Nelson Mandela's Letter from Prison Praises The Power of Positive Thinking

"The Power of Positive Thinking and The Results of Positive Thinking both written by the American psychologist Norman Vincent Peale may be rewarding to read.  The municipal library should stock them...He makes the basic point that it is not so much the disability that one suffers from but one's attitude to it." (Nelson Mandela referring to his wife's heart condition)

Nelson Mandela, imprisoned in 1962 for his anti-apartheid stance, wrote a letter to his wife from prison seven years later.  He had just found out she was suffering from blackouts, likely related to her heart condition, and recommended that she read the book The Power of Positive Thinking.  

I am not surprised that Mandela suggested such a book given that he survived almost 30 years of imprisonment.  It would have been easy for the political prisoner to have become bitter and wasted away in jail.  It would have been easy for him to give up on his family.  It would have been easy for him to give up on his cause.  

However, when Mandela was finally released, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he took up the cause anew.  Within four short years, Mandela won a sweeping victory to become South Africa's first black president.  While in prison, he had written an autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, which he had published soon after his election.  Mandela practised what he preached:  his positive thinking had transported him from a prison inmate to the president of his country.  

Nelson burned his racial pass in 1960, an action which led to his arrest for "high treason" courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Arrest_and_Rivonia_trial:_1962.E2.80.9364

Practise Positive Thinking

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:  but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)

"You are the driver of your bus," says one blogger.  "Fuel your ride with positive energy."  Positivity produces energy.  It increases your faith in your abilities.  It inspires others to be positive.  It boosts your mood and your immune system, making you a happier and healthier individual.  

How do you become a more positive person?  You make a conscious choice to think positive thoughts.  When negative thoughts enter your head, you replace them with positive ones.  You repeat daily affirmations to reassure yourself.  You visualize a positive outcome.  

Get in the habit of smiling and laughing on a daily basis.  Help others unselfishly and feel good about yourself.  Practise an attitude of gratitude; count your blessings, especially the small ones.  Surround yourself with positive people.  Remain open to change and to learning.  

Be a winner.  Vince Lombardi, a former football coach, says:  "Get in the habit of winning."  He used to focus on not just winning regular season games, but also pre-season games to get his team in the habit of winning.  A winner gets accustomed to thinking like a winner, of expecting a positive outcome.

In 1932, Minister Norman Vincent Peale arrived in New York City to a position at the Marble Collegiate Church.  He faced a big problem from the start, however:  its pews were almost empty. Undeterred, Dr. Peale starting practising positive thinking, envisioning a full church every week. Over time, his strategy brought hundreds of parishioners into his church, boosting its membership from 600 to 5,000.  Dr. Peale remained at Marble Collegiate Church for 52 years.

In 1952, Dr. Peale wrote the infamous book, The Power of Positive Thinking at http://www.amazon.ca/Discovering-Positive-Thinking-Norman-Vincent/dp/8122204120.  The publication was so well received by the public that it remained on the bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks, was translated into 15 languages and sold 5 million copies.  The world hungers for a positive message.  

Source:  www.successconsciousness.com

Note:  For more information about The Power of Positive Thinking, read my post at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/04/power-of-positive-thinking.html.

Marble Collegiate Church courtesy http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/MarbleCollegiate.html.

Clarify Your Values

"Any attempt to live on the outside in a manner that contradicts the values you hold on the inside will cause you stress, negativity, unhappiness, pessimism, and even anger and frustration." (Brian Tracy)



Google's definition of values are "a person's principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life."  Brian Tracy says that before you set out on the journey to achieve your goals, you need to clarify your values.  Think about what you want to be known for, what you represent.  Imagine what you would like people to write about you in your obituary.  As Dr. Gordon Eadie said about American soldiers fighting the enemy in World War II: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

Ideal values in the workplace include:  hard work, dependability, cooperation, initiative, ambition and high performance.  Ideal values within the family include:  unconditional love, patience, forgiveness, generosity, kindness and attentiveness.  Ideal values with regard to money and finances include: honesty, thrift, education, industry, persistence and performance.  Integrity is high up on the list of values.  A millionaire once said:  "Integrity is the value that guarantees all the other values."

Brian Tracy points out that your values need to be congruent with your goals.  "Be sure that as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building," warns Stephen Covey.  If you are an environmentalist, you are not going to fit it at a factory where workers dump toxic waste into the nearby river.  He says that the people who are the happiest in this world are those whose behaviour is consistent with their beliefs.

Tracy maintains that people demonstrate their true values in their actions, especially when under pressure.  An example that comes to mind is my old neighbours.  They said that they loved their dogs, but they never walked them, they chained them up and ignored them.  Then, when times get tough and they were evicted from their home, they abandoned the dogs in the house, trapped inside with no air during a heat wave, walking around in their own filth.

"As within, so without" is a good motto to live by.  Whatever you put into your body or fill your mind with, often comes out in your thoughts and/or actions.  If you do nothing but watch violent movies, play violent video games, read violent books, listen to violent music and use violent language, chances are you are going to have violent thoughts and/or show violent behaviour.  By the same token, if you keep a positive attitude, watch positive shows, read positive books, listen to positive music and use positive language, chances are you are going to have both positive thoughts and actions.

Note:  For more information, read The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale http://www.amazon.ca/Discovering-Positive-Thinking-Norman-Vincent/dp/8122204120.

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