It is our thinking more than anything else that will determine our long-term success, or our “flash-in-the-pan,” short-term success. It was once said of Elvis Presley in the very beginning of his career that he was nothing more than “a flash in the pan.” Well, for a flash in the pan, this man went on to become the King of Rock and Roll. Elvis’s records have sold over one billion copies, and in 2009, his estate earned $50 million in all marketing efforts. There is even a radio station, Sirius Satellite radio, that plays 100 percent Elvis Presley songs 24/7.
The problem with some people is that they have no vision or imagination. When they see or experience something unique, they can’t visualize it working long-term. Some people are in a mental rut; they have no problem accepting all the amazing improvements in technology, but they don’t want to modify their own thinking to improve their position in the world. Leo Tolstoy said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” And British politician Harold Wilson put it this way: “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”
What do you think about all day? Sometimes our minds get stuck in a bad mode. Let me explain what mode I am talking about. We have all been guilty of negative thinking at some time in our lives. It may be when we are not feeling 100 percent healthy. Maybe it is our teeth that hurt, like a bad cavity that needs to be drilled and crowned. Or it could be our back that suddenly goes out again or goes out for the first time. Just like the signals of pain that radiate from the defective tooth or bad disk in the back, the brain is constantly producing signals of positive or negative thoughts. These impulses affect the ultimate outcome of our efforts. Good impulses result in good outcomes; bad impulses will give you terrible outcomes.
We can control our lives by controlling the impulses our mind sends out every split second. And it literally is every split second that your subconscious mind is sending these thought impulses to your conscious mind. Thus, our subconscious mind, which works always in the background, is silently controlling our actions and our moods and, more importantly, advertising to everyone all around us exactly how we feel.
It has been estimated that the average human brain thinks of some sixty thousand thoughts per day. Positive affirmations will keep some of those negative thoughts that surround us under control.
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts ... take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
—Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman emperor
We may find ourselves in that mental rut. It could be the aches in our body. It could be the fact that we have arrived at middle age, or the lack of money in our pockets, or the fact that we are unemployed and can’t locate another job. But here is an important point: Our minds can be reprogrammed midstream. Even though we may be in a negative subconscious-mode for days or weeks, we can at any given point rewire those thought impulses into very positive impulses. And those new impulses can last days, weeks, or months. Let’s look at this fact more closely.
My back is aching, and my bad knee that was operated on for torn cartilage is hurting with each step; both have been hurting for days. Suddenly, my phone rings and my sister tells me that my only niece has just announced she is engaged to be married a year from now. What is my thought process at this very moment?
Or my mother suddenly calls and informs me that my younger sister who was married three years earlier is now pregnant with her first child and that I am going to be a first-time uncle. Oh, and yes, my sister is going to ask my wife and me to be the baby’s godparents. What impulses are suddenly being generated by that all-powerful part of my mind, the subconscious? The euphoria I suddenly feel is overwhelming and will last for a long time.
What if my brother suddenly called and informed me that he just hit the Mega Millions Lottery for $25 million? And he also informed the entire family that he would be paying off all of their outstanding loans, including their mortgages—what is my mindset now?
Can we go from feeling troubled to feeling euphoric in just a split second? On the other hand, can we shift and feel tremendously depressed in that same split-second time frame? Of course we can. But knowing how our minds respond to outside stimuli should convince us that we are in many ways in full control of turning our attitudes around. That sadness and depression can be turned around fairly rapidly with some specific and pointed effort. We must, therefore, understand more about this powerful mind that controls our bodies every second we are alive. We are in control. We are each capable of maintaining long-term happiness and positive attitudes. But we must each make that conscious, ongoing effort to learn, to practice motivating ourselves, and to maintain that positive effort which can last our whole lifetime.
Remember: sixty thousand thoughts per day. We exercise the muscles of our body, why not practice daily to exercise our mind with personalized positive affirmations?
Ninety percent of worry is considered by the experts to be needless. Some people are consumed with worry.
They may worry about their health, the health of their loved ones, or just nonsense that others may believe to be foolish. Worry can consume a person’s life, drain their energy, and weaken the immune system, causing a person to get sick more easily.
Worry can infect almost anyone at any time. But if I find myself worrying needlessly, I ask myself, “Do I have control over this situation? Can I change the outcome? Then forget about it!” That’s right. I tell myself, “Forget about it!” As soon as the words are spoken, a certain feeling of relief sets in. You can also say, “And this, too, shall pass.”
The realization that the outcome of the situation is out of my control relieves the tension. There is a great statement that puts it all into perspective:
Things We Worry About
Things that never happen: 40%.
Things over and past, that can’t be changed: 30%.
Needless worries about our health: 12%.
Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10%.
Real legitimate worries: 8%
Which leaves 92 percent of all worry we do as useless.
—Dr. Walter Cavert
We all have a variety of worries and fears as we go through life: fear of not marrying the right person, of failing in business, of dying, of the loss of a loved one, of being poor, and thousands of other fears.
You can control your fears by using these techniques:
1. Put the fear in proper perspective.
2. Analyze the fear. Why are you worrying?
3. What is the worst possible thing that could happen? If the worst possible thing does happen, will you still have your mind? Will you still be alive? How terrible will it really be? In reality, how terribly important is this thing that worries you?
4. Write out the worst possible scenario on paper, then remind yourself that 92 percent of all worrying is not necessary.
We Are Each Born into This World Destined for Greatness!
The true measure of a person’s success in life should not be judged by their rise to wealth or stature, but rather by the degree to which they have positively influenced other lives in their own lifetime.
—JPC
Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, John D. MacDonald wished, as a young boy, that he had been born a writer, believing that writers were a separate “race,” marked somehow from birth. By the time he died, he had published seventy-eight books with more than 75 million copies in print. He wrote nearly five hundred short stories and published his first novel, The Brass Cupcake, in 1950. John MacDonald passed on in 1986 at the early age of 70, but he continues to earn praise from millions of readers and lasting respect from fellow authors.
I remember writing my own very first novel years ago. It took me five years to complete it. And my first self-help book took fifteen years until it was in print. It is difficult to comprehend one person writing seventy-eight books.
MacDonald served as a real influence in my writing of novels. He wrote in the first-person style, and his fiction was very visual and believable. I tried to emulate him. I wonder how many other first-time authors have been inspired by him in their writing careers.
MacDonald’s books are still being sold today, over sixty years after he published his first book. You see, we can each evolve into greatness. We can each touch many thousands of lives positively in our own lifetime. Just as the air we breathe infiltrates our bodies, so, too, can a well-written book infect us, if we allow it to, with the never-ending inspiration to excel in our own lives.
MacDonald once said, “Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will.”