Thoughts Create Behavior

by Vic Johnson
(excerpted from Day by Day with James Allen)

“Cause and effect are as absolute and undeviating in the hidden realm of thought as in the world of visible and material things.” —As a Man Thinketh

We remember from science class Newton’s physical law that “every action creates an equal and opposite reaction.” Or, every cause has an effect. And because it is a law, it is absolute and undeviating. It always happens—in every circumstance, under every condition.

James Allen says the same law that applies in the physical also applies in the world of thought. Every effect must have an originating cause. Our life does not develop as a result of chance but as a result of causes.

In the thought world, a thought (the cause) creates a feeling (the effect). Feelings can eventually materialize in the physical world because they create actions or behavior. These actions cause results or outcomes, and thus our life goes.

When we say a person “looks worried,” what has taken place? A negative thought of some kind (the cause) triggered a feeling of worry (the effect) that materialized in the physical world through the person’s facial actions. Those feelings may also materialize in other ways. For instance, by increased blood pressure or nausea. All of these “effects” originated from the original cause, which was a thought.

Dr. Wayne Dyer writes that “all of our behavior results from the thoughts that preceded it…. So the thing to work on is not your behavior but the thing that caused your behavior, your thoughts.”

That was so liberating to me because I was so frustrated in trying to change the behaviors that I knew were causing the pain in my life. But I had been working on the wrong thing.

We cannot change anything in our life without first changing the originating cause. And everything in our life originates in our thoughts.

As Jim Rohn says: “If the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause.”

And that’s worth thinking about.

—Vic Johnson