MENTAL DIET: How To Win Through Tough Times (Part 4)
What you choose to see even in the face of tragedy will build or mar your destiny. The life of Ed Roberts is a reflection of this. At age 14 Ed Roberts had been paralyzed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair, unable to live a normal life, and spent every night in an iron lung.
He had been afflicted with polio several times and almost lost his life in the process. But instead of bemoaning his lot in life and becoming a liability or problem to others, he decided to be a contributing member of society despite his limitations. He saw that his handicap was an opportunity to add value to others.
Hence, he saw himself as deserving and achieving. He became the first quadriplegic to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley and he ultimately pioneered the position of director of the California State Department of Rehabilitation thereby being a pacesetter. Your perception shapes your experiences.
It’s not what happens to us but rather it is what happens in us that determines our responses to the problems or challenges of life and our response shapes the outcome of our lives. Our response to problems is determined by what we see and what we seek.
When we are faced with problems what do we see? Do we see opportunities for growth and advancement embedded in the problem or do we see an insurmountable obstacle that stops us? Are we inclined to shrink or escape from problems or do we see it as a stepping stone to the next level? How we see what we see is dependent on our self-image. Our personal evaluation of our problems is dependent on the perception of ourselves.
What do we seek? What we seek determines what we see. If we have no goals or vague goals and even mediocre goals drifting aimlessly through life without an inspiring purpose in life and high goals then we become overcome by even the smallest problem. However, if we live our lives on purpose and for a purpose, we will rise up to the challenge of overcoming our problems and growing through them as we advance in the fulfillment of our destiny.
- Condition yourself to win.
Focus on making your mind, imagination, words, and actions work for you rather than against you.
The battle of life is fought and won in the mind; when you win in your mind you will win in life.
Learn from the past and grow through your past however, do not live in your past or memory. Live from your imagination which is living in a limitless realm where only infinite possibilities exist.
Make your words work for you; change your self-talk and expressions. When you change your words, you change your world.
When you change your mind, live from your imagination; and change your words to positivity and possibility then positive actions will follow that will produce positive outcomes.
- Reach out for support; connect with supportive people – build the right relationships.
- Develop generosity of spirit – become love-ruled; love-owned; love-minded, and love-motivated.
Love magnetizes you all good toward you. In the absence of love, negativity dominates.
- Persist until you succeed
If you want to chip off a part of a rock, you must keep hitting it. In fact, to an observer, nothing happens on the first hit, second hit…. Probably on the 1000th time the part of the rock splits. Of course, it’s not the 1000th hit that made the rock split rather it is the accumulation of all the hits – with each hit the rock is weakened until it finally splits.
So, it applies; the accumulation of the right actions produces a successful outcome. Therefore, stay at it until you win at it.
Ponder on the words of Calvin Coolidge, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
