Archive No. 3
“What
comes out of you when you are squeezed is what is inside you.”
- Wayne Dyer
Before my
life had a chance to get untracked, I was dealt the severe blow of
being told it was essentially over due to one of this world’s most
virulent diseases- ALS. It did not take a lot of introspection to
figure out that I was going to quickly find out what I was made of.
Although I feel certain that I have acquitted myself at least
reasonably well to date, the squeeze is not done with me. While past
behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, I’m constantly being
squeezed with new challenges and many of them compound the earlier
challenges. It remains to be seen how I will respond to future
squeezing, but I am well aware that it is my character on trial.
How do you
respond when life puts the screws to you? Do you wilt, lash out, or
perhaps even spin out of control? What if you understood that with
every adversity comes the seed of an equal or greater benefit? When
life puts the squeeze on you and hands you lemons, is what comes out of
you lemonade? It is not healthy to live in perpetual crisis mode,
however, crisis does create invaluable opportunity for growth and
change. I am convinced that autopilot is the natural state of mankind
and that is tragic. If you are on autopilot, perhaps you could do with
a little crisis to rattle you out of your slumber and wake you up to
all the possibility life is dangling right in front of your nose. You
might find God’s purpose for your life gift wrapped in the harshest set
of circumstances you could imagine. When this package shows up, try
looking.
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“Truly,
thoughts are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed
with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire.”
- Napoleon
Hill
Every
great achievement was at one time nothing more than an idea- a simple
thought. What puts meat on the bones of a nice thought and transforms
it to reality is when the thought is acted upon with persistence,
fueled by a burning desire. Not long
before man walked on the moon, the idea was thought to be mere fantasy.
But the surprise of the Soviet Union's successful launching of the
Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 shocked America into the space race. The nation clarified its focus, marshaled its
resources, and galvanized its resolve to put a man on the moon. What seemed fantasy throughout recorded
history became reality in less than 12 years when on July 20, 1969,
Neil Armstrong took that giant leap for mankind.
If you have a focused,
burning desire for a definite destination, and you are persistent in
your actions to get there, what is going to stop you from reaching that
destination? Few obstacles can withstand the three-pronged onslaught of
purpose, persistence, and desire. Yes, it is true that no matter how
focused and committed Shaquille O’Neal was to be, he would have a tough
time making it as a jockey. But have you really set an absurd goal like
this for yourself? To mix purpose, persistence, and desire is to
prepare a potent cocktail for achievement. If you don’t believe me, try
it and then try aimlessness, slothfulness, and apathy and tell me which
one gets you closer to your life goals.
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"A Mighty
flame followeth a tiny spark."
- Dante
When my
daughter was an infant, I was a stay at home dad, caring for her around
the clock. I had set a definite goal of
completing my first screenplay within a year’s time, but could really
only work when I was not required to perform parental duties, so
procrastination couldn’t be tolerated. It always seemed that just when
I would get some momentum going on the project, duty would call and I
would get sidetracked. A day without
writing would turn into a week, and then two weeks, and soon, I found
it nearly impossible to get back into the groove of writing. As
frustrating as this was, I was even more disturbed by my lack of
motivation to dive back into working on the goal I had set in concrete. After weeks of fiddling around, I would force
myself to jump in and work undisturbed for a sufficient block of time
to get some momentum going. Once that
momentum would kick in, my motivation level would skyrocket and
suddenly I was completely stoked again to complete the project and
reach my goal. I would then kick myself in
the seat and ask myself how I could have been such a slug when kicking
into high gear was just a small push away.
As
destructive as it is, procrastination seems to be the natural order as
it relates to the human condition. It is little wonder that few of us
seem to get much done unless we either “have” to do something, or we
are jacked up with enthusiasm for an endeavor. The good news is that
when we lose our lust to complete something we’ve deemed important to
us, if we can just “push through” that initial wall of resistance, the
passion for completion often floods back into us with a vengeance.
Facts are important and words mean things, but when it comes to moving
others (or yourself), both pale in comparison to raw emotion.
Whether
you are selling someone on a business idea, proselytizing someone into
your religion, or just trying to raise someone’s interest level on
something, nothing will substitute for an enthusiastic conviction in
your eyes. Similarly, no procrastination
can compete with fire in your own belly. Very little is accomplished in
this world without enthusiasm, and It usually takes just a tiny spark
of excitement at the outset of an endeavor to catalyze a mighty inferno
of passion.
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“Your
outer life is a mirror image of your inner life. Everywhere you look,
there you are.”
- The Law
of Correspondence
Are you
happy with the results you are getting in life? Not
everyone starts out in life with the same advantages and disadvantages,
and there is no question that the bad breaks in life are not handed out
evenly. However, if you are consistently
disappointed, in trouble, or fouling things up, it is not because God
has it in for you. It is because your
outer world is conforming to the way you see and feel about yourself,
others, and the world at large. Likewise,
the person with the Midas touch is not the recipient of God’s
prejudicial favor; he or she is someone who is continually feeding life
with the correct input in order to get their desired output. Their circumstances are an outward expression
of the way they habitually think and feel.
I have an
incredible amount of true and sincere friends that care deeply about me. Did God just decide to select me to be the
random recipient of a heavenly gift? There
isn’t a shred of doubt in my mind that His divine providence determined
that the paths of my friends and my own would cross, but if I was sour
and bitter about my condition, and saw the world and the people in it
as self-absorbed and uncaring, would they really be in my life today? Life is built from the inside out and the
foundation is laid with a decision. You
can choose to be happy, or you can choose to be sad.
You can choose to be a positive, uplifting influence on those
around you, or you can be the bane of their existence.
If you are ever to have the life you desire; you must first take
responsibility for the architect, contractor, and construction laborer
of you life. No one else can, because
these people all reside in the mirror.
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“You must write for the waste basket.”
- Johnny
Mercer
When you
see the above quotation, does Mr. Mercer’s point immediately strike
you? Why would a writer write for the waste basket? Johnny Mercer
hailed from a small town in southeastern Georgia, had no preferential
“in” to the music business, and lacked any kind of formal musical
training. Yet, Johnny Mercer goes down as one of history’s most
successful and revered song writers. How did he do it? Being a writer
myself, the simple genius of the quotation above holds the key to all
of Johnny Mercer’s success- and yours.
Hours
before I wrote what you are now reading, I saw an interview with the
late George Harrison of Beatles fame. He spoke of the difficulty he had
in breaking through the monopoly of the Lennon/McCartney song writing
duo to get his material on Beatles records. He admitted to being
somewhat intimidated when first presenting his songs to the band simply
because John and Paul had “already gotten their bad ones out of the
way.” Are you following the simple genius of writing for the waste
basket? Developing the ability to write some of the most memorable
music in history was more a function of getting garbage fit for the
waste basket written and out of the way than it was any level of innate
giftedness. Even Lennon and McCartney acknowledged their superiority to
Harrison in this arena was a mere function of practice and did not last
forever.
