I Will Seek Wisdom,

One would think this ideal is a no-brainer but then one has to look at oneself. More than anything this is a lesson of action and acceptance. To me it is so obvious that “seeking wisdom”  is not what you can learn through reading books, audio tapes and lectures alone. I am not saying these are not good sources of extreme importance but they are only a small but important part of the picture. One would assume that personal experience is possibly the best means of becoming a wise individual. I have lots of  experience but I can’t say I am much wiser because of it. Wisdom brings balance, discernment and good judgment into a person’s life.

It is suggested that a person becomes who he associates with. My ability to sabotage myself in that my thinking tells me I am not as good as the group of people I long to associate with, that I am an outsider restricts my growth and capacity to learn. I need to stop comparing myself to others. My comfort zone is too comfortable! Inside I know that reaching out is the key to gaining acceptance, learning and acquiring a “council of wise men”. There is safety in council. This is a person’s mastermind group as Napoleon Hill states. Solomon says “find a wise man; a person or group who has accomplished what you wish for yourself, and listen closely to their words”.

I believe there is something wrong about how we think. There is nothing more important in our lives to seek and learn than, –”that we are not our thoughts”. The thoughts that rush through my mind are not mine.  I do not create them, they come from somewhere outside me. I don’t realize this so I take them to be my own thoughts.  I soon believe I am these thoughts. The problem is that I carry these thoughts around all the time believing that I am it!

The answer to this De Lima is to think in a new way. You need to watch your thoughts. Think about what you are thinking about so to speak. My thoughts are as close as my own breath, but I never take a close look at them. We all need to learn to stay awake and not get lost in our thinking otherwise the thoughts you have will run you ragged,  on auto pilot in a sense. They never stop!!  Just watch and listen to your thoughts.  It is also true as you watch your thoughts; you can focus on changing them, consciously, so that you can become what you are thinking about (like the “Law of Attraction”).

Through serving others one can achieve serenity of thought. The rewards of helping others bring a satisfaction to yourself that cannot be compared to anything. To give is to receive. I am not saying to get something I must give something.  Give from the heart;  put yourself in the other person’s shoes and come to know what they truly desire, need or want. If you cannot help, find someone who can. Help them indirectly in this way. Do not expect anything to come back to you. Giving and receiving is not a one to one measure.  Just believe that giving always comes back to you, sometimes without even recognizing it.

These ideas have enlightened me in the areas of the importance of others and the positive influence they have on you and you on them.  The power of your thoughts on thinking, and that helping others, giving of yourself expecting nothing in return really gives back more than one realizes. It builds a group of peers around you that contributes to the wisdom you gain. There is no greater power than love and compassion for your fellow man on this earth. To me this is a Wise Man’s Secret….

LET IT REALLY SINK IN…… THEN CHOOSE

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say.  When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply,  If I were any better, I would be twins!

He was a natural motivator.  If an employee was having a bad day,  John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.  Seeing this style really made me curious,  so one day I went up and asked him,  I don’t get it!  You can’t be a positive person all of the time.  How do you do it? He replied,  ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself,  you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or…you can choose to be in a bad mood.  I choose to be in a good mood.  Each time something bad happens,  I can choose to be a victim or… I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.  Every time someone comes to me complaining,  I can choose to accept their complaining or… I can point out the positive side of life.   I choose the positive side of life.

Yeah,  right,  it’s not that easy, I protested. Yes,  it is,  he said.  Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.  The bottom line:  It’s your choice how you live your life.  I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter,  I left the Tower Industry to start my own business.   We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later,  I heard that he was involved in a serious accident,  falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.  After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care,  he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.  I saw him about six months after the accident.  When I asked him how he was,  he replied,  If I were any better, I’d be twins… Want to see my scars? I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. ‘The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,  he replied.  Then,  as I lay on the ground,  I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or… I could choose to die.  I choose to live.

Weren’t you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?  I asked.  He continued, …the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses,  I got really scared.  In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man. I knew I needed to take action.  What did you do?  I asked.  Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,  said John.  She asked if I was allergic to anything, yes,  I replied.  The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply…I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity”

Over their laughter,  I told them, I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.  He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors,  but also because of  his amazing attitude…I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.  Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,  for tomorrow will worry about itself.   Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

by Mike Virgil on MySpace Blogs