Out came a thought and then another...

It is a rare man indeed who "retires" at the age of 38 to write books because he believes that he has something important to share with the world. Not because he can write well or because he can make money writing but because he had something to say. And it is a rarer man indeed who verifies the truth of what he has to say by living it first.

Such a man can create a lasting legacy, inspire a multi-billion dollar industry and transform several lives by the power of his words. Such a man can also remain unknown, unrewarded and minimally credited. In a world where secret lives of the rich and the famous can be searched at the click of a button, all you can know about such a man is that he was born in Leicester, England in 1864; worked as a personal secretary until the age of 38; lived and wrote from a small cottage in Ilfracombe, England; died at the age of 48.

James Allen, as one of the few sites about him puts it, is an "unrewarded genius". He was the original self-help author who inspired the hugely successful self-help/self-improvement industry. A lot of big names today - Denis Waitley, Anthony Robbins - mention his masterpiece As a Man Thinketh as one of the key books that got them thinking.

There is much power packed into the 30-odd pages in As a Man Thinketh - a simple and effective book. Something that self-help critics might want to read because there is no marketing, no six steps to a better tomorrow, no tapes and DVDs on special offer. There is just one practitioner's heartfelt writing.

Tempest-tossed souls, wherever ye may be, under whatsoever conditions ye may live, know this - in the ocean of life the isles of Blessedness are smiling, and sunny shore of your ideal awaits your coming. Keep your hand firmly upon the helm of thought. In the bark of your soul reclines the commanding Master; He does but sleep; wake Him. Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power.

Posted by Echo/Lavanya on Monday, May 01, 2006 at 5:48 PM | Permalink