Altering Your Life
Dr. William James once wrote: "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitude of mind....If you only care enough for a result you will certainly attain it. Yes, the mold of man's future, the shape of his life and destiny and the sum total of his accomplished achievements are in his own hands that hold the invisible brush that paints the pictures of the walls of the soul.
"It is these pictures of the mind that are the key."
Joseph Powell, a Loyola University professor, expressed it well in his excellent book, Fully Human, Fully Alive: "Fully alive people find enjoyment in what others regard as drudgery of duty. They don't have to; they want to. They are aware of the thorns but concentrate on the roses. Each day has a newness about it; it is never a cartoon copy of yesterday. Fully alive people eagerly await new insights. These insights will renew them and their visions of reality.."
Robert Souithey tells of a certain Spaniard who "always put on his spectacles when he was about to eat strawberries, so they might look bigger and more tempting."
That is to say that life is so often a matter of perspective. The person who "expects the worst in life" usually gets it. There is an old German proverb: "If you paint the Devil on the wall, he'll come." However, by painting his visage where it could not be missed, a fixation upon his reality often took place. In short, what people expect is what they get.
Psychologists call it the "self-fulfilling prophecy." Not only do our past experiences affect our expectations of the present and future but our expectations in turn affect our experiences, We can look for thorns or we can look for roses. Either way, we will probably find that for which we are searching.
A certain wife always tried to give her husband a cheerful welcome home from a trying day at the office. There was one day when she really had to strain: "Guess what, dear" she said as he entered the door. "Of our five children, four of them didn't break an arm today."
A man lived on the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. He assumed he lived in Minnesota, but a new survey showed that he lived in Wisconsin. "Thank goodness, " he exclaimed, "I never could bear those cold Minnesota winters."
I like the perspective of one little fellow I heard about. He was most excited that he had pulled a cornstalk out of its roots. When his father congratulated him he beamed. "And just think," he said"The whole world had hold of the other end of it."
The young seem naturally to have that sense of excitement about life.
There is a revealing story about a family gathered in the library enjoying a magnificent thunderstorm when the mother thought of Jill alone in the nursery. Fearing lest the little girl should be awakened and feel afraid, her mother slipped away to quiet her. Pausing at the door, however, in a vivid flash of lightning that illuminated the whole room, she saw the little girl sitting up in bed clapping her hands in excitement and shouting, "Bang it again, God! Bang it again!"
Willie, aged five, was taken by his father to his football game. The feature that caught his chief approval, however, did not become evident until he said his prayers that night. To the horror of his parents Willie prayed with true football snap:
"God bless papa,
Gold bless mama,
God bless Willie,
Rah! Rah! Rah!"
We have to learn cynicism and despair The young abound with enthusiasm and the conviction that nothing is impossible. Maybe that is why Jesus told Nicodemus that in order to enter the Kingdom of God he would need to be born all over again. "Lest ye enter the kingdom as a little child..." Jesus said to his disciples.
Is not a child's enthusiasm and joy primarily the product of a complete sense of trust? A child has to be taught to fear and to hate. Tell a child that there is a loving God who watches over him day and night and he will not doubt it. If we could but trust God so much, we would be bubbling over with enthusiasm and joy every day of our life.
Questions to Ponder
Do you concentrate on the thorns or the roses in life?
What are your expectations of life?
What can you not bear in life?
Do you need to be born all over again?
In His Service,
Terry Phillips
