Tag Archives: Self-Help

Contributor: Greg Kuhn, author of Why Quantum Physicists Do Not Fail, Why Quantum Physicists Don’t Get Fat and more.

An African king had a close friend who had the habit of remarking, ‘This is good’ about every occurrence in life, no matter what it was. One day, the king and his friend were out hunting. The king’s friend loaded a gun and handed it to the king. But, alas, he loaded it wrong. And when the king fired it, his thumb was blown off.

“This is good!” exclaimed his friend.

The horrified and bleeding king was furious. “How can you say this is good? This is obviously horrible!” he shouted.

The king put his friend in jail.

About a year later, the king went hunting by himself. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake, and bound him to it. As they started to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. They untied the king and sent him on his way.

Full of remorse, the king rushed to the prison to release his friend.

“No! This is good!” responded his delighted friend.

“Oh, how could that be good, my friend? I did a terrible thing to you.”

“It is good,” said his friend, “because if I hadn’t been in jail I would have been hunting with you and they would have eaten me!”

Greg Kuhn

Contributor: Steve Pavlina of www.stevepavlina.com.

In January of 1991, my life was going downhill fast. I’d just been arrested for felony grand theft after a few prior arrests for misdemeanors. I got expelled from college because I ditched most of my classes. I played video games for up to 18 hours at a time. I’d fallen into a pattern of self-destructive, out-of-control behavior.

I didn’t know how at the time, but I decided I had to make some serious changes. I really didn’t want to spend my adult years wearing orange pajamas.

I began listening to personal development audio programs, and I liked the positive messages they shared. Sometimes I listened to them for two to three hours per day. This had a major effect on my attitude, thoughts, and beliefs. I gradually began setting goals, working on my self-discipline, and overcoming bad habits.

Soon I started over at a new college. Thanks to all this positive conditioning, I was able to take triple the normal course load, and I graduated in only three semesters with a double major in computer science and mathematics. At graduation I was presented with special award given to the top computer science student. I was amazed at the powerful transformation I went through as a result of exposing myself to daily inspiration.

After college I started a computer games business and ran it for ten years. For the first five years, it was a real struggle. I sank into debt and went bankrupt. But I didn’t give up because I understood the value of persistence. I kept going and eventually turned the business around. For the next five years, it did very well. Our games won several awards, and we had a write-up and photo published in the New York Times.

As I began to appreciate the amazing payoffs from investing in personal growth, I devoured many more books in the field and eventually read more than 1,000 of them. I listened to audio programs and went to seminars to keep learning and growing. Soon I was formulating my own insights to build upon this knowledge–and to connect the dots between what I’d learned from others and what I’d experienced for myself.

I felt a strong desire to “pay it forward,” so in 1999 I started writing articles to share what I learned with others.

I know that personal transformation is possible because I’ve lived it. By making a serious commitment to personal growth, I went from sitting in a jail cell facing felony charges to becoming a globally recognized author, speaker, and personal growth expert. This did not happen overnight. It took 15-20 years to reach this point. But what if I hadn’t made this commitment? I might have eventually received a much less pleasant 15-20 year sentence.

My life purpose is: to care deeply, connect playfully, love intensely, and share generously; to joyfully explore, learn, grow, and prosper; and to creatively, brilliantly, and honorably serve the highest good of all.

Steve

Contributor: Jack Canfield, www.jackcanfield.com. As the beloved originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Jack Canfield fostered the emergence of inspirational anthologies as a genre–and then watched it grow into a billion-dollar market. Here, Mr. Canfield shares a true law of attraction success story about the transforming power of one’s beliefs.

One of the best examples I know of the power of belief is an Australian named Cliff Young. Here is his story.

Cliff Young was a farmer who loved what he did; however, somewhere in the back of his mind he’d always wanted to run in a long distance race–an extreme race like a 5 ½-day 500-600 kilometer one. So, one day when he was in his 60s, he finally decided to enter and to fulfill his dream.

On the day of the race, Cliff prepared by dressing as he usually did in overalls, a T-shirt and construction boots–not even running shoes–with a baseball cap and sunglasses, while everyone around him was wearing Nike, Reebok and Asics running gear.

When he showed up and the others saw what he planned to wear, they said, “Are you serious?” They asked him if he’d ever run a long distance race before. To this, he said “no.” Then they asked if he’d run a short race like a half marathon before. To this, he also said “no,” and responded the same to a question regarding a 10k. So then they asked him what made him think he could run this race.

