Imperial Valley Press

HAROLD E. DOTY, Th. B.,
Pastor, First Baptist Church.
Columnist for This Week

"WE ARE WHAT WE THINK ABOUT"

Very few of us realize how much our thoughts influence our lives. Just to what extent thinking does really mould character and shape personality, is probably not fully understood by the most learned psychologists, even, of our day. We have much to learn in this great field of research.

But we do know that men become like those things they think about. We follow our thoughts to some definite end, whether it be good or evil. The writer of the book of Proverbs said that as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That is, the things we think about actually become a part of us. They invade the innermost recesses of our nature and fill the corners and nooks of our being whether we will that it shall be so or not.

Granting, then, that this is so, we would naturally come to the conclusion that we had better guard our thinking. That we had better strive to think the nobler thoughts and ponder upon the more sublime things of life. If it is a fact that what we think we really become, it would appear beyond doubt that we ought to be at our best in the matter of thinking.

That human associations determine this, is a fact beyond dispute. The kind of work we do also plays a part. The sort of books we read, the kind of amusements that interest us and the Spiritual background of the individual also are large factors involved in the business of thinking.

At least we may draw this very reasonable conclusion; namely that it is the common duty of every man to do everything within his power to be all that he can possibly be, to attain to all that he can possibly attain to and to achieve all that he is capable of achieving. Thus, if this can be realized by thinking right, then the least we can do is to strive to improve the quality, as well as the quantity of our mental processes.