Be Your Own Sunshine

Chapter 1. Thought and Character

A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from the seed, every act of a man springs from the hidden sources of view, and this act is impossible without thoughts. This also applies to those acts called “spontaneous.”

The show is the blossom of thinking, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus, a human plants flowers in his garden. A noble and godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance but results from consistent right thinking.

In the same way, the wrong character results from evil thoughts. With the right choice and ideas, a human starts moving forward with Divine Perfection.

And by the wrong application of view, he descends even below the beast. A human is filled with power, intelligence, and love and is the Lord of his thoughts, and that’s why he has the key to every situation and an energy that can make himself in the way he wants

1. Effect of Thought on Circumstances

The Human mind is like a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or left to become wild, but whatever it may be between the two, the gain and loss are of humans.

If no beneficial seeds are put into the mind, many useless weeds will automatically grow there and start producing their kind, just as a gardener cultivates his plot.

So keep it free from all weeds and develop good flowers and fruits; in the same way, we have to remove all bad weeds, which means impure thoughts from our mind, and cultivating flowers and fruits means pure thoughts.

By doing this, you will know that a human is the master gardener of his soul and the director of his life.

Man is tangled in his situation as long as he believes he is a creature of external conditions. But when he realizes he has all the creative power and controls his circumstances, he becomes his rightful master.

Every seed of thought allowed to go into the mind or placed by oneself starts making its root there, producing its mind.

This means your thoughts control your opportunities and circumstances.

Good thoughts bear good fruit; Bad thoughts bear bad fruit. Good thoughts and good actions never produce bad results; bad thoughts and evil actions can never produce good results.

All people know that if you plant a tree of mango, then you will not get apples, but very few people understand it in the mental and moral world. And that’s why only a few people operate with it.

2. Effect of Thought On Health And Body

The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they may be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed.

Because of wrong thoughts, the body goes into diseases very fastly. Because of the right thoughts, it gets filled with youthfulness and beauty. Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought.

Thoughts of illness express themselves through a frail body. The people who fear disease are the people who get it.

Anxiety quickly breaks the whole body and lays it open to disease. Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build the body.

The body is a delicate, plastic instrument that responds quickly to thoughts. Now that thoughts are good or bad, the body will react like them.

Out of a clean mind comes a pure life and a clean body. A bad life and a corrupt body come from an evil, dirty mind.

A good diet may not help you until you change your thoughts. When a person makes his views pure, he stops desiring contaminated food. Clean thoughts make clean habits.

The author says he knows a woman who is ninety-six and who has a bright and innocent face like those of a young girl.

He also says he knows a middle age man, but his whole face has become dull and tired. The one is the result of sweet and good thoughts, whereas the second is the result of discontent.

You cannot have clean air in your rooms until you open windows and doors and allow the air to come in; in the same way, you cannot have a strong body and a bright face until you allow the thoughts of joy and goodwill into your mind.

3. Thought And Purpose

Only when thought is linked with purpose is there an intellectual accomplishment. Those who do not have a central goal in life get easily trapped in worries, fears, and troubles, which take them to unhappiness and loss.

A human should put a legitimate purpose in his heart and try out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the central point of his thoughts.

This purpose can be a spiritual ideal or a material thing, but whatever it is, you must focus your thoughts on that object.

You have to make this purpose your supreme duty and have to work on it and do not waste your time on useless things.

This is the royal road to self-control and the actual concentration of thought. Even if you fail to accomplish that purpose, there will still be no problem because the strength you will gain will be your true success, and you can start again from a new point.

After deciding your purpose, you have to make a road to achieve that purpose mentally, looking neither to the left nor right side. Doubts and fears must be obliterated; because they are elements that break up your efforts.

By doubt and fear, nothing has been accomplished and will never be. Purpose, energy, and strong thoughts all cease when doubt and fear emerge.

Knowledge gives us the inspiration to achieve something in life, but doubt and fear are the great enemies of knowledge. The one who conquers doubt and fear also conquers failure. Thoughts of A person like this are connected with power, and all difficulties are wisely overcome.

4. The Thought Factor in Achievement

All a human can achieve and fails and our though plas a major game in this. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own and not of another, and they are brought about by himself. His condition is also his own and not another man’s.

His suffering and his happiness come from inside. As he thinks, so he becomes. A human can only rise above and achieve when he uplifts his thoughts. He can only remain weak and miserable by not lifting his thoughts.

The universe does not favour the greedy and the dishonest, although, on the surface, it may look so; but the reality is that it helps the honest.

