The Creative Power of Thoughts

Thoughts are powerful. All the spectacular and terrible creations of humanity began as a thought — an idea. From the idea came the plan; from the plan came the action; from the action came the object. Whatever you’re sitting or reclining on began as a thought. The room you’re in — and almost everything in it — began as a thought.

All the wars and fighting the world has known began with thoughts. (Usually, “You have it; I want it,” “You’re doing this; I want you to do that,” or “I just don’t like you.”)

All the good, fine, noble, and creative acts of humanity were conceived as a spark in the human consciousness. The Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa, the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, War and Peace, the internet — all began in the mind.

(Granted, some of it should have stayed there. As someone once said, “In every journalist is a novel, and that is precisely where it should remain.”)

Even the creation of human beings begins as a thought. As the old saying goes, “I knew you before you were a twinkle in your father’s eye.”

Victor Hugo described it this way: “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” Often misquoted as, “There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come,” it has been used so often, it’s become a cliche.

(There is nothing less powerful than a cliche whose time has passed.)

Everything created by humans — both good and bad — began as a thought. (The categorization of good and bad, of course, is just another thought.)

The only difference between a thought and a physical reality is time, passion (love or hate), and physical activity.

The amount of time, passion, and physical activity varies from project to project. Sometimes it’s seconds; sometimes it’s years; sometimes the thought must be passed from generation to generation. Some of the great cathedrals took a century and four generations of stone cutters to complete.

On the other hand, there was the Hundred Years’ War.

Leonardo da Vinci invented the helicopter 400 years before one ever flew. Nearly 250 years ago, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation free from religious persecution, of people “with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

We’re still working on that one.

To illustrate the power of thought: Imagine trying to scroll down and read the last sentence of this article. Let it be an idea in your mind. Now actually scroll down and come right back here.

There. A thought was passed from my mind to your mind, and you turned that into a physical reality.

Some people are particularly good at turning ideas into reality. Thomas Edison was one. Imagine: the phonograph, movies, an improved telephone, and the electric light all came from one man.

Henry Ford was another. He wanted to make a cheap, reliable automobile and invented the assembly line to do it.

Without thoughts, things that involve any sort of human action simply don’t happen. Where we are is the result of a lifetime of thinking — both positive and negative.

If you’re pleased with some parts of your life, then your thinking in those areas has been what you would call generally “positive”. If you’re not pleased with other parts of your life, then your thoughts about those areas have probably not been as positive as they could have been.

The good news is that thoughts can be changed, and with that change come changes in your life.

If you persist in your thoughts of wealth, for example, you focus on wealth — an overall state of being that is open, accepting, abundant, and flowing — and this focus on wealth tends to produce physical manifestations of wealth: houses, cars, cash, and your own special episode of MTV’s Cribs.

“But,” some protest, “I think about money all the time, and I still don’t have any.”

What they mean is that they worry about money all the time. Worry is a form of fear, in this case a fear of poverty. Holding an ongoing series of thoughts about poverty creates a focus on poverty, which creates a lack of everything but bills — which causes more worry, which creates more poverty.

Our thoughts create our reality — not instantly, necessarily, as in “Presto! There it is!” — but eventually. Where we put our focus — our inner and outer vision — is the direction we tend to go. That’s our desire, our intention.

The way we get there — well, there are many methods.