November 8, 2012

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The Inmates Don’t Know It’s An Asylum

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There is a line from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead which we have always enjoyed. It is stated by the main villain of the story – Ellsworth Toohey – in a one-sided conversation in which he is explaining that he was always after political power and never hid his ambitions but nobody wanted to “believe it”. The quote goes like this: “Never bother to examine a folly. Ask yourself only what it accomplishes.”

Lenin had a different take on the same problem faced by all would be power mongers. He knew he had to be reasonably obvious in what he told the people about his plans and goals. But not too obvious. He knew he had to tailor his pitch so that it would have the maximum amount of resonance with the maximum number of unthinking people. He doted on such people. He called them “useful idiots”.

Today, the “movers and shakers” of the financial world abound in such useful idiots. It has been a long road from the 1930s Keynesian mantra that “we owe it to ourselves” to today’s masters of the universe with their incomprehensible computer “algorithms” fuelled by the ability of modern computers to crunch almost unlimited sequences of “1s” and “0s”. The entire road has been paved with one goal in mind. To convince the “people” that the only road to financial “safety” is to give up their thinking processes and “delegate” them to those who claim to know what they are doing.

The problem today is that the results of this delegation are so obvious that the methods of those who produced them are beginning to be questioned. It has been a long time coming.

When we reach a market situation where nobody wants to play unless the game is terminally rigged, then the whole idea of “markets” has gone by the boards.

Nobody wants to “punt” unless their bets are guaranteed in advance. That’s no way to run a horse race – or a global financial system.

 

Source: https://beforeitsnews.com/story/1493/350/The_Inmates_Don_t_Know_It_s_An_Asylum.html

Filed Under: Politics, Population, Propaganda, Psychology, Tyranny, Violence, War Tagged With: ,

Permission To Be Human

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When we are having a hard time in life, people can respond with the following:

  • Have you read this book?
  • Maybe you should try this nutritional supplement.
  • Have you tried praying on your knees?
  • It’s not that bad, you should focus on all the good stuff in your life.
  • Are you practicing forgiveness, meditation, or positive affirmations?
  • Do you have a good trainer, or what about yoga?
  • Have you tried this green juice detox?

These statements can make us feel like we’re not working hard enough—that we are doing something (or not doing something) that is causing our difficulty. As a therapist, I admit that I can fall into this trap. I come by it honestly, in that I genuinely don’t want people to suffer. I’m obviously not the only one because when I scan the Internet and newsstand, I see so many articles that offer solutions to our various problems. “Five Things That Will Make You Happy: Forever!”

The problem in providing so many solutions is that we can inadvertently blame people for their suffering. The message is, “you are not supposed to feel this way, now go and do something about it.”

So, rather than write another post about what you can do differently, I want to offer a reminder that it’s OK to feel bad. It doesn’t mean that you are defective somehow. Troubles are going to come your way. These don’t signal that you made a wrong turn somewhere—they mean that you are human, just like the rest of us.

Here are three things that may not change your circumstance for the better, but might let you off the hook of judgment while you are having your feelings throughout whatever you are experiencing:

1. Acceptance

Sometimes life is challenging. Accepting this fact can help remove the burden of guilt when we are struggling. Let’s face it, we are at the mercy of this vast and mysterious universe, and we aren’t so powerful that we can arrange things to our liking. Acceptance doesn’t mean that you are happy with your current circumstance. It means that you acknowledge that this is the way things are at this moment and that you are powerless to change it. What we do have some power over is our response, and thus, acceptance means that we aren’t arguing with reality and throwing punches in the air. We may not like it, but we can tolerate it—even if just for today.

2. Self-Acceptance

I know, this sounds a lot like number one. But this is a different form of acceptance. Self-acceptance means that instead of the constant negativity you tell yourself, you give yourself the benefit of the doubt. You can stop beating yourself up for being human and start having compassion for your bumps and bruises. I know you might be rolling your eyes right now, but I’m going to say it anyway: You are perfect just the way you are. Give yourself a big ole hug!

3. Share Your Feelings

Don’t let the threat of unwanted advice stop you from sharing what you’re experiencing. It can lighten the load when we share our turmoil with others. It’s up to us to discern when the solutions people offer might be helpful, or when they are making us feel inappropriately responsible for our problems. When it’s the latter, please remember numbers 1 and 2 and move on to someone else who can listen without judgment—who can help you have a sense of humor about it all and show you the compassion that you have a hard time finding for yourself.

