11th January: William James/Use More of Your Mind Day

William James, who said that we only use 10% of our minds, was born on this date in 1842, which is why today is Use More of Your Mind Day. Looking up quotes by him made it clear that he was an early adopter of the concept that we create our own reality, as some of the quotations below will illustrate:

1. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
2. Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.
3. Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.
4. Common sense and a sense of humour are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humour is just common sense, dancing.
5. The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
6. Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second.
7. To change one's life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly.
8. I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.
9. Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.
10. Truth is what works.