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"When
written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters -
one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity."
- John F.
Kennedy
The first thing that
often strikes individuals about my life is the incredible tragedy of a
promising young life cut down at the tender age of twenty one. Stricken
with ALS a year and a half before even graduating from college, there
is little doubt that my life possesses an element of tragedy. But as I
survey my life, I am much more struck by all the incredible blessings I
have received that would never have occurred if not for the illness
that gave birth to tragedy. Would you care what I have to say about
perseverance and overcoming obstacles if not for the bitter challenges
I have had to tackle in my life? Would my
football players at Lake Oswego High take me serious about becoming
warriors in the game of life if not for witnessing me battle through
barriers on a daily basis? Would I have had the guts to take on and see
through the life lessons I have had the opportunity to learn if ALS had
not forced me to?
ALS ravages your body and
steals your ability to function independent of others. It forces your
life and the lives of loved ones into crisis mode. If I had been given
a choice, I would never have had the courage to voluntarily take on the
challenge of navigating life while battling one of its cruelest and
most debilitating diseases, and I would have missed all of the
priceless life lessons I have learned as a result. While often painful
and frightening, crisis represents life’s greatest opportunity for
change and change is absolutely vital to getting an improved result.
Every crisis and every failure have the seeds of a greater opportunity
for success. Daily I look for opportunities to turn my tragedy into
blessings for myself and others. You can do the same.
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“Do you
respond to life or are you merely reacting to it?”
- Zig
Ziglar
When life
puts the screws to you, do you react or respond? Reacting is negative
because it takes control out of your hands and usually involves a sort
of lashing out at the cause or the world in general. Responding, on the
other hand, often involves making the best out of a bad situation, or,
if you are wise and pragmatic, turning your lemons into lemonade.
The best
way to turn adversity on its head and convert it to advantage is via
the application of questions. Usually when calamity strikes you’ll get
your underwear tied in knots, spew a few curse words, and if any
questions are asked, they resemble, “Why does this always happen to me?
“, or, “Why did this have to happen now?“ These questions will have you
chasing your tail in a fury of negative energy to no possible positive
end. What if, instead, you asked a question that presupposes a positive
reason for the unsavory hand you’ve been dealt, like, “What is God
trying to make me understand by giving me this challenge?”, or, even
more positively assertive, “Where is the opportunity in this situation,
and how can I turn it into a blessing in disguise?“
Reacting
to trouble with negative questions guarantees a negative answer and
probably an adverse outcome.
Responding to misadventure with questions that presuppose a
positive reason for its occurrence and an expectation of positive
resolve will yield a vastly different outcome and make all the
difference.
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“Shoot for
the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
- Les Brown
Let’s say
you set your life’s ambition to become president of the United States,
but after becoming the Republican Nominee for president, you lose the
election to an incumbent president in a time of peace and prosperity.
Would history judge you a failure? What if you added to your resume a
vice-presidential candidate nod, a thirty-five year congressional
career, including a stint as senate majority leader, routine
commendation as one of the greatest legislators and consensus builders
of the twentieth century, and twice being decorated as a World War II
War Hero? Might you then avoid the failure label?
I don’t know exactly when Robert Joseph Dole decided to set his sights
on the White House, but if he had decided to play life safe and avoid
disappointment by only targeting easily attainable objectives, do you
think he would have put together the impressive list of achievements
above? Dream big dreams, set lofty goals. The process of stretching to
reach these dreams and goals will open doors you may never have even
imagined existed. Besides, does common sense not tell us you will go
further attempting to walk one hundred miles than setting your goal at
one mile? If you shoot for the moon, you’re bound to land somewhere
amongst the stars.
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"The best effect of fine persons is felt after
we have left their presence."
- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
I recently got back in touch with a friend
from high school after thirty years. She
had no idea as to what I had been going through with my ALS, and I had
no idea what she had been through. Having
lost her first husband to a heart attack just two and half months after
they married, she spoke of the unbearable agony of that loss and my
heart went out to her. She then spoke of
the rebuilding of her life and how her fallen husband had helped shape
the person she is today. I was especially moved by her description of
the profound affect he had had on so many of the lives he had touched.
To this very day, people approach her with stories of the positive
impact his life had impacted theirs.
This woman’s story and the story of the
effect of her late husband’s life made me
stop to think about the legacy I want to leave and the incredible
opportunity we all have to touch others. There is almost nothing I
would rather have than the knowledge that people are better off for
having had me in their lives. After we are
gone, all of the fun we have had and all of the toys we have
accumulated won’t mean much. However, the
residue of our lives will be left behind to affect those that we have
touched, and their residue will affect and touch others, etc, and so
the ripple effects of our lives go infinitum. Think about that and
decide what you want your effect to be.
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“You got to
taste the sour to appreciate the sweet”.
Jason Lee,
Vanilla Sky
As I watched this film, these words rifled up
and down my spine and radiated throughout my soul.
What statement could be truer? Who
respects and appreciates a glass of cool water more, Donald Trump high
atop his New York penthouse, or the man at death’s door who has been
floating on the ocean for nearly a week without food or water? How appreciative are you that you are able to
fill your lungs with air? Are you ever
thanking The Lord that you can clearly speak? How
grateful do you feel when you are able to get up and walk across the
room? How grateful do you suppose I would
be to be able to do any of these?
As I reflect upon my life, it has been tough
to be sure, and while I would jump at the chance to have my ALS
removed, I would not want to remove the struggle I have been through. It has strengthened my character, stiffened my
resolve, and taught me innumerable life lessons I could have gotten no
other way, including the gratitude for the simplest of life’s
privileges. Do you suppose God owes you a
long, happy, healthy life? He does not. For all of the sour I have tasted in this
life, it has only served to heighten my appreciation for the sweet. For this, I am indeed grateful.
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"There
is nothing like a dream to create the future. Utopia
today, flesh and blood tomorrow."
-
Victor Hugo
As I look around this
room I am in, it is a powerful reminder of the principle stated above.
In the early 1990s, my bedroom was in sore need of a remodel. My
bedroom must serve as my office as well as my bedroom and must also be
accommodative of my special needs. At that time, the room was a
hodgepodge of furniture, makeshift shelves and storage space, office
equipment, etc. It was a functional disaster for my needs and plain ol’
butt ugly.
I decided to take the
principle above to heart and design the room I wanted. I thought about
the equipment I had and didn’t have, but wanted. I thought about the
functionality needed and the aesthetic appeal desired. I sat down and
married my needs, wants, and desires with my imagination and forged a
blueprint on the computer of what I determined I would have. I made up
my mind that this was a done deal – it absolutely was going to happen.
I hadn’t a penny to my name, nor a clue how to pull this project off.
