“Men will continue to have impure and poisoned blood so long as they propagate unclean thoughts. Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body. Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and corrupt body. Thought is the fountain of action, life and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.
“Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food.
“If you would perfect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind. Thoughts of malice, envy, disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace. A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts. Wrinkles that mar are drawn by folly, passion, pride.” ~James Allen, As A Man Thinketh.
“Things are not brought into being by thinking about their opposites. Health is never to be attained by studying disease and thinking about disease; righteousness is not to be promoted by studying sin and thinking about sin; and no one ever got rich by studying poverty and thinking about poverty.” ~Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich.
“The Young and the Thoughtless!” …The Reality of Polarity
If you missed the first three “segments” of this series, start here.
(From our last segment you read: “…Once I decided that I was at the bottom with discouragement and had nowhere else to go but up, things began to change to lead us toward eventual relief. But the changes were in disguise. They seemed to get worse, but were actually the beginning of our deliverance. [Read on] to find out how something worse could actually be the best thing that could have happened to us.”)
Late into the next winter there was a storm. Wait — since I am planning to present some ideas on the law of polarity, I want you to notice the ideas that are negative and then the corresponding positive opportunities that sprung from them. The law of polarity states that within every “bad” situation is an equal and opposite “good”. As we search for the good in everything, our thoughts will literally shape the outcome, and our circumstances will always benefit us. If we only look at the bad, then more of what we consider “bad” will be drawn to us, by law.
So, back to the storm.
(Bad) This was a storm unlike any I had ever seen before. Not because it was so severe, but because of the mess it created even in its mildness. Huge winds picked up salt from the salt flats around the Great Salt Lake, whipped it into the air and blended it with the moisture in the clouds. Inevitably, the storm clouds became very heavy, and rained salt water all over our community 45 miles south. When the rain was all dried up, a blanket of white residue was left on everything, especially obvious on windows.
I was working part time as a teacher, my 2 children were in daycare, and my husband was still working at the gun safe plant. I was also traveling to Salt Lake City twice a week to take my baby to therapy as part of the aftermath of his difficult beginnings.
(Good) My husband saw an opportunity in the salty mess, and quickly invested in a few tools (several hundred dollars worth, including a fancy schmancy high-tech all-in-one ladder system). Going door to door with his new equipment, he offered to wash windows in our neighborhood and in the first weekend was able to recoup his investment. Amazed at the profitability… stunned by his ability to make more money in one hour than he was used to making in four, we began to dream again.
Naturally, his mind opened up and he realized he wasn’t as dependent on his regular job as he had thought.
(Bad) But they were providing our insurance and a steady income, albeit meager. And, the insurance issue was no small thing. With our baby and all of his medical problems, we couldn’t afford to lose the insurance at that time.
Not 2 weeks later, my husband walked across the street to visit a neighbor and slipped on some black ice. Putting his hand down to catch his fall, his arm was jammed back and the force snapped his shoulder blade, breaking the bone. Unable to do his job, his employer gave him 3 months unpaid medical leave and said, “come back then and we’ll try to find you a position.” In other words, we’ll be replacing you and are not promising there will be a job upon your return.
(Good) Not to worry right? He had already discovered a way to make money on his own. Given a little recovery time, he went right to work drumming up window cleaning business and kept us afloat. Even after the salt was pretty much gone, he found the business to provide a pretty good income. He started obtaining larger and larger accounts and was proud to be able to provide his services for very expensive homes, including one that was featured in a local “parade of homes” event.
(Bad) Then we realized something unfortunate… Through the summer, business was good; but winter would come around again and hinder his work.
(Good) It was a quick and rational decision to finally return to Arizona where we could be close to old friends and family, and be able to work the business year-round. It made so much sense and we were excited to start the new chapter in our life.
(Bad) But the market was somehow different down there. Our marketing strategies that worked like magic in Utah were futile in Arizona. He hired on with a window cleaning service and ended up making less than he had been making at the gun safe factory, with no benefits.
We lived in a tiny apartment and drove a twenty-year old car; and against our grain, we had to seek government assistance for the baby’s medical care. I went into a depression, tired of trying. Some of you have heard this part of the story before… it was during this time that a teenager in the complex broke my broom… and I called the cops on him. I couldn’t afford a new broom and I snapped to find it busted.
All of this was naturally a strain on our marriage too.
(Good) Our commitment to God and our marriage vows kept us together, though.
He picked up a second job, working for Sears in their credit department, and eventually was invited by a friend to come on as a temporary at a cement company, working on their computers. Suddenly, I was grateful for, instead of irritated by, all those times when my husband would tinker extensively with our old computer. Here he was putting some of his knowledge to use and was now adding to that knowledge as his friend worked to train him.
Would all of this struggle pay off? Would we ever be able to really prosper? Education is important to us, but my husband hadn’t completed his degree. Without that education, how “stuck” were we? Lot’s of people quit trying to improve their situation, believing that they cannot drastically change their circumstances. We refused to believe that. We also refused to believe that God would want us to live out our lives just scraping by. As I later read, “A person’s right to life means his right to have the free and unrestricted use of all the things which may be necessary to his fullest mental, spiritual, and physical unfoldment.” ~Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich. We believed that saying to be a true principle, and didn’t realize that God was actually leading us along to some great blessings. It all makes sense in hindsight, but in the middle of the struggle it makes very little sense.
What is your struggle? Did you know that it is not purposeless? What odds are stacked against you? By the law of polarity, you can know that if great odds are stacked against you, then you are being primed for greater blessings than you can imagine. But you need to steer your thoughts to believe it, in order for the greatest good to actually manifest itself.
(Bad) At one of my lowest points I decided that the only way to feel happy would be to go to my room and try to fantasize about the life I really wanted. I was down on myself for resorting to such an escapist mentality. I wanted to escape reality and live in a dream world. What would it be like to own a home? To have a yard for my kids? To have enough for the groceries I wanted? I tried to feel the happiness that I thought I’d feel if it were true.
(Good) If I hadn’t fallen so low, I never would have resorted to that kind of an escape. I have a feeling that God knew that if He would let me struggle long enough, I’d eventually resort to fantasizing… and because He cannot bless us with circumstances that are out of harmony with our own thoughts, all He had to do was let me struggle long enough until I started to emotionally think about what I wanted, as though it were already mine. I was led to want very badly to really feel the happiness and joy that would come with the life I dreamed about. That’s the secret, I had no idea it could be so simple! The minute I began to apply the laws of thought, unknowingly, was the same minute that things began to move and circumstances began to gather to see my dreams turn into reality.
Tune in next time to find out what happens when the Young and the Thought-less begin to get Older and Thought-ful… in other words, when we finally started to live in harmony with the Laws of Thought! See how once we understood the Laws, we were finally able to change the direction of our roller-coaster world! Life is full of ups and downs no matter what. But what a difference it made when we purposely applied our new understanding of the laws; and it is my hope that you’ll see dramatic changes in your life as well.
Our job is to think right. It is not our job to manage the creative process: we don’t have to know how things will come together. That’s God’s job. We must simply think right, and trust God. I should also add that part of thinking right is being determined to act on the inspiration that God gives us. We have to have faith, and we must trust Him.
If you recognize that through right thinking your circumstances can be changed, but realize your thoughts need more discipline, read this.
For the next episode of “The Young and the Thoughtless”, use the navigation links below.
- Rare Faith – Just me Geeking Out - September 16, 2023
- Round 11 – Just me Geeking Out (too much) - September 16, 2023
- Rare Faith – Attached to the Struggle? - September 8, 2023
