings of fear, guilt, and hate were often connected to health problems. In that case, spiritual leaders like Peale can play an important role in healing patients.

Robin Sharma’s parable The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is about a (fictional) man named Julian who experienced exactly the sort of healing that Peale alludes to here. Julian was a wealthy and successful...

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How to Make a Plan

Peale advises us to have clear and specific plans to harness our faith power, but he doesn’t give us any guidance on how to do that effectively.

Extreme Ownership, by former SEAL officers “Jocko” Willink and Leif Babin, agrees that planning is crucial for success. While their book is designed for a team leader, their steps for making a plan work equally well when dealing with personal problems.

• Define the mission. What, specifically, do you want to accomplish? In this case, what problem do you want to solve?

• Review your options. Take stock of your resources: time, assets, and people who can help you. Consider the most effective uses for each of those resources.

• Brainstorm. Come up with possible courses of action. If possible, ask others to come up with plans as well; ask them what they would do in your situation.

• Commit to a plan. Choose which plan of action you want to pursue—the simplest solution is often the best one. Once you’ve made a choice, commit to it 100%.

• Flesh out the plan. Hash out the details of your plan....

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Peale says that practicing these principles for one week will bring you to the beginnings of a happy life.

The Anatomy of a Habit

Atomic Habits by James Clear teaches you how to intentionally form a new habit, such as the happiness habit that Peale recommends here.

Clear says that there are four parts to a habit:

• Cue: This is what triggers the habit, like how the smell of cigarette smoke might make a smoker want to indulge. For Peale’s happiness habit, the cue might be waking up in the morning, or feeling negative emotions creeping in.

• Craving: This is the emotional response that the cue triggers. In other words, it’s what prompts you to perform your habit. For someone with a happiness habit, the craving would be the desire to feel good.

• Response: This is the actual behavior, like when the smoker from the previous example lights a cigarette. In a happiness habit, the response might be reciting a Psalm as Peale suggests, or replacing a negative thought with a positive one.

• Reward: This is the satisfaction you gain from performing your habit. As...

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Peale’s faith statements are, in essence, Christian mantras: Phrases that you repeat over and over to ingrain them into your mind and your belief system.

There’s scientific evidence that mantras may help boost people’s moods, concentration, and optimism. A group of doctors in Ireland performed a systematic review of studies that claimed to show the effectiveness of mantras and meditation; they concluded that mantras may offer “minimal to moderate” mental health benefits.

Give It All You’ve Got

When your heart isn’t in your endeavor, you are easily defeated; but when your heart is fired up, you’re free from self-doubt. Peale says that faith power works because it allows you to put everything you’ve got into what you want to accomplish.

Faith and belief unleash the ability to go after your dreams wholeheartedly. Faith allows you to bring physical, emotional, and spiritual resources to your endeavor, which is incredibly powerful.

According to Peale, we prevent ourselves from living and acting wholeheartedly because of...

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• Your problems aren’t unique.

• Other people have it worse than you.

• Whatever you’re going through, it’s not an excuse to give up.

Manson’s suggestion is to take responsibility for your own situation, whatever it is. That doesn’t mean taking the blame—rather, it means accepting that you have the ability and the obligation to work through your difficulties and improve your life.

Whereas Peale urges us to have faith in God, Manson’s advice is to have faith in ourselves; to trust that there’s no problem so dire that we can’t overcome it.

We Create Our Own Obstacles

How we handle obstacles stems from our mental attitude. Most of our obstacles are mental in nature. Even when obstacles are physical or external, our attitude toward them dictates our response.

Peale says that, if you take the mental attitude that an obstacle is impossible to overcome, you won’t get past that obstacle. But when you firmly believe that the obstacle is removable, you start the process that leads to the obstacle’s eventual defeat.

We all face difficulties and obstacles. While real, they aren’t as insurmountable as they seem when you keep faith, believe that...

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Tony Robbins’s book Awaken the Giant Within suggests another way in which imagining the outcomes we want can be a powerful tool for reaching our goals.

Robbins believes that we often limit ourselves by using experience, rather than imagination, as our reference point for making decisions. While using past experience to predict what might happen sounds reasonable, the problem is that we apply our past experiences far too broadly.

For example, someone who does poorly on a math test might conclude that he’s a bad student, rather than recognizing that he was just struggling with one subject. Instead of applying his experience with that test to all schooling, Robbins would suggest that he imagine what other subjects he might do well in and how exciting it could be to learn new things.

