Book Club Friday's (#24) - As A Man Thinketh

eldergill (52)in #bookclub • 6 years ago

As a man thinketh is a book about how to overcome the obstacles we all face in life. How to improve as a person, and how to live the most fulfilling life you can possibly live.

About the Author

James Allen was a philosophical writer and poet. He is best known for his book, As a Man Thinketh. Allen wrote about complex subjects such as faith, destiny, love, patience, and religion but had the unique ability to explain these subjects in a way that is simple and easy to comprehend. He often wrote about cause and effect, sowing and reaping, as well as overcoming sadness, sorrow, and grief.

He was born on November 28th, 1864 at 21 Brunswick Street, in Leicester, England and later died at the age of 47 on January 24th, 1912. It is fair to say that he has been, and will continue to be seen as one of the most influential philosophers of his era.

A little bit about the book

As a man thinketh was first published over 100 years ago in 1903. Despite this, the knowledge within the pages is still celebrated by many of the 'greats' within society today. In fact, I first heard about the book from one of my inspirations Tony Robbins, who states that Allen's book is his all-time favourite. Tony is a massive overachiever and changes thousands of people's lives every year, potentially even millions, so whatever he claims to be his favourite book is definitely worth reading.

There are a few main points in the book worth writing about to give you a brief idea of what it is actually about. Firstly, the book is tiny, it is only 72 pages long but, like other self-philosophy books requires reading and re-reading over the course of your life.

James Allen focusses on the ideology of a man/woman's life is directly affected by his or her thought processes. If you think negatively, then your life will be more negative because the energy you radiate will be a negative energy. If you are positive, optimistic and try to see the silver lining/the lesson to be learnt in your circumstances, you will emit positivity and this is addictive to other people. Hence, 'As a man thinketh'.

So inevitably, man/woman is themselves the makers of themselves. Therefore, James Allen describes a life where a person thinks BIG. You want to push the boundaries of what you can achieve in life, so think BIG, think positive and take calculated risks. Be self aware, or be sober. I don't mean sober in the sense of stay away from alcohol, I mean it in the sense of being aware of your senses and your surroundings in order to control your thought processes. Life will speed by if you are constantly living in the unconscious.

Both of these points lead to the conclusion that you are in control of your own destiny. Once you realise this and develop an internal locus of control, life will become a lot clearer and the path you need to take will become more obvious to you.

This is definitely a book for everyone's personal library.

I hope that you have a great weekend, and take care!

Adam x