The 30-Day Mental Challenge
All you need to do is try
American philosopher William James (1842–1910) yearned to find a practical spirituality, one that produced concrete improvements in happiness.
The Harvard physician grew encouraged, especially in his final years, by his personal experiments with New Thought, which he called “the religion of healthy-mindedness.” I challenge today’s seekers to continue James’s search for a testable, workable spiritual system. Will join me in a thirty-day experiment that puts positive-mind metaphysics to the test?
It is based on a passage from a 1931 book, Body, Mind, and Spirit by Elwood Worcester and Samuel McComb, in which a prominent scientist described radically improving his life through a one-month thought experiment. I have condensed his testimony:
Up to my fiftieth year I was unhappy, ineffective, and obscure. I had read some New Thought literature and some statements of William James on directing one’s attention to what is good and useful and ignoring the rest. Such ideas seemed like bunk — but feeling that life was intolerable I determined to subject them to a month-long test.
During this time I resolved to impose definite restrictions on my thoughts. In thinking of the past, I would dwell only on its pleasing incidents. In thinking of the present, I would…