From my list of goals for 1993, I copy and paste the following edict to
myself with date for completion:
REDESIGNED
BEDROOM 9/01/93
It took four years from
conception to completion, and the funding came from a source I could
never have imagined, but I write this from the very room I designed and
determined to have all those years ago.
There is nothing more
exciting and faith building than to stake out a goal, draw up a
detailed plan, put that plan into action, and then watch that dream or
goal materialize in front of your eyes. If you want to generate
confidence in your life, set a goal and refuse to accept defeat in
reaching that goal. Understand that change and success can be scary.
Start small and as your successes pile up, your confidence will
snowball. Soon enough you will not recognize that unconfident mouse of
little faith that used to occupy your body. Just don’t let the roar of
that new lion in the mirror frighten you.
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“Never,
never, never give up.”
Sir
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
People
often look at me and say, “He’s such a strong person.
He’s just so strong.” I know this,
I hear them. They’re right- I’ve had to be. But even the strongest cable will snap if more
and more weight is constantly applied to it. My
life is hard. I must rely on others for
even the most simple and mundane tasks in life, or struggle mightily to
accomplish them myself. Sometimes it gets
overwhelming. I rarely let it show and
almost never complain, but sometimes it feels too much to endure.
I confess
to wanting to quit and have even fantasized from time to time about
going home to be with the Lord, bask in a new and
glorified body. Then I remember
that I have a teenage daughter that needs me. I remember that God has
allowed this disease to ravage me for a purpose that has not yet been
fulfilled. I have a message to take to the
world that most people have not yet heard. I
realize that I have no business giving up. I
will stay and I will fight and God’s purpose for my life will be
fulfilled. I will never, never, never give
up- neither should you.
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"Life is a
series of collisions with the future; it is not the sum of what we have
been, but what we yearn to be."
- Jose
Ortega y Gasset
As
important as your past is in determining your behavior, it is not
nearly as important as how you see your future. One
of the most vital elements to my being able to weather the effects of
my illness and remain strong and positive is how I see my future. This is pretty ironic since my future is
supposed to be terrible suffering culminating with horrific death. In 1984, I was told that I could expect that
culmination within 3-5 years.
Can you
imagine what my life would be like if I had seen my destiny as
predicted? Not only would I not be alive
today, but just imagine the quality of life I would be living expecting
a daily nightmare. Would I have been
waking up every morning intent on improving myself and my life? Would I have bothered setting any long-term
goals, or would I have found all goals to be futile?
It is easy to slide into fear and pessimism when I contemplate
my future, but I rarely do. How I
determine to see my future and therefore live my life has far more to
do with my destiny and quality of life than any set of circumstances
beyond my control. So it is with you if
you will but grasp this concept and run with it.
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“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
- Helen
Keller
I remember
waking up at 5:30 the first morning after burying my grandmother. I lay still for more than an hour with my eyes
fixed upon the ceiling. Still enveloped in the emotion from the
previous day’s events, the theater in my mind played my most vivid
memories of my grandmother- her dancing in my bedroom to The Ramones,
her clasping my wrist and holding on for dear life as she nearly
dragged me across 33rd Avenue enroute to the 88 Cent Store. She was strong and so full of life. My mind kept juxtaposing these vibrant images
of my beloved grandmother with those of her lifeless body lying in her
casket. As the tears rolled down my
cheeks, three words continually rolled off my tongue- MAKE IT COUNT. Make your life count.
I have a
friend with a relative that is on government disability due to a mental
disorder. He lives in a group home setting and has virtually no
responsibilities. I can only hope that it was in a moment of
frustration or feeling of being overwhelmed that my friend said, “That
wouldn’t be a bad life. Just sit around and watch movies all day with
nothing else to worry about. I could get into that. “ I am all for
entertainment. I watch sports and movies and listen to music, but where
does the meaning in life come from if all of life is simply to be
entertained?
People
often look at my situation and wonder how I can possibly handle it. I couldn’t handle it if I had no higher
meaning for my life than to stimulate myself with pleasure and to be
entertained. Every time I see my daughter exhibit Biblical wisdom, I
hark back to our nightly bible and prayer time that started when she
was a toddler and my life has meaning. Whenever I receive an e-mail
expressing gratitude for the help my writings have given to someone’s
life, I know how I am spending my time matters. Whenever I look at my
list of goals and read my life’s mission statement, I know that I have
important work to do and that my life counts. You
might be dancing to the Ramones tonight, but be it tomorrow or years
from now, the dancing will one day stop for good. In the meantime, make
your life count.
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“You see
the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these
shores alive unless we win. We now have no choice- we win or we perish.
“
- Unknown
Warrior
Midway
through my college education, I knew what I wanted to do and it had
nothing to do with college. I had made up
my mind that I was going to be a rock star. I
was a fledgling guitarist with zero experience in a band, but I had a
vision and the passion necessary to fuel it. I
wanted to leave school to pursue my dream, but like any concerned
parent, my father encouraged me to stay in school, get my degree to
have something to fall back on. It was the
safe and prudent path to take, so I agreed to stay. I had plan B in
place in case plan A didn’t work out.
One of my
oldest friends had the same dream for his life that I had for mine. He comes from a well off family where it was
expected that he would receive a college education and find the
opportunity for a piece of the lucrative family business waiting for
him upon graduation. But his passion did
not lie with the security of the family business, nor with the
financial security it would have brought. To
the consternation of many, he spurned the sure thing and irrevocably
set sail toward his dream. Turning his back on security took guts and
was akin to the warrior burning the ships behind him.
He had set his path and had to win or perish.
Back up
plans can be very wise and unnecessary risk is simply foolhardy. However, if you are ever going to achieve
something spectacular, you will, at some point, need to burn the bridge
of security and retreat behind you. Although the arrival of Lou
Gehrig’s disease wiped out Plans A and B both before I had a chance to
execute either, it would have been very easy to retreat to Plan B when
the path to my dream got tough. How did burning his ship behind him
work out for my friend? You might ask him next time he performs in
town- if you can make it past security. Tommy Thayer is now the lead
guitarist in the rock band KISS.
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“Until thought is linked with purpose there is
no intelligent accomplishment.“
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
How many
intellectuals have you met that have a world of knowledge about
seemingly every subject under the sun, but appear to be going nowhere
with their lives? Similarly, if you launch
a rocket and the computer has not been programmed for any particular
destination, what are the odds that this incredible piece of scientific
machinery will hit any meaningful target?
I know
many people that are intelligent, hard working, and have excellent
social skills that are in complete despair about what they’ve done with
their lives simply because they had no idea where they expected their
life’s journey to take them. You cannot
hit a target that does not exist. Take
some time to figure out what you are trying to accomplish, because if
you don’t know where you are going, or what you intend to do when you
get there, correct thinking alone can’t get you there.
