As the commotion dies down over the final Harry Potter Book, The Deathly Hallows, I have searched through the rubble for a lasting moral. Of course there are a lot of morals which can come from this story: friendship, sacrifice, love etc.. but the moral I enjoyed the most is the principles that really made Harry good and Voldemort, well, bad. (And more specifically, J.K. Rowlings–Successful).

The moral is simply this: What we think about ultimately makes us who we are…

Although this moral is almost as old as written literature, and transcends even the immortal walls of Hogwarts, it is also clearly described in the little book, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.

I first read as a man thinketh when I was about 17 years old. Haunted by feelings of frustration and failure, I read the book and experienced a significant paradigm shift. Reading the book was more a stroke of luck and laziness than really looking for a solution. I was looking for something to read and relax but didn’t want to spend more than an hour finish the book. (It just happened to be in my parents’ library). I read the book and realized that my circumstances and relationships were really only a reflection of the reality I had created with my own thoughts…

Bad people don’t just instantly become bad. Good people don’t instantly become good. We are a result of a development process. Or rather we are sum of our thoughts–Which thoughts lead to our actions. Which actions lead to our habits. Which habits become our character. Which character becomes our destiny…

In business, family, or wizardry… We create our destiny. Really. Even Harry Potter… Just ask the brilliant writer who developed his story and got millions of people reading and shaping their own destinies… I’m pretty sure that J.K. Rowlings has read As a Man Thinketh…