Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of

“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture… Do not build up obstacles in your imagination.” Thus spoke Norman Vincent Peale, the apostle of positive faith, whose teachings became a torch for those wandering in doubt and despair. In this declaration lies one of the most powerful truths of human existence: that thought shapes destiny, that the images we imprint upon the mind are the blueprints of our reality. The imagination, he tells us, is not a mere plaything of the idle mind—it is the architect of the future, the silent sculptor of the self. To imagine with conviction is to begin the act of creation; to doubt and fear is to destroy it before it begins.

The origin of this quote springs from Peale’s lifelong belief in the union of faith and psychology, a belief expressed most famously in his work The Power of Positive Thinking. Peale lived in an age shaken by war, uncertainty, and loss—when many had forgotten the inner power that dwells within every human spirit. Through his writings and sermons, he sought to remind mankind that belief is a creative force, that the mind, when disciplined by vision and faith, becomes an instrument of divine energy. To formulate and stamp a mental picture of success is, in his teaching, not mere wishful thinking, but an act of spiritual alignment—an agreement between one’s inner image and the universal laws of growth and fulfillment.

When Peale commands, “Hold this picture tenaciously,” he speaks as a sage of the soul’s endurance. The mind, like a field, will produce whatever seed is planted in it. If the seed is doubt, it will yield failure; if the seed is hope, it will yield triumph. The act of holding the vision—of returning to it through adversity, nurturing it through fear, and protecting it against the winds of discouragement—is the secret labor of all who achieve greatness. The imagination must not fade, for once the image of success dims, the spirit falters, and action loses direction. To hold the picture is to keep alive the inner flame when all outer light seems lost.

Yet Peale warns with equal force: “Do not build up obstacles in your imagination.” For the imagination, he knew, is a double-edged power. It can create or destroy, illuminate or darken. Many fail not because the world opposes them, but because their own minds betray them—constructing barriers that do not exist, mountains made of fear, walls made of self-doubt. The mind that dwells upon obstacles enlarges them, until they become immovable giants. The mind that dwells upon possibility dissolves barriers into paths. Peale urges us, therefore, to command our imagination—to guard it as the sacred forge where the future is born.

Consider the story of Thomas Edison, who embodied this very principle. As a boy, he was told by teachers that he was slow, that he would never amount to anything. But in his mind, Edison had already formulated a picture of himself as a great inventor. Through failures, mockery, and sleepless nights, he held to that image with unbreakable resolve. Even after a thousand unsuccessful experiments, he never permitted his mental picture to fade. When asked about his failures, he replied, “I have not failed; I’ve found a thousand ways that will not work.” His imagination saw beyond failure to the light that would one day illuminate the world. And so it was—not through luck, but through vision and persistence—that he brought forth the electric lamp, fulfilling the prophecy he had stamped upon his mind.

The wisdom of Peale, like that of the ancients, is not of fantasy but of alignment with the unseen laws of creation. The universe responds to the image held in the heart. The one who imagines success, feels it, lives it, breathes it, will inevitably draw into his life the people, opportunities, and strength to manifest it. But the one who imagines defeat invites it. As the farmer sows, so shall he reap; as the mind conceives, so shall the world reveal. Peale’s teaching is thus both spiritual and practical: to command the mind’s imagination is to command the course of one’s life.

O listener, take this teaching deeply into your spirit: guard your imagination as you would guard a temple. Cast out the intruders of fear and self-doubt. Each morning, renew the picture of yourself succeeding; each night, let it shine in your heart as a steady star. Speak not of failure, nor think it. See yourself not as broken, but as becoming. For the world bends to the one who believes with unwavering clarity. The Divine Force within you waits for instruction—and your imagination is its language.

Therefore, let this be your guiding law: formulate, hold, and protect your vision. Let it live in your mind as fire lives in the hearth—feeding your will, illuminating your path. Do not allow the world to dim it. Do not permit your imagination to turn against you. Believe, and act as though belief were already fulfilled. For as Norman Vincent Peale teaches, the mind is both mirror and magnet: it reflects what it holds within, and it draws toward itself that very thing. To imagine rightly, then, is not to dream idly—it is to begin the sacred work of creation. And when you do this, steadfastly and with faith, the world will rise to meet the image you have dared to believe in.