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Positive Imaging: The Powerful Way to Change Your Life

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The concept is a form of mental activity called imaging. It consists of vividly picturing in your mind a desired goal or objective and holding that image until it sinks into your unconscious mind, where it releases great untapped energies.

Through Positive Imaging you will learn how to
-- Solve your money problems
-- Outwit worry
-- Banish loneliness
-- Improve your health
-- Strengthen your marriage
-- Relate to others more successfully

Discover the power available to you through Positive Imaging.

You can take control of your problems.

You can command your life.

This book is designed to help you do it -- and do it well.

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 1981

531 people are currently reading
1616 people want to read

About the author

Norman Vincent Peale

714 books1,339 followers
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) was a minister and author (most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking".

Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio. He graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio. He has earned degrees at Ohio Wesleyan University (where he became a brother of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta) and Boston University School of Theology.

Raised as a Methodist and ordained as a Methodist minister in 1922, Peale changed his religious affiliation to the Reformed Church in America in 1932 and began a 52-year tenure as pastor of Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. During that time the church's membership grew from 600 to over 5000, and he became one of New York City's most famous preachers.

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5 stars
456 (55%)
4 stars
231 (27%)
3 stars
92 (11%)
2 stars
22 (2%)
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27 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
Profile Image for Dana.
218 reviews
July 30, 2018
Full of great reminders and techniques, Peale’s advise is still as relevant today as it was when he wrote it. Always insightful and uplifting.
Profile Image for Lynda.
2,497 reviews120 followers
August 1, 2009
It was an article by Peale that led me to almost twenty years of actively working for positive improvement in my life. I read almost everything he wrote.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
14 reviews12 followers
April 16, 2012
I just finished this book and loved it!! A very powerful read. Stories that stay with me and influence my life and my thinking. Stories that I share with other to do the same for them.

Norman Vincent Peale is an amazing person and has so much good to share.
Profile Image for Christy.
30 reviews5 followers
June 26, 2008
Caused much reflection and rethinking of habits. Has been effective in redirecting my thought process. Loved the stories he shares in this book.
Profile Image for Bridgette's Place.
20 reviews1 follower
December 7, 2017
Great Book!!

This is a book that you must read more than once or maybe even twice! I know that I will 😁
Profile Image for Christine Diamond.
69 reviews
May 31, 2021
Positive imaging is a book to refer to over and over again. This book takes the lessons from the law of attraction and multiplies it by the power of God. Praying to God for the things that you desire to have in your life aligned with your Imaging efforts, allows for miracles to enter your life.

Here are some of my favorite quotes and lessons learned:

"Imaging is positive thinking carried one step further, in imaging one does not merely think about a hoped for goal, once sees or visualizes it with tremendous intensity, reinforced by prayer."

"I saw the idea fly in there and penetrate his head and lodge right there in his mind...
Let the skeptics have their doubts. I prefer to believe that ideas do have wings!"

The example of Henry to camp healing from cancer was incredible. He "visualized the healing process taking place in the most dramatic form that his imagination could supply."

Dr. Carl Simonton stated, "We all participate, whether consciously or unconsciously, and determining our own health."

Tessie Durlack's advice - "Tell those lack thoughts or images to get out of your minds. You must start imaging prosperity instead. Take charge of your thoughts you can do what you will with them.'
She declared that the only way that they could keep out permanently was by substituting a more powerful prosperity thought to displace them, and abundance or prosperity mental picture."

"Now, you see, if you think you can, or somebody who believes in you thinks you can, why, then you can!"

"The concept of Imaging - holding the image of yourself succeeding, visualizing it so vividly that when the desired success comes, it seems to be merely echoing a reality that has already existed in your mind."

"Just remember, when you want to achieve something, hold in your mind the picture of yourself achieving it. Paint in all the details. Make it as real as you possibly can. And remember this too: You're never defeated by anything until you accept in your mind the thought that you are defeated. You are never defeated until you accept the image of defeat."

"But the Lord, when he wants to change the situation, has a better method. He changes people, and changed people change situations."

"The light of God surrounds me
The love of God unfolds me
The power of
The presence of God
Wherever I am, God is"
"The image that this evokes of a loving, caring God is the perfect antidote to fear, to worry, to anxiety, to just about every problem under the sun... let it remind me that there is an all powerful being in the universe who loves me and who is only a prayer away."

"The immune system or the immunity power of the body seems to be greatly affected by the mental level of unhappiness and emotional distress."

"Make the Lord a silent partner in all forms of Imaging because he is the touchstone that will keep your desires on the high plane of morality where they belong. Imaging can be applied to unworthy goals as well as worthy ones. Praying about goals is essential, because if there are any selfish aims or sinful motives, they will appear as you pray. Pray to be sure your goal is right, for if it isn't right it is wrong, and nothing that is wrong ever turned out right."

The power of tithing
"Tithing seems to put a person in touch with some mysterious force that attracts money... It's almost as if there were an invisible reservoir of abundance in the universe that can be tapped if you will just obey certain spiritual laws. The word abundance, I'm told comes from the Latin phrase meaning to rise up in waves. When you tithe, it does seem as if little waves of abundance start rising up all around you."

