How death taught me the best way to live.

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   

A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket

Subject: A lot can change in your life if you will change the way you think.

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." -- The Bible.

Last week I wrote on Sunday instead of Monday. I did so because Sunday, 30^th of March, was exactly one year I cheated death the third time since my young life. I narrated how my usual belief and constant confession (that I will live forever) helped me think my way back to the land of the living, after what was estimated by eyewitnesses to be about 30 minutes sojourn on the other side of the divide. There has been ongoing debate on the story since that time (though not on this blog but elsewhere). I hope to post the different opinions on this blog one day. That experience taught me something about the way we think and the way we live. 

It’s common knowledge that the way we think determines the way we live. The way we perceive things determine the way we approach them. The way we see things determine the way we relate or communicate with them. I remember I once had a landlord whose five-year-old daughter I kept calling “baby boy” the first three weeks after I moved into his building. I had no idea the child was a girl, because they always dressed him up like a boy. I felt silly after the child’s mother decided to correct me one cool evening. Since then, I have made it a habit to ask the sex of children from their parents when I am not sure if they are male or female. The right information will help you think right and act right, huh?

So what if a man with limitless powers thinks or believes he is powerless? What if a man who’s created to live forever thinks he can only live for a maximum period of 120 years? What if a man who is capable of doing great things thinks and believes he is capable of doing nothing? What if a man with limitless abilities thinks and believes he has no abilities at all? What if a man who has brain believes he is not capable of thinking creative thoughts? What if a man who has all it takes to solve the most difficult of problems thinks and believes he doesn’t have what it takes? What if a man who has what it takes to succeed thinks and believes he is bound to fail?

There are many what ifs to consider, and there are many men who are failing because they think they can’t succeed. Many more are dying because they think they must die. Many people need to change what they believe about themselves. A great many of us underestimate our worth. And doing that puts us in a position where we get defeated by things that should otherwise be a cinch for us to defeat.

I learned the following from my experience:

§  1) Positive thinking is very important.

§ 2) You can live for as long as you decide to hold onto life.

§ 3) People don’t die because they must; they die because they think they must die.

§ 4) Death is a joke and fear is a farce.

§ 5) People don’t fail because they can’t succeed; they fail because they don’t believe they can succeed and so quit too soon.

§ 6) You become what you believe.

§ 7) You can change your experience by changing your thinking and your attitude to life.

§ 8) You can achieve whatever it is you want, if you are determined to pursue it with tenacity of purpose.

§ 9) A lot depends on you and what you think about yourself.

§ 10) If you will fight your fears and defeat them, nothing will be impossible for you to achieve.

§11)  Problems are promotions in disguise.

§12) The reason you fail is because you are afraid of failure and won’t try with a positive mindset.

§13)  What is visible is often not all that is available.

§ 14) We are worth far more than we currently believe.

We are richer than we know

The story has been told of how,

In the mid-twentieth century, in Bankok, Thailand, the government wanted to build a large highway through a village. Yet in the path of the planned road was a Buddhist monastery with a little chapel, so they had to relocate the monastery – including a heavy, eleven-foot clay statue of Buddha – to another place. Using a crane, the government workers moved the monastery in sections. When the workers transported the statue of Buddha to the new location and began to lower it into place, however, the clay on the statue started to crumble and fall off. The people began to panic because this was a highly esteemed religious symbol to them, and they didn’t want it to be destroyed. Yet the more the workers tried to place the statue, the more it fell apart until, eventually, all the clay was falling off. Suddenly, the workers stared in amazement because, as the clay fell away, something unexpected was revealed: The statue was pure gold underneath. Before the statue was moved, people thought it was worth about fifty thousand dollars. Today, that golden Buddha is worth millions and, because of the story behind it, is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year.

