Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.– Proverbs 4:23
THE PLEASANT WINDS of opportunity blow favourably in the direction of everyone in his/her journey in life. However, like time, opportunities are not equipped with reverse gears. Once they pass your way, there is no turning back, no matter your class, colour or creed. They are gone forever.
Taking hold of those precious moments while they are within your reach can therefore work to your advantage.
Last week I suggested that December can become a defining period for you if, upon reflection, you may have allowed some golden opportunities to slip through your fingers during the last 11 months. I examined some social instances within the scope of friendships and family that may still be ripe for the picking.
Today, I shall scrutinise the idea of mental opportunities which may be within your reach, making it possible for you to make significant positive lifetime decisions. You can choose to be a winneror a whiner. Winners are positive intheir outlook; whiners are pessimistic in their output.
When you glance back at the months that have passed, can you honestly confess that you were very positive in your thinking? If not, why not decide to seize the opportunity before year-end to champion a personal cause to produce something meaningful?
Think positively
Positive thinkers can be classified as champions. I like what management and leadership consultant Simon Sinek said about champions. “Champions are not the ones who always win races – champions are the ones who get out there and try. And try harder the next time. And even harder the next time. ‘Champion’ is a state of mind. They are devoted. They compete to best themselves as much, if not more, than they compete to best others. Champions are not just athletes.”
Before year-end, think about something meaningful and set yourmind to do it. Do not only see yourself as an individual championing a great cause, but also becoming successful regardless of circumstances. Understand that positive thinkers become successful people.
It was Jack Canfield who said: “Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action stepsthey need to take to get them closer to the fulfilment of their goals, rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.”
Let this year end on a positive note for you as you seize and cultivate the opportunity to be a positive thinker and allow that positive attitude to flow into the New Year. Great dividends await you. A positively thinking individual has a tendency to think pleasantly of others.
Think pleasantly
The words of a wise and insightful man said that as a person thinks in his heart, so will his actions be towards others. It is a fact that an individual cannot be more than what he thinks. If throughout the year so far you have been feeding your mind on unpleasant thoughts towards others, you are not harming them; you are poisoning your mental, emotional, social, physical and spiritual system.
Clinical psychologist Leon F. Seltzer said not thinking pleasantly towards others has the potential of not only creating sleeplessness, high blood pressure, anxiety and prolonged mental and emotional pain, but also can be a breeding ground for distrust, lack of joy and hostility.
Change approach
These last few days in December may offer you an excellent opportunity to change your undesirable approach toward someone who may have offended you. A philosopher once made this thought-provoking statement: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
My recommendation to you is that you be strong and forgive your offender. Never carry that weight with you into the New Year. If you are in the habit of thinking positively and pleasantly, it may be easy to think progressively.
Think progressively
Progressive thinkers have amind of their