Let worry go by Dr. David Keppel
"95% of his own worries either never happened or were relatively innocuous when they did happen. I could always handle that 5%, he would he used to say. He even wrote a poem about that, if my memory serves me, it went like this:

Better never trouble Trouble
Till Trouble troubles you;
For you only make your trouble
Double-trouble if you do;
And the trouble -like a bubble-
That you're troubling about,
Maybe nothing but a cipher
With its rim rubbed out."

"The final and best antidote for worry is simply this image Jesus Christ as actually your personal friend. Image him as your constant companion throughout the day. Paint a portrait in your mind of what you think He looks like. Fill in the details, his compassionate eyes, those strong carpenter hands. How did his voice sound when he talked to people, when he told the story of the prodigal son, for example? He must have had a wonderful laugh, can you picture yourself sitting on the hillside and Galilee, hearing it? If you can picture that, why not pictures him sitting alongside you right now?"

"I'm convinced that human beings are supposed to be healthy, we are designed to be healthy, that is what the Creator intended when he made us... That is the way God put us together, too. To be healthy, energetic, creative, dynamic people at every age, full of vitality and health I'm sure of it."

Imaging when it comes to marriage
"I don't know what is happening to the institution of marriage, really. Young people nowadays seem to regard it as a kind of game of musical chairs.' ... Maybe, I said dryly that is where the trouble lies in that word maybe...
I believe in monogamy, fidelity, and total commitment to a married partner. To us, marriage is a compact sealed with love that cannot be broken. It is a promise between two consenting adults to join their lives and stick together through thick and thin, good times and bad, until life comes to an end. No maybe about it for us, none whatsoever."

"I sometimes think it would help if ministers who marry starry eyed young couples would urge them to project themselves into the future, see themselves raising a happy house full of kids, visualize themselves working out problems together as a team in human service, supporting each other, loving each other, being faithful to each other. They should be encouraged to visualize their later years, with grandchildren coming along and great and satisfying marriage partnership growing ever closer and we're loving. They should be urged to paint the stream as vividly as possible, and they should be assured that the reality would follow the dream if they imaged it and worked for it and prayed for it hard enough...Create a climate in which an ever deepening relationship can grow in flourish."

"Forgiveness is a needed protection for yourself. It is an antidote for the poisons that can corrupt the body and damage the soul."

"Prayer is necessary because sometimes forgiveness is so difficult that we simply cannot do it alone. It assuredly requires the grace of God to come into our mind and change it before we can even begin to change ourselves. But when God's power and love are allowed to act as a solvent, even the deepest bitterness can be washed away. And this is a fact, believe me."

Joseph Haydn on creating marvelous music
"When I decide to compose, I pray and thank God that it has been accomplished. Then I do it. If it doesn't come the first time, I pray again. Then it comes!"

Dream home
"The image their dream house furnished just as they wanted it to be. And the time came when that vision became a happy reality. Why? Because they pushed beyond the fuzzy, indistinct yearnings that many people settled for and focus their wishes with great intensity of Imaging. Those chalk marks and detailed descriptions on the floor gave a substance and reality to the dream that otherwise it would never have had. And they're unconscious minds went to work instantly, providing the energy and the drive and the confidence that the young couple needed to reach their goal."

Business ethics
"I promise you that any business run by people who love their employees and love the people they serve, and who treat them all with loving kindness, will have black figures, not red ones, and it's ledgers. It is a law as inexorable as the law of gravity."

"Never forget it: the way to friendship and the way to happiness is through the wisdom of the wisest man who ever lived, the man who said, 'A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another...' (John 13:34)
All that principle and you will find fulfillment for one of the deepest needs of human nature, the desire to be esteemed, and liked, and loved."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Brian Lewis.
163 reviews1 follower
July 9, 2025
Well this was a pleasant surprise. Not that I wasn’t expecting to get something out of this book, because I absolutely was. I was not expecting to get as much out as I did. Another surprise was that this book is built on faith based principles too. I’m glad for that and it works for me, I just went into this not knowing and that was another pleasant surprise.

From the very first hour of the book I was already applying techniques/approaches in my life, so it was and is working real time for me. It’s also working in the short term because in the 3 days it took me to read I have applied other concepts as well. Hopefully I can make this a long term thing. I’m confident I can, and that would lead to more permanent change. I own the book now too so I can circle back for any refreshers.

I really liked the simple approach and delivery. I went into this thinking it was just a book about visualization and having positive thoughts and I guess I didn’t realize I was about to be getting deeper into the power of the mind and the positive impact it can have not just on your thoughts, but with improved happiness and the healing powers for the body. In fact, I realize now I can go down a big rabbit hole with the power of the mind, but I am at least just going to digest and apply this right now.

More surprises… was not expecting the chapters on forgiveness, grief, and anger. Each were dove into and each I have takeaways from.

