Izzy Kiver explains purity of thought as keeping your mind focused on winning and self-improvement, not suppressing bad ideas. A bronze medalist became a gold medalist by changing his internal dialogue to affirm future improvement instead of self-criticism. Your mind is like water: fill it with winning thoughts and it stays clean; fill it with self-hate and it becomes a swamp that attracts failure.
My dear child, now we move on to the second teaching: purity of thought. When I say purity of thought, I don't mean to guard yourself from bad thoughts, negative or lewd thoughts. By purity of thought, I exclusively mean to keep your mind always focused on winning in life. There was a certain gold medalist who only won bronze before. Every time he failed, he would criticize himself. He always stuck on to the inner critic. And what took him from constantly losing to winning in his field was winning in mind. Every time you falter, each time you make a mistake, don't punish yourself. Don't criticize yourself. Instead, tell yourself, I'm going to get up and do better next time. I'm going to be stronger next time. I'm going to improve. It's this sort of self-talk that gives you purity of thought. Think of a body of water. Anything you put into that body of water, it attracts, it molds, it blends, and becomes. Your mind is just like that. Your mind is pure. Your mind is clean. And when you maintain a clean mind, when you maintain thoughts of winning, when you maintain this idea that you will succeed in life, your mind is able to stay clean and attract that. But if you create a swamp out of your mind, if you make it filthy, and dirty with this idea that you are not successful, with this idea that you do not deserve love and that you're not someone that can be appreciated. You're defiling the very water, the very waters of your mind, which God gave to you to protect. And when you make your mind into a swamp, that's filthy, filled with this self-hate, talk of defeat, talk of helplessness, what you attract are mosquitoes, sea monsters, and the very creatures that embrace the swamp. You must clear the swamp of your mind. Create a beautiful lake, one that is fresh, clean, pristine, a joy to be at, a joy to be around. And that is why the second teaching is so important. It all starts in the mind. All success and all failure, they start in the mind. When you maintain purity of thought, you tell yourself, "Everything will work out for me. I'm doing my best. I'm pushing forward, and I will continue to push forward, and there is no one else that can do this besides for me." This self-talk becomes true, and you begin to win at life. However, as long as you allow negativity to enter into your mind and you don't have a filtration mechanism for the people you talk to, the things that you do, for the way that you see yourself, then you begin to allow negativity to come on And so I conclude the second teaching with purity of thought. Always maintain a clean mind, positive self-talk, and love for yourself.
