Wise men and philosophers throughout the ages have disagreed on many things, but many are in unanimous agreement on one point: "We become what we think about." Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius put it this way: "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it." In the Bible we find: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
One Sunday afternoon, a cranky grandfather was visiting his family. As he lay down to take a nap, his grandson decided to have a little fun by putting Limburger cheese on Grandfather's mustache. Soon, grandpa awoke with a snort and charged out of the bedroom saying, "This room stinks." Through the house he went, finding every room smelling the same. Desperately he made his way outside only to find that "the whole world stinks!"
So it is when we fill our minds with negativism. Everything we experience and everybody we encounter will carry the scent we hold in our mind.
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Complain! Complain! Complain!
It takes a disciplined spirit to endure the monastery on Mount Serat in Spain. One of the fundamental requirements of this religious order is that the young men must maintain silence. Opportunities to speak are scheduled once every two years, at which time they are allowed to speak only two words.
One young initiate in this religious order, who had completed his first two years of training, was invited by his superior to make his first two-word presentation. "Food terrible," he said. Two years later the invitation was once again extended. The young man used this forum to exclaim, "Bed lumpy." Arriving at his superior's office two years later he proclaimed, "I quit." The superior looked at this young monk and said, "You know, it doesn't surprise me a bit. All you've done since you arrived is complain, complain, complain."
Exaggerated? Maybe. What if you were asked to share two words that describe your Life? Would your focus be the lumps, bumps, and unfairness...or are you committed to dwell on those things that are good, right, and lovely?
1 comment:
I was abused for seven years by my ex husband. It was a nightmare. Sometimes I often wonder if I dreamed it up. Until I awoke and felt and saw the bruises. I saw the huge dent in his truck where he slammed my head into the door of his dodge ram. He tried to kill me. Shot at me on several occassions. The number one question: Why Stay?? If you leave they will try to kill you (period). I had to go into hiding with my children. He ran me off the road into a canal, he shot at me, he kidnapped me, he totaled my car in my parents driveway with his body. Body slamming every inch of my car! These men are extremely disturbed and dangerous.
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