This story clearly illustrates that what is usually visible is not all that is available. A vast majority of us are living as clay vessels, when in reality, we are pure gold inside – we are only concealed in clay vessels. Our thinking and actions do not reflect who we truly are or what we can be or do. The value we ascribe to ourselves is only a fraction of our true worth. The abilities we think and believe we possess are only a tiny bit of the abilities we truly possess. We have a lot of possibilities locked away inside of us yet we consider many feats impossible for us to accomplish. We possess limitless powers, yet we allow little things to prevent us from expressing our humanity beyond limits. We are immortal beings tamed by our mortal bodies.

Problems are promotions in disguise, and so is death; what we call death is passport to paradise, a window to freedom – an invitation to transition to a new world without limitations – a world where life/living knows no bounds.

Fear is fable. Why give it a place in your mind?

Don’t fight your foes; fight your fears, because they are your real foes. One way to fight your fears is to do the things you fear. If you do the things you fear, you guarantee the death of fear. 

Mary Tricky said, “Fear is faith that it won’t work out.” Never doubt your ability to accomplish a thing you desire to accomplish. If you must doubt, doubt your fears. Billy Sunday said, “Fear knocked at my door, Faith answered…and there was no one there.” Now that’s a man who knows fear for what it is – a farce. With this knowledge, you should follow the old advice and “feed your faith and watch your doubts starve to death.”

Never question your right to life or your right to get whatever it is you want out of life. The fear of death is worse than death itself, and so is the fear of failure. If you are so afraid of failure that you fail to do what success demands, success becomes skeptical of you and will never embrace you.

Failure will always want you to fail. By that I mean it will always ask you not to do what you should do to succeed. You have a choice: you either do what it tells you to do or, develop the balls to look it in the face and disobey its order.  What do you owe failure? Nothing! What do you owe success? Everything! You owe success full compliance with its demands; now that’s if you sincerely want success.  Failing failure will benefit you; paying success its full dues will pay you handsomely. And by the way, what succeeds like success? The choice is yours!

One of the most dangerous enemies to fight is a suicide bomber – the man who is not afraid to die. What does that teach you and me? Failure will always have a hard time trying to stop a man who is not afraid to fail! The deadliest enemy you will ever have to face is not a suicide bomber but yourself, because most often, you are the one telling yourself “I can’t do it.” You are so afraid to try that you often end up in the ill embrace of failure with utmost humility and submissiveness. Why do you do that to yourself anyway?  Don’t fear failure, detest inaction instead, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how often you be able to accomplish your goals.

Until next time.


Your man,

- I. C. Clinton







pictures

www.successthroughselfimprovement.com

 

If you don't want to live forever, don't read this...

From the desk of  I. C. Clinton       
Subject: How I cheated death at this time last year. 

