Who Are You Becoming?
See this picture quote?
dwell on is who we become
I happen to believe this. I’m living proof – past and present.
I talked of being a writer for over thirty years. And that is pretty much all it was – talk. Oh, I published my first article at age 28 and got paid $22 for it. But I didn’t buy into me being a writer.
Later, in other jobs, I wrote a lot of stuff – video scripts, marketing brochures, you know the drill, and yet never adopted the label ‘writer’.
Ah, but in 2009 I started taking my writing urge seriously and began my first blog. Even then, the fear of not having enough content to sustain a weekly blog plagued me. Mystery of mysteries, I kept finding subjects that needed my touch, my perspective. And now, fourteen years later I own six blog sites.
And ... I have published five books. After publishing my first book, I finally found the courage to call myself a ‘writer’.
In my earlier adult life, I attracted images of myself that were less than esteeming. As time wore on, I’m afraid I dwelt on those negative, harsh words and phrases that others had attached to me, and I began believing some of them.
The worst of all was this ... “You’re an accident looking for a place to happen.”
I’m glad many of you didn’t know me in those days. Even though those words were spoken to me almost fifty years ago, I believed a bit of that idea, and thus it affected my self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, and my ability to perform on a consistent basis in life.
You see, the principle of “Whatever a man thinks in his heart (mind, soul and inner being), so is he” was at play, only I was tuned into the negative images and words. Wise sages, ancient philosophers, and men and women of learning have taught us for years about the importance of good and wholesome thoughts and how we should direct our attention to those ideals and lay off the negative, put-down language that tends to run free-will though our minds in constant stream mode.
This is a hard lesson to grasp. And those negative thoughts and ideas that we allow to live rent-free in our minds are hard to corral sometimes.
But corral them we must! We must take charge of our minds when in neutral, or when discouraged, or disappointed, or after a major loss of some kind.
It is a conditioning of the mind of which I speak. WE are the masters of our own minds. Others may say those awful words of hurt, however, we are the door keeper of our own minds. WE decide if we will allow them to run free or do we arrest them sooner than soon?
There are many excellent words and phrases that disciplined people find useful. Here are some of them.
I can.
I will.
I like myself.
I approve of myself.
I am capable.
I am better than that.
I may be down but I’m not out.
If I fall seven times, I’ll stand up eight.
What are you listening to in your mind?
Can you see the importance of changing those loop-to-loop soundtracks to
different, more positive words and phrases?
I so strongly believe in the power of words that my company name is Up-Words. I say – I will speak Up-Words to every person I meet. I will look for the good in others and compliment those good traits on every occasion in which I am able.
I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends
and Influence People."
One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The
gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.
Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."
Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.
The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.
The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."
He continued.
"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."
My favorite quote on the power of words.