It’s the marriage of correct thought and purpose that brings
intelligent accomplishment.
“Every day
is a new life to a wise man.”
- Unknown
The pages
of our lives are finite and turning with increasing speed.
The ink has dried on our proudest moments as well as the
shameful episodes we would like to forget. Who
among us can turn back and erase the pages of history?
The ink is not going back in the bottle and we do not know how
many pristine pages lie in front of us to write our future on. If we
cannot change the past and we have exhausted what we can learn from our
mistakes in that past, can anyone give me a reason why we should spend
a single moment fretting about what can never be changed? Today is the
first day of the rest of your life. Thank God you have time left to
write and get on with composing your masterpiece on the pages you have
left.
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“Following
the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which he allows himself
to be dominated a man at last arrives at their fruition and fulfillment
in the outer conditions of his life. The
laws of growth and adjustment everywhere obtain.”
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
The law of compensation is real and just. As
you begin to put purposeful energy into a certain area of your life,
you begin to grow and your circumstances begin to adjust favorably. When you become derelict and arrogant, your
circumstances eventually begin to deteriorate.
People
often do not understand the law of compensation and therefore become
easily disillusioned and sometimes even quit trying to improve their
circumstances. We see people that are
odious in character and yet prosper financially. We
ask ourselves, “How can this happen to someone so vile while I struggle? I’m a nice person, a good friend, a good
husband (or wife), and a devoted parent.” We
somehow come to the conclusion that the law of compensation does not
exist or is rudimentarily unfair. But,
upon closer examination, do these qualities completely explain and
offer a solution to one’s economics? If
you are a nice person, then the law is undoubtedly softening people
towards you. If you are truly a good
friend, then the law is bringing true and good friends into your life. If you are a good loyal spouse and parent,
then the law is undoubtedly compensating you in your family
relationships. But what does this have to
do with money?
The odious
man is doing what it takes for monetary compensation, though he
undoubtedly is paying for his abominable character
in other areas of his life as the law is just (over the long term). Would you trade your spouse, the lives of your
children, your friends and your self-respect for monetary gain? If the prosperous man is truly a scoundrel,
his sin will be found out and he will be dealt with accordingly. Of course, I am not saying that one cannot
financially prosper and have positive character at the same time. We must learn, however, to properly interpret
where the law compensates for what. No
matter how noble our intentions, or how badly we hope, if we put a
potato in the oven, we will not retrieve a rack of lamb from it later.
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“The
greatest of all forms of happiness comes as the result of hope of
achievement of some yet unattained desire.”
-
Napoleon Hill
Imagine
that you are terminally ill with a progressively debilitating disease.
Imagine that your spouse has walked out on you and that you have no
career, income capable of sustaining you, and you must rely on others
to care for you. You are a single parent with a death sentence hanging
over your head, and with each passing day you know you have just lost
another piece of physical prowess you will never get back. What would
you do? Since this is my story, I can tell what I did- I set
goals. I set small goals and large goals; short term goals and goals to
come to fruition well beyond any “realistic” life expectancy I could
have hoped for. Instinctively I knew that if I was going to stay alive,
I would need to embrace life through the hope of achievement of desires
not yet attained.
Perhaps
the most important single factor in determining the quality of your
life is how you see your future. If you believe you have no future
worthy of living, what will be your state of mind? How are you likely
to behave? No matter how good you have it now, if you see your future
as bleak, insufferable, and meaningless you will not live with passion
and purpose. Conversely, if you see your future chockfull of meaningful
and boundless possibilities, you will climb any mountain and plow
through any obstacle to make them a reality. Despite what all the
doctors’ prognoses, in 1990, when I faced the situation above, I set
the seemingly absurd goal that I would raise my infant daughter and
attend her high school graduation. She has been with me ever since, and
on June 7th of 2007, I witnessed her begin a new chapter in
her life when her tassel crossed her graduation cap at
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“Do you
love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff that life is
made of.“
- Benjamin
Franklin
I have
someone very near and dear to me that is constantly filling my ears
with stories that start like, “I was going to …”, “I started to…”, “I
almost …”, “ I took a class because I wanted to …”.
This person collects brochures, website addresses, magazine
articles, etc., that relate to this person’s ambitions and is very
proficient at asking knowledgeable people as to how they can get
started. He is single, has no children at
home, and works a regular work week like the rest of you, and yet he is
stuck at the starting gate of nearly everything he wants to accomplish
in life. Why? Because
he flatly refuses to employ any sort of time management.
In fact, he despises clocks, considering them to be harassing
and oppressive, and avoids looking at them as much as possible.
There are
two things you had better learn to budget in your life – time and money. I get a big kick out of watching those that
don’t want to be harassed by time or money worries and therefore spend
both freely. They are enslaved by both.
Even if the spendthrift generates enough income to keep up with his
expenditures, he will always be chasing his financial tail. Likewise,
those who want to be free of the tyrannical meter ticking over their
shoulder by blotting out the current time inevitably end up befuddled
as to where it went.
Do you
remember when you were a child how slow time passed? Do you now
recognize how quickly the pages and chapters of your life are turning?
Look at your face in the mirror and down at your hands. With ever
increasing speed the lines are widening and deepening as the grains of
sand quickly pass through your personal hour glass .You will likely not
have time enough to do everything you want in this life, but you may
not do any of it if you don’t get started. Your life is precious, quit
squandering it away and make it count.
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“I like
life and life likes me.”
- Albert
Finney, as a converted Ebenezer Scrooge
Perspective
is such a powerful variant that the same set of facts can cause one
person to celebrate while another cringes. In Charles Dickens’ classic
story, A Christmas Carol, the Ebenezer Scrooge
character is both of these people. The miserable and miserly Scrooge
starts the story detesting people, life and, especially, that odious of
all days- Christmas. By the end of the story (which all takes place in
less than twenty-four hours), this man is a gleeful, good cheer
spreading, missionary of good will, tickled to find out he hasn’t
missed Christmas! What happened? Leverage and perspective. The Ghosts
of Christmas Past, Present, and Future showed Scrooge what a miserable
wreck his attitude had made of his life and just what horrific penalty
he would pay in the future if he did not change. Understanding
that he was the source of his own misery was the perspective Scrooge
needed, and what would become of his life if he did not change provided
the leverage necessary for his decision to change.
In the
film adaptation starring Albert Finney, Scrooge goes from snarling that
he hates people and people hate him, to saying that he loves people and
life and that life likes him. Unless you
have leverage the size of a supernatural occurrence as Scrooge did, it
is unlikely change will occur in your life this fast.
However, only a fool can think you can spew venom, ill will, and
selfishness into the universe and expect sugar, spice, and everything
nice in return. Many have gotten away with
it for a short time, but habits are quickly formed and difficult to
break, and when one heads down that path, he or she is begging for
eventual karmic payback. The outstanding
news is that feeding the universe with good will, good cheer, concern
and kindness will – over time - return the fruitage of this spirit to
you- provided it is done in a spirit of sincerity.
