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His mind was sharp, but his vision was blurred. He could think, but could not talk. He wanted to write, but could not use his hands. With one eye sewn shut, his only means of communication was by blinking his left eye. Yet despite his obstacles and challenges, he was able to produce a bestselling book that was turned into a movie.
Jean-Dominique was the editor of the French ELLE magazine, living a fast-paced life in the world of fashion when a massive stroke struck him in 1995 and left him paralyzed. He had become a victim of an extremely rare disease known as “Locked-in Syndrome”. While Jean-Dominique’s mind was fully functioning, the blinking of his left eye was his only means of communication. Yet he refused to give in to the circumstances and decided to fight back. Here’s what he did:
1. Accept the situation. Easier said than done, Jean-Dominique realized that lamenting on the situation was not going to change things for the better. As such, he decided he was going to face the challenge courageously.
2. Focus on what he still had and what he could do. Since whatever you tend to focus on usually becomes a reality, Jean-Dominique chose to focus on what he could still do. He could still “write” a book.
3. Setting goals and developing plans to achieve them.
4. Taking action. In order to achieve his outcome, Jean-Domnique knew he had to be more persistent than ever. Nothing could substitute hard work.
What is the challenge you are currently facing in your life? Are you prepared to learn something from it or are you merely a victim of it? What are your plans to overcome this challenge? Are you prepared to take the necessary action to get what you want?
A disciple and his teacher were walking through the forest. The disciple was disturbed by the fact that his mind was in constant unrest.
He asked his teacher: “Why most people’s minds are restless, and only a few possess a calm mind? What can one do to still the mind?”
The teacher looked at the disciple, smiled and said, “I will tell you a story. An elephant was standing and picking leaves from a tree. A small fly came, flying and buzzing near his ear. The elephant waved it away with his long ears. Then the fly came again, and the elephant waved it away once more”.
This was repeated several times. Then the elephant asked the fly, “Why are you so restless and noisy? Why can’t you stay for a while in one place?”
The fly answered, “I am attracted to whatever I see, hear or smell. My five senses pull me constantly in all directions and I cannot resist them. What is your secret? How can you stay so calm and still?”
The elephant stopped eating and said, “My five senses do not rule my attention. Whatever I do, I get immersed in it. Now that I am eating, I am completely immersed in eating. In this way I can enjoy my food and chew it better. I rule and control my attention, and not the other way around.”
Upon hearing these words, the disciple’s eyes opened wide and a smile appeared on his face. He looked at his teacher and said, “I understand! If my five senses are in control of my mind and attention, then my mind is in constant unrest. If I am in charge of my five senses and attention, then my mind becomes calm”.
“Yes, that’s right”, answered the teacher, ” The mind is restless and goes wherever the attention is. Control your attention, and you control your mind”.
From unknown source
At 26, Jack landed his first leadership role at GE. Fresh out of school with a Ph.D., he was brimming with confidence when he couldn’t believe his first major achievement as a lead engineer would be to blow up a factory. And although there was no loss of life caused through the accident, it left Jack with a bruised ego.
According to Jack, his boss had instructed him to report the incident to his superior. As he recalled, “It was the longest drive and the longest night.” “I learned a lot from that experience. I went down to see him and told him what had happened.”
Yet, to Jack’s surprise, all his boss did was to give him words of encouragement. “He was a Ph.D. chemical engineer, professorial sort of guy, and all he was inquisitive about was what went wrong, and did I understand it, and what could I do about it, and could I design the commercial plant now that I’d blown up the pilot plant.” he said.
Thus, this was to mark the turning point in his life. Through this incident, Jack had learned a valuable lesson: Never ever to go after anybody when they are down. There will come a day when you are going to land yourself in a difficult situation too.
What separates successful people from failures are that successful people are often willing to try, fail and learn from their mistakes. They recognize that this process of falling and learning is the fastest manner to achieve huge success in life.
Things may not seem to be working our for me right now, but I know that I will make the best of the situation. I know that I will do everything that I can, taking a little step at a time. I will not worry but rather look at what I am going through as a challenge. Perhaps this is a time to dvelop patience and faith to realize I can change my attitude even if I can’t change my circumstances. I am going to handle this and find the strength to surmount these obstacles.
No matter what happens to us in life, those feelings of defeat and disappointment can be minimized and offset by the power of hope. As the American President Barack Obama once said, “Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.”
So how can we practice hope at the darkest times of our lives?
1) Letting go: This is the remarkable ability to go with the flow without being disturbed by whatever that happens on the outside.
2) Holding on to your vision: In times of adversity, it is essential for you to seek ways to enlarge your vision of life and circumtances. By enlarging your vision of the possibilities, you will also discover fresh insights and better options.
3) Be persistent: Sometimes, the situation that we are in may tend to get worse before it turns for the better. This is a phase where we are moving from conscious incompetence to conscious competence. This is also the stage where most people tend to give up. Here, you have to be determined to keep moving forward no matter what happens.
Dear all,
Have you caught the recent movie hit “Inception” yet? If you are a fan of psychoanalysis or NLP, this is a movie you shouldn’t miss! If you are an abstract thinker, this is a movie that will totally blow your mind away! If you enjoy learning through metaphors, this is a movie that can open up your mind and encourages creative learning!
If there’s anything that I believe we can all learn from this movie, it includes:
1) We are living in a world of relativity. As I have often reiterate in my training programs, nothing in this world has any meaning except the meaning we give it. What you choose to believe in tends to become a “reality”. It’s interesting to watch how Cobb (role played by Leonardo DiCaprio) decided, towards the end of the movie, that it’s pointless to discern whether he is still “living in the dream”. After all, does it really matter?
