Do Not Dwell on the Image of Illness

Hyatt, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Our thoughts and beliefs screw us up more than anyone can, and unfortunately we learn the pattern in childhood, along with the implacable determination to harshly judge ourselves and everyone else.

I learned but I forget and get reminders in interesting ways from time to time that no one is good or bad, they just are. This does not mean condoning murder and mayhem or acts of cruelty however it does mean accepting that the heinous acts committed by others are also within each and every one of us. We simply don't act them out.

When we repeatedly think about something - usually negative - long enough it becomes a belief.

I am a good example here. I have gained at least 20 pounds over the past 5 months because I am feeling depressed about living in a hostel and being unable to find a job. I only have 53 years so how is that possible.

Because of that weight gain I've been thinking how ugly I am repeatedly. And guess what happened, the ugliest and most unexplainable pus-filled rashes have broken out all over that fat ugly body.

You think it long enough and you will create it. So think grateful thoughts about the small things in your lives when it all seems to suck. Be healthy people.

"Un-Peace" of Mind

In my sixty-odd years of adulthood I have been gratified to see that physicians give increasing attention to psychosomatic illness, or bodily illness which originates in the mind.

Since man's earliest history, however, it has been obvious that almost all of our illness is caused by un-peace of mind. Here is a very partial list of symptoms which can arise from mental conflicts, fears, and tensions:

Headache, Indigestion, Ulcers, Arthritic pains, Constant fatigue, Sleeplessness, Slow healing of wounds, Kidney trouble, Circulatory trouble, Frigidity, Impotence, Rashes, other skin afflictions, Mouth infection, Rectal disorders, Muscular cramps. . .and more. . .and more.

Then there are the many mental disorders, ranging from extreme nervous tension to outright insanity, which often are caused or aggravated by a mind which fights itself.

The list of ills to which body and mind may yield is almost endless, so let your first step toward good health be this: do not dwell upon the image of illness.

The mind tends to transmute all beliefs into their physical equivalent. Why, then, see yourself as anything but a person who enjoys good sound health from top to toe and back again?

Napoleon Hill

Source: Grow Rich with Peace of Mind, Fawcett, 1967, pgs. 51 & 52.