All I can do is shake my head in wonder. How could I have read all those books and listened to all those people over the years and not seen this? Though they all say it a little differently, most of them are saying the same thing–practically yelling it at me:

Thoughts become things

How much more simple could it be?

Sure, there’re a lot of aspects that need to be mastered, and that’s where a great many of the lessons are of use. The underlying premise, though, is there–like an invisible thread, and once you find it, once you’re aware of it, then you begin to hope that what they’ve been saying is true. Then, the more you work with and learn the principles, your belief deepens so that before very long, you know that it is true. You develop the deep-down, core, knowing that you can be, have, or do anything you can imagine.

It is so mind boggling and exciting, and I’m so thankful and grateful that I finally saw it!

I played the lead in Gigi in a summer stock production at the Laguna Playhouse south of Los Angeles. The excitement of finally being a real actress was painfully short-lived. All the interviews and all the reviews focused on my father. Would I be as good as my father? Was I as gifted, as funny? Would I be as popular? I was devastated.I loved my father; my problem was Danny Thomas.

“Daddy,” I began, “please don’t be hurt when I tell you this. I want to change my name. I love you but I don’t want to be a Thomas anymore.”

I tried not to cry during the long silence. And then he said, “I raised you to be a thoroughbred. When thoroughbreds run they wear blinders to keep their eyes focused straight ahead with no distractions, no other horses. They hear the crowd but they don’t listen. They just run their own race. That’s what you have to do. Don’t listen to anyone comparing you to me or to anyone else. You just run your own race.”

— Marlo Thomas, The Right Words at the Right Time (Atria Books)

Run your own race. Don’t listen to anyone comparing you with someone else–especially your ‘inner critic’. Is that not sage advice?

I picked up this book in Barnes and Noble the other day. She asked a number of people if there were any phrase or saying that impacted their lives in the way that her father had with her. Some of the answers she received are insightful and thoughtful; some are eye-rollers. All in all, though, it’s a good read.

How about you? Are there any words of wisdom or inspiration that you can say have had a profound impact on your life?