What if we were to take very seriously the formative character of thinking? Could this be one way of understanding “thought power”?

Thoughts, Sivananda states in Thought Power, beget habits (“grooves”); habits beget character; and character begets destiny (let’s say: the course of a life). Could he be on to something?

Nobody denies that someone who worries may get into a habit of worrying. Worrying, after all, is contagious. When I worry about one thing, I may start worrying about some other thing (since the mind is abiding by a law of association). Lo and behold, I may slowly get into the “thought groove” of worrying about all sorts of things, with the result that we say that I now have developed the habit of worrying.

Once the habit sets in, we can say something about the sort of character I have. I am a worrywart. As a worrywart, what do I discover? Well, that my life is the course set by constant worrying. In the comedy What About Bob? (1991), Bill Murray plays a character who is riddled with worries, and we can see with what results.

Once we accept that this course applies to the worrywart, why not be open to the possibility that it’s equally true of the cheerful person? A cheerful thought, too, is viral or colonizing. Notice where my thoughts go: How beautiful is the weather! Then: How sweet is that flittering bird! Then: How glorious the sun!

Soon, I find that I’m taking note of all manner of wondrous things. As a result, cheerful thinking also sets into “grooves” and thus it becomes a habit.

Little by little, people notice that I’m a cheerful person, and they find it easier to be around me than they do when they’re presented with the person who is a damp rag. If it’s true that thought sets the path of my life, then my destiny may look, more and more, like a glad and grateful one.

Some may wish to quibble with this thesis, arguing that it’s overly facile or hopelessly naive. Rather than entering into such doubts and quibbles, why not give it a try? What if there’s no downside and possibly a large upside to conducting such an experiment in thinking?