Exactly one year today I was involved in a fatal accident that threatened to claim my life (or that purportedly claimed my life, but I reclaimed it after about an estimated 30 minutes sojourn on the other side of the divide). The accident took place in Benue State of Nigeria, on 30^th March 2013. I was barely two weeks old on my first visit to the Middle Belt state popularly called “The Food Basket of the Nation.” In Makurdi, the Benue State capital, like most other Nigerian cities, motorcycle is a popular means of transportation. But one dangerous thing about this odd means of commercial transportation is the recklessness and unprofessionalism exhibited by the commercial motorcyclists. Whenever driving in Nigeria, I always imagine that I am the only sane road user, and I am always extra-careful, always on the lookout for the mad motorcyclists who could rear out their ugly heads from any angle at any time and meander the road as if they were the kings of the road or the only ones with legal right to ply the roads. However, on this fateful evening, I was neither driving nor being driven; neither riding in an automobile nor on a motorbike. I was standing by the roadside waiting to cross over to the opposite side to get a haircut. I remember standing there with my shaving kit in hand, patiently observing vehicles on both sides and waiting for a clear chance to cross. I remember vividly that I did not make any effort to cross yet, and I was standing very far from the thoroughfare. This is about the last thing I remember! The next split second there was a blackout and then I was back in the apartment where I was staying. Back in the apartment I continued with the things I was doing before the time I left with the intention to go get a haircut. I had been writing and composing a song. I continued this activity. But I noticed something strange: If I decided to stand up from the sofa where I was sitting to go over to another part of the room to pick something or do something, the movement and the action took place in split seconds. If I thought to move from the room where I was presently located to another room, the sitting room, or the kitchen or bathroom, the movement took place at the conclusion of the thought – everything happened as I thought it – without a moment’s delay. I realized I was now feeling unusually light and also moving at the speed of light. After series of activities in the apartment within what still seemed like a brief moment in time, I thought “Oh, I had wanted to go for a haircut. I had better do that now.” At the conclusion of this very thought, I found myself at the edge of the narrow road I had emerged from to stand on the spot I had stood with my shaving kit in hand waiting to cross over to the other side where the salon I had intended to visit was located (Normally it would take between 6 and 8 minutes to walk from my apartment’s location to this very spot). Once at this place, I looked and before me was a mammoth crowd under a rowdy atmosphere. Some were crying while some were indiscriminately exclaiming in shock. As I drew closer in the same light-wave-like movement to see what was going on, I saw another me lying lifeless on the ground, with bruises and wounds all over my face, neck, and shoulders. A man was holding firmly onto my lifeless body, repeatedly calling God and relentlessly shaking the outstretched still body amidst a heavy downpour of tears.  Now in a state of bewilderment, I began to ask myself what my body or other self’s doing on the ground and why people re crying and the man shaking my body and crying, too. While I was still questioning myself in my thoughts, I saw and heard a young chap among the crowd say, “Look at how he just killed this handsome guy!”  At this point I began to wonder to myself “Why is he saying that? He is actually referring to my body!” Remembering the belief I have always had (I have always believed and told myself and whomever cares to listen that I am going to live forever), I said to myself, “This must be a dream….and if this is a dream, then I have got to wake up from it, because it’s not a good dream.”  Next I said, “The only way I can wake up from this dream will be to enter this bruised, wounded, lifeless body of mine on the ground.” The moment I concluded this very line of thoughts, there was a transitory moment of blackout, and then I began to feel heavy as I attempted to move my body in a bid to wake up from a dream I had thought I was dreaming. Just before I was able to open my eyes, something strange happened: My memory went blank like a computer system whose memory chip has just been removed. I could recall nothing at all! Then after what seemed like three minutes in normal timing, I began to hear voices and see people in shadowy forms. Some of the voices I was hearing were of thanksgiving and some, of plain praise, and some, of animated shouts. As my memory started to reload partially, the words and beats of the song I had been composing started to fill my brain in torrents. As I silently sang along in my heart, there was an interruption in my brain and then I thought “But I have awakened from this dream… why then am I still lying here with this same crowd gathered?” At this moment in time I could still feel nothing save heaviness and numbness. However, a short while after, I began to see people in normal human forms, and without directing my inquiry to any person in particular, I asked, “Where is this place?” The man who had been holding my head in place calmly replied, “This is Markurdi in Benue state.” I tried to think but couldn’t think out anything. Gradually, thoughts began to snake out of my brain: “Where is Benue state…. when did I return to Nigeria… what am I doing in Benue state?”  While these thoughts were still ongoing, I began to hear sirens blaring in the distance; and in a few seconds I saw two Indomie branded vans pulling over right in front of me as a section of the crowd shuffled aside. The first recognizable figure I saw was Mr. Usman (One of the Multi-Pro supervisors) who hurried out of the first branded van and started to make his way towards me. As he stared at me in shock and bewilderment, exclaiming “God! Sir….Sir… God!” the first police vehicle arrived. Apparently there had been an accident, and I was the chief casualty.