Techniques for Changing Your Thoughts

Peale suggests some practical techniques to help you change your mental attitude from negative to positive. He claims that, by doing so, you can release creative new thoughts that will help you actualize what you visualize.

• Speak positively: Try optimism for 24...

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(Shortform note: What Peale calls “suggestive articulation” is a practice more commonly referred to as reciting a mantra; a word or simple phrase that you can repeat many times in a row. Doing so focuses your attention and your willpower on what you want to do, or who you want to be. For example, someone struggling with self-esteem issues might repeat, “I am strong, I am intelligent, I am worthy.”)

• Engage in peaceful conversations. The conversations you find yourself in can affect your attitude. Negative conversations—such as petty arguments or gossip—create tension, so don’t contribute to this. Instead, offer positive, optimistic expressions during your conversations with others. Remember, peaceful ideas create a peaceful mind.

Social media didn’t exist when Peale wrote this book, but—for better or worse—we now have more social interactions, on and offline, than ever before. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that those interactions are positive ones.

One study found that sites like Facebook have a direct impact on young people’s self-esteem...

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Peale suggests you get in touch with the proper tempo of life by listening to the sounds of nature, or by hearing the word of God at church. However, he adds that you can also find it in your daily life. To boost your energy and avoid exhaustion, find the natural rhythm in everything you do by relaxing your body and mind.

What Peale calls “God’s rhythm” is better known by another name: flow. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term in his book of the same name. He describes flow as an optimal state in which we’re both completely focused and completely happy. While in a state of flow, we can do our best work seemingly without effort, and we often lose track of time.

Csikszentmihalyi says that reaching a state of flow requires a few conditions:

• Your task must be enjoyable. A major part of flow is losing yourself in your work. That won’t be possible if you hate what you’re doing.

• You must have a clear goal. People often talk about focusing on their work, but they’re really focusing on a goal—the work to reach that goal is incidental.

• **Your task must be challenging,...

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• Group prayer. This method is especially helpful when many people have the same wish, such as asking God to help an area that was struck by a natural disaster.

• Inner prayers. Instead of just reciting prayers by rote and then moving on, pray silently, and listen for what God might be saying back to you.

• Routine prayers. Set aside a time each day for prayers—the same time each day, if possible. Having a routine like this will make sure that you don’t skip your prayers, as well as strengthening your focus and your discipline.

A 3-Part Prayer Formula

Peale suggests another prayer formula consisting of three parts: “pray,” “imagine,” and “create.”

• Pray: Make prayer part of your normal routine. When a problem arises, for example, speak to God about it simply and directly.
  • Pray during everyday activities. Prayer isn’t just something you do at church; it’s a part of everything.
• Imagine: When you want something to happen, first pray about it, and then picture it as if it’s already happened. Hold the picture firmly in your mind, and do whatever work you need to do to make it happen.
• Create: When you hold the image firmly in...

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Just as we have a series of daily actions designed to keep our bodies healthy (brushing teeth, exercising, bathing), we must give time and effort to keeping our mind healthy.

One method is to sit quietly and run a series of peaceful thoughts through your mind, for example the memory of a beautiful place you once visited. It’s recommended you do this once every 24 hours, preferably when you’re at your busiest, and practice being calm and serene.

Peale suggests that we meditate once a day, but doesn’t mention how long it will take to achieve results.

In The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Sharma recommends a similar practice: Taking 15-50 minutes each day to sit quietly with your own thoughts. You’ll probably find even 15 minutes difficult at first; however, as you continue to practice, that time will keep increasing.

The Mental Follows the Physical

Another step toward achieving calm is to control your physical reactions. Peale suggests you start by keeping physically still. Don’t move, pace, wring your hands, or let yourself get worked up. Sit, stand still, or lie down. A physical...

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One way to cut small worries is to stop using worry words in your conversation and replace them with faith words. For example, instead of saying, “I’m worried that I'll be late,” vow to leave extra early so that there’s no chance of being late. Without worry, your mind is clearer, making it more likely that you’ll be timely.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck has some useful advice on how to make major changes, such as letting go of worries. Much like Peale suggests that you attack your small worries first, Manson says that in order to make any major change, the key is to start with something easy. Accomplishing a small, easy goal will then motivate you to take the next step.

