MENTAL DIET: HOW TO GAIN LIFE’S ALTITUDE (PART 4)

WHAT’S IN YOUR RED BANDANA?

A man was honored as his city’s leading citizen to tell the story of his life, he said, “Friends and neighbors, when I first came here 30 years ago, I walked into your town on a muddy dirt road with only the suit on my back, the shoes on my feet, and all of my earthly possessions wrapped up in a red bandana tied to a stick which I carried over my shoulder.

Today I’m the chairman of the board of the bank. I own hotels, apartment buildings, office buildings, and three companies with branches in 49 cities, and I am on the boards of all the leading clubs. Yes, friends, your city has been very good to me”

At the end of the banquet, a youngster approached the man and asked him, “Sir, could you tell me what you wrapped in that red bandana when you walked into this town 30 years ago?” The man replied, “I think son, it was about a half million dollars in cash and $900, 000 in government bonds”

If you want to make it successfully through the course of your destiny you must travel light. What’s in your “red bandana”? Are you carrying liabilities in your red bandana or are you carrying assets? What you carry along during life’s journey will determine what you will attract along life’s journey.  To carry along with your liabilities implies carrying a bad or negative attitude which is a heavy baggage that weighs down and retrogresses. However, carrying along assets implies cultivating and developing positive attitudes that accelerate and deliver progress in our lives.

You can either blame your past or create your future. You can either relive your history or live out your destiny. You can either groan in your circumstance or you can grow through your circumstance. You can either function from your memories or you can function from the uncharted and unlimited horizon of your imagination. You can either rely on your experiences or you can seek out, learn, model, and apply success principles that create successful experiences in the important areas of life while learning from the mistakes of others rather than criticizing, condemning, or judging them.

You can either be value-driven or you can be driven by feelings. You can either guard your heart or you can allow your mind to become an open field for all sorts of suggestions or garbage from external sources. You can either become an original or you can be an imitator. You can either live for yourself or you can live beyond yourself. You can both define and establish boundaries in your life or you can allow anybody to come into your life and mess up your life through their negative influence.

You can either persist to succeed or resist success. You can either give up or grow up. You can either respond to situations or react to situations. You can either break the bad habit or the bad habit breaks down your destiny. You can either live out your fears or you can live out your dreams. You can either pursue pleasure or you can pursue self-development.

You can either live life with sensitivity, discernment, and understanding or you can live thoughtlessly, superficially, and by appearances. You can either live generously or you can live selfishly. You can either tame your tongue or you can allow your tongue to tarnish your destiny.

 You can either rule your temper or you can allow your temper to rule you out of the success domain. You can either make your mind work for you or you can make your mind work against you. You can either think big or you can think small. You can either create value or you can create excuses.

To sum it up you alone determine the outcome of your destiny through the choices you make in life.