Posts Tagged ‘Positive Thinking’

When the Wright brothers pronounced that they would be the first humans to fly, many people said that humans could and would never fly.”This time, they carried the glider almost to the top of Big Kill Devil Hill.

‘Ready?’ asked Orville.

‘Ready,’ replied Wilbur from his prone position.

Safely in the air, Wilbur warped the wings. There was an instant response and Wilbur glowed with joy. But as the glider curved, he became aware of a new instability. He adjusted the controls, There was little response. True, the glider turned. Still – although puzzled, he managed a safe landing.

On his fifth flight that day, Wilbur became aware of increased instability. Then the left wing dipped far too deeply. Frantically he pushed the elevator control. He was too late. The tip of the wing bit into the sand and he was hurled forward against the canvas elevator.

The birds all knew the secret of turning while in flight. But their secret was so deep no one could solve it. People said it was impossible for a heavier-than-air machine to fly. But Wilbur and Orville determined to show the world that it could and would be done.”

Source: ‘The Wright Brothers – They Gave Us Wings’ By Charles Ludwig

All of us are faced with impossible situations, from time to time throughout our lives. But the incredible thing is that within the word ‘impossible’ is found another word ‘possible’.

The more you explore impossible situations you are going to discover some possible solutions that will help you to ride through, over, under or around whatever is standing between you in your present impossible situation and take you to the land of the possible.

Here are four sure-fire ways to help you to turn each and every impossibility you face into a possibility.

1. TAKE RISKS BUT AVOID THE RISKY

Before the Wright brothers ever achieved the impossibility of flying, many a life was lost by those who sought to fly. In 1896 it is recorded that in the August of that year, Otto Lilienthal, the German glider enthusiast was killed during a glide.

However, when the two brothers sought a place to experiment, they knew that they were going to fail and so found a very safe piece of ground to fail on. They didn’t jump off bridges or cliffs. They found a large flat piece of ground with a good strong wind, and practiced failing until the day that they could fly. The place was Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Because they took risks wisely, they were able to change the world forever.

I recently had a discussion with a successful property investor.  His advice was that before you ever pursue any venture, first have your exit strategy in place.

Calculate the risk and ensure, that even if failure occurs, that you will be around to pick yourself up, brush yourself off and push on once again towards success.

YESTERDAY’S IMPOSSIBILITIES ARE TODAY’S REALITIES

2. SPEAK POSSIBILITY

Learn the language of the achiever and the winner. Remove the words, ‘I can’t afford it’ or ‘I can’t do that’, ‘that’s impossible’ or ‘it’s never been done before’ out of your vocabulary.

By constantly thinking ‘outside of the box’, you will be setting yourself up for a rich and prosperous life.

3. CONTROL YOUR REALITY

Financial Reality:

If you find that financially you can never seem to make ends meet, then the best thing for you to do is to have a financial checkup.

Find out exactly what you are spending and where your hard earned income is really going.

Prepare a budget. There many tools available on the Internet that can help you with the process of taking hold of your financial reality. Go to your favourite search engine and type in budget planner.

Health Reality:

Obviously we should check the reality of our health. I do this personally by taking a physical at least once every two years. I service my car every 10,000 km, so it is a good idea to take care of the vehicle that I live in 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Some years back I had a physical that revealed I had extremely high blood cholesterol levels and by simply adjusting my diet and adding to it regular exercise, I was able to rectify that situation before it got too serious.

Spiritual Reality:

I do a spiritual reality check-up every Sunday I go to church. Not only does it keep my compass pointing in the right directionfor  my life, but I often get some great ideas for my future Motivational Memos.

Obviously there are many other areas of our life that require regular reality checkups. Make a list and do your own analysis.

POSSIBLE THINKING LEADS TO POSSIBLE ACTION

4. EXPAND YOUR REALITY

I have a teenage son. When I took over the responsibility for his education a few years ago I had incredible difficulty in getting him motivated about reading.

Now for someone who writes books I found it extremely difficult to understand, but thinking back to when I was his age I could more readily identify with the dilemma.

I realised that it was important for him to expand his reality so that he could grow not only in knowledge but also in wisdom. But how could I find his hot button?

I discovered it. I was reading a book that explained that one way a parent helped his son to expand his reality was through the reading of biographies of people who lived the lives that his son wanted to live.

So from that day on Ben has been reading books, written at his present reading level and interest, about Albert Einstein, Christopher Columbus, Johnny Appleseed, Susanna Wesley, Florence Nightingale, Abraham Lincoln, The Wright Brothers, Isaac Newton, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and the list goes on and on. He now loves reading and we often talk about the latest great person that he is learning about.

This interest in reading has overflowed into his writing. With his renewed confidence he has gone on to run my technical and customer service department for my Web Design company: http://www.oe-design.com along with creating his own websites, which he wrote, with only a limited amount of editing from me. And as far as his tutorials are concerned, the bulk of his students are adults.

