Attitude Revolution

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. – Winston Churchill

Our attitudes are important factors in determining how far we get along our success paths. Your attitude is the way you think and feel that affects your behavior. So in effect it is not merely what you think but the way you think.

King Solomon reckoned that, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Mahatma Gandhi expounded on this by stating that, “Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

Ultimately, your thoughts do two things. First they show you who you really are. When in doubt as to who you are, do not go as far as asking for people’s opinion. Simply search through your thoughts. Second, your thoughts determine who you will become. Your thoughts are to your life what the steering wheel is to a car – it determines the direction.

To develop a great attitude, take careful note of your manners. Young folks think it is old school to say sorry when wrong, please when they need help, or thank you when they are helped. These simple manners affect our attitudes immensely. Also, you should identify people that have threaded the path you are on and follow. Mentors help us ensure we don’t make the behavioral mistakes they made. Finally, be present. Be there when you are needed. Do not miss out on opportunities to be a part of worthy ventures.

You can change everything by changing your attitude to a positive one. 

Spiritual Revolution

Believe me a man cannot even see the kingdom of God without being BORN AGAIN. – Jesus (the Christ)

We all have two pairs of eyes (that’s my way of expressing it) – the outer set of eyes that we can all see and an inner pair that we cannot see. With your outer set you have access to the physical environment. Your eyes feed you with up eighty percent of the information you have. Though very important, your outer eyes are very limited to the things that presently exist.

With your inner pair of eyes sight has no boundaries. You can see what no one else can. You have access to limitless information. It is with your inner eyes that you see the future. Joseph was seeing with his inner eyes when he declared to his family, “Look I have dreamed another dream … the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed to me,” when they were mere wandering shepherds. Martin Luther King (Jnr) saw with his inner eyes when he proclaimed, “I have a dream that one day my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skins but by the content of their character,” though what his outer eyes saw was racial prejudice and discrimination. With these men and many others that have experienced inner sight I can boldly say they had a glimpse into the Kingdom of God.

For your inner eyes to see a future yet covered, you need a spiritual revolution. You need a complete and dramatic change in your inner person – your spirit. In the words of a carpenter, Jesus (the Christ), you “cannot even see the Kingdom of God without being born again.” You must have a complete transformation, a change that is not short of existing for the first time all over again.

Being born again means the second you never existed prior to the revolution. Your prejudices and biases, your desires and inklings, your habits and comfort zones, all have never existed.

A spiritual revolution is, indeed, an awesome experience because it empowers you on your inside. You will suddenly be able to affirm that, “I can do ALL things through the anointing (empowerment inside you), which strengthens me.”

In addition, it sets up for an all-involving success. By this I mean the whole of you will be a part of your success story. You will identify and make consistent progress in your unique success path and you will experience what King Solomon meant when he said, “The [success] path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” 

Another Theory of Evolution

There is a queer feature in all of us that robs us of the best God has in store for our lives – our ability to adapt to unfavorable situations. On the one side our adaptive features help us to survive difficult times. The father of modern-day evolution, Charles Darwin stated that, “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” I agree with this statement. To survive you must learn to adapt, to acclimatize, to familiarize, to conform. You must learn to act like the Romans while in Rome.

Unfortunately survival is the best you will continually get out of an adaptive life. If you would live life to the fullest you must take a step further. You must learn to get ahead of mere conformity to creating the changes of the favorable situation you want to experience.

A full life is full with exciting experiences. It is motivated with visions, goals and a skillfully defined purpose. This is a far cry from what most of us experience. We are used to changes made – howbeit without empathy – by the government. We cry and shout, protest and accept a milder version of the same oppression. We are trained in schools to not be different. “Fit in!” we are commanded, “you are not the first and neither will you be the last.” Any wonder we are so hopelessly – and non-uniquely – the same? We are Zebras in a flock of Zebras.

                        [see also: Do You Want a Revolution?]

I conclude with this lovely poem by Mokokoma Mokhonoana culled from his book, The Confessions of a Misfit. It summarizes my thought line for this article.

Somebody is born.

Somebody goes to school.

Somebody learns to conform.

Somebody types a CV.

Somebody gets a job.

Somebody follows orders.

Somebody gets a golden watch.

And then, eventually,

Somebody dies.
       And, a nobody is buried...

…

…

Selah 

To read other articles on change click here.

Work IS Progress

On the seventh day God finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. – 1st Book of Moses

 “All work and no play,” it is said, “makes Jack a dull boy.” True. Have you ever wondered what all play and no work makes Jack?

Work is a universal part of human life. Skin color may vary, cultures may be different, and tongues may be diverse but everywhere you turn on the face of the globe people work. It is a good thing to work. Paul, the fiery apostle once opined: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat”! He was of the old school that taught there is no food for lazy man.

Beyond food, there are some very important things to note about work. First, we were all created to work. We read that, “God placed the man in the Garden of Eden as its gardener, to tend and take care of it.” The very first assignment man had was work-hinged.

Second, work brings us into productive living. You cannot live productively without working. Paul encouraged us in his letter to the Ephesians, “If anyone is stealing he must stop it and begin using those hands of his for honest work so that he can give to others in need.”

Third, work teaches us self-discipline. Remember that whatever (it doesn't matter what it is) your hands find to do, do it with all of your might. It takes self-discipline to exert such a level of effort to a work.

Forth, your work is healthy for your body and mind. Waddell G., Aylward M., and Burton K. in Work and common health problems, note: “It is known that unemployed people and their families suffer a higher rate of premature death, increased rates of depression and anxiety, higher rates of self-reported ill health, heart disease and risk factors of heart disease.”

                          [also read: How to Love What You Do]

       Finally, if you work you will appreciate other peoples work. You would learn to see the efforts of others and have respect for it. It is easy to look down on another person’s efforts if you are idle but when you work your outlook will be different. 

Have you Asked Yourself the Right Questions?

At the end of the day, the questions we ask of ourselves determine the type of people that we will become. – Leo Babauta (Blogger and author)

“Who has a question to ask?” You probably have heard this statement a zillion times in classrooms, conferences, seminars and churches. The default response is, “No” (at least until someone becomes bold enough to ask some silly question with an obvious answer.)

Interestingly, your breakthrough can come from the quality of questions you ask yourself. It was Voltaire that said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” Many questions lack substantial quality and so shut the doors of progress rather than unlock them.

I suggest a progression in the path of quality self-questioning. In this process there are three very important words: What, Why, and How. These words must be used in this progression. Do not stop until you conclude the process else you will be left with a crippling answer.

So let’s do a little exercise on a person that has an issue with his or her looks:

STAGE I:

Question: What is the problem I have with my looks?

Possible Answer: I am thinner than I wish to be.

In this stage the word, “What,” unlocks the situation. It brings you to a clear realization of the problem. The clearer you ask this question the better the response you will receive. Now you can progress to the next stage.

STAGE II:

Question: Why am I thinner than I wish to be?

Possible Answer(s): Because my mother was very thin. Because I don’t eat healthy foods. Because I don’t have friends to support me.

  This stage tells you the possible reasons why you are facing a particular situation. You must be careful with this stage because you can easily get very bad answers that can affect your self-esteem. This is more reason why you must not stop here.

STAGE III:

Question: How can I get better looks?

Possible Answer(s): I could eat healthier diets. I could begin an exercise program. I could read stories of people that overcame similar problems. I could start a blog that tells people about the progress I am making.

This stage is very important as asking “How” unlocks your creativity and ushers you into a world of positive answers. This is the stage that will liberate you from any problem. Without this stage quality self-questioning is impossible. You can try this exercise with any problem you are facing – it works all the times you use it.