From Limitation to Inspiration

There are many inspirational stories. How people survive challenges and become stronger and better. But there are none more compelling than the story of boxer, Rubin Carter, an innocent man wrongly convicted of two murders. Carter spent 22 years in jail. While there he continually fought to survive a battle against a powerful foe, prejudice. He could not defeat this enemy, as it appeared to be infinitely stronger than he was. And it seemed determined to destroy him but he did not give up. Carter’s survival method was to take control of his mind. Instead of giving in to rage and victim-centered thoughts, he developed his imagination and ability to focus his mind on something higher. As a result he transformed his hatred and anger into love. Carter’s story presents an interesting challenge: What does it take to survive such an ordeal? How does one develop the inner conviction, strength and mental clarity to win such a battle? The answer his story provides is that you do have total control of your mind. Yes, you can lose your property, job, family, freedom and even your life. Yet, you are the only one who has control over your mind and emotions. A power that can destroy your body still cannot destroy your mind. Carter took control. He learned to focus his mind and filter his self-talk. He taught himself how to look past wrongs and stay peaceful in the flurry of others’ hatred. He won his war. And interestingly, he was finally exonerated and released from prison. This makes me wonder if prison wasn’t his spiritual path to transformation? We have other examples of fortitude and determination. In his book, A Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl described his experience as a prisoner in a German Concentration Camp. He stated that his captors could administer physical torture and limit his actions but they could not imprison his mind. In his imagination, Frankl focused on being home with his wife. Surprisingly, Frankl was one of the survivors of the “death” camps. It would seem that he was victorious in a personal battle of self-control. These people present an important point. Our bodies may be limited, but our minds and imaginations can do anything. Through will and discipline, you can train your mind to perform the impossible. You can achieve greatness. Carter and Frankl could not walk out of their respective physical confines so they conceived other possibilities. By looking for greater lessons in their circumstances, they walked out of their mental prisons. Carter turned his animosity into love; Frankl imagined his way to freedom and then assisted others to search for deeper meaning. You have the same capabilities. You can move from the self-created prison of prejudice, anger, or limitation to comprehend and experience greater possibilities. It is a shift, a discipline, and a plan and it results in peace and personal contentment. Jean Walters is a St. Louis based Personal Growth Consultant and Life Coach. She ha performed over 35,000 Akashic Readings in her career. She is a best selling author on Amazon.com. Her books are: Set Yourself Free: Live the Life You were meant to Live! And Be Outrageous: Do the Impossible – Others have and You can too! You can reach her at 314 991 8439 or Jean@spiritualtransformation.com

