Insight of The Day

"Select a few people to be particularly kind to today - those you were a little harsh with yesterday."
Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Author and Speaker

Mental Prisons

Some time ago I did a show on Habits. They play an important role in your life. Like many aspects of your life, habits can be considered both a blessing and a curse. Robert Russell in his magnificent little book "You Try It" wrote that habit was God's way of making good automatic in your life.

I had a wonderful friend in Atlanta, the late Dr. Jay Dishman, who wrote an excellent article about habit in his monthly newsletter dated February 1985. I have shared Dr. Dishman's article with thousands of people around the world. Today I want to share it with you. Here goes!

"Recently I visited Alcatraz Prison. Once it housed the most hardened of criminals. Today it is open to tourists under the direction of the United States Parks Department. Many men have tried to escape Alcatraz; no one is known to have succeeded. As I listened to the tour guide explain the impossibility of escape, I thought of other prisons equally confining but where the doors are never locked, no guards walk the halls, and escape is encouraged and possible. That prison is Habit."

Our habit is thinking about ourselves and our environment as a jail or a paradise. We need but to look around us to see people who are rich emotionally and materially because they think and feel rich. We also see people who are laden with emotional and material debt because they think lack. Some are inspired with vision, others are encumbered with doubt. Some are moved by ambition, others feel safer in monotony. Some reach for the mountain tops, others huddle in the pits. Some seek opportunity, others wait for it to knock. The sad fact is that more people are confined by their thoughts than are fed by them.

Negative thinking shuts us in a prison, but there is a way out. The apostle Paul said, "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind." Paul knew a lot about prisons, both physical and mental. You renew your life by renewing your mind. You renew your mind when you change your habit of thinking.

Dr. Jay Dishman helped thousands change their habit of thinking in his lifetime. Now hopefully he has helped you.

Bob Proctor

Decision

Accurate analysis of over 25,000 men and women who had experienced failure, disclosed the fact that lack of decision was near the head of the list of the 30 major causes of failure. This is no mere statement of a theory - it is a fact.

Procrastination, the opposite of decision, is a common enemy which practically every man must conquer.

You will have an opportunity to test your capacity to reach quick and definite decisions when you finish reading this lesson, and are ready to begin putting into action the principles which it describes.

Analysis of several hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the million dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and of changing these decisions slowly, if, and when they were changed. People who fail to accumulate money, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, if at all, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.

The majority of people who fail to accumulate money sufficient for their needs, are, generally, easily influenced by the "opinions" of others. They permit the newspapers and the "gossiping" neighbors to do their "thinking" for them. "Opinions" are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by "opinions" when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking, much less in that of transmuting your own desire into money.

If you are influenced by the opinions of others, you will have no desire of your own.

Napoleon Hill
From Think and Grow Rich

A Father's Day Story

We all have defining moments which forever alter our lives by shifting our thoughts, feelings and actions in a new direction. Sometimes those moments look like natural disasters! Eventually, though, we see that everything took place in perfect harmony with the Law of Attraction.

My life was on a pretty comfortable track in my early and mid-20's. I was cruising along in that in-between world of no longer being the high school jock or college kid, but not yet ready to be a full-fledged grown up, either. That's not to say I didn't have an idea of what I wanted. I had a nice, neat little plan to first earn a sizable amount of money with a business from home, then get married, then have kids. More than anything, I always wanted to be a stay-at-home, entrepreneurial dad so I could be an active part of the lives of my children. but I was in no hurry. I mean - after all - why rush?

And then. Ka-pow! In January 2005 I got a wake-up call . my girlfriend, Jen, was pregnant. I couldn't believe it was happening. I was stunned and reacted, in a word, badly. I just wasn't ready and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt totally powerless.

The months progressed quickly and, in the early morning hours of August 22, 2005, I drove Jen to the hospital and had the privilege of watching my son, Dylan, enter the world. I kept thinking, "Wow - I'm a Dad!" And yet, I was still scared and worried. "I need more time to prepare for this!" I thought. It wasn't going according to plan. Or was it?

During the first year of being a father I built a very special bond with my son, but the relationship between Jen and I ended and I began asking myself what was I going to do so I could be fully involved in my son's life? For the next few months, we worked it out . making decisions and sharing caregiver roles on a pretty friendly basis.

Then the time came to formalize our co-parenting agreement through a court of law and that was the next big wake-up call as I was drawn into a legal system that dictates how much time aparent can or cannot spend time with his or her child. In a case like ours, in which the mother and father were never married, there were huge hurdles to jump over in order to establish my rights as a Dad.

It became painfully evident that the legal system is not overly friendly to single dads. Rather than engage in the legal rhetoric and offense/defense games, I followed some very good advice and quietly affirmed over and over again gratitude that my son has such a good and loving mother. Being grateful was the key.

I soon discovered how perfectly - and quickly - the Law of Attraction responds to what we put out. Whenever I found myself focusing on the negative aspects of the situation, I would attract more of it. When I focused on the good, I attracted more of it.

