Norman Vincent Peale: The Law of Attraction

This is an audiobook reminding us to stay positive in life to get the results you want and need. A reminder to stay positive, no matter what you’re going through. #PositiveThinking
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image was changed and he was finally
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able to pass his test without incident
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everyone faces crises by anticipating
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the worst we tend to freeze unable to
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function properly but by substituting
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the power of imagination by
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Imaging throwing mind and heart over the
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obstacle it can be overcome the result
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inevitably follows the thrust of the
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mind now for the fourth element of
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successful achievement put strong
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positive thoughts behind your goal never
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let negative thoughts surround you for
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the negative thinker unleashes
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destructive forces that can destroy him
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it’s the law of attraction at work like
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attracts like thoughts of a kind have a
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natural affinity by sending out negative
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thoughts the negative thinker activates
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the world around him negatively he tends
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to draw back to himself negative results
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the positive thinker on the other hand
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sends out optimistic thoughts and thus
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activates the world around him
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positively on the basis of the same law
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of attraction he draws back to himself
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positive thoughts he works and keeps on
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working he thinks and keeps on thinking
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he believes and keeps on believing he
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never lets up never gives in he gives
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the effort the full treatment of
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positive faith and action result his
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dreams come true he can because he
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thinks he can
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[Music]
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as you encounter life’s challenges or as
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you dream your dreams never write off
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anything as impossible remember you have
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the mental capacity to think your way
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through any problem if you draw fully
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upon your mind think hopefully get your
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mental powers really working and things
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can turn out better than they now appear
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here are some proven techniques that can
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help you meet your setbacks head-on and
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accomplish your goals
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remember the problem-solving process
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first no get to know your problem study
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it until you find the soft spot then
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break it apart second think use your
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head your mind is a powerful tool stay
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cool and think straight the answer is
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there if you let it come third believe
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believe in yourself trust your ability
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to see your crisis through to the end
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repeat to yourself I can I can I can if
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you want to accomplish something keep
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these thoughts in mind have a sharply
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focused goal pray about your goal to
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make sure it’s right for you picture
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your goal clearly in your mind and don’t
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let that image fade work and keep on
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working always take a positive and
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optimistic attitude when you maintain a
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positive frame of mind good things are
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drawn to you and ultimately they
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influence the outcome of your endeavors
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everyone encounters defeating factors in
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life but those who think they can do not
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give in by drawing upon their inner
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powers of mind and spirit they simply
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refuse to be defeated
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they know that even the most difficult
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situations can be overcome so they
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proceed to overcome them the hopeful
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thinker projects hope and faith both
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miracle elements into the darkest
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situation and lights it up as long as
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you keep the crippling thought of defeat
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out of your mind
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defeat cannot defeat you you can be a
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winner i’m norman vincent peale i hope
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you’ve enjoyed this and i wish you the
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best things always this has been a
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presentation of simon & schuster audio

America fails the marshmallow test

The marshmallow test is a famous psychological experiment that tests children’s willingness to delay gratification. Children are offered a marshmallow, but told that they can have a second marshmallow if they’re willing to wait 15 minutes before eating the first one. Claims that children with the willpower to hold out do much better in life haven’t held up well, but the experiment is still a useful metaphor for many choices in life, both by individuals and by larger groups.
One way to think about the Covid-19 pandemic is that it poses a kind of marshmallow test for society.
At this point, there have been enough international success stories in dealing with the coronavirus to leave us with a clear sense of what beating the pandemic takes. First, you have to impose strict social distancing long enough to reduce the number of infected people to a small fraction of the population. Then you have to implement a regime of testing, tracing and isolating: quickly identifying any new outbreak, finding everyone exposed, and quarantining them until the danger is past.
This strategy is workable. South Korea has done it. New Zealand has done it.
But you have to be strict and you have to be patient, staying the course until the pandemic is over, not giving in to the temptation to return to normal life while the virus is still widespread. So it is, as I said, a kind of marshmallow test.
And America is failing that test.
New U.S. cases and deaths have declined since early April, but that’s almost entirely because the greater New York area, after a horrific outbreak, has achieved huge progress. In many parts of the country — including our most populous states, California, Texas, and Florida — the disease is still spreading. Overall, new cases are plateauing and may be starting to rise. Yet state governments are moving to reopen anyway.
This is a very different story from what’s happening in other advanced countries, even hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, where new cases have fallen dramatically. It now looks likely that by late summer we’ll be the only major wealthy nation where large numbers of people are still dying from Covid-19.
Why are we failing the test? It’s easy to blame Donald Trump, a man-child who would surely gobble down that first marshmallow, then try to steal marshmallows from other kids. But America’s impatience, its unwillingness to do what it takes to deal with a threat that can’t be beaten with threats of violence, runs much deeper than one man.
It doesn’t help that Republicans are ideologically opposed to government safety-net programs, which are what make the economic consequences of social distancing tolerable; as I explain in today’s column, they seem determined to let crucial emergency relief expire far too soon. Nor does it help that even low-cost measures to limit the spread of Covid-19, above all wearing face masks (which mainly protect other people), have been caught up in our culture wars.
America in 2020, it seems, is too disunited, with too many people in the grip of ideology and partisanship, to deal effectively with a pandemic. We have the knowledge, we have the resources, but we don’t have the will.