Check out two of Ben’s websites: http://www.webmaster-forums101.com/ & http://www.webmaster-resources101.com/

Motivational Quote: Nothing is impossible to the possible thinker.

Where do you live?

‘Scare City’(scarcity) or ‘Abundance Metropolis’?

In order to get there though, you are going to have to cross ‘De Nile’, better known as the river ‘denial’.

But what must you deny?

You must deny anything that would stop you from attaining success. Yes, the success that you’re so richly entitled to experience on planet earth.

You must decide once and for all that you live in the world of ‘too much’ rather than always focussing on the world of ‘not enough’.

‘Not enough’ is only an idea and once you learn how to replace it with the much better idea of ‘too much’, watch how your perspective will be changed in an instant.

You can change your world if you only decide. Decide today to escape to abundance.

There are two ideas that you have a choice to accept. The first is the idea of ‘not enough’ found in ‘Scare City’ (scarcity). The second is the idea of ‘too much’ located in ‘Abundance Metropolis’.

Which idea are you going to concentrate your thoughts on?

For years I have personally fought with the idea that the world was a world of ‘not enough’. But the facts are that poor people remain poor because that is the only world that they know. However, rich thoughts create for you your own world of ‘too much’.

Whatever your reality is on the inside is the reality of what is on the outside. Your reality on the outside cannot and will not be changed until you change the reality on the inside.

Change your reality in your mind and heart and you can change your address once and for all. And this is where we must constantly remind ourselves that there does exist a world of ‘too much’.

The world of ‘too much’ is a real world and it is a world for you and it is a world for me if we only choose to live in it and learn what it takes to live in it.

CHOOSE YOUR WORLD – THE WORLD OF ‘TOO MUCH’ OR THE WORLD OF ‘NOT ENOUGH’

But, ask yourself these questions once more: What world am I living in? Where do you spend your dreams? Where do you focus your thoughts? What vocabulary do you speak? Do you speak words of lack that are filled with lack-lustred excuses or do your phrases expound the abundance of supply that permeates everything you do? Do you worry or do you work with a purpose and a plan?

If you spend more time in the company of Naysayers and ‘do nothings’ then you will live a dismal life.

However, if you choose to place yourself in an atmosphere of hope and possibility and allow yourself to be prodded and your mind stretched, then you will rise up and above whatever life you are presently living.

WHAT YOU INVEST INTO YOUR LIFE NOW WILL DETERMINE WHERE YOU SPEND THE REST OF IT

So what must you invest into your life if you are to escape ‘Scare City’ and find yourself in ‘Abundance Metropolis’?

Time.

Where you spend your time today, tomorrow and the next day will determine the future that you purchase.

Analyse your days.

How much time do you invest in personal development? How much time do you spend in educating yourself in the art of rich living? How much time do you read or listen to material that educates you in how you can start living the ‘too much’ life?

How many seminars do you attend to keep you up to speed in your career, your business, your knowledge of those things that will lead you on to a better life?

How much time do you spend in the presence of mentors? How much time do you devote as a ‘student of success’?

Your time is your most precious commodity, so never waste a single drop. Drink deep and live well.

Motivational Quote: Great lives are the culmination of great thoughts followed by great actions.

I recently took my family to Sydney to experience the New Year’s celebrations. With the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the major centrepiece to the magical firework experience, our eyes feasted on the colours and our ears delighted to the sounds of a spectacular fireworks display that ushered the millions who either watched the event live or by television into yet another brand new year. Though I must say that to see it live was an exhilarating experience.

As part of our time in Sydney we also decided to spend our last day in ‘The Rocks’ area of the city. And within that historical area we stumbled across an art gallery called the ‘Touch of Mandela’. To our surprise and utter delight we discovered within the gallery a limited edition of sketches and original lithographs created and designed by Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and recognised as one of the world’s greatest statesmen, spent 27 years imprisoned as a direct result of his efforts to ensure the freedom of all men and women in South Africa. Eighteen of those years were spent in brutal conditions on Robben Island: an ex-naval base that would later become a penal colony and dumping ground for those the South African government labelled dissidents.

Released on 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela left Robben Island to become not only the president of the recently unbanned African National Congress, but also, on 10 May 1994, the first black president of South Africa.

The ‘Touch of Mandela’ Gallery – http://www.touchofmandela.com.au – features the artworks by the world’s most famous pensioner and Aids activist.

The artworks celebrate a time of struggle – exemplary of an icon who can reach out to a nation to give hope, freedom and above all, a legacy to be enjoyed by all.

“Today when I look at Robben Island,” Mandela states, “I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit, rather than as a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls … I have attempted to colour the island sketches in ways that reflect the positive light in which I view it.”