All the great teachers of the ages have declared this in different ways, and to prove and know it, a human has to become even more honest and uplift his thoughts.

All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual or spiritual, result from directed thought. They all operate in the same law, and the method is the same; the only difference is in the object of attainment.

If you want, you can read the full summary of As A Man Thinketh on this website.

Chapter 2. From Passion To Peace

1. Passion

Passion is the lowest level of human life. None can descend lower. Lust, anger, pride, greed, revenge, lying, theft, and jealousy are all forces of passion.

In this Dark world, the unwise live and die. These people do not know about the peace of purity nor the happiness of that divine light that forever shines above them. But the wise people look up.

They are not satisfied with the passion world. They step towards the upper world of peace. None can fall lower than passion, but all can rise higher.

In this lowest place, where further going down is impossible, the one who will try to move forward will indeed move forward.

This pathway is always at hand and is easily accessible. He has already entered it and has begun to say no to Selfishness and those trying to control his mind’s elements.

If you start Without passion, then you will have no power. Passion represents power, but if energy is misdirected, then ability gives hurt instead of happiness.

Passion is a gate that guards the gates of paradise. It shuts out the foolish people, and it admits the wise. Now you may think, what is the difference between foolish and wise?

Foolish is the one who is the slave of his thoughts of self and who remains trapped in the impulses of passion.

He is the wise man who knows his ignorance, understands the emptiness of selfish thoughts, and masters the impulses of passion.

Aspiration by getting to know one’s ignorance comes to the desire for enlightenment, and then aspiration is born in the heart.

On the wings of aspiration, humans rise from Earth to heaven, from ignorance to knowledge, and from darkness to light.

Aspiration is the longing for heavenly things like compassion, purity, and love. And desire means longing for earthly things Like selfish possessions, personal dominance, and sensual gratifications.

Just like no bird can soar without wings, a human without aspiration cannot rise above his surroundings.

He is the slave of passions, and his mind gets hither and thither by changing events. Aspiration means that one man is dissatisfied with his low status and wants a higher condition.

Aspiration makes all things possible. It opens with advancement and happiness.

2. Temptation

Aspiration can carry a man into heaven, but to remain there, man has to condition his mind to the heavenly conditions.

Temptation works to this end. Attraction means going back from aspiration to desire. It threatens aspiration until a point is reached when desire is wholly immersed in pure knowledge.

Then, to be successfully conquered, the evil in a man must come to the surface and present itself, and it is in temptation that the evil hidden in the heart stands revealed and exposed.

On the other hand, aspiration means that a human has taken at least one step upward, and that’s why he can also go back. This backward attraction is called temptation. The elements of temptation lie in impure thoughts.

3. Transcendence

When a man passes the dark stage of temptation, he becomes a Saint. A Saint desires self-purification understands self-purification and gets engaged in perfecting himself.

But there comes a time when a new vision, a new consciousness, and ultimately a new man is made with the decrease of evil and accumulation of good.

When this is reached, the Saint has become a sage and passed from human to divine life. He is “born again'” There begins a new round of experiences for him. He wields a new power; a new universe opens before his spiritual gaze.

This is a stage of transcendence, which the author calls the transcendent life.

Anxiety, doubt, and grief are ended when lust and anger are not filled in the thoughts. When a human does not blame anybody for his condition, and when all conditions are considered good because they are the result of causes, transcendence is attained.

Then the limited personality is outgrown, divine life is known, evil is transcended, and sound is seen in everything. Religious consciousness is not an intensification of the human; it is a new form of consciousness.

Transcendent life is not lived by passions but by principles. In it, a person is not trapped in impulses but abides by laws.

When people are involved in their powers, they burden themselves with many things, but there is nothing like this in a transcendent life. In it, personal interests are replaced by universal purposes.

4. Beatitude.

When divine good is practised, then life is bliss. Bliss is the normal condition of Goodman. Those outer circumstances, and harassment that brings such suffering to others, increase the happiness of one whose life is filled with bliss. Human virtue is mingled with self and, therefore, with sorrow.

Goodness, and sadness disappears, and only happiness is filled in life. So what are the transcendent virtues that have happiness and joy? They are:

Impartiality: Seeing so profoundly into the human heart and actions that it becomes impossible to take sides with one man or party against another.

Unlimited kindness towards all men, women, and all creatures, whether enemies or friends.

Perfect patience at all times, in all circumstances.

Stainless purity of mind; This means freedom from all evil thoughts and impure imaginings.

