Thoughts Are Things

I've read a lot lately about the power of our thoughts. I definitely believe that our thoughts have power—that they exert a kind of gravitational pull on what we perceive to receive in life. I also believe that others have a kind of sixth sense about how we feel about them. I love this poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox about how our thoughts can make a difference.

"Secret Thoughts"

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I hold it true that thoughts are things

Endowed with bodies, breath, and wings,

And that we send them forth to fill

The world with good results---or ill.

That which we call our secret thought

Speeds to the earth's remotest spot,

And leaves its blessings or its woes

Like tracks behind it as it goes.

It is God's law. Remember it

In your still chamber as you sit

With thoughts you would not dare have known,

And yet made comrades when alone.

These thoughts have life; and they will fly

And leave their impress by and by,

Like some marsh breeze, whose poisoned breath

Breathes into homes its fevered breath.

And after you have quite forgot

Or all outgrown some vanished thought,

Back to your mind to make its home,

A dove or raven, it will come.

Then let your secret thoughts be fair;

They have a vital part and share

In shaping worlds and moulding fate---

God's system is so intricate.