He adds, “This is what I would like to share with people around the world … that even the most fantastic dreams can be achieved if we are prepared to endure life’s challenges.”

Reflecting on the latest Tsunami disaster in Asia and as I once again considered this great man’s struggle, I wanted to bring to you something that would bring hope in a time of great world despair, light in a dark period of our world’s history and paint a fresh, positive colourful statement onto the canvas of your personal world that is so often splashed by a brush of dark negativity.

So what lessons can be drawn from this great man?

Let me share my interpretation of FIVE powerful points that I have gained from studying Nelson Mandela’s life; the man who knew suffering and deprivation and yet attained his dream in his lifetime. He forged a fresh and new destiny for millions in his own country and continues to inspire billions throughout the entire world.

1. Fantastic Dreams Can Be Achieved If We Are Prepared To Endure Life’s Challenges

It’s the stuff of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. “IMPOSSIBLE!” is the resounding word sprouted amongst those who are the oppressors. And yet the seed of a dream transfixed in the depths of the heart of one man can transform an entire society. It happened thousands of years ago and it happened in South Africa at the end of the 20th century. And it will happen in Tibet. It will also happen again and again in lands where people are oppressed, as long as there is at least one person who is willing to dream. For there is no oppression that can hold back the fulfilment of a person’s dream for freedom.

What do you do with a man who stated at his 1961 treason trial: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities…if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” That one speech alone heralded the demise of his oppressors. And as surely as this great man’s dreams were fulfilled, so too can your dreams come to pass if you are prepared to endure. Remember, it quite often takes twenty years to become an overnight success.

2. View The Negative In A Positive Light

There is no escaping the negative. However, by viewing them in a positive light, the power of every negative and its oppressive hold over your life can be dissipated in an instant. That is why in his Robben Island Series; Nelson Mandela has used bright colours that “reflect the positive light” in which he viewed his experience of 18 year’s imprisonment in that place.

And as W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill wrote in their book ‘Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude’: “Every adversity has the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.” The harder we look into the shell of a negative experience we will soon discover a pearl of great value.

3. Never Take Another Human Being And Their Friendship Or Their Love For Granted

“The courtyard was an unfriendly, empty and barren place. It was a sombre reminder of where I was.” recalls Mandela. “From the beginning of my imprisonment I asked to start a garden in the courtyard, to change this sad looking place. After years of refusing my request, we were finally given permission to plant a small garden on a narrow patch of earth against a wall. Being able to plant and nurture life in this prison courtyard offered me a sense of freedom and satisfaction that is hard to put into words even today. A garden is one of the few things in prison that one could control.”

“A powerful memory that I have is of a beautiful tomato that I cozed from tiny seed to tender seedling to a strong plant that gave plump bright red juicy tomatoes, but despite my efforts to plant began to wither and die and nothing we did would heal it. When it died I took it carefully from the soil, washed its roots and carried it in a corner of the garden. It would again remind me of the hopelessness I felt at being unable to nourish other relationships in my life. It made me realise the beauty, simplicity and sacred value of family, of loved ones or friends. I swore to myself that I would never take another human being and their friendship or their love for granted ever again.”

4. Persistence Pays Off

“In 1977 forced manual labour was increased after we maintained a two year go-slow strike. We asked to do something more useful with our day instead of the monotony of mining lime and stone from the quarries. This action however robbed us of the opportunity to exercise, and after much effort we convinced the wardens to allow us to convert the courtyard into a tennis court. Prior to this, the prisoners were marched round and round the courtyard for half an hour every day.”

“Our persistence paid off and we painted the cement courtyard surface to create a traditional tennis court layout. Being able to exercise one’s mind and body through play was immensely freeing. Playing tennis and attending to my gardening became my two favourite hobbies. It was a strange sensation enjoying such civilised hobbies in such an uncivilised place. It caused me to reflect the strange and perverse nature of opportunities where they wrongly thought that one people’s freedom could only be enjoyed at the expense and oppression of others.”

Persist, persist, and persist.

5. A Quest For Righteousness Can Never Be Repressed

In Mandela’s Struggle Series he drew a series of hands. Mandela says, “I drew hands because they are powerful instruments. Hands can hurt or heal, punish or uplift. They can also be bound. But a quest for righteousness can never be repressed.”

And so too is this true for each and every one of us. Choose to do what is right and use your hands for that which seeks only the good of others. Serve others, always showing them love and respect and you will reap the positive benefits that will arise from your actions.

May your hands be giving hands, ever seeking to give only that which is best to others. For in your giving you will be the recipient of so much more. Pursue your own quest for righteousness in all of your daily affairs, both in personal interaction and in all your business dealings.

Motivational Quote: Darkness’ power is always pierced by a slither of light called hope.