I ordered another book from the library by the same author, but they sent me this one by mistake, so I gave it a try.

The author and his wife Ruth wrote this book together.

It is about “imaging” which is apparently an old word for “visualizing”. The constant use of this word was a bit off-putting, but of course I knew what it meant.

We already know the message of this book from such books as Shakti Gawain’s “Creative visualization”, but you can’t get too much of a good thing (I think).

We’re given innumerable stories from real life about how various people have visualized things that came true.

Norman Vincent Peale was a minister of the church so this is religiously inspired and filled with references to the Bible.

We are given a useful little prayer:

“The light of God surrounds me.
The love of God enfolds me.
The power of God protects me.
The presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am, God is.”

This prayer can be used to inspire faith and trust and banish worry.

We are advised to write down our goal, visualize the desired result and discard any idea of failure.

I didn’t feel there was anything new in the book, but it is always inspiring to read about others’ successes and how they achieved them.

There is a chapter about the healing power of forgiveness. We’re told of this often but we can’t hear it too many times.

A woman with a terrible rash and awful headaches prayed for faith and visualized herself as healed. She found thirty-five verses in the Bible to do with healing, health and faith and constantly read and meditated on these verses, which are listed at the end of chapter 12. Gradually her rash faded and her headaches lessened, and finally she was healed.

One of the main affirmations Peale suggests, and which he refers to again and again, is: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. This is somewhat difficult to say, but I’m sure it can be beneficial.

To sum up, the book is rather old-fashioned and many may not be attracted to it, but I found it quite inspiring. ( )

Having been very impressed with Peale's 'The Power of Positive Thinking' I immediately progressed to this. I didn't think it was as good - concentrating almost solely on the practice of positive imaging, linked inextricably with hard-line religion. It was the religious side of it that I really couldn't buy into, which meant that the overall message was lost on me. ( )