5. Peace

Where passion is, peace is not; where peace is, power is not. People pray for peace yet cling to desire. Hatred and love cannot dwell together in the same heart. Perfect peace is achieved by way of self-conquest.

The one who has realized that the enemy of the world is not outside but within, that ungoverned thoughts are the source of confusion and difficulties; such a man is automatically on the saintly way.

If a man conquers lust, anger, hatred, pride, selfishness, and greed, he automatically conquers the world.

Now peace remains with him. The pure-hearted people have peace with them. It enters into their actions; they apply it in their lives.

Chapter 3. Man: King of Mind, Body, and Circumstances

1. Habits: Slavery and its freedom

Laws of habit are applied in humans. So is a man free? The author says that he is free. Humans do not make their life and laws; they are eternal; he finds himself involved in them and can understand and obey them.

Man’s power does not enable him to make laws of being. Man does not create one jot of the universal conditions or rules; they are the essential principles of things and are neither made nor unmade.

Humans, because of nature, is a being of habit, and they cannot change this; but they can change their habits. He cannot change the law of nature, but he can change himself according to the law of nature.

No human can change the direction of gravitation, but all men can change themselves According to it. They use it by bending, not by ignoring it.

No Man does not run up against walls by thinking that the law will change for them. They walk downside and adapt According to the law.

Scientists and inventors master the physical forces and laws by obeying them the same way; wise men master the spiritual powers and laws.

Where an evil man is a slave of habit, the Goodman is its director and master. So now, what is the difference between a good and a wrong person?

He is a good man whose habits of thought and actions are good. He is terrible, whose thoughts and actions are evil.

The lousy man becomes an excellent man by transforming his habits. He does not change the law but varies according to the law. Habit is repetition.

Humans repeat the same thoughts, actions, and experiences repeatedly until they go inside them and become a part of their character.

All humans are subject to their habits, whether good or bad. After knowing this, the wise man makes himself the subject of good habits and lives a life filled with joy and freedom.

At the same time, the one who becomes subject to bad habits his life gets filled with misery.

Humans are not bound by any power other than their wrong thoughts; they can set themselves free from these.

Human has to rise from these thoughts like “I cannot rise,” “I cannot leave my bad habits,” and “I cannot control myself.” “I cannot conquer myself.” All these “can nots” have no existence in reality; they exist only in thought.

These terrible thoughts need to be removed, and in their place, positive reviews of “I can” must be planted, and it must be done until a tree is ready for powerful positive thoughts. Habit binds us, and it also frees us.

Habit is first in view, then in action. Turn the idea from bad to good, and the action will immediately follow.

Do evil thoughts repeatedly, and they will bind you even tighter. Do good thoughts again and again, and it will free you.

2. Bodily Conditions

The body is the image of the mind, and by it, we can see the visible features of hidden thoughts. The outer obey the inner.

And future scientists will be able to see how mentality affects the body. A sick mind is more deplorable than an unhealthy body; because of a sick mind, the body also gets sick.

Those who say themselves human have to remove their Sick thoughts. That human who says their food will injure them must stop it.

Those fruits of the Earth are consumed when a human is hungry and in search of food; imagining that they are destructive to health and life is wrong.

By this, we misunderstand nature and the Office of Food. The work of the Office of Food is to sustain and preserve the body, not to destroy it.

3. Poverty

Many remarkable men abandoned riches and adopted poverty to accomplish their purposes better. But, then, Why is poverty understood as that much worse?

Then why is it that poverty which great people consider a blessing, that same poverty is not regarded as suitable by people?

The answer is simple. In one case, poverty is associated with the nobility of mind; all evil emerges from it and appears good and beautiful. And it is more attractive than riches.

In the other case, the poverty of our great cities is associated with everything mean and repulsive, like drunkenness, laziness, dishonesty, and crime. Then, what is terrible: poverty or sin? The answer is sin.

An evildoer will do evil under any circumstances, whether rich or poor or midway between the two. A right-doer will do right, no matter where he is placed. Not getting happy with one’s financial condition is not poverty.

Many say they are poor, but their yearly income is several lakhs. They Imagine that they are poor, but their real problem is greed.

They are not unhappy with poverty but dissatisfied with the thirst for riches. Poverty is more often in mind, not in the purse. Unless a man wishes for more money, he will regard himself as poor, and in that sense, he is poor.

On the other hand, the problem with people living in dirt conditions is that they are satisfied with their situation.