In the midst of it all, a huge life-defining moment occurred when Bob Proctor invited me to drive him to the airport for his return flight from Phoenix to Toronto. During the next two hours, Bob challenged me from every angle . he questioned my goals and aspirations and what I said I wanted. Most of all, he challenged me to be honest with myself about what I'm willing to do in order to have the life I want as an entrepreneurial stay-at-home dad fully engaged in the day-to-day raising of my son.

His powerful advice that day helped me to crystallize and hold the image of what I really wanted and to think truth despite present circumstances or events.

Today, with all that behind us, we share 50/50 custody in a true spirit of harmony. I enjoy quality "daddy time" with my little guy - and, what's more, I can feel great knowing that my time with him doesn't limit or violate Jen's rights in any way. It truly is a win-win scenario for all of us - and most especially for our son.

We learned that even when the most unexpected events rock our world, none of us need be a victim of circumstance. We have the ability to choose our thoughts, words and actions in every situation. And that is what ultimately determines the outcome - so long as we hold true to the image of what we want without violating the rights of others.

I know very well how blessed I am to be an entrepreneur, working from home and spending time with my son, just as I had visualized from the start. The Law of Attraction brought all this about with one stroke - with the "untimely" conception of a beautiful boy between two young people who each had much to learn and much to gain - from an experience that might otherwise appear on the surface to have been a disaster.

By embracing it as a gift of love and of learning - we are all growing and enjoying life with this beautiful little boy we call The Love Man - Dylan Paul Gates.

Happy Father's Day to everyone - Dads and Moms alike!

D.P. Gates

D.P. Gates lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and enjoys working in a great business from home. Feel free to email him your comments on this story to: dp@dpgates.com

Law of Compensation

Crowd out all inferior thoughts by superior thoughts, evil thoughts by good thoughts, ugly thoughts by beautiful thoughts, distressing thoughts by pleasant thoughts, and you will begin to overcome the growth of all negative and confused states of wrong and discord. In other words, learn to think constructively of all persons, all things, all events, and all circumstances. Appraise them from the ideal point of view. As you do this you will gradually transform your whole existence for the better. These are the means whereby you may steadily promote your welfare and advancement.

As you train yourself to mentally look for the good, you will move towards the good; and, as you form higher and larger conceptions of the good, these elements will begin to find expression in your words, acts, character, person, talents, powers, attainments, and achievements; that is, all things in your life will commence to improve as the direct result of your improved thinking.

This process does not imply, however, that you are to ignore the wrongs of life, the empty places, and the undeveloped states of being; but that you are to think right through and beyond them towards the hidden good or the principle within that is ever seeking a higher and fuller expression. You will, therefore, cease to condemn and to criticize in a destructive manner; instead you will seek to bring out the good in yourself and in others, and to discover and develop the greater possibilities everywhere.

Raymond Holliwell

Will Rogers' Secret

A magic way to win more friendships that no one can resist; even hardened criminals can be won over this way.

"I never met a man I did not like," said Will Rogers. Many people thought this was just another funny Rogers' remark, but one time when I met him with Amon Carter, of Fort Worth, I asked him, "Surely you can't like everybody?"

I knew he must meet bores, cheats, four-flushers just like the rest of us do. How can he possibly like even them?

Will was famous as a funnyman; but he was also a wise philosopher and he could be most serious when he wanted.

"Of course I don't approve of all the things that people do," he said, "but there is some goodness and some cussedness in all of us."

He continued, "If you know a man well enough you can always find something good in him and you can always find something interesting about him. It is just a matter of what you are looking for!"

"But what about the narrow-minded people? What about gossips? The people who do petty, mean little things? Do you like them, too?" I persisted.

"I once read somewhere," he said, "where someone asked Abe Lincoln that same question - why he refused to get mad at the people who abused him, ridiculed him and tried to discredit him."

"Lincoln replied that people's actions spring from their character and that many factors beyond their control went into making up their character - where they were born, the people they had associated with, and a lot of other things."

"Therefore,' said Lincoln, 'you shouldn't become angry with a person who blocks your path any more than you would with a tree which the wind blew across the road.'"

Will Rogers had no more reason for hating a person who happened to have been unfortunate enough to have acquired a habit of gossip than he did for hating a person who was foolish enough to neglect his teeth.

He didn't like gossip. Few people do; and he didn't like pettiness. He looked upon them as foolish behavior rather than evil behavior.

I am convinced that Will Rogers really did like every person he ever met.

There is an interesting thing about liking people, and that is they in turn like you. If you must start a rumor about somebody start it by saying, "I sure like that person."

This gets back to them and they say, "Well, I always liked him, too."

Another funny thing about gossip is that if they tell you things about others, you can just bet they will tell others things about you.

While there is always a temptation to listen to gossip, just remember while you are on the listening end this time with this gossiper, the next time you will be on the receiving end when the gossiper gets elsewhere.

Beware of the Gossip!

Avoid the company of the gossip. Don't give them a chance to be with you, find something out about you, then carry that story into another circle.

I am convinced that this trait of his character was largely responsible for Will Rogers being the most universally liked person I have ever heard about.

Will Rogers liked everybody and everybody liked Will Rogers!

Elmer Wheeler
From How to Sell Yourself to Others

Insight of the Day

"The mind can't take you where your heart longs to go"

By Debbie Ford
Speaker and Author of Why Good People Do Bad Things