This page offers you a daily dose of James Allen. Here you’ll find today’s entries from James Allen’s book of meditations for every day in the year and Morning and evening thoughts:
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Indolence is the twin sister of indifference, hat ready action is the friend of contentment.
CONTENTMENT is a virtue which
becomes lofty and spiritual, as the
mind is trained to perceive and the
heart to receive the guidance, in all
things, of a merciful law.
To be contented does not mean to forgo effort; it means to free effort from anxiety ; it does not mean to be satisfied with sin ’ and ignorance and folly, but to rest happily in duty done, and work accomplished.
A man may be said to be content to lead a grovelling life, to remain in sin and in debt, but such a man’s true state is one of indifference to his duty, his obligations, and the just claims of his fellow-men. He cannot truly be said to possess the virtue of contentment ; he does not experience the pure and abiding joy which is the accompaniment of active achievement.
True contentment is the outcome of honest effort and true living.
In aiming at the life of blessedness, one
of the simplest beginnings to be considered,
and rightly made, is that which we all
make every day-namely, the beginning
of each day’s life.
There is a sense in which every day
may be regarded as the beginning of a new
life, in which one can think, act, and live
newly, and in a wiser and better spirit.
The right beginning of the day will
be followed by a cheerfulness permeating
the household with a sunny influence,
and the tasks and duties of the day will
be undertaken in a strong and confident
spirit, and the whole day will be well lived.
There can be no progress, no achievement,
without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly
success will be in the measure that he
sacrifices his confused animal thoughts,
and fixes his mind on the development
of his plans, and the strengthening of his
resolution and self-reliance.
And the higher he lifts his thoughts,
the more manly, upright, and righteous
he becomes, the greater will be his success,
the more blessed and enduring will be his
achievements.
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