Don’t believe me? Try smiling at
everyone you pass and hand out a sincere compliment to everyone you
cross paths with and see what happens. Better
yet, make a commitment to loving life, love it truly, and see if life
does not end up loving you. If life can
forgive and embrace a miserable wretch like Ebenezer Scrooge, life will
certainly embrace you.
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“According to aerodynamic laws, the bumblebee
cannot fly. Its body weight is not the
right proportion to its wingspan. Ignoring these laws, the bumblebee
flies anyway.”
-
M.
Sainte-Lague
At one time, nearly every significant
accomplishment seemed impossible. Can you
imagine the howls of laughter and ridicule Wilbur and Orville Wright
must have endured when they determined that man would indeed fly? Impossibly absurd is how the notion of putting
a man on the moon must have seemed when the concept was born. I certainly would not counsel you to chuck
your job and chase whatever ephemeral fancy is currently dancing in
your head, but it is undeniable that you will never achieve anything
significant unless you do it in the face of scoffers, doubters, and
critics. Where would the bumblebee be if
it listened to the scientific experts telling it flight was impossible? Where would I be had I listened to the experts
that gave me 3 to 5 years to live in 1983?
If you were to look at my current list of
goals, you would find many that seem next to impossible to achieve as
well as those that make me appear in utter denial of my medical
condition. Indeed, many of my goals will
take an awesome amount of creativity backed by an indomitable will.
Some goals must even wait for the medical breakthrough that will free
me from my neuromuscular prison. What will not happen with these goals
is this- they will not come off the list until completion. Tough? Yes.
Impossible? No way.
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"I will
not allow anything external to myself to control me."
- Walt
Whitman
Whenever
stimuli activate your senses, your mind goes to work to interpret what
that stimuli means. People imagine they
feel good or bad according to what happens to them and around them. Actually, people feel the way they do because
of how they interpret and react to what happens to them and around them.
The good
news is that we can all choose how to interpret what happens to us and
respond in a positive manner instead of reacting negatively. It’s not easy, but learn to interpret that
rejection as God’s way of weeding out what is not best for you and that
the blessed rejection is taking you a step closer to what is good and
right for you. Learn to accept being laid
up in bed as your opportunity to finally get some rest.
Learn to accept the loss of your job as an opportunity to spend
that time with your family that you wish you had but could never
conceive of getting. There are a million
interpretations of what happens to us, practice choosing those
interpretations that empower you instead of those that disempower you.
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“What
changes your life is NOT learning more. What changes your life is
making decisions and using your personal power and taking action.”
- Anthony
Robbins
Suppose I
buy a book, an excellent book with inspiring concepts and fantastic
advice for turning my dreams into reality. I cannot put the book down
and my eyes devour the words on page as if they were life sustaining. I
am inspired and enlightened, and two years later I am no closer to my
dreams than I was before I picked the book up. What happened? Was the
book a fraud?
Have you
ever known someone that knows they need to change their life, knows how
to change their life, and still does nothing about it? This is because
knowledge is not enough to create any kind of change whatsoever.
Knowledge is NOT power. Knowledge is potential power that only realizes
itself when action is taken. Merriam-Webster defines power as: ability to act or produce an effect. In other words, all
the idle knowledge in the world isn’t worth a wooden nickel. I am not
against gaining knowledge for the sake of knowledge. However, if you
actually want something to change in your life, you’re going to have to
make a decision and back that decision up with action. Otherwise,
you’re likely to find yourself where I was- wondering how I managed to
turn the key of knowledge into a trip to nowhere.
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"Just as a
gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing
the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden
of his mind."
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
Make a decision today to
be the master gardener of your mind. It may seem like a lot of work to
sift through the input in your mind and weed out the bad while
nurturing the good, but what is the alternative? Is it really tougher
than living with a negative self-image, no confidence, little or no
optimism, and the feeling that life is just one hassle after another?
The best
way to clean up the garden of your mind is to never allow the negative
seeds to be planted in the first place. If your mind is already riddled
with thistles, the first and most important thing you can do, is to not
permit anymore of these ugly intruders to find a home. Stop making a
comfortable abode for those thoughts that would rob you of a positive,
empowering outlook on life. Think about what you are putting into your
mind, and before they have a chance to germinate, cleanse from the soil
of your mind the poisonous seeds that fall therein. Practice this, it
gets easier.
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Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
“A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which
may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether
cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth.“
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
It’s funny, but for how often I hear people
use the phrase “garbage in/garbage out”, I sure don’t see many people
taking that slice of wisdom to heart in their daily lives.
Our minds are bombarded with stimuli and input thousands and
thousands of times every day. That input
settles into your mind and begins to put down roots.
Whether good or bad, those roots will take hold and begin to
take on a life of their own. You must
consciously decide whether or not to feed, water, and nurture this
input, or to yank it out by the root before it has a chance to bloom. Either way, your decision will absolutely
determine what comes back out.
As difficult as a blackberry bush is to kill
once it has grown to maturity, eradicating stinking thinking from your
mind once it has taken hold is thousands of times more difficult. Kill the thorny thoughts in your mind before
they are allowed to take hold. Feed,
water, and nurture the positive input in you receive.
Do this and you will soon have a beautiful garden of thought. Fail to do so and the weeds of fear,
self-doubt, and pessimism will soon take the garden of your mind.
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“Character may be manifested in the great
moments, but it is made in the small ones."
- Phillip
Brooks
Legendary
college basketball coach John Wooden, used to make his players practice
the fundamentals of the game over and over and over and over, ad
nauseum. The reason for this was so that when that key, clutch moment
arrived, his players will have so ingrained these fundamental skills
into themselves that they would be able to pull through no matter the
conditions. It would be second nature to
them.
Just as
the soundness of basketball fundamentals are manifested in the big
moment, so it is with character. It is one
thing to treat someone that is hurting compassionately while on the
Oprah Winfrey Show, but do you treat those that are hurting in this
same manner when no one is looking and there is no tangible value to
you for doing so? How do you live your
life when no one is able to see you but yourself? It
is in these “small” moments that you create the character that needs to
be summoned in the big moments.
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Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
“If you're going through Hell, keep going.”
Sir
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Unless you
are in a hole and continuing to dig, why would you stop in Hell? Many people take on an endeavor at breakneck
speed only to stop and rethink their quest at the first sign of
resistance. This is often akin to a deer
stopping to gaze into the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. If Mr.
Deer had just kept moving, the car would have missed him.
Resistance gathers strongest just before a breakthrough. Don’t park yourself in Hell when heaven might
be just that extra “push” of effort away.
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“I pity those that have nothing in their lives
they care about so much that they can hurt like this.”