🙏 God is good!
Profile Image for Stephanie.
173 reviews3 followers
August 18, 2022
This book is incredibly Powerful and Inspirational! I absolutely loved it! Highly recommended!
Profile Image for Muhammed Nijim.
104 reviews14 followers
April 10, 2016
I never planned to read this book until I found it on the window-sill in my dormitory, it looked a very old book, I just grabbed it and checked the first pages that amazingly attracted me. I like this book because it provides one with positive energy that keeps you going forward with strong spirit. It taught me to hold my goal tightly and image it wherever I am in this hard seemingly life. It taught me to keep forward because God knows that I am obeying him, that I'm visualizing his presence in every moment of my life. I am doing things because God and Jesus or Muhammed (PBUH) urge their followers to show their best and trust God.

The wonderful idea in the book that it shows you many inspiring stories that will push you forward, as if it is telling you they did it and so you can. I will never hold back Mr. Norman. Thanks.
Profile Image for Sarah.
70 reviews2 followers
February 4, 2017
This book was ultra religious, which is not what I was looking for or expecting. It was also mostly anecdotal rather than a good how-to. That being said, I did get something out of it. It was fairly inspiring, encouraged deeper thinking, and reading between all the Bible verses and pastoral judginess, I found some cogent advice, particularly on improving self-image.
Profile Image for Vlad Bezden.
241 reviews12 followers
June 28, 2020
To me, the book is too religious. I got an impression from the book that if you want to achieve something first - you need to imagine it and second - pray and believe in God. I think for people who believe in God, this book will be beneficial, but for those who are not, it might be annoying and disappointing like to me.
24 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2019
Everything of his is wonderful!

Everything he wrote is definitely worth reading. Very inspiring and timely. If you observe those around you it is easy to see the truths explained in this great book in action.
8 reviews2 followers
June 23, 2017
This is a great book with really good stories and examples. He has a great way of telling a story.
Profile Image for Naznin Azeez.
347 reviews
December 17, 2018
This is a really great book - one that will make you think. Also the divinity in it will make you cry and maybe even bring you back to God.
Profile Image for Iona  Stewart.
833 reviews274 followers
February 23, 2019
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.
Profile Image for Joseph.
316 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2024
As a Bible believing Christian I had to take one star off. NVP is the father so to speak of the health and wealth theology. After him was Robert Schuller and after him was Joel Osteen and his ilk. NVP started with Christ but then bent to psychology. There is merit and value in imaging. Some of the things he is imaging are beyond the realm of biblical thought. Overall if you can eat the fish and throw away the bones you will enjoy this book.
Profile Image for Lauren Thompson.
43 reviews
July 30, 2020
I honestly have no idea why this book has such a high rating. It's basically a watered down, subpar version of a combination of "Psycho-Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz and "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind" by Joseph Murphy. I think people who rated it highly must have never read the other two. I recommend choosing that route instead.
Profile Image for Tara Beck.
Author 1 book6 followers
June 23, 2022
This is one of the best and most helpful books I've ever read! I love how many stories and examples Peale uses in his books to illustrate the principles he is teaching. I find it very helpful to understand how to actually apply these techniques. I highly recommend this book to everybody! Teach this to your children early so they can implement it as they grow - so important!
Profile Image for Kelvin Strozier.
1 review1 follower
April 24, 2023
Life-changing

The principles in this book when internalized and applied will indeed change your life. I have only just begun my journey of imaging and several things I have imaged have come to pass. I’m excited about what the future holds as I continue to practice these principles.
3 reviews
March 12, 2018
Good Read

A very good read. Lots of stories. However it is skewed towards Christianity which might not go down very well with a few readers. However if u replace Jesus with any deity u believe in and follow the rest, it still can be useful.
Profile Image for Jessie.
148 reviews23 followers
August 30, 2019
The information in "Imaging" is timeless and important for those who which to learn about achieving goals, gaining self-esteem, banishing self-doubt and succeeding in any and all walks of life (from a biblical perspective). Really loved this book, which is worth reading again and again!
Profile Image for Santopo.
57 reviews
November 1, 2021
Another great Peale book. The book teaches the power of imagination and how to use it effectively in your daily life. It is strongly tied with Christian's teachings.
An easy reading and inspiring one
1 review
March 22, 2022
Always keep God in the equation.

So nice to finally read a book that recognizes The Creator of the Universe, and doesn't promote worship of the Universe. A must read for those who are struggling with low self-esteem. We were created and engineered for success. R.I.P. Dr. Peale!
Profile Image for The Bookworm.
414 reviews3 followers
April 20, 2022
Ratings: 3.9/5 stars

This book kinda reminded me of the book “The Power of your subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy.. I enjoyed this book and it’s concepts but it was too repetitive and too many examples lol..
16 reviews
August 4, 2022
I enjoyed the way Norman illustrated the power of embracing a positive mindset. That being said, the constant redirection to Christianity and religion made this a less pleasant read although I appreciated his enthusiasm to keep the reader grounded.
11 reviews
Read
September 26, 2019
Positive Imaging

It is a great book. Open my mind to the helpful benefits of imaging. This book has helped me in a great way.
33 reviews2 followers
December 7, 2019
Wonderful book

This book can change your life for the positive if studied and followed. It’s a great book that everyone needs to read. Really worth the time and money.
4 reviews
July 5, 2020
Good book. Gives some basic steps to get results by using positive imagination techniques
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews

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