For example, if you want to develop more empathy, your first goal might be to simply listen to someone else’s problem. Hearing that problem might make you want to help. Wanting to help could drive you to think of a solution, and then implement it. Each small step drives the next, and eventually you reach your larger goal of developing empathy.

Let Go of the Past

**Create a ritual that will help...

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• Forgive everyone, no matter how many times they’ve wronged you.

The Buddhist Approach: The Book of Joy

The Dalai Lama’s The Book of Joy offers a mixture of similar advice on how to counteract negative emotions and embrace happiness, but from a Buddhist perspective. The Dalai Lama advocates a more holistic approach than Peale’s reliance on positive thinking and prayer; The Book of Joy recommends that you both strive for happiness and learn how to make yourself more resilient to mental and emotional pain.

The Book of Joy lays out nine obstacles to joy that we must overcome or reject within ourselves, as well as eight pillars of joy that we should embrace.

Nine Obstacles to Joy:

• Critiquing oneself

• Fear and stress

• Frustration and anger

• Sadness and grief

• Despair

• Loneliness

• Envy

• Suffering and adversity

• Illness and fear of death

Eight Pillars of Joy:

• Different perspectives

• Humility

• Humor

• Acceptance

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Remember: A master of any skill is efficient at it. A master is someone who can produce maximum results with minimum effort—that’s why people often say that masters “make it look easy.”

Martial arts illustrate the importance of taking things slowly and easily. The best martial artists are the ones who can move and strike fluidly, without tension or strain. Fighters who exert too much energy or who are too stiff in the ring exhaust themselves, telegraph their moves, and are overall much less effective than those who stay loose.

Use Your Power Effectively by Relaxing

Sitting quietly and relaxing—getting yourself in tune with God—renews your power and gives you the energy you need to do your best work. That’s why it’s important to keep a quiet mind and practice peaceful thinking, especially during stressful times.

During the day, stop frantically reacting to every little thing that happens; instead, keep your tempo down and conserve energy. Relaxing during the workday is especially difficult, but it’s important because you ultimately get more done.

In...

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A “Comfortable Person” Is Well-Liked

No matter what your life has been like, you can become a well-liked, popular person. Becoming well-liked is a skill that can be developed.

First, be easygoing and natural; be someone other people can be around without a sense of strain. Peale calls this being a “comfortable person.” When you’re too reserved and stiff, people don’t know how to act or what to say around you.

If you’re not a “comfortable person,” look inward. Don’t assume people don’t like you because something is wrong with them—assume the trouble lies with you. Be honest about your less-than-attractive personality traits and know they can be changed.

To get other people to like you, you have to like them, and this isn’t always easy. Some people are a lot less likable than others. Understand that when you get to know anyone, even someone who isn’t likable on the surface, you’ll find admirable and loveable qualities.

To do this, Christianity suggests developing one trait: a sincere interest in and love for people. Once you can develop this trait, other positive traits like kindness and generosity will follow.

Counterpoint: Love Yourself First

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It’s also important to note that grieving isn’t always about the death of a loved one. People can grieve for relationships, jobs, homes, and so on—any major life change means losing something, and it’s natural to grieve for what you’ve lost.

Faith in Life After Death

There is no greater heartache than the death of a loved one. A spiritual way to help live with this heartache is to gain an understanding of the deeper meaning of life and death. When you carry with you the faith that all life is connected—and that when you die, you merely continue your journey in another form—you gain a deep peace and comfort about the loss of a loved one.

For Peale, coming to the realization that there is no death—that “here” and “hereafter” are all part of one universe—brought him great comfort. This philosophy doesn’t take away the sadness when a loved one dies, but it will help lift and dissolve grief.

Visiting Heaven?

People of many different faiths take comfort in the belief that there’s some sort of afterlife waiting for us. Some people even claim to have seen it; that’s the case with _[Heaven is For...

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• Anticipate and realize when one’s typical style or approach won’t work and when it needs to be changed, as opposed to Peale’s absolute faith in oneself and in God.

• It can be useful to doubt, think about, and delay a decision, rather than charge ahead and believe it will work out—again, in opposition to Peale’s emphasis on faith and positive thinking.

• Most critically, Knight believes that negative thinking, when it results in preparing for the worst, can help avoid unintended consequences down the line.

Knight says that everyone wants to win, but the winner will be the one who wants to prepare. In other words, you can’t just walk into a situation believing that your desire and your faith will get the results you want; you have to put in the work and prepare for the worst.

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