-
Frank Everhart, Defensive Coordinator,
We had
just answered our state quarterfinal opponent, the Sheldon Irish, with
a score of our own in the first of what seemed destined to be a
multiple overtime game. The point after
kick would tie the game at 28, and everyone prepared to do overtime all
over again. Having snapped
The kids I
help coach at
After
doing what little I could do to console these heartbroken young men, I
finally retired to the coach’s office where only Head Coach Steve Coury
and our Defensive Coordinator Frank Everhart remained.
Frank quietly packed his bag to leave as Coach Coury and I
eventually embraced each other; a gentle tear of pain trickled down
each of our faces. Frank remained quiet,
but upon finishing packing, snapped his head up, looked me square in
the eyes and said, “I pity those that have nothing in their lives they
care about so much that they can hurt like this.” In
that moment, my ever-wise coaching brother, Frankie, completely
transformed the meaning of the pain that was tearing through the
viscera of everyone involved with the Laker football program. Suddenly
I felt thankful, even grateful to be hurting.
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I love the rush associated with
discovering you can do something you thought you couldn’t, so this is
one of my favorite writings . I usually send this out on my birthday,
but that’s on a Saturday this year (yep, I’m a valentine baby), so you
get this today. You can do it!
“Sometimes our best is simply not enough.... We
have to do what is required.”
~ Sir Winston Churchill
In the
early 1990’s, I was still semi-ambulatory and therefore would take a
nasty fall from time to time. Because of both the lack of motor
coordination and muscle weakness intrinsic in my condition, when I
would fall it would be hard- no ability to break or cushion my fall
whatsoever. Because I could still put
myself to bed, I would often stay up into the night working on various
projects. On one such night, I stood and
turned to pivot towards the bed, got off balance, and took one of these
falls. My room, at the time, possessed
hardwood floors. Do you know how loud a
180-pound man hitting the floor like a toppling sack of flour in the
middle of the night sounds? As was usual,
I expected my parents to come pouring into my room to assess the extent
of my injuries- they never came. Everyone
must have been extremely exhausted that night, because my hitting the
floor sounded like an elephant stampede through a library.
Yet, there I lay with absolutely no ability to get myself up.
Because of
the weakening of the muscles in my throat, when I lay on my back, even
with a pillow under my head, I often begin to choke.
The muscle tissue on my shoulders and back have deteriorated to
the point where I need a sufficient amount of soft bedding to cushion
the bones that protrude from beneath my skin or the pain is simply
intolerable. Unable to get myself off the
floor, I could lie on my back, in which case I would choke, or I could
lie on my side with my body weight driving the bony pressure points
into the hardwood floors. I could not stay
like this until morning, so I began to panic and started screaming for
help. If no one could hear the elephant
herd, then it was absolutely useless to yell. I
was faced with a dangerously intolerable situation that I desperately
needed to come up with a creative solution for.
As I lay
on the floor for what seemed like forever, I shifted my body weight
back and forth to relieve the painful pressure points while I
brainstormed a solution to my dilemma. How
could I possibly get my parents attention? I
spotted my stereo across the room and determined that somehow I must
use its ability to blast music to get their attention.
But, how? I could not get across
the room, and if I did, it was well beyond my reach.
By sheer will and necessity, I began twisting my body from side
to side, fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch, I was starting to
shimmy across the floor towards the stereo. Miraculously
I made it across the room and now was faced with how I would turn on
the equipment, press the buttons necessary, and turn the knob of the
stereo sufficiently loud to wake up the household.
I was able to raise my foot up enough to balance it on the desk
drawer handle. After resting a moment, I
somehow managed to get my foot up to the next handle.
Then the next, and finally on to the table the stereo rested on. After much trial and error I was able to use
my foot to punch the stereo on, press the FM selector button, and turn
the volume up to sufficiently shake the walls of the entire house. This time, my parents did burst through my
bedroom door and I was quickly raised up out of danger.
It is
amazing what we can accomplish when failure is simply not an option. How often do you suppose we give up on
something vitally important to us because we think it is impossible to
do? Next time you are about to give up on
something important, imagine that failure is simply not an option. Then picture me inching my way across that
room determined to get that stereo on and maybe you’ll come up with a
second wind of resolve.
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“Men do not attract that which they want, but
that which they are.”
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
I remember
being a member of a multi-level marketing operation where it was
practice to sit across the table from an interested party and explain
why that person should allow you to sponsor them into your organization. It was profitable, of course, to sponsor
someone that was confident, enthusiastic, and could easily catch the
“vision”. By far the most important
elements in convincing someone it was worth their while to join you in
your venture was the air about you and the look in your eye. Did they see confidence, enthusiasm, and
vision in your eye?
All of us
wish and hope for many things, but not enough of us are willing to
become the person that can attain those things. People
often are desperate to change their circumstances, but are unwilling to
change themselves, and therefore remain bound to the very circumstances
they wish to free themselves from. Think
about what you want your life to be like and begin moving in that
direction by shaping yourself to the type of person that will naturally
attract that which you desire.
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“Every
seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there,
produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its
own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good
thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.”
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
You must
be conscious of every thought that comes into your mind.
Whether that thought has been placed there by an outside source,
or generated within your own faculties, it will begin to germinate and
take root if it is not immediately discredited and kicked out. What you think determines the quality and
direction of your life. It will determine
whether you are happy or sad, a success or a failure.
It will determine what you are willing to try, and how you
evaluate your life. Every action is
preceded by a thought, therefore, what you think sets in motion your
destiny. You must consciously determine
what thoughts will be allowed to take hold so that your fruitage of
thought will be sweet and not bitter.
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"Worrying
is paying interest on a debt you might not even owe."
- Mark
Twain
Worry
routinely causes stomach ulcers, indigestion, heart disturbances, high
blood pressure, insomnia, headaches, even paralysis and cancer. In recent years there has been an incredible
amount of evidence demonstrating just how impossible it is to divorce
the mind from the body. Your thoughts are
affecting the very cells that make up your body. If worry has found a
home in your mind, I assure you the effect on those cells is not a
positive one. I will not enumerate all of
the mental and emotional disturbances worry also causes, but suffice it
to say that if you suffer from chronic worry, at a minimum, you are
being robbed of peace of mind.
What
worries you? If you are alive, you worry
from time to time. So how do we keep this
common thread of humanity from turning chronic? There
are lots of tools for dealing with worry, but let’s just try this
simple three step process.
1) Whatever
it is that has you worried, identify the worst possible outcome of
your dilemma.
2)
Reconcile yourself to that outcome. The worst possible outcome could be something
horrific, but imagine that the milk has been spilled and there is no
putting it back in the glass. Make peace with this outcome. For
instance, when, at twenty-one years of age, I was given just a few
short years to live, I decided that if this were to happen, I could
rejoice over the fact our Lord was eager to bring me home to be with
him.