It can feel like pouring salt in our wounds when we think we caused our painful circumstance, or that we are inferior for having a circumstance to begin with. If someone else is sharing their difficulty with you, I encourage you to remember the same.

You might ask that person if they are looking for advice or if they just need you to listen. Most of the time, people know what they need and are happy to tell you.

And we all deserve permission to be human.

 

Source: https://www.positivelypositive.com/2011/12/11/permission-to-be-human-blog/

Filed Under: Health, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

When Things Fall Apart: Disorientation, Desperation, Chaos

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The global “shadow” banking system is unraveling, with dire consequences for financial assets and failed policies.

We’re not used to things falling apart, and so our first reaction is disorientation. What we’ve been trained to expect by constant intervention in supposedly “open” markets is that Central States and central banks will “save the day” with a new intervention: an interest rate cut, a new round of money-printing, emergency loans, new bailout funds, the list has been almost endless since the initial evidence of the Great Unraveling appeared in 2007.

So when official interventions are announced to great fanfare and then fail to goose the market, we’re disoriented.John Hussman neatly summarized the insanity of a market propped up only by constant official manipulation: We represent the Lollipop Guild:

Frankly, I am concerned that Wall Street is becoming little more than a glorified crack house. Day after day, the sole focus of Wall Street is on more sugar, stronger sugar, Big Bazookas of sugar, unlimited sugar, and anything that will get somebody to deliver the sugar faster. This is like offering a lollipop to quiet down a 2-year old throwing a tantrum, and expecting that the result will be fewer tantrums.

What we have increasingly observed over the past decade is nothing but the gradual destruction of the ability of the financial markets to allocate capital for the benefit of future growth. By preventing the natural discipline of the markets to impose losses on poor stewards of capital, and to impose interest rates high enough to force debtors to allocate the capital usefully, the world’s policy makers are increasingly wrecking the prospects for long-term economic growth.

The problem with depending on intervention “sugar” for sustenance is that the market slowly loses its sensitivity to the mechanisms of control (insulin), and at some point the sugar no longer generates a response. We are very close to that point now, as the expected “grand EU treaty agreement” is duly issued as expected and global markets are holding their breath, hoping that some new intervention will keep the teetering financial system from falling over the edge.

This is desperation. In market after market, participants don’t really have any faith in the future resilience of the fundamentals which supposedly underpin global markets; rather, they are desperately hoping the next intervention will work better than the last one. But like insulin insensitivity, the market is on a one-way slide: every intervention works its magic for a shorter period of time, and markets respond with increasing torpor to the “fix.”

The next phase is chaos, as participants finally grasp that interventions will no longer save them. Then the mad rush to the exits (selling) will begin, and many will be trampled, as the bid will disappear across entire spectra of assets.

We should recall that nothing fundamental has changed since 2007. Here are two fundamentals of many which haven’t changed at all:

  • wealth is still concentrated
  • and the global financial system is still over-leveraged and over-indebted, meaning that every decline in asset valuation triggers a “reverse wealth effect.

As I type, the morning injection of hopium crack into the market’s veins is already wearing off. We are still in the desperation stage, as central bank manipulators and Central State apparatchiks are rushing around in a panicky search for some new supply of “sugar” intervention to prop up what has been unsustainable since 2007.

The manipulations have one ironic accomplishment: the resulting crash will be larger and more chaotic than the one in 2008 because the faith that State/central bank interventions are limitless magic will have been irrevocably lost.


Source: https://beforeitsnews.com/story/1486/564/When_Things_Fall_Apart:_Disorientation,_Desperation,_Chaos.html

Filed Under: Economy, Financial Crisis, Health, Poverty, Psychology, USA Tagged With: ,

How To Respond To The Awful Truth

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s a volatile, challenging time to be alive, no doubt. The world is a landscape thoroughly scattered with catastrophic nightmares like flaming lava pits on a giant festering orb. And this huge array of drastic, life-threatening problems we’re facing that are burning in the world’s collective subconscious are apparently careening towards some mad, apocalyptic finale.

The big question we’re all faced with is this. Once we’re aware of what’s going on, what do we do? And more importantly, for those not willing to face the truth, what will it take to wake them up?

And third: does that predominant attitude make it inevitable for the rest of us to share their fate?

What does one do as they observe the deliberately imploded economy, the corporate thuggery pillaging the world, a manipulated media bent on an ignorant, placated populace, the ramped up rape of the environment, the poisoning of our food, water and air supply, the drugging of our children, and wars without end appearing to be leading up to a horrific nuclear conflagration?