To this, he said, “I am a farmer. I chase my sheep around all day. I don’t have a tractor, so when I hear the sheep I gather them with my dog. Sometimes, if a storm’s coming in, we may be out running around for two or three days without sleep, so I think I can do this.”

At first, the race organizers didn’t want to let him enter. Finally, though, they acquiesced.

When everyone took off they were running fast, but Cliff ran rather slowly, doing what’s now called the ‘Cliff Young Shuffle’. He didn’t know that you were supposed to run for 16 hours and sleep for 8, then repeat that process to the end, and when everyone else went to sleep he was so far behind them that no one was awake to tell him to go to bed. Then, when they got up they were gone before he got there.

This went on for three and a half days, but on the fourth day while everyone was sleeping, Cliff ran by them again, still with no one telling him to go to sleep. The end of the story is that he ran non-stop for five and a half days and broke the old record by twelve hours.

What does this tell us? To me, this says that what you believe affects everything that you do. The other runners believed that they had to sleep every night, but Cliff didn’t have that belief. Therefore, he just continued on and ended up ahead of them all.

Jack Canfield

Guest contributor: Law of attraction believer Sarah Joyce Bryant, who gratefully requests help for her son at www.giveforward.com/keepcodyathome.

My son, Cody, has Autism Spectrum Disorder. When he was eighteen months old he suffered a full regression, losing his ability to walk and talk. When he regained his speech, he had echolalia, which means that he would repeat word for word everything he had heard that day. When he is in a rage state, he still has a little echolalia and will mindlessly repeat the not-so-nice things that he’s heard from other children.

Last month, Cody was discharged from an eight-month stay in a residential care facility. When he came home, I decided that I would fill him full of positive messages and love. My theory was that if I filled his mind with an abundance of positive messages every day he would start yelling out positive things when he was in a rage state.

Well, I’m pleased to say that my plan is working! During one of Cody’s recent meltdowns, he yelled out “You are very kind,” and then told me I was a stupid ass and that he didn’t love me. For him, that’s progress!

If there is one thing most ASD children have in common, it is the need to stick to a rigid schedule every day. I use this need to incorporate more positive messages into Cody’s day. Each morning we listen to Louise Hay’s Morning Meditation while eating breakfast. I sit at the table with a bin of markers and write out his daily schedule in a rainbow of colors. When I have finished writing his schedule, I add positive affirmations. I always include “I am safe,” and “All is well in my world,” but we also choose a Power Thought card from Louise Hay that is our affirmation for the day. I, too, have developed a routine for myself combining positive affirmations/meditations with binaural brain waves and reading positive life affirming books for an hour before Cody gets up.

I have found other unique ways to incorporate positive affirmations into Cody’s daily regimen. I created “relax time” for Cody which includes an hour of listening to Louise Hay affirmations or listening to music he loves. He usually will read books during this time or create amazing art pieces. He also listens to positive affirmations when he goes to bed that repeat throughout the night. Recently, after his relax time, Cody gave me a plastic bag with squares of paper in it. He had made his own affirmation cards!

Here’s a sample of what he wrote:

• I love myself and others love me and I love others too
• Rude comments aren’t very nice
• People love other people
• Have a good day
• Golden Rules: Treat others the way you want to be treated
• Have a great day
• I love my life
• If I be nice to others they’ll be nice to me
• Life is great
• Be sorry for your mistakes
• Talk to your friends
• I am in control of my life

It is clear that focusing on positive affirmations is having an impact on Cody’s thought processes … and they are having quite an impact on mine, too. I am calmer and more able to handle the stress of caring for Cody every day. Amazing things manifest in my life that I had not thought possible, such as a new equine therapy facility in our area that had an available spot for Cody. And my health is improving, too! The pain I used to feel from fibromyalgia and arthritis has significantly lessened and my blood pressure has returned to normal as well.

Though things are still not easy, I am able to handle the daily challenges better. Cody walks around saying things like “I approve of myself.” He even created his own daily affirmation: “I open my heart to love.” He begs to listen to Louise Hay affirmations even when it’s not “relax time” or bedtime.

So far, affirmations have made an undeniably positive difference in our lives.

Sarah Joyce Bryant