Thinking and Growing

Last year I read the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.  For some reason I can't remember much about it.  I know that it was not just about making money, but about being successful.  I know that he extolled personal virtues like desire, faith, imagination, and persistence.  But it didn't really transform my life in the way that I had hoped. There was no great illumination or special inspiration that led me into a new way of life. I particularly appreciated the  way Hill had developed such a system, how he seemed to put everything in place, showing a certain discipline that is quite admirable.  But after the reading, I remained unchanged.

I do bear the opinion that our thinking does determine our destiny, at least in some way. Our lives can be helped or hindered by the quality of our thought lives.  Negative thinking can hold us back or lead us to isolation.  Confidence can have very positive effects.  But how can we train our minds to bring ourselves more success?  I have tried prayer, reading, meditation, conversation, and even logic exercises. And yet I have not become this person that I want to be in the inner life.

I did write a poem about thinking when I was in college.  It begins:

I thought a thought.
At least I think I thought a thought.
And the thought that I think I was thinking was 
A thoughtless thought I think.

But wait a minute....

As I rethink my thinking, I think a thoughtless thought
Could not be thought at all
If thoughtless thinking means I do not think.

And so it goes on in an endless circle.  I would like to think that I can Think and Grow rather than thinking in circles, endlessly filling journals with the same sort of musings that I have done since I was a youth, ever hopeful that I will fall upon some great life-changing truth or central principle around which to build a successful life.

I really would like to Think and Grow Rich.  But sometimes it seems that I just Think and Grow Tired.