Positive Thinking & Missionary Work

Every man's inspiration is breathed from his own spirit.

When a missionary is goal-directed and self-motivated, he can cope with ANY situation.

Procrastination exits when there is lack of something - a goal - a want - self confidence which results in indecision and fear.

Self-confidence is gained through know how and experience gleaned only through the willingness to submit yourself to obstacles and situations that men ordinarily fear.

Failure to develop self-confidence by experience - by doing - is a one-way street to mediocrity.

Unless one is a self-starter, he will not really succeed because he will not put in the time and effort required to gain the know how - gain the experience and gain the self-confidence.

One who is not a self-starter is not lazy or afraid of work.  he really reflects an undisciplined background which will become deepened with undisciplined passing of years.

When one criticizes, he immediately matches his reputation against the reputation of whom or what he criticizes, leaving to the person to whom he criticizes to a basic decision to make - whom does he believe?

Perseverance is traced directly to low achievement drives, apexed by lack of goal or purpose when strength of perseverance is lacking.

Perseverance's secret lies in the ability to harness one's total energy and become irreversibly engaged in reaching of a goal which has become of extreme worth.

Success only comes with attitude - an attitude that success is merely a self-developed habit of confidence and self-assurance that success is a predictable result, rather than an occasional accident.

Specific goals, clearly understood, are powerful and dynamic forces that change mediocrity to permanent success.

Without a goal, the average person's performance is erratic, shows short periods of advancement, but is easily redirected and discouraged.

People (missionaries) who say life is worthwhile are really saying that they, themselves, have personal goals which are worthwhile.

The unhappiest of mortals is the man who insists upon reliving the past over and over in his imagination, continually criticizing himself for past failures or mistakes.

The minute we change our mind and stop giving power to the past, the past with its mistakes loses its power over us.

Be willing to make a few mistakes, to suffer a little pain to get what you want.

Positive thinking is thinking in terms of others.
Negative thinking is thinking in terms of yourself.

How I Finally Taught The Big Guy A Lesson (humor)

I did not provoke the fight, so I feel no remorse for what I was forced to do.  We were arguing, and seeing that I was right and he was wrong, he decided to fight to cover for his stupidity.

He swang at me first, but being in the top of condition, I was able to act quickly and block the punch neatly with my head.

Whereupon I jumped to the ground knocking him down on me.  Then I placed my ear in his mouth and poked his finger several times with my eye.

His teeth hurt so  from the strength of my ear, that he became irate and tried to kick me, but I cleverly blocked the onslaught with my ribs and face.

I scrambled to my feet and ran to my car in hopes I would get away and save this man from my deadly hands.  Before I could start the car, he pulled me from the still open door.  I then proceeded to swing at him, but only mnaaged to hit myself in the head.  To this I said, "What's this?! Two against one?!" That was the final straw - I lost all control.  There will be no mercy!

Taking him in my death grip, I pounded him in the knee with my stomach - then hit him two or three times hard in the fist with my teeth!  He had had it!  I could tell.  After that, he didn't even try to pick me up off the ground.  He was too chicken!!

PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING!!!

Attitude Is Everything

John is the kind of guy you love to hate.  He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.  If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.  Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!  You can't be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it?"  He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today.  You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood.  I choose to be in a good mood.  Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy." I protested.  "Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood.  You choose to be in a a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said.  Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.  We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.  Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.  After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.  I saw him about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins!  Wanna see my scars?!"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.  "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied.  "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or..I coudl choose to die.  I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?"  I asked.  He continued, "...the paramedics were great.  They kept telling me I was going to be fine.  But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read "he's a dead man".  I knew I needed to take action.

"What did you do?" I asked.  "Well, there was this big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John.  "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes' I replied.  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply.  I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity!'.  Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.  Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I leanred from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.  Attitude, after all, is everything.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself..." Matthew 6:34