What is our role in what we discover to be a literally predatory environment in a hijacked world?

Here’s How: Identify The Problems Are Real and Deliberate

The first issue is to clearly identify the problems and admit their gravity. Second, we need to understand the objective of these apparent trends, however horrific these motives may appear to be.

But let me get one thing straight before we go on any further.

In light of the vastness of these incontrovertible assaults on humanity and the obvious connections to corporate, banking and government insanity, whoever does NOT think that there’s an underlying motive with definite objectives by those controlling these massive programs is a stark raving lunatic, voluntarily living in a straightjacket of self-preserving denial, staring in a zombified trance at the shadows on their cell walls.

Secondly and similarly, if anyone thinks it’s simply “greed gone wild” that’s causing these problems and an unfortunate cyclical downturn of some sort, they need to get their minds blown.

And I’m here to help.

Why Doesn’t Money Satisfy The Controllers If It’s Just Greed? Cuz It’s Power and Control

Tell me something. If everything was done just for money, why don’t they stop there? These elites know they couldn’t spend what they have in a thousand lifetimes. So why do they keep pushing?

Why do wealthy people run for office when their coffers are overflowing? Why do banksters keep loaning money they know they won’t get it back to nation after nation as they slowly take over their economies and politics? The infamous Rothschilds are estimated to be worth over 500 trillion dollars yet keep pushing for more international “programs” and intervention.

Why?

Do you see the world improving because of their efforts? Do the mega-rich dynasties, industrialists, royal families, or the uber-wealthy Vatican chip in a non self-serving dime to help the world?

Or has the plug been pulled deliberately and we’re now in free-fall towards worldwide disaster? And could someone possibly be positioning themselves to pick up the pieces and take control of the filet that’s left on the world’s butcher block once the scraps have been extricated and thrown to the dogs of war?

Is their plan actually written in stone? Look up “Georgia Guidestones” for a spine tingler.

Living A Conscious Life

The issue and point of this article isn’t to run once again through the litany of wrongs being deliberately perpetrated on humanity and its home. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve caught on to some extent and hopefully are active in the awakening, or are on an accelerating path to the stage of awareness where you realize to not take action is impossible, if you have any semblance of awakened consciousness. That will come, believe me.

To be conscious means to act according to consciousness, not just think or realize in some ashram. I’m sure those folks have their place, but if you’re a somewhat normal operating human trying to exist in a world bent on abusing and even killing you off, there are some serious challenges involved as to what exactly to do.

This Is Where The Universe Comes In

You cannot…and there’s no exception to this..you cannot operate solely in the mental and physical realm and expect to understand what’s going on and where your place is in all this. You may be led there in spite of your blockage, but it’s absolutely essential to have a spiritual awakening in your life.

I’m in no way talking about religion. But I guarantee if you’re pursuing truth like I think you are, the spiritual, metaphysical, esoteric, whatever you want to call it, side of all this is becoming very, very apparent. And it’s vastly empowering. Right?

Our Refuge and Armament

The most important tool in our arsenal is the ability to listen to and act according to our hearts, our source, our spirit, our connection to consciousness. Call it God, the Universe or the underlying powers inherent in Chi, Ki, Prana or whatever. Learning to listen to a deeper influence and act in responsible, loving conscious awareness is the answer.

And we must grow in this area to meet the challenges of our time. Like the internet, our old modes of communication have been tampered with and will be used against us.

Spotting the Predators

Like the Hollywood ephemeral cloaked predator character, these mostly unseen forces we are up against can usually only be spotted by their effects, like leaves and branches moving in an organized pattern as the enemy approaches. Never mind the fact that the real government leaders and societal directors are not the ones we see in the news and that others are telling them what to do, the powers behind ALL of this we can safely assume are another level removed, and I would contend are ultimately spiritual, or other dimensional.

At the very least, call it evil people and you’ll be right. But the extent and source of this evil is quite revelatory when the next level of dots starts to connect for you. I don’t claim to know everything that’s going on, but the point is we’re up against a vastly interconnected conspiracy that, like seeing the leaves rustle when the transparent predator approaches, you can only identify by their effects.

And it’s important that we’re aware of this next level.

Any Way You Look At It It’s Nasty…But Make Some Conclusions

The point is, we don’t need to know every detail before drawing some very obvious conclusions.