Therefore, living in dirt and unclean surroundings and getting confident about it must be corrected. If we tell these people the importance of living in clean surroundings, they will start working towards it.

4. Man’s Spiritual Dominion

The Kingdom over which human is sent to rule is his mind and life, but this Kingdom is not separate from the universe.

It is connected to the entire humanity, to the untouched nature. Today most people are under the soil of wrong thoughts, and getting out of them is the biggest win of life.

The unwise think everything can be mastered, and they search for happiness by changing external things.

By changing outer things, permanent happiness cannot come. The wise people understand that no absolute mastery exists until the self is conquered.

These people do not search by changing external things, but they get happiness in the strength of God.

The spiritual dominion of a human is an empire of all the mental forces that nature has put into it. For a long time, a man thinks he is a slave of external forces, but a day comes when his spiritual eyes open, and he sees that he has been an enslaved person for a long time was none other than his unpurified character.

On that day, he gets up and ascends to his spiritual throne, he does not stay the slave of desires and passions, but he rules on them.

Thus, by rising and exercising his spiritual authority, he enters into the company of those who overcame ignorance, darkness, and mental suffering and learned the absolute truth.

Chapter 4. Foundation stones to Happiness and Success

1. Right Principles.

Knowing what comes first and what to do first is good. To begin, anything in the middle is waste. The athlete who begins by breaking the tape will not receive the prize.

He must begin to have formed from the start. The pupil does not begin with algebra and literature but with counting and ABC.

The first things in a good life and, therefore, in a happy and successful life are the correct principles. Without beginning with the right principles, you will have unfair practices and, in the end, a lousy life. So here are five principles that the author mentions as most important.

1. Duty: The principle of duty means concentrating on one’s business and noninterfering with someone else’s business. The man who tells others how to be managed is the one who remains most mismanaged. The duty also means giving full attention to what you are working on.

2. Honesty: Honesty is the following principle. It means not cheating or overcharging another. It involves the absence of lying. It includes sincerity. Through it, good reputations are built, and good reputations build good businesses.

3. Economy: The economy is the third principle in the conversation. It means the conservation of energy by the avoidance of self-indulgence and sensual habits. It gives strength and capacity to achieve. The one who learns it well gets excellent power.

4. Liberality: Liberality follows the economy. It is not opposed to it. Only the man of the economy can live generously. The giving of money is a tiny part of liberality. Giving of thoughts, deeds, and goodwill also comes in it. According to it, you have to behave well with your opponents. It brings love close, and it is the enemy of loneliness.

5. Self Control: It is the last principle, yet the most important. By ignoring it, many problems happen. The author says to show him the businessman who loses his temper with a customer over some matter, and he will show you a man who, by this condition of mind, will fail.

If all people will practice the initial stages of self-control, then there would be nothing like anger. The lessons of patience, purity, gentleness, and kindness, which are contained in the principle of self-control, are slowly learned by men.

And until a human knows them, his success is insecure. Where is the man who has perfected himself in self-control? Where he may be, he is a master indeed.

2. Sound Methods

When these five principles are indeed practised, then sound methods are issued. A machine whose parts are right is not only helpful but an admirable thing, but when its parts get out of gear and do not get adjusted, its usefulness gets gone and thrown away.

So likewise, a life whose parts are ideally changed is not only powerful but also an excellent and beautiful thing.

Conversely, a confused and inconsistent life is an exhibition of wasted energy. If life is to be truly lived, the method must enter and regulate every detail.

One of the most significant differences between a Wise man and a foolish man is that the Wise man pays attention to the minor things, while the stupid man neglects them.

Be Your Own Sunshine Book Review

“Be Your Own Sunshine” by James Allen is a book that truly impacted my life. I found Allen’s writing to be both inspiring and thought-provoking, and his ideas really resonated with me.

The book is focused on the power of positive thinking and the impact that our thoughts and attitudes can have on our lives. Allen presents his ideas in a clear and concise way, making them easy to understand and apply to one’s own life.

One of the things that I appreciated most about this book was the emphasis on taking personal responsibility for one’s own happiness. Allen encourages readers to focus on their own inner state rather than seeking happiness through external factors. This was a powerful message that really stuck with me.

I also appreciated the practical advice that Allen provided throughout the book. He offers a variety of tools and techniques for cultivating a more positive mindset, and I found these to be very helpful.

Overall, I would highly recommend “Be Your Own Sunshine” to anyone who is looking to cultivate a more positive outlook on life. This book is a great reminder that we have the power to shape our own experiences through our thoughts and attitudes.

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