Abraham Lincoln suffered terrible losses. Yet, he has great lessons to teach on Positive Thinking.
Positive Thinking is Not All Puppies and Roses
Abraham Lincoln’s style of positive thought was different than yours and mine.
Positive thought is associated with an optimistic attitude. Yet, Lincoln was a depressive.
I believe that a person can be depressed, and still think positively.
There is no doubt that Freedom was a positive thought. Yet I believe emancipation heightened Lincoln’s depression, Not for the good to come, but the blood to be shed.
Yet, some positive thoughts are worth the pain.
Focused Thought Produces Results
Do you think of a bullheaded focused person as a positive thinker?
Abraham Lincoln was relentless in his focus. When he set his mind to a task at hand, there was no persuading him to change his mind.
“Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.”
“Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.”
Positive Thinkers Have a Sense of Humor
“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Forgiveness Is Key to Positive Thinking
Abraham Lincoln had many reasons to be spiteful:
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The Father, lost both of his sons.
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The President, brought our country into Civil War.
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The Man, was killed in front of his wife.
Forgiveness does not mean no pain. You can hurt, and forgive.
“I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”
An Eternal Perspective Brings Hope
I have faced the fear of death. Twice.
Once on a plane the depressurized in flight.
Another, when the hospital woke my wife in the middle of the night. “Mrs. Liles. We had to resuscitate Willa. She stopped breathing.”
Life comes to an end. The HOPE of immortality keeps us doing the right things.
“Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.”
