Christian D. Larson - The Optimist Creed

INCLUDES
The Pathway of Roses
Your Forces and How to Use Them Mastery of Self
The Ideal Made Real Just Be Glad

C HRISTIAN D. L ARSON

JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN

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The Pathway of Roses was originally published in 1910

Your Forces and How to Use Them was originally published in 1910

Mastery of Self was originally published in 1907

The Ideal Made Real was originally published in 1909

Just Be Glad was originally published in 1912

First Jeremy P. Tarcher compilation of these works as The Optimist Creed 2011

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Larson, Christian Daa, date.
The optimist creed / Christian D. Larson.

p. cm.

ISBN: 978-1-101-58909-0

1. New thought. I. Title.
BF639.L356 2012 2012001359
289.98dc23

Printed in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

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assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication.
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ALWAYS LEARNING

PEARSON

This volume collects five of the most powerful books produced in the early twentieth century by inspirational writer Christian D. Larson: The Pathway of Roses (1910); Your Forces and How to Use Them (1910); Mastery of Self (1907); The Ideal Made Real (1909); and Just Be Glad (1912).

Larson is best known for the meditation called The Optimist Creed. That short work originally appeared in his 1910 book Your Forces and How to Use Them under the title Promise Yourself. In 1922, it was officially adopted as the manifesto of Optimist International, after which it became widely known as The Optimist Creed. This anthology includes the meditation as it originally appeared in Your Forces and How to Use Them, and under its more popular title at the start of the volume.

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1912 is generally cited as the copyright date for this key work, but records show its earliest publication in 1910 by The Progress Company, Larsons own press.

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

XIX. T HE V ISION OF THE S OUL

To live always in the Secret Places of the Most High,

To think only those thoughts that are inspired from above,

To do all things in the conviction that God is with us,

To give the best to all the world with no thought of reward,

To leave all recompense to Him who doeth all things well,

To love everybody as God loves us, and be Kind as He is Kind,

To ask God for everything and in faith expect everything,

To live in perpetual gratitude to Him who gives everything,

To love God so much that we can inwardly feel that My Father and I are one,

This is the prayer without ceasing, the true worship of the soul.

T he thinking world of today is being filled with a phase of thought that has exceptional value. True, some of it is in a somewhat chaotic condition, but most of it is rich, containing within itself the very life of that truth that is making the world free. But in the finding of this truth, and in the application of its principles, where are we to begin? What are we to do first? And after we have begun, and find ourselves in the midst of a life so large, so immense and so marvelous that it will require eternity to live it all, what are the great essentials that we should ever remember and apply? What are the great centers of life about which we may build a greater and a greater life? These are questions that thousands are asking today, and the answer is simple.