The Lord said: “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain.” Be thou removed and thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, whatsoever things you desire-when ye pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them”. Faith is, therefore, a miracle worker. It looks beyond all boundaries, transcends all limitations, penetrates all obstacles and sees the goal. Success begins with a fellow’s will, it is sustained by his faith, determination and tenacity and it is achieved by his efforts, endurance and concentration. It is all, in brief, in the state of mind. “If you think you are beaten, you are ; if you think you dare not, you don’t ; if you would like to win but think you can’t it is almost a cinch you won’t,” for firm must be the will, patient the heart and passionate the aspiration to secure the fulfilment of the chosen goal. Success is not a matter of luck or genius but basically pluck and hard work. It depends on adequate preparation and indomitable determination. Nothing is impossible; to think a thing impossible is to make it so. [the_ad id=”17141″]
That is why the great Napoleon said that the word “impossible’, did not find a place in his dictionary. For the very same reason poet Henley asserted: “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul”. Whatsoever may be one’s ambition–be it learning, riches, love, power or glory—one can surely attain it provided one starts with faith, proceeds with determination and persists with tenacity. Where there is a will there is a way. Patience and perseverance will show the way. Even if there is no way, one’s faith and enthusiasm will enable him to trace a new trail and produce a sure way to reach his coveted goal. Man has mastered the tallest of mountains, conquered the deepest and largest of oceans, pierced the unfathomable skies, blasted the smallest of atoms, walked on the moon and is on the threshold of discovering the secret of life. He has made science and technology work unbelievable wonders. Very soon man may be “colonizing the heavenly bodies–the planets, stars and galaxies. Every one of these seeming impossibilities have been rendered possible, because somebody or others believed it to be possible and worked for it day and night, and night and day, day after day and. year after year, perhaps throughout his entire life with nothing but his faith and hope to hold on. Are these very achievements not enough to convince us that anything is possible to him who believes?
This great truth about faith and will power is equally applicable to the ordinary individual to attain success in his life. In the words of Vernon Howard. “Every man is what he imagines himself to be. Your actual life conforms to your pictured life. Therefore, the certain way to change the actual self is to charge your imaginative speech with every kind of positive thinking.” We learn from many sources that we live in a world of our own making. In other words, our thoughts and attitudes ultimately make our lives, shape our destinies. [the_ad id=”17142”]
Since we can control our thought process we can definitely choose what we shall think. It is a fallacy and grave mistake to imagine that thoughts occur on their own and they cannot be generated and directed in a planned, profitable, productive and positive manner. By choosing what we should think and dwelling on those thoughts we have in our power, at any time, to change our life from failure to success and from misery to mirth. Actions spring from thought. Within his mind, every person projects a thought-picture of the kind of person he is or wishes to be. This mental image serves as a blue-print for his sub-conscious mind to work on. In the end he blossoms according to his mental image. Therefore, the secret of successful living depends a great deal on the vision one has of himself, on the belief he has in his abilities, and on the faith he has of attaining the ultimate goal, no matter the difficulties, setbacks and sacrifices he has to encounter in the process. By developing a positive attitude and building a positive self-image one can be happier and healthier, more successful and more prosperous. By constant and conscious effort he must shut out and drive away negative ideas and thoughts from his mind. The words he speaks should be happy, hopeful, positive and dynamic. Positive and negative minded persons mainly differ in their attitudes towards their daily tasks. An individual with a negative slant of mind thinks of the reason why he might fail. He invariably speaks about his difficulties, dangers, problems, and snags. On the other hand, a positive person focusses his mind on the reasons that would lead him to success. He notes the difficulties but does not allow himself to be cowed down by them. He sets his mind to find the answers to solve his problems. He is confident that he will conquer his difficulties. This faith invariably wins, To be positive we must study the facts carefully, obtain the best possible advice we can, and then take a firm decision. [the_ad id=”17150″]
Once thus determined, we must turn our back on thoughts of possible failures and mishaps. Instead, we must persist with hope and courage. Invariably decisive action backed by self-confidence and unshakable faith brings good results in the end. Negative behavior reflected by hesitation, indecision, making provision for all unreal and imaginary eventualities produces frustrations and often the very disasters, it was intended to “prevent. Only to quell such doubts the invaders burnt their boats after landing. It meant that they had to fight their way through or perish.
A positive person is interested in people and his surroundings. Although he is tenacious and determined, he does not have dogmatic or overbearing ideas. On the other hand, he listens to others Willingly and sympathetically. He argues a point rationally in a ‘logical manner. He does not hesitate to admit when he is in the wrong and modify his view when he sees the validity in the arguments of others. In addition, a positive person is always active, : doing things and not merely dreaming about things. He has set goals or objectives and always tries to translate his ideas into action. He is at home in the company of strangers; welcomes new contacts, helps others and enjoys new experiences and adventures. He takes active interest in others and does not hesitate to render help wherever possible. He keeps an open mind and is eager to learn new ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Negative people, on the other hand, are self-centered. They shun company and prefer to stay aloof. They have no firm views on any subject and generally avoid making up their minds as long as it can safely be done. A positive person is not afraid of problems and difficulties. On the contrary, he thrives on them. He learns from his mistakes and improves upon his performance.
[the_ad id=”17144″]A negative person gives up at the Himsiest excuse. We can thus see that it is the mental attitude that counts for success. A positive person invariably succeeds and wins. A positive approach is based on belief and faith. The individual who confidently feels and firmly believes that he will succeed, ultimately succeeds. It is the indomitable faith that conquers.
Gautama Buddha declared “The mind is everything; what you think, you become”. If one is weak, assailed with fears and doubts and feels defeated, the reason may well be that he has allowed failures and negative ideas to dominate his thoughts, developing a strong unconscious belief that he does not have the ability to succeed. The salvation, therefore, lies in controlling one’s thoughts. “One must think positively, speak positively and act positively. He must make it a point to look at the things with optimism and hope. In the works of E.W. Wilcox: “Man is what he thinks. Not what he says, reads or hears. By persistent thinking, you can undo any condition which exists. You can free yourself from any chains, whether of poverty, sin, ill-health, unhappiness or fear”.
It is, therefore, correct to say that all is possible to him that believeth
Life’s battles don’t always go,
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins,
Is the one who thinks he can”.
