I. C. Clinton
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| A cure for poverty of the mind and the pocket |
Last week I wrote on Sunday instead of Monday. I did so because Sunday, 30th
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:
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.
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
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