1. A LOT of serious somethings are very wrong with the world.

2. World so-called “leadership” is out of touch, self serving and apparently working towards some other agenda.

3. This other agenda does not necessarily benefit you and me. They’re elitists with their own plans.

4. People are dying, being poisoned, starved and outright killed at a horrific rate, while food is withheld and medical care has become restricted and basically wealth-producing pharmaceutical in nature.

5. The extremely wealthy Powers That Be refuse to give any form of aid except to their own institutions and cohorts.

6. You are sitting at home wondering what the hell is going on while reading this article.

7. What are you going to DO with your life now that you realize this?

I hope you’ll follow your heart.

That’s my wish, prayer and affirmation. We need an energetic revolution, a call to real conscious action. That action is continuous open awareness and responding to the call of the Heart!

Wanna demonstrate, and mix with others who feel the call in whatever form? Go for it! Where will that take you? I don’t know!

Wanna participate in blogs and internet forums about your search, 9/11 truth, outrage about the world’s pollution, etc? Go for it!!

Point is, if you feel the call, respond! Respond! RESPOND!

And it will respond to you!

Happy trails, meet you in the awakening…

 

Source: https://beforeitsnews.com/story/1398/905/How_To_Respond_To_The_Awful_Truth.html?currentSplittedPage=0

Filed Under: Financial Crisis, Media, Mental Health, Military Industrial Complex, Money, Psychology, Violence, War Tagged With:

Psychopaths Are Just Misunderstood… And They Could Even Be Cured, Researchers Say

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The public perception of psychopaths has been shaped by characters such as Alex in A Clockwork Orange or Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

While they are portrayed as charming, dishonest, guiltless, and in some cases, terrifying, new research suggests that psychopathy is actually a much more complex personality disorder.

Scientists from the University of California have argued that rather being one condition, psychopathy appears to be a multifaceted condition marked by blends of personality traits.

Complex: Scientists have found that unlike the character Alex in A Clockwork Orange, psychopaths are affected by a multifaceted condition marked by blends of personality traits

They say that a sizeable group of juvenile and adult offenders labelled as psychopathic are actually more emotionally disturbed than emotionally detached.

The authors also stressed that while many people might assume that psychopaths are ‘born’, not ‘made,’ it is not just a matter of genes.

Many psychologists also assume that psychopathy is inalterable.

However, there is currently little evidence to support this claim, according to the researchers.

Jennifer Skeem, Professor of Psychology and Social Behaviour at the University of California, is one of the authors of the study , which is due to appear in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

She said: ’Psychopathy tends to be used as a label for people we do not like, cannot understand, or construe as evil.’

‘However, there is increasing evidence that it is a confluence of several different personality traits.’

Prof Skeem said these important distinctions have long escaped the attention of psychologists and policy-makers.

‘Psychopathy tends to be used as a label for people we do not like, cannot understand, or construe as evil.’

Prof Skeem said: ‘It appears to have multiple constitutional causes that can be shaped by environmental factors.’

Prof Skeem also pointed out that psychopathic individuals often have no history of violent behaviour or criminal convictions.

She said: ‘Psychopathy cannot be equated with extreme violence or serial killing.

‘Psychopaths do not appear different in kind from other people, or inalterably dangerous.’

Prof Skeem added: ‘Decisions about juvenile and adult offenders that are based on faulty assumptions about violence risk, and treatment amenability have adverse consequences, both for individual offenders and the public.’

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2071747/Psychopathy-misunderstood-say-researchers-cured.html#ixzz1gIfzdpcq

Filed Under: Psychology, Science Tagged With:

Claire Wineland - It’s Just a Disease

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

14 year-old, Claire Wineland was born with cystic fibrosis or “CF”, a genetic disease that causes excessive mucus secretions and collection, especially in the lungs.

In her short life, Claire has undergone dozens of surgeries and has spent weeks at a time in the hospital.

This is not, however, what characterizes her. Claire is a singer, an artist, a composer, and a natural-born comedian. She radiates with a warmth and wisdom beyond her years. She has been called a “little Buddha” a “bridge among people”, and a “true old soul.” She is precious to anyone who has met her, especially to her mother, Melissa, and her father, John.

On April 13, 2010 after a relatively routine surgery, Claire became septic and within 24 hours, was in complete lung failure. Her parents were given the option of watching Claire die or putting her on a dangerous oscillator vent, which no child with CF has ever come off of. Her parents opted to put her on the high powered vent and into a drug induced coma so the doctors could try everything possible to reverse the damage to her lungs and her body.

