Positive Attitude Illustrations

Devotional Thoughts and Teaching Illustrations About Positive

“Positive thinking” may seem like a buzzy modern concept, but the belief that our thoughts can positively impact our well-being is nothing new. In fact, the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus observed as far back as the first century CE that “it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” In other words, we can free ourselves and change our reality by dreaming big and training our mind toward possibilities, rather than focusing on limitations.

Since antiquity, numerous scholars, leaders, and thinkers have helped to champion the power of positivity in their respective fields. Transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, for instance, is often credited as a forefather of positive thinking. In his writings, he emphasizes the role our perception plays in shaping our reality, and how we must adjust our attitude first in order to change our lot in life. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year,” Emerson wrote in 1904. Decades later, writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie picked up this thread of thinking, touting the social advantages of positivity in his 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

​​The benefits of such optimism extend well beyond just a sunnier disposition: According to the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking can actually enact physical changes as well. The power of the mind can lead to a better immune system, an increased life span, better cardiovascular health, and lower levels of stress and tension. These 14 quotes reveal how positive thinking can be a healthy way of approaching the rigmaroles of everyday living.

*Clickable Links Are Blue with Underlines:

Famous Quotes, Graphic Illustrations, Videos, Scriptures, and a Deeper Look at Positive 

Video

Church Songs?

#Positive

#Scripture

What Jesus Says About It

Kevin's Commentary About It

Resources Rayner Frequently Finds Helpful

Search Wikipedia for the Topic

WikiQuotes about Topic

You Think About it!

Kevin Rayner

• Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ParableIllustrations
• Email distribution list at https://groups.google.com/g/parable
• Go to Kevin Rayner's blog at https://parable-illustrations.blogspot.com/ for more illustrations and videos with illustrations. Help us spread the word about the teaching illustrations list. Pass on to your friends and invite them to visit the blog at https://parable-illustrations.blogspot.com/
• What illustrations would you suggest adding to these?

Touch of the Master's Hand

Illustrations About Change

*Clickable Links Are Blue with Underlines:

Famous Quotes, Graphic Illustrations, Videos, Scriptures, and a Deeper Look at TheWord

https://youtu.be/KTB2qDQQ4pU

Touch of the Master's Hand

By Myra Ross Welch (1926)

Church Songs?

#Change

#Value

#Souls

#Price

#Scripture

Search Wikipedia for the Topic

WikiQuotes about Topic

You Think About it!

Kevin Rayner

• Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ParableIllustrations
• Email distribution list at https://groups.google.com/g/parable
• Go to Kevin Rayner's blog at https://parable-illustrations.blogspot.com/ for more illustrations and videos with illustrations. Help us spread the word about the teaching illustrations list. Pass on to your friends and invite them to visit the blog at https://parable-illustrations.blogspot.com/
• What illustrations would you suggest adding to these?

'Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile:

"What am bidden, good folks?" he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar! A dollar!" then "Two! Only two?"
"Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"

"Three dollars once, three dollars twice . . .
And going for three . . . " but no.
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low
Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars! And who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! Who'll make it three?
"Three going once? Three going twice?
"And going . . . and gone!" said he.

The people cheered but some of them cried,
"We do not understand!
What changed its worth?" -- Swift came the reply,
"The touch of the Master's Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune
And battered and scarred with sin
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.

A "mess 'o pottage"
A glass of wine
A game and he travels on.
He's "going" once
And "going" twice
And "going" . . . and almost "gone"

Then along comes the Master, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul or the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q="John+Maxwell"+Change&t=h_&iax=videos&ia=videos

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

=============

Making a Difference

An old man walked up a shore littered with thousands of starfish, beached and dying after a storm. A young man was picking them up and flinging them back into the ocean.

"Why do you bother?" the old man scoffed. "You're not saving enough to make a difference."

The young man picked up another starfish and sent it spinning back to the water.

"Made a difference to that one," he said.

You make a difference, every day.

=============

Imagine a world...

• Where one small act of kindness turned into billions of acts, like a never-ending chain.
• Where people value people and have a genuine love for one another.
• Where every neighborhood was safe because the community looked after each other.
• Where someone did something that unites us together instead of drives us apart.
• Where that someone is YOU!

This world that you imagine... What if it was real? What if you really did have a voice in your world and you really could make a difference?

Speed of your Speech

Not an illustration, but comments on using illustrations.

Does how fast you talk have an impact on your speech? Check-out the article by clicking on the title below.

Be More Persuasive by Speaking at a Comfy Pace and Taking Pauses

Kevin

Christian Home Valuable

Two baby boys born in 1889 were to change our world. One was born in Austria to an abusive father and an indifferent mother who handed the child over to an aunt to raise after her husband's death.

The sixteen-year-old dropped out of school, drifted from job to job, joined the military, and was imprisoned for leading an attempted insurrection. He became a political activist.

The other little boy born in 1889 was born to a simple Texas family. "God fearing" folks who moved the child to a Kansas farm. The boy was taught prayer and Bible reading. Christian influences surrounded him. The boy grew strong, went to West Point, then on to a career in the military.

On June 6, 1944, the world watched these two do combat on the field of battle. For eleven months, Adolf Hitler's Third Reich battled the forces of Dwight David Eisenhower, commander of the Allied Invasion Force. On April 30, 1945, Hitler died by his own hand in the rubble of Berlin - much of the world cheered. Twenty-four years later Eisenhower died, the world mourned.

A Christian home can impact the destiny of an entire world, can't it?

"Being a Christian"

https://youtu.be/deE9ebnYZsE