Frank Georgalis – Writer

Self Motivation/Positive Thinking— 4 Easy Steps To Restructure Your Life:Part II

Give a place to stand and I will move the world

Archimedes said, “If you’ll move it an inch you’ll move it a mile.”

In order for anyone to get the full benefit of any self understanding method, he must believe it’s possible that things can turn around and change his life for ever.  If a family is having breakfast it is an indication that everything is fine  That is called positive thinking. This belief of good thinking is called Positive Thinking. Teaching our children to think good is probably one of the main reasons for getting together to have breakfast or lunch or dinner. That is the proper time to teach them to know who they are and what they can do for themselves.

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates primarily taught that it is important for us to know who and what we are. “Know Thyself”

 

Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher with his students

“Know Thyself” is a phrase that many can write many books on the subject. Socrates didn’t just sit under the olive tree and said that to his young and old listeners in jest, “know Thyself,” he meant a lot more than what that simple phrase was saying. In reality he was criticizing our parents and teachers for not taking the time to teach us to recognize our abilities and limitations. How many of us were taught to search and find out who and what we are? How many of us know that we can be or could have been piano players, or singers or dancers or had it in us to become basketball players or doctors or great lawyers? The answer is that very few of us were taught to search to find out who, what we are and what we can do above and beyond the normal. My father said to me one time that he thought that he was born with all the necessary tools to become a great man but his parents did not see that in him because their parents didn’t see anything good in them. How could he think of being great whereby the first 17 things he learned from his parents were the don’ts? Can anyone imagine what impact had on society hearing Socrates telling the young ones to think for themselves and in so many words, to forget the negative thoughts they heard from their parents? That was the “Contributing to the delinquency of the minors,” and that is one of the reasons he died. Can anyone imagine how different the world could have been today if we were taught to find the truth about ourselves? My father went on to say that he was born with proper wings and feathers to fly, but his parents began to change all that. At first they began to remove his birth given feathers. It came to the point where he imagined that he must have looked like plucked duck, then, they implanted on him some chicken feathers from his mother’s side and then some turkey feathers from his father’s side and he eventually looked way different from what he looked like when he first arrived on earth. He didn’t know whether he was a duck, a chicken or a turkey.

Here is a perfect example of parent’s thoughts and guidance. When I was writing the Book, Eagles Don’t Test, which is WWII drama dealing with the German occupation in Greece; I visited my parents in Greece where they lived six months and six months in America. My purpose was to get related information of the time of the German occupation; I found out that my father had more information than any book written about the war. We stayed up the biggest part of the night, with my father talking and me writing. In the morning while I sat outside my mother brought me coffee.                                                     “I heard you father and you parleying most of the night, what did you speak about?” asked my mother.                                                                                                                                                                 “I am writing a book about WWII and I got a lot of information from my father,”                                                                                                                                                                        “Oh, yes, your father knows a lot about guns and ammunition,” she mumbled almost sarcastically, showing me that the war was not one of her favor subjects. About midmorning I advised my mother not to prepare any lunch for me because I had made arraignments to have lunch wit an old school friend. At noon on my way out of the door going to meet my friend my mother stopped. “When you talk to your friend, don’t tell him you are writing a book,” she said in a whispering tone of voice.                                      “Why not?” I asked in the same voice.                                                                    “Because serious minded men don’t write books,” she returned.                                                                                                                                                               “Can I tell him that I am reading a book that a not so serious minded man wrote?” Saying this I walked away.

Were we ever taught to be firm and positive about selves? Were we ever taught to look at things with positive attitude? This is what we call Positive Thinking. Positive thinking is one’s desire and will to open up his mind and allow favorable thoughts to enter, which act will chase unhealthy thoughts away. A thought is combination of words and images which are conductive to growth, expansion and success. Therefore positive thinking is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds. There maybe a problem, which you will see later on.

Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking. It has been said that some consider the subject as just nonsense and others mock people who believe and accept it.  I believe some may be annoyed by people who are walking around telling everybody that they are positive thinkers, sounding as if they just discovered the dance that brings rain. Among the people who accept it, are not many who know how to use it effectively to get favorable results. Whether you were born with a positive thinking attitude, or you acquired it while still in your cradle or you learned later in life from books and lecture courses is irrelevant. The attitude of positive thinking can backfire. For example scientists accept the fact that a man’s main motive for success is his desire for sex. It doesn’t mean that the man who loves sex will automatically become successful. It doesn’t mean that he can be in bed all day and night having sex or can be standing in the corner watching the women go by he will become successful, if he does any of the above he will be a loser. What really means that a man who has a strong desire for sex will act and strive to become successful to attract women. Positive thinking can be the same way. It doesn’t mean that the person who believes that positive thinking is the key to good results automatically. I believe that positive thinking and optimism are first cousins if not brothers and of course pessimism and negative thinking are related the same way. It is a common knowledge and a fact that many optimists have fallen into traps. The pessimists act and feel that they are always entrapped. This reminds me of a story that I must tell. There was a man who had a set of twin sons. One was an optimist and the other son was a pessimist. The father of the sons, being puzzled by their different attitude in life, where was miserable and unhappy and the other that a skunk in love, was flying high on the seat of his pants, conducted many experiments and everything was un vain. At his final effort, he rented to two rooms in a rundown hotel. One he filled with toys and the other he filled with horse manure. He placed the pessimist in the room with the toys and the optimist in the room with the horse manure. After a while he checked upon them through a secret hole. Observing the pessimist heard him crying complaining about an oncoming rain, the rusting of the toys and the running down of the batteries, the father moved to the other boy’s room. And there he became astonished seeing his son shoveling horse manure as fast as he could. The father then opened the door and said “Sonny, what are you doing there?”                                                                                                                                                                 The boy srared for a moment and replied, “Dad, with all this horseshit around here there must be a pony somewhere.”

Even though there was no pony to be found, while the pessimist stood in the room crying the blues, the optimist sat on a barrel and said to his father who stood by the door looking at his son, the optimist, in amazement.

“Well, Dad, tomorrow is another day and another task, but I will eventually find that damned pony.”

That is positive thinking. I am sure you understand, many persons with a positive thinking attitude set out to do something, but it didn’t turned out as it was plan, but yet most of these persons continue to think positive, but why? Because they have hope, therefore hope is the mother of positive thinking. Hope is a thought, positive thinking is also a thought but it is put into action. Not too long ago I spoke to a man who had broken two short planks of wood with his hand. I was allowed to examine the muscles in his arm and I told him that I see nothing more in his arm than in any strong man’s arm.

“Man, its not the arm that breaks the planks, its my brain that does it,” the man said to me and began to walk away as if he didn’t wish his secrete to be told. “Wait a moment please,” I said, “Explain that to me.” “ Call upon my brain through concentration and the brain does all the work. It feels that some type of electric currents coming down< some times I can see the plank broken before I even touch it. And sometimes when my concentration is broken I miss.”

I know professional golfers apply that type of concentration in their game that is why the spectators are urged to be quite. Most of them do but most don’t know why.

Most of us have gone through tough times and have suffered many times throughout our stay here on earth. Most of us in bad situations are urged to “think positive”.                              Most people who are suffering with that kind of pain do not take these two little words seriously, they take it as philosophy and they are not in  any mood to hear philosophy, therefore they do not consider them as useful and effective. How many people do you know, who stop to think what the power of positive thinking means? Tons of books and articles have been written about the subject and yet it is still as clear as mud. It is quite common to hear people say: “Think positive!”, to someone who feels down and out. What is positive thinking mean to a man who lost his job, unable to pay the rent, was evicted from his home and his wife and children took to the streets looking around the neighborhood and around relatives to find shelter. Is thinking positive will convince the land lord to open the doors and allow the tenant and his family to reenter and live happily ever after? No! Is “thinking positive” will make the neighbors receptive in allowing his family to be fed and sheltered? No! Note this, in front of  “Positive”  in the phrase  “Think Positive” is the magic word “Think” Think and believe that nothing in life is permanent. Everything in life is temporary. This man should think that after the rain the sun will follow. What a pleasure is to see the sun shining again. The sun is shining brighter than ever. The mind will go and think that after “Famine” the fist will follow. How can anyone know the thrill of Fiesta if he had never experience the pain of Famine? Thinking that way his mind is not clouded with his present catastrophe, but his mind is looking the fiesta in the face. The reason I am telling the story is because this is common among working men who live from paycheck to paycheck. I have known many people in that unfortunate situation. The man’s name I am speaking about was Joe. Joe told me that looking at the fiesta face to face, realized that it only takes money to get there and sit fiesta. The answer was not in need of pity, or anger or anxiety it was money. “How do I get money?”  he asked himself loudly.                                                                                           “The money that I needed to bring my family back home was in the amount of $1,700? How can get my hands on that kind of money?” Joe asked himself. Then he went on to say that he came down to think, thinking that the only quick way of finding the needed money was the other phrase “Beg, Steal or borrow” Steal was out of the question, obviously he didn’t want to go to jail. Beg or borrow from who? He had very few friends to loan him any money and most of his relatives were not in a position to help him. Borrow! Borrow from who? A bank, he thought. “ No collateral, no job. Banks don’t give money to the people who need it, they gladly loan money to the ones who don’t need it.” He admitted that the thought was not completely true, but it was a way of venting some anger.

Surprising results will be published next week.