What followed was a remarkable two-week journey of prayer, love and healing. The family was buoyed by an inconceivable amount of support from friends and family. While Claire lay in her coma, kept alive by the maximum amount of life support possible, her friends and family began to pray. Spiritual groups of every possible denomination worldwide were given Claire’s name or in many cases her picture, round the clock vigils of sometimes 50 or more people met in the hospital cafeteria and Claire’s parents and family slept by her side and in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for 17 straight days.

So many people were inspired by Claire’s journey that a public Facebook page, “Claire Wineland Love, Songs and Updates” , was created to disseminate the seemingly ever changing information. Within two weeks, the fans on the page grew to over 900. Out of this grew the desire and need for a foundation.

Claire came through this harrowing event inspired, passionate, and very excited about making a difference for other children and teens by sharing her experience, strength and hope with them. She continues to suffer many setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and believes this is the key to living a fulfilling life — despite being burdened with such a deadly disease.

Claire and her parents want other families to experience the benefit from the kind of support that they received and continue to get; hence, this is the motivation for the foundation. Claire’s experiences have catapulted her into a position of being a spokesperson and an inspirational model for people living with this disease. She has documented and created videos on how to enjoy life with Cystic Fibrosis and live life to the fullest. Claire’s Place Foundation is a way for Claire to give back and make meaning of what she has had to go through; the foundation is her way to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

Source: https://clairesplacefoundation.org/ for more information about Claire.

 

Filed Under: Health, Psychology Tagged With: , ,

The Giving Tree

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Not long ago, my wife and I went to visit a nearby Los Angeles gem called The Giving Tree (the name inspired by Shel Silverstein’s book).

As we started up the trail, we encountered a mother and her young daughter looking at some directions on a piece of paper.

“Giving Tree?” I said.

“Yeah,” replied the mother.

So we joined them on their quest, and after a grueling eight-minute hike, we reached the magical tree.

I had printed out the instructions from the website:
Give it your thoughts and prayers, or anything laying heavy on your heart. Then twirl.

The mother went first, closing her eyes, ceremoniously sending her desires to the tree, then concluding with a quick twirl. Satisfied, she turned to her little girl, who had breached etiquette and gone straight to twirling,

“What are you worried about, sweetie?”

Worrying is more an activity reserved for adults, so she had to think for quite some time. After maybe a minute of contemplation, she turned to her mother and said,

“I’m worried about the dinosaurs coming and attacking us.”

It was so cute we could hardly contain ourselves. So innocent and sincere, as only a child can be.

I found it interesting that she wasn’t really worried about anything in the first place. When she was prodded to think about it, it was EPIC—the apocalyptic return of the dinosaurs. When prompted to worry, the little girl took it to mean “imagine.” And she was right, worry is simply dumbed down, boring, counterproductive imagination.

After recovering from the adorableness and profundity, we sent our wishes treeward, twirled, and headed back down the hill, smiling. It was a good day.

 

Source: https://www.positivelypositive.com/2011/12/07/the-giving-tree-blog-2/

Filed Under: Psychology, Spirituality Tagged With: ,

‘Downloading’ New Skills Into Our Brains Like Characters On The Matrix Set To Become A Reality, Say Scientists

December 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

Learning a martial art, how to fly a plane or how to speak a new language without even being awake is set to become a reality, say researchers.

Scientists at Boston University and ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan, believe that in the future learning a new skill might involve nothing more than sitting in front of a computer screen and waiting for it to ‘upload’.

They have been studying how a functional magnetic resonance machine (FMRI) can ‘induce’ knowledge in someone through their visual cortex by sending signals that change their brain activity pattern.

IF FMRI DOESN’T WORK, THERE’S ALWAYS THE MEMORY PILL

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found recently that if a molecule called PKR is inhibited, it leads to brain activity that leads to the formation of long-term memories in the adult brain.

What’s more, this molecule can be artificially blocked, leading to the possibility of a ‘memory-enhancing drug’.

Dr Mauro Costa-Mattioli, from Baylor, said: ‘It is indeed quite amazing that we can also enhance both memory and brain activity with a drug that specifically targets PKR.

‘Our identity and uniqueness is made up of our memories. This molecule could hold the key to how we can keep our memories longer, but also how we create new ones.’

This process is called Decoded Neurofeedback, or ‘DecNef’.