To cut a very long story short, one more police vehicle arrived and we began to move in convoy. I still couldn’t move any part of my body on my own. I was bleeding profusely and even thought I was bleeding inside my head. My awareness was still partial. The first and second hospital rejected me. After what seemed like years of driving, we finally arrived at the better equipped and better staffed Federal Medical Center, Apir. I was eventually admitted and treated at this third hospital where the doctors claimed that only a miracle could have saved me. I later got the full gist of what transpired from the good samaritan who had stayed with what he believed was a dead accident victim while his elder brother who stayed in the same compound with me ran from pillar to pole to make all the arrangements that eventually rescued me. According to this good man, his elder brother, and the UAM student who had said “Look at how he just killed this handsome man,” what happened was crazy. A reckless commercial motorcyclist with a motorcycle overloaded with two oversized market women and their goods had lost control while over-speeding along the steep University of Agriculture Makurdi road where I was waiting to cross. As it turned out, I proved an inadequate wedge for the uncontrollable machine whose force swept me off my feet and sent me crashing with my head into the concrete gutter nearby. When my still body was pulled out of the gutter by the combined effort of some passersby, every eyewitness thought he had seen one dead accident victim and three badly injured survivors. Till today, despite the fact that no doctor was there to officially confirm me dead or alive, nothing will convince the major witnesses that I was not dead for the good 30 minutes they estimate passed before my miraculous resurrection. 

I hope to recount this experience comprehensively in a book in the future. But for readers of my blog, expect to read the next insightful and thought-provoking article to be titled “How death thought me the best way to live.” For now, I want to celebrate the first anniversary of my latest victory over death. 

By the way, this experience is about my third brush with death. If a man is going to live forever, why does he still have brushes with death? When you are destined for greatness, you are bound to encounter great challenges. My elder brother would always say, “Don’t say it is a problem, say it is a challenge,” and he is right. What do you do when you are challenged? You rise up to the challenge and defend yourself and your course! We are mostly taught to expect death once we approach certain age bracket or encounter certain situations. Most of us grow into adulthood expecting death than living life. And of course, “None of your imaginations will be restrained from you.” “Your expectations shall not be cut off.” That is to say you get whatever you ask for. People do not die because they must; people die because they think they must die. But have you ever paused to ask: What is death? Does man really die? Is death real? No, I think death is a joke. Or isn’t man a spirit?

Your enemy is not death; your real enemy is you, because you are the one feeding your heart with fear. I often tell myself that I will live forever. Even in my dreams, those thoughts dominate. “As a man thinks in his heart so is he,” and “life and death are in the power of the tongue.” What are your dominant thoughts? What do you say to yourself? You can change your future experiences by changing your thinking and your language! I want to live forever. What about you? Shouldn’t you hit the comment section now and say what you think or congratulate me for being alive? Your life is not about to end. Give up your fear!

NB: Since my experience a year ago I have always believed that if you are a moron on this side of the divide you will need a lot of education if and when you cross over to the other side.

You had better begin to develop your brain and train your mind here!

Oh, by the way, March is the third month of the year, and March 30^th, 2013 was Holy Saturday. When did Christ resurrect? No, no, not really what you are thinking, but this particular year I cheated it on Saturday He defeated it on Sunday. 

Until next time.


Your man,

- I. C. Clinton








 

Picture is from:

www.pastor-frank.com

Nonsense can make sense; Don't give up your dream.

From the diamond desk of                        
I. C. Clinton                                                                   

A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket

Subject: One favor you owe yourself.

“Eli Whitney was laughed at when he showed his cotton gin. Edison had to install his electric light free of charge in an office building before anyone would even look at it. The first sewing machine was smashed to pieces by a Boston mob. People scoffed at the idea of railroads. People thought that traveling thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of the blood. Morse had to plead before ten Congresses before they would even look at his telegraph” -- Anonymous. 

Yet for all these men rejection made no difference; for in the long run they realized their dreams. “Beware of those who stand aloof and greet each venture with reproof; the world would stop if things were run by men who say ‘It can’t be done’” – Samuel Glover. 

