PRINCIPLES FOR PERSONAL GROWTH, CHANGE, AND
TRUE
SUCCESS IN OUR LIFE AND SERVICE TO
OTHERS
How to become all we can be and live at peace in our
world.
Principle
5 - The way we think and the way we talk profoundly
influences the destinies we reach, the performance we
achieve, and the success we enjoy.
A number of years ago, the renowned broadcaster and
personal growth thinker, Earl Nightingale, released an
audio program entitled “The Greatest Secret in the
World.” The title is captivating and the
presentation was fascinating. But as
Mr. Nightingale would surely concede, the secret was
not his and it was not new. The “secret” is founded
in the wisdom of the ages and expressed by such thinkers
and masters from Jesus to Marcus Aurelius, Saint Paul,
Milton, Emerson, and many others. The secret?
“We become what we think about.”
This wisdom of the ages is
increasingly being confirmed by modern scientific
research. Our “state of mind” powerfully influences
our physical health and wellbeing. Our ideas and
imagination are the progenitors of reality. We are
finding that “positive mental attitudes” are not just a
collection of pious platitudes about sunshine days and
half-full glasses, but the precursor to the deep
character and success quality called persistence.
What we think about, how we speak, and what we dwell on
can take us from coping to conquering. Back in the
1960s, Doctor Maxwell Maltz, in his classic work
PSYCHO CYBERNETICS gave our minds, and the brain
that contains that essence, a computer metaphor and said
in what would become the later day jargon “garbage in,
garbage out.” All of these modern findings simply
confirmed one of the premier life admonitions that the
thinker and writer Saint Paul of Tarsus developed when he
told us to “fill our minds with good
things.”
We now know some of the deep
realty behind the ancient traditions of life and spirit
which reminded us to guard our hearts, that is, watch
closely what you leave your core being (mind and spirit)
open to.
We need to read those things
that create challenges and the spirit of inquiry.
We need to carefully monitor and be aware of our
self-talk and the internal dialogue we carry on with
ourselves. We need to continually think on noble
aspirations and achievements. We need to develop a
deep and profound ability to give ourselves over to
thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness is the key to goal
setting, and goal setting and purpose in dwelling are one
of primary ways we achieve personal and professional
success. We need to forgive others for the wrongs
they have committed and get over it and not dwell on
it. We need to view life as a gift. We need
to have a mind open to grace and be able to say that
indeed grace is “amazing.” When we do these things,
good things come to us, what is ideal can become real,
and what we want we often get.
So
let us remember the principle that the way we think and
the way we talk profoundly influences the destinies we
reach, the performance we achieve, and the success we
enjoy.