After you
have come to grips in accepting the worst possible outcome, ask
yourself,
3) What
are the odds that this is really going to happen?
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"Great
achievements always are born of hardship and struggle and barriers
which seem insurmountable; obstacles which yield to nothing but an
indomitable will backed by an abiding faith."
-
Napoleon Hill
This
quotation is one of the most empowering quotations I have ever come
across. This may not pack the same punch
for you as it does for me, but this quotation, and the philosophy
behind it, helped me to transmute my handicaps and weaknesses into
empowering assets. I have almost no use of
my hands and arms. A lack of motor
coordination in my legs has me confined to a wheelchair, and my speech
is barely intelligible. I admit that in
many ways I am almost completely helpless. But
when I understand that it is the struggle and hardship and the staring
down of obstacles that seem insurmountable that gives birth to great
achievements, I embrace these HUGE challenges and expect a commensurate
HUGE payoff when I triumph over them. Shouldn’t
you do the same?
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“It takes
twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you
think about that you’ll do things differently.”
-
Warren
Buffett
Most
mistakes are easily overcome- injury to your reputation is not one of
them. You can, in an instant, destroy what
has taken a lifetime to build. An honest
mistake is one thing, but a lapse in judgment which displays dishonesty
or other character flaws can freeze in the minds’ of others a picture
that will be very difficult to thaw. If you are in a serious
relationship, what would happen to the trust between you and your
partner if he or she were to catch you in a lie? It might be the first
lie you’ve told since you fibbed about sneaking a cookie in first
grade, but from here on out, your partner is going to put a question
mark after everything you say.
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“Find out
what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it. “
-
Katherine Whitehorn
If you are
going to consistently be successful, then self-discipline is a must. But have you ever noticed how little a role
self-discipline plays when you are doing something you truly love? If you can master a skill that has value in
the market place, the battle for success is half won.
How much better of a chance do you think you will have of
putting in the time necessary to master that skill if it is something
that you love?
There are
ditches that must be dug, and garbage that must be picked up. Not everyone is going to love what they do,
but that does not mean you have to be one of them.
Stop letting everyone else tell you what you “ought” to get
into, and start thinking about what you truly love.
If you are good at it, or can commit to getting good at it, and
you love it, then start thinking of how you can get someone to pay you
for doing it. That is the confluence of
factors that will spell personal and professional success.
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"Wealth is
the product of man's capacity to think."
- Ayn Rand
Ayn was most likely speaking of material
wealth when she made this statement and she's right. I would venture to
say that wealth, in all its incarnations, comes from our ability and
willingness to think. I know that when I'm out in public, at times, I
have a tendency to turn inward and revel in my own thoughts, passing
others by as if they were mere insects. It's only when I consciously
think about how I want to interact with the world that I begin to take
notice of others, smile, and begin to give of myself. People are often
taken aback when you are overtly friendly because so few people are.
Step outside the box of the norm and start employing that computer
between your ears. You'll be amazed at what you will come up with and
the ensuing results.
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“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every
opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
Sir
Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I have
someone very close to me that when presented with an opportunity sees
every possible obstacle standing between her and the opportunity. Every possible negative scenario is thought to
be possible and therefore not to be risked. Life
is difficult and until we disabuse ourselves of the notion that life is
meant to be obstacle and difficulty free we will never summon up the
courage to make for ourselves the lives we truly desire.
Usually, the difficulties we eschew are our greatest
opportunities.
I
sometimes like to watch the Suze Orman show where people ask Suze for
her financial advice. It’s amusing to me,
but, people seem to consistently get out of the stock market after the
market tanks. They then get around to
asking Suze if it is a good idea to get back in after the market has
rebounded. Nobody likes a market crash,
but what does that crash mean to you? Are
you depressed that that 401K you won’t be needing for twenty years had
a little air taken out of it, or have you found the incredible
opportunity to buy up great stocks at bargain prices?
Most of life’s great lessons and opportunities come out of
terrible calamity. If you are blinded by
life’s difficulties, you will never be able to see the shining gems of
opportunity buried within the calamity’s rubble.
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"Those
who wish to sing always find a song."
-
Swedish Proverb
If
you are a whiner and complainer you will find something to grumble
about. If you are a chronic pessimist, you
will find disaster waiting to pounce on you around every corner and
behind every bush. If you have made up
your mind to be happy, you will always find something to smile about.
Try something with me. Do not look ahead in this exercise, but instead carry it out as you go through it and see if this makes sense.
1) Take a minute and look around you at everything in the room that is the color brown. Take it all in so that you can recall what you see.
2) Stop looking around the room. Instead, close your eyes and search your mind for everything in the room that is… green!
After
struggling a bit to come up with much green in the room open your eyes
and go on to the third step.
3) Now that your eyes are open, look around the
room and notice how much more green you find then when you were looking
for brown.
The
message, of course, is that we are able to find what we are looking for
and tend to skip over that which we have no interest in.
Ask yourself, “am I the type of person that is looking for what
is green and alive in this world, or am I focused on the brown crap in
life?”
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“Turn that frown upside down!”
- Priya Jane
Young
Once when I had been extremely depressed, my
daughter taught me a great lesson. I didn’t really have a reason to
speak of for feeling this way, it may even have been some sort of
chemical thing. It felt like a big black lead blanket weighting me
down. When this happens it is really easy to succumb to this burden,
lay down and feel sorry for myself. But
after doing this a short time it becomes obvious I need to fight my way
out of this sort of emotional straight jacket.
I was sifting through my thoughts about a
strategy for lifting myself up when I got a bit of wisdom from a
thirteen-year-old. My daughter, Priya,
noticed I wasn’t particularly cheery and said to me, “Daddy, you need
to turn that frown upside down!” There is
actually an incredible amount of wisdom in that statement as well as an
important principle in attitude and mood making that I seemed to have
forgotten.
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“The soul attracts that which it secretly
harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches
the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its
unchastened desires— and circumstances are the means by which the soul
receives its own.”
- James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
Talk has
little to do with who you really are. Your
walk, however, has everything to do with the real you.
What determines what your walk will be? People
generally do what they really want or are determined to do. This is why you will never
stop an alcoholic from drinking, or any addict from indulging in their
particular vice. Until that individual
makes their own decision to change course, they will continue to find
ways to indulge their habit.
People are
controlled by what they fear. Fear is such
a profound and controlling emotion that it tends to dominate and
obliterate all other thoughts and confuses sound reasoning. One of the most powerful examples of this was
the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon. Here was an intelligent and shrewd politician
that had almost no chance of losing the 1972presidential election. Fearful of his enemies, the President’s
operatives broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters
in an attempt to gain information that would help reassure the
President’s reelection. President Nixon
carried 49 states and won the election in one of the biggest landslides
in presidential election history. Did he
really need to put everything at risk to get that extra edge? Obviously not, but fear so controlled his mind
that what he feared most- that his enemies would “get him” – came upon
him by his own doing.
