Control Your Thoughts by Anon.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 11, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 43.

Control Your Thoughts

By Anon.

STOP that thought. It was in your mind all day yesterday, and it made you perfectly miserable. Over and over again you passed through all the unpleasant scenes, heard all the cruel words that were spoken, suffered again all the painful feelings, and succeeded in spoiling the day, unfitting yourself for your work and destroying all happiness out of your heart. Are you going to continue it all day to-day, and by so doing waste more of your life in the foolish if not insane habit of tormenting yourself because

some one or something made you unhappy in the past?

That thought has no right in your mind. You may think you can not stop it, but you can, as it is only a bad habit you have fallen into, and you must break it or it will break you. You must get the mastery of your own mind, and the control of your own thoughts; and while it will be the hardest battle you will ever have to fight, it will be the most glorious victory you will ever win.

To be a slave to unpleasant thoughts is the worst kind of bondage, and sometimes leads to insanity; but to be able to think on any subject you please, places your happiness in your own hands, and gives you a sense of power and independence which is not only delightful to realize, but which enables you to develop your character and shape your life according to your own choice. When you begin this work, . . . do some work that demands close attention, and whenever the hateful, tormenting thought presents itself, turn your back on it, and your attention to something else, till you can say to it, “Not at home.”— Anon.