No medication is needed and the subject doesn’t even have to be awake, he or she simply has their brain activity changed to a ‘target’ pattern, which could be anything from that of a star footballer to a master chess player.

Lead author Takeo Watanabe from the University of Boston said: ‘Adult early visual areas are sufficiently plastic to cause visual perceptual learning.’

The researchers knew their technique had worked because the FMRI volunteers all underwent visual skill tests and had their results compared with those of people not given the treatment - and the former had far better scores.

In the The Matrix trilogy the characters learn new skills by having a computer physically plugged into their brains and new skills directly uploaded.

The day when we are able to do something similar is not too far away, say the researchers.

The results of their study were published in Science.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2072177/Learning-skills-like-characters-The-Matrix-set-reality-say-scientists.html#ixzz1gIWqTZsh

Filed Under: Big Pharma, Neuroscience, Psychology, Science

The Wise Woman’s Stone

December 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.

The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveller left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.

Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me something more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.

 

[Author Unknown]

Source: https://www.yuni.com/library/docs/222.html

Filed Under: Psychology, Spirituality Tagged With:

How To Adopt A Can-Do Attitude

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Some time ago I was on my way to Salt Lake City. While thumbing through the in-flight magazine I saw an ad for the Special Olympics. In the middle of the page was the picture of an athlete going over the bar in the high jump. Above the photo the caption read:

“There were a few basic steps I had to take to learn the high jump… like believing I could. IT’S ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE.”

When I read it, I smiled to myself because I knew how true the statement was. Attitude is, beyond question, an integral part of any success journey.

The successful ones have a “can-do attitude.” They do whatever it takes to win (providing it is moral, legal and ethical). One of the things I enjoy most about the Olympics is to hear all the human-interest stories of athletes from all over the world. The tremendous obstacles that many of them had to overcome in their personal lives is admirable by any standard. But to do that and get to the Olympic Games is, in many cases, nothing short of miraculous. Along the way they adopted an attitude of “how I can” instead of “why I can’t,” and they were able to handsomely reap the rewards of that attitude. As the ad said, “It’s all about attitude.” The current that determines your dreams and shapes your life flows from the attitude you nurture every day.

As you go through life, you are going to encounter all kinds of obstacles—dozens of reasons why the goal you are pursuing could never be achieved or should not be pursued. Many of these will present themselves as concrete facts.

Let me share some facts with you:

Jamaica, being only 18 degrees North of the Equator, is always hot. That means the only place we ever see ice is in the tall glasses of lemonade we drink to keep ourselves cool. In the 1988 Winter Olympics, during the week of the four-man bobsled event, all the major teams were adding the finishing touches to their preparations and completing final selection of the two teams that would race on the weekend, and we were still trying to figure out who would ride in the second, third, and fourth spots on the sled. We already knew who the driver was. These facts would suggest that there was a greater opportunity for Jamaica to have a White Christmas than for its bobsled team to have any success at the Winter Olympics. However, by the end of the week, we had the seventh fastest start time. In 1994, our time finished in 14th place, ahead of the US in 15th, and was ranked the 8th nation overall. In the Salt Lake Games we set a new start record in the two-man event. The facts may be daunting but as that great Jamaican philosopher, Bob Marley, said “it’s a small axe that takes down a big tree.” When you focus on the solutions with a positive mental attitude, you end up with an opportunity to create a new set of facts that are far more powerful and dynamic.

It is very easy to believe that your attitude is affected by what others say or do, or even by what is happening around you. The truth is, it is what you say to yourself that has the greatest impact on how you approach the challenges in your life. Back in 1988, when many were calling us a media stunt we were calling ourselves the “Ragamuffins”. When asked what it meant we were always happy to divulge that it denoted a “can-do attitude” because we knew that we were also reaffirming that attitude to ourselves.

Consider the following words from Chuck Swindoll:

“Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have—and that is our attitude. Life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Keep On Pushing!

As an original member of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team and captain of the 1992 and 1998 teams, 3-time Olympian, Devon Harris achieved his grand dream—his current dream is to inspire others to achieve theirs. Tapping the same energy, determination, and skills that enabled him to bobsled with the best in the world, Devon, as a motivational speaker, is now sparking audiences of all ages to dream big and take their “game” to the next level.

 

Source: https://www.positivelypositive.com/2011/12/10/how-to-adopt-a-can-do-attitude-blog/

 

Filed Under: Psychology, Spirituality, Symbolism Tagged With:
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