Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Recycling the Mind


How to Recycle Your Mind


Photo by Rick Mortimer



  I always wondered why it was that so few people I meet on a daily basis could be said to be high achievers.  That is to say, people who consistently meet the goals they set for themselves in the various areas of their lives.  Some people want to grow in areas of spirituality, others wanted to be healthier, and still others to be wealthier.  However, most of those who admitted to me that they even had goals, also told me that they did not feel very optimistic about achieving them.  I felt about the same way, and since I had the opportunity to do so, I took the time to study on why so many of us do not achieve our goals, and why it seems that so few do.
  This led me to discover the most amazing gift I was ever given:  The power to control my own destiny and to achieve any goal or dream I can believe in for myself. 
  Here’s how it works:
  It is from out of our subconscious mind that our future flows.
  The mind is said to be comparable to an ice-berg in that only the top ten percent is recognized by most people.  This is what we refer to as the conscious mind.  It is the part of our brain that we are hearing ourselves think with, and that we use for logical thought.
  What most people don’t recognize is that it is the sub-conscious mind which directs us to make the actions and choices that we do process each day.  This section of our mind is often referred to as the seat of our ego or our id.  It creates and holds onto our self-made picture of ourselves.  It is also the part of the brain that runs all our body functions for which we do not take conscious thought of; breathing for instance.
 Our mind is programmed by habits which are formed by our predominant thought patterns.  It is from these patterns of thought that we will act, and these actions are what create our ‘outer circumstance’.  
  Control those patterns and you control your future.
  How?
  The mind works by habit-force.  What we program our sub-conscious mind with will dictate how it will think by ‘default.’  Once we understand this, we then have the power to change the way our mind functions as it is faced with our daily situations.  Let’s say for example, I desire to be a more positive type of person.  I may be a predominantly negative type of person, but if I want to change that then it is within my power to do so.  I can start to bombard my mind with positive thoughts in all circumstance by an act of my will, mix those thoughts with strong emotion, and my sub-conscious mind will soon start to act out of that new thought pattern and begin seek out and find the positive side of any given set of circumstance.  The emotion should be joy, or excitement, or even anger; any emotion that is strongly felt. This reinforces the importance of this set of thoughts to your mind.
  By taking every thought captive and deliberately reinforcing this action, habit-force will eventually take over and soon my subconscious mind will be directing me to the positive possibilities in a situation instead of the negative ones.  I will now find myself having a positive outlook without having to ‘work’ at it anymore.  Even more importantly, my outer circumstance will change and become more positive also, because my mind will now see the positive choices available to me, instead of those choices being based on the old negative view I was being directed to previously.
  Any change in your outer circumstance comes from change on the inside first, simply because our circumstances are the result of our actions which come from the decisions and choices we make; which of course come from our thoughts.
And that is how you change your future.  One thought at a time. 
  The key is desire coupled with self-discipline.  I must first want to change, and then I must be determined to pursue that desire with diligence.  I must be persistent.  I must be patient –and I must be thorough!
  It is a sad fact that in North America, 95% of people over the age of 65 are considered to be unsuccessful financially to the point of needing some sort of financial assistance to sustain a decent life style.  The other 5% obviously found the key above and applied it to take the road to prosperity instead of poverty.
  Which group do you want to be in?  Think about it!
 Rick Mortimer

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

He found the Secret to Success


 It is said that the biggest fear man has is fear of change.  This leads to complacency. Nothing changes until you change it.  Unfortunately, we get 'set in our ways' - which simply means that we develop habits that imprison us in jails of our own making.  And there we remain until forced by outside circumstance to reach for higher ground and to develop the required new habits that will keep us there or move us even higher.
 Here's a little story about someone who started on the right path and then allowed himself to be immobilized by the sometimes very subtle fear of change.



Photographer: Rick Mortimer



The Secret to All Success



I sat in my room and I studied about success and all that it means
I read book after book on successful folks, and how they attained their dreams.
I spent a fortune in book stores; I listened to CD’s and tapes
I spent countless hours upon my bed, just pondering what it would take.

I read interviews with the rich folk, and the ranting of the poor
I studied until I was cross-eyed; and then reached for ‘just one more.’
One more book to help me, just one more tape or two
One more dose of the truth I need to be successful too.

As I stayed at home and studied, and time slowly slipped away
I saw other folks attain the success that I read about each day.
And as the time went passing by and my knowledge of principles grew
The more successful the other folks got – the ones that went out to do.

I quote these words of a very wise man, who’s wisdom I hoped to attain:
 “The living is in the doing, and the knowing is in the pain.”
And although I have read that often, and memorized it too,
I never did apply it – nor make myself go out and do.

I never did go act upon the knowledge that I’d gleaned
I never did apply it and so wrest from life my dreams.
And now that I am old and poor, with eyesight growing dim
I’ve found the key to success at lastYou simply just begin!


©
Rick Mortimer
May 2010
New Westminster
British Columbia