The greatest tragedy of the 21^st century is the legalization of instant noodle philosophy and exaltation of fast food mentality. We quit too soon. Our generation lacks the patience to wait for eggs to cook, so they eat them raw and afterwards complain of stomach upset. Our present world is full of people whose most rehearsed line of language is “It can’t be done; it’s not possible.” May Heaven save us from such people! What our world lacks in quantum are people who believe in themselves and believe in others; people who are not deceived by what the ordinary eyes can see: men and women who understand that “whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, man can achieve.” Most of us are surrounded by people who encourage us to quit instead of persisting. They inspire us to do the opposite of believing and motivate us to do the opposite of daring. Unfortunately, we often allow ourselves to be guided by the negative doctrines of these people. We allow them to influence us. They make us forget easily that the things we once believed were possible eventually became a reality because we tried them and wouldn’t stop trying till we had actualized them through persistent action. Yes, when we were children we believed many things were possible and achievable. And over time we achieved a lot of feats. As children we start out believing in ourselves and that we can do anything, until our society tries hard to educate us out of our “delusion”. A baby often dreams of talking, walking, and even running. The first time a baby tries to take his first baby step, he falls, but each failure turns out to be an invitation to try again and not a ‘stop sign’ to prevent him from daring to try and persist in his attempts to walk till it works out for him. Unfortunately, it seems that when we grow into adults our society tries hard to erase the words ‘daring’ and ‘persistence’ from our dictionary.  They try to teach us that we cannot do things except what has already been done by other people, or what other people teach us to do. They talk us out of trying. They call our ideas “crazy” and “a waste of time”. They call us unrealistic when we dare to dream. But I have heard with one ear that “Nothing significant was ever achieved by a realistic person.”  You see? They are dream killers; they don’t want you to achieve anything significant because they have insignificant faith in themselves and in what creative and daring minds know is possible. So next time somebody tells you “it’s impossible,” don’t listen to him, because what he wants to do is to steal away your freedom to choose and to become what you want to be. If he tells you it is too risky, thank him for his concern and proceed with what you believe in. If he tries to hold you back, dismiss him with this line: I don’t want to burn the bridges of opportunity before I get to them. I am told that’s what an overcautious person does. Overcautious! That’s one of the things they teach us to be. They want to frustrate you and stop you from moving on with your dream.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. – Lao Tzu.

Now you know! They want to make you a prisoner of their unbelief. But you can break that spell of inertia they have cast upon you, if you are a victim already. “All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail” – Dorthea Brand. You heard that right, didn’t you? Act now! It doesn’t matter how many times you have to try…. if you have an idea, nurse it to maturity and develop it into a usable product or service; if you have a dream, work on it till it becomes a reality; if you have a plan, implement it. Keep working on whatever it is you have set out to accomplish. Don’t give up your dream; keep dreaming. Don’t give up your idea if you strongly believe in it; keep fine-tuning it till it becomes feasible.  Don’t quit trying; keep trying. Dr. JA Homes said, “Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting for centuries for somebody ignorant enough of the impossible to do that thing.” And Mason remarked, “You will find that great leaders are rarely “realistic” by other people’s standards.”  So, avoid the pessimist’s scale, use an optimist’s instead. 

“The world would always give you the opportunity to quit, but only the world would call quitting an opportunity” – Clint Brown. 

If you want to accomplish something worthwhile in life, be like the stone cutter. Jacob Riis says, “Look at the stone cutter hammering away at the rock, perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing on it. Yet at the 101^st blow it will split in two and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” Whatever you want to accomplish in life will require persistence. Persistent people begin their success where most others quit, says John Mason. How true is that? Let’s see:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Those resounding words were spoken in a South African courtroom in 1964 by Nelson Mandela, while on trial for plotting to overthrow the country’s all-white apartheid government. He later received a life sentence. And at one time, U.S. government reportedly branded him a ‘terrorist’ and left him on her watch list for many years. But after about 27 years of incarceration, he walked out a free man, and on May 10, 1994, was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected president amidst wild jubilations. As president, Mandela presided over a free South Africa where both whites and blacks re citizens of equal standing. And when he finally died at good ripe old age in 2013, the entire world mourned his death and praised his life and the dream he cherished, fought for, and perhaps, died for. More than 50 world leaders, including US president, Barack Obama, attended his funeral and extoled the virtues of purposeful leadership, patience and perseverance, which were the hallmarks of Mandela’s life.

