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.