2) Your subconscious mind can be more powerful than your conscious mind. Hypnotherapists know this best. Working with the subconscious is the key to our success with clients. Although your conscious mind is truly the part of your mind that leads, it is your subconscious mind that turns many things into reality. In NLP, there’s an equal amount of focus placed on helping our clients learn through the conscious mind as well as the subconscious mind. These two parts of your mind are like a couple. They can never be separated. There’s no doubt why people who succeed on a large scale in life tend to be people who have mastered the art of using these two parts of the mind effectively.
3) Thoughts are things. As Cobb said in the movie, “What’s the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules.” Everything material that is created in this world was originally an idea. Without the audacity to dream and believe in the “impossible”, I am afraid we wouldn’t be enjoying the fruits of flying comfortably on an Airbus 380 today or viewing this article in the blog.
With all its closest allies, including France being defeated and invaded by Germany, Hitler thought the war was practically over and that the British would be forced to quickly come in terms with Germany. Although there was a strand of British public and political sentiment favoring negotiated peace with a clearly ascendant Germany, there stood this man, by the name of Winston Churchill, who nonetheless refused to surrender to the Nazis! Quoted Winston Churchill in his famous “This was their finest hour” speech:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.”
During that time, the safety of Britain all depended on a few of her best fighter pilots! Moreover Churchill did not plan or direct the Battle of Britain on which the future of mankind depended. Nonetheless it was he who encouraged and deployed that indomitable strength behind the British pilots whose odds of victory were considered slim. Yet, despite the bad odds, the British pilots prevailed and eventually drove their enemies out of their homeland!
This… is the power of faith… as it was through Winston Churchill’s understanding of the principle of faith and through his ability to transplant that faith into the minds of the Britons that the tide of the war was turned around. He did so by suggesting to his warriors that it was all up to them in making “that moment” their “finest hour”… that winning the war was a must! Likewise, in reaching our dreams, the first thing you and I have to do is to tap into this powerful universal force that moves the human spirit! Faith- the eternal elixir that gives life, power and action to the impulse of thought!
If you think you’re beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,
It’s almost for sure, you won’t.
If you think you’re losing, you’ve lost.
For out in the world we find -
Success begins with a person’s will,
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You have to stay with it,
In order to win the prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go,
To the one with the better plan.
For more often than not, you will win,
If only you think you can.
Just a few years ago, I thought I had the privilege of getting acquainted with a Thai businessman- Mr Sirivat. Also commonly known as Mr Sandwich, I thought this man is a total inspiration after learning about his story! As his story goes:
After graduating with a degree in Finance, Mr Sirivat began climbing the corporate ladder, finally becoming the managing director of Asia Securities Trading. But later he decided to go out on his own as a private fund manager. It was not long before he started his own company where he started selling condominiums in a condominium resort. Then, he was very successful and had become a millionaire living his dreams.
However in the late 1990s Mr Sirivat’s business was severely hit by the economic recession. Not only did he lose everything overnight, his debt run into millions! This man lost US8.7 million in the crisis, including assets like his luxury condo and two plots of land. He even saw his two cars repossessed!
Fortunately, with the support of his wife, Mr Sirivat decided to start a business, this time selling sandwiches.
A long story short, Mr Sirivat was still faced with a huge challenge. People in Thailand didn’t take sandwiches! Sales was bad. Moreover his wife had to wake up in the wee hours to prepare the sandwiches. Eventually Mr Sirivat decided to go out to the streets to sell the sandwiches. At the same time, he had to convince his staff to follow him to the street to sell the food. Could you believe it? This is a former multimillionaire, and he is now out in the streets selling sandwiches!
Gradually his story caught the media’s attention. His patience had paid off! Mr Sirivat was then featured at various Medias such as the CNN, CNBC and BBC. This created a favorable condition as the medias helped in spreading his story and many Thai people supported him by buying sandwiches from him.
After just 2 and a half years, he had carved a name for Saravit Sandwiches. Today Mr Sirivat takes pride in the fact that he introduced sandwiches to the Thais, his business also includes selling organic juices, coffee and unique brown rice sushi. He also possesses a vision to take his company listed on the stock market and create a sound foundation for a food company.
You see, this guy’s motto is really simple. It’s to “Be daring. Be decisive. Be different. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
One day, a master and his disciple arrived at a big city. They had no money with them, but they were sourcing for food and accomodation. The disciple was sure that they were going to beg for their food, and sleep in the park at night.
“There is a big park not far from here. We can sleep there at night”, said the disciple.
“In the open air?” The master asked.
“Yes”, responded the student.
The master smiled and said: “No, tonight we are going to sleep in a hotel and eat there too”.
The student was amazed, “That sounds optimistic. But how?”
“Come and sit down”, said the master.
As they both sat down on the ground, the master taught, “When you focus your mind intently on any subject, it shall come to pass.” With that, he closed his eyes and began meditating with full concentration.
After some time, the master got up and continued to walk, with his disciple following him. Finally, they arrived at a hotel.
“Come, let’s go in”, the master said to his disciple. And the moment they entered the hotel lobby, a well-dressed man approached them.
“I am the manager of this hotel. You look like traveling swamis and I believe you have no money. Would you like to work in the kitchen, and in return I’ll give you food and a place to stay?”
“Fine”, responded the master.
The disciple was perplexed and asked the master: “Did you use any magic? How did you accomplish that?”
The master smiled and said, “I wanted to show you how the power of thoughts works. When you think with full and strong concentration about something that you want to happen, and your mind does not resist the subject of your thought, your thought materializes.”
“When your mind is free from all distractions, and only one single thought is allowed to enter, it gains a very great power. One should be very careful with what he thinks. A concentrated thought is powerful, and exerts a very strong influence.”
The disciple looked at his teacher and said: “I see that I have to sharpen my concentration in order to be able to use this power.”
“Yes, this is the first step”, responded the master.