Failure is an Illusion

Failure is an Illusion by Jean Walters There are lots of things you cannot control – the economy, the way others think or behave, the price of eggs, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Kim Jong-Un. It would be easy to become so immersed in the number of items you cannot control that you forget what you can manage, and that would be YOU. In a fear-based culture, there is a societal tendency to dwell on negativity... What if this happens and what if that happens? People ruminate on negative possibilities. You might notice it if you watch the news (or even the day-time soap operas where everything is a tragedy). Unpleasant events dominate and it becomes vogue to talk about problems and it is easy to transfer this victim idea to yourself - poor me. “Wasn’t it terrible what Claude did to Rumania? She deserves to get revenge.” “Life is such a struggle!” “Blah, blah, blah.” Eventually with the preponderance of negativity, you get pulled down and feel lethargic, unmotivated, even depressed. Negativity results in loss of focus, movement, direction and energy BUT it doesn’t have to be that way. We have all experienced moments of loss or failure and it is the measure of a person as to how he responds to these. We can let each experience that turns out differently than we planned or expected to become a terrible tragedy. We can believe that with failure, we are losers. Or, we can deal with each experience (job, relationship, strategy, interaction) as an opportunity to pick ourselves up, learn something new, and take a different approach. As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” In other words, no one comes out of the shoot knowing everything. For all of us, life is an ongoing experiment. Take note of the people who failed in their missions before they saw any glimmer of success. Bill Gates is a prime example. Even though he is one of the richest people on earth, Gates had his share of failures. An example would be his first business called, Traf-O-Data, which crashed and burned. Undaunted Gates and his partner Paul Allen moved on to form one of the most profitable companies in the history of the world – Microsoft. Former President Harry S Truman also failed in business. He and his partner Eddie Jacobson set up a hat shop in Kansas City. America was in economic decline at the time and the business failed leaving Truman owing $20,000 to creditors. Instead of declaring bankruptcy, he paid back all the money he owed. It took more than 15 years. It set his character. Truman was also defeated in his second term as judge in Jackson County, Missouri. Undaunted, he ran again and was elected Presiding Judge. Truman became known as a man of integrity. No doubt, his response to defeat fed into that reputation. We are all driving cars right now because of the genius of Henry Ford. His global vision was that consumerism was the key to peace. He acted on that idea by creating methods of mass production of inexpensive goods, high wages for workers, and systematically lowering costs. All of which resulted in technical and business innovations, including a franchise system for Ford dealerships. Yet, along the way, he had his failures. His Detroit Automobile Company went out of business and the Edzel car was not a market success. Each of these people did not let loss or failure get in his way. They saw each experience as a stepping-stone to the next one and got stronger, more creative and savvy as they went along. Albert Einstein failed in his college entrance exams; Thomas Edison had numerous (thousands) of unsuccessful experiments before finally perfecting the light bulb and other inventions. In fact, Edison used his failures to construct his successes. In his mind, each “failure” illustrated what did not work so he could discover what did. Abraham Lincoln failed in business twice, was repeatedly defeated for public office and had a nervous breakdown. These are a few of his many challenges. All of these people failed according to the facts. Yet, if you were to focus on their failures, you would never guess their impact on the world, which was far-reaching and profound. They literally changed we the way we live our lives. Gates, Einstein, Edison, Lincoln, Ford, and, indeed all successful people, refused to pay attention to their failures. They marched to the tune of their own drummers and lived their lives accordingly. They denied failure, refusing to let it define or stop them. The thing that holds people back is “what they think they aren’t.” (I’m not smart, inventive, social, graceful, clever, witty, etc.) If you turn this around, you can decide what you are and you thereby convert negative, static energy into forward thrust (movement and power). It can sound like this: “I am determined, persevering, good at math, science, conversation, polo,” etc.) You have to agree to a positive self-image to bring your energy up and tap into your source of inspiration and motivation. Motivation comes from within, not from outside people or sources. It is a force that moves you to action. Your belief about yourself is the starting point. If you believe you can achieve despite drawbacks and obstacles, you can. If you are sure that you cannot make it, you are also right. Your decisions profoundly influence the outcomes in your life. You can base your decisions on past mistakes or on what you want to happen and focus on the steps necessary to bring that outcome into being. Either way, you are in control. What you control is yourself – your vision, determination, and desire. Take command and alter your destiny. Then no matter how many “failures” you experience, you will move forward toward your goal. The edict is, “if you think you can, you can and if you think you can’t, you can’t. Either way you are right.” Benjamin Disraeli stated it this way “The secret of success is constancy of purpose” and Audre Lorde stated, “When I dare to be powerful – to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” Psychologist, Dr. Wayne Dyer said, “Failure is an illusion. No one ever fails at anything. Everything you do produces a result.” His idea is that if someone throws you a ball and you drop it, you did not fail. Instead, you say, “throw it again.” Soon you are catching the ball. You make failure illusions real by identifying with them. If you decide, “I will never be able to catch the ball. I am a failure at catching the ball.” Then you are a failure. Fear makes the illusion real. Fear can be eliminated by love. You can love the opportunity to learn how to catch the ball; how to write a letter; how to bake a cake, fix a car, or run a business. You can love the opportunity to be whatever it is that you want to be. Just keep catching the ball. “Fear knocked at the door. Love answered and no one was there.” Ancient wisdom Jean Walters is a St. Louis based Personal Growth Consultant, Life Coach, and Akashic Reader. She is the best selling author of Be Outrageous: Do the Impossible – Others have and you can too! and Set Yourself Free: Live the Life you were Meant to Live! You can reach her at 314 991 8439 or jean@ spiritualtransformation.com