H.E. Jansen said, “The man who wins may have been counted out many times, but he didn’t hear the referee.” And John Mason wrote, “Find a way to, not a way not to.”

 

Mandela became a living legend, and in death, a darling of both friends and foes alike, because he didn’t give up his dream when the world urged him to. Not even a six feet wide and two feet thick concrete walls of a prison cell could stop him! He ignored those who urged him to quit. He instead stood his ground and taught the world a new way of doing things. He taught the world a new sense – a sense of purpose and pride in one’s color and culture. He was able to do that and win the world over to his way of thinking because he believed enough in his dream and his ability to achieve it and, therefore, refused to allow anyone steal his real freedom from him – the freedom to choose, the freedom to do what he wanted to do to become what he believed he could be. Martin Luther King, Jnr. said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Truth is, if you are prepared to die for your dream, you will dare to actualize it and, you will live to see it happen. Learn from Mandiba! 

Learn to turn a deaf ear to ridicule

The world always will have a place for people who know how to handle rejection and ridicule. Thomas Edison who remains one of the greatest inventors the world has ever known was considered to be a ‘dull’ student by his teacher, the reverend G. B. Engle. According to the story, the teacher whipped students who asked too many questions. After three months of school, the teacher called Edison “addled,” which means ‘confused’ or ‘mixed up’. But Thomas had a wise mother. Nancy Edison took her inquisitive son out of a negative environment that had the potential to impede his development. And what happened afterwards? The boy whom the teacher wrote off became the man who gave the world some of the best inventions that still amazes us today and yet helps us to lead easier and better lives. Isn’t questioning another word for research? I wonder what Scientists would achieve without research! “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Never lose a holy curiosity.” – A. Einstein.

If you win the war against the wild wolves, don’t lose the battle to the domestic lion 

That’s right! It happens too often that after we defeat the doubters outside, we get defeated by the Thomas living in us. You must not let this happen to you. “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants in life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible” – Richard DeVos. You must teach yourself to believe in yourself. Mind the type of things you tell yourself in the privacy of your own heart. If you will teach your heart to pronounce ‘impossible’ without the first two letters of the word, everything will become possible for you. Make it a priority to teach your heart this habit till it becomes second nature. The next thing you should to is, do something about your dream and, don’t quit till you succeed. 

The treasures of this world belong to the bold and determined

There is a story about Frederick Smith, the founder of Federal Express (now FedEx). I don’t know how true, but it says that his college professor at Yale didn’t fancy the paper he wrote for an economic class outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. However, it is believed that the paper became the idea of FedEx, and this one is believable because, according to factual reports, for years the sample package displayed in the company’s print advertisement featured a return address at Yale University.  The amazing thing is that Frederick Smith who was crippled by bone disease as a small boy but regained his health by age 10, before becoming an excellent football player and learning to fly at 15, didn’t give up the idea he conceived while at Yale because his professor didn’t think he deserved an A for such a brilliant idea; for after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in economics in 1966, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, and after his service (which spanned years), on June 18, 1971, he founded Federal Express. And we all know how successful FedEx is today.  “I am a big fan of dreams. Unfortunately, dreams are the first casualty in life – people seem to give them up quicker than anything for a ‘reality’” – Kevin Costner. You never know, your dream can be the next big thing. If it’s nonsense today, it is only so because no one has made sense of it yet. If you are the one destined to make sense of ‘it’ and teach the world the ‘new sense’, go ahead and do it; don’t give up your dream! 

Until next time.

Your man,

- I. C. Clinton