What are
you harboring in your heart? Are you doing
what you love? Are you harboring fear or
sin or malice? What is it that you fear? Take stock, because what you are harboring in
your heart and in your mind will eventually set your path.
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“That
circumstances grow out of thought every man knows who has for any
length of time practiced self-control and self-purification, for he
will have noticed that the alteration in his circumstances has been in
exact ratio with his altered mental condition.”
-James
Allen, As A Man Thinketh
At any
moment in time something might happen beyond your control that changes
or shapes your circumstances, but there can be little doubt that over
the long term our thoughts determine the shape and quality of our lives. Haven’t we all seen that unflappable person
that remains calm and confident no matter what happens to him or her? These people know that regardless of what
happens, or what their temporary circumstances are, what they do with
these incidents and circumstances will determine their ultimate
circumstance. Conversely, have we not also
seen that miserable cuss who suddenly is gifted a tremendous
opportunity or windfall and ends up right back in the same
circumstances and is just as miserable as before their good fortune?
That
circumstances grow out of thought is incontrovertible.
I suggest that you start taking inventory of what you are
allowing to take a foothold in that mind of yours.
The quality and direction of your life depends upon it.
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"The great
man is he that does not lose his child's heart.”
- Mencius
I’m not
sure whether the author of this quotation is referring to losing the
respect and admiration of his children, or keeping his own heart
childlike. Either way, he is right. To lose the heart of your children is a
tragedy of cataclysmic proportion. To lose
the childlike wonder in your own heart and mind is equally tragic.
As we grow
into adulthood and take on the accompanying responsibilities, it is
almost impossible not to lose that wonder we have of the world if we
don’t consciously make a point of keeping it. Remember
that life is not just about getting there, it’s about the journey as
well, and that journey should be fun. Fun;
is this something you’ve forgotten how to have? No
need for that! Start by consciously
reminding yourself to smile. It is really
tough to feel lousy with a smile plastered across your face!
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"The
space that every man occupies in the world is measured by the faith he
expresses in connection with his aims and purposes."
-
Napoleon Hill
I
have spoken to you previously about the necessity of wedding purpose to
correct thought. Intelligent, positive
thinking will get you nowhere until it is guided by definiteness of
purpose. But even purposeful thought must
be buoyed by an abiding faith. The most
noble purpose backed by the best-laid plans will prove no match for the
twin cancers of fear and doubt if allowed to take hold.
Fear and doubt are as cryptonite to success and have but one
antidote- faith.
Haven’t
we all seen an athletic event where one team has a big lead late in the
game when the tide begins to turn and the team behind begins to make a
move? What usually happens is that the
team in front begins to freeze up. You can
see fear and doubt begin to creep in and run away with themselves. We end up watching a seemingly improbable come
from behind victory by their opponent.
True
champions know that the victory is theirs whether they are the team
ahead or the team making the move from behind. You
must have absolute faith in the outcome of your endeavors or fear and
doubt will eat you alive when obstacles are confronted.
Neither fear nor doubt can occupy the mind at the same time as
absolute faith. When you develop a faith
strong enough that there is no possibility of an outcome different from
that which you desire, fear and doubt will find no room in which to
occupy your mind and victory will be yours.
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My life is
an extension of my thoughts. I am in
control.
- Jeff David
Young
We all tend to manifest in our lives that
which we hold in our minds long enough to emotionalize. A simple
example of this is the person that is so fearful of a public speech
that he or she holds in their mind terrifying images of the
presentation going disastrously wrong. What this person is doing is
instructing their subconscious to make sure the presentation is a
disaster. If you fear and visualize yourself blowing it over and over,
soon your subconscious will take hold of this, give it life, and
manifest it into reality.
Consciously design the life you want to have. See
it, feel it. Put some emotion behind the
pictures in your mind and repeatedly imagine that this is your new
reality. Eventually, your subconscious
will take hold of this and if you have done this in a spirit of
absolute faith and belief that this new life IS yours, your actions
will align with the belief and the vision will begin to manifest
itself. Once this happens, you will start to see a positive snowball
effect take hold of your confidence level, making denial of your vision
next to impossible.
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"A foolish
consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."
- Ralph
Waldo Emerson
I’m always amazed when people share with me
dissatisfaction with the status quo in their lives, then continue with
the same habits, attitudes, and behavior that led to the unsatisfying
circumstances. I’m willing to go near the
end of the earth to help someone improve their life, but I give up
quickly when it becomes obvious that the person seeking help is not
going to do anything to change. Change is
difficult and sometimes scary, but don’t let anyone tell you that it
can’t happen. You will absolutely never change another leopard’s spots,
but the leopard called You can stake out for yourself whatever markings
you determine you must have to accomplish your definite major purpose
in life.
It has been said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the true definition of insanity. If what you have been doing is not garnering the life you want, then it is also a definition of failure. Figure out what you want out of life and go get it. If it requires change, then change. Don’t wait until tomorrow when this challenge has faded from memory. Do it now
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“Rule your
mind or it will rule you.”
~ Horace
Most
people realize that the human mind is one of the most- if not the most-
powerful forces on earth. People
understand this- in the abstract. How many
times have we heard someone lament that they have not had anything to
eat all day? You would think the world was
coming to an end. But, how many times have
people equally agonized over not having yet fed their mind for the day? If people totally understood in a concrete and
practical way the power that lies between their own two ears, they
would take the job of developing and using that power more seriously.
Your
mind is exponentially more powerful than the most potent computer on
earth. The problem is that the human mind
does not come with a users manual and it is not user friendly. Furthermore, whether you invite them in, or
they hack their way in, there are influences all around you that are
working around the clock to program that gray matter between your
temples. Given the incredible power of
your mind for good or evil in your life, you had better start taking
control of its programming.
The first step in doing so is to take proactive steps in
controlling your brain’s input. Because of
its undisciplined nature and vulnerability to outside influence, you
will either learn to rule your mind or it will indeed rule you.
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"The
true measure of a man is not how he behaves in times of comfort and
convenience, but how he stands in times of conflict and controversy."
-
Martin Luther King Jr.
I
would be lying if I said that I would not get rid of my ALS if I could. I am also quite grateful, however, for the
incredible life lessons I have learned because of my illness. I believe that God put us here on earth so
that He can shape and mold us to His character through the
circumstances and challenges we face as we go through this maze of life.
If
I would have had my choice, I don’t think I would have had God choose a
jackhammer as the tool to shape my character. But
since he has, what should be my response? When
storms hit your life, all of your life’s dressing is blown away and you
find out who you really are. It is easy to
simply ride the wave of good times, but if you will let it, a personal
hurricane can be your best friend.
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