The Power of Positive Thinking

by Norman Vincent Peale

Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

him—“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians vi. 13.)

The greatest secret for eliminating the inferiority complex, which is another term for deep and profound self-doubt, is to fill your mind to overflowing with faith. Develop a tremendous faith in God and that will give you a humble yet soundly realistic faith in yourself.

“According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew ix. 29.)

“If ye have faith...nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew xvii. 20.)

“If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans viii. 31.)

The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged. In such a condition the true status of your power is often obscured, and a person yields to a discouragement that is not justified by the facts.

So if you feel that you are defeated and have lost confidence in your ability to win, sit down, take a piece of paper and make a list, not of the factors that are against you, but of those that are for you.

But if, on the contrary, you mentally visualise and affirm and reaffirm your assets and keep your thoughts on them, emphasising them to the fullest extent, you will rise out of any difficulty regardless of what it may be. Your inner powers will reassert themselves and, with the help of God, lift you from defeat to victory.

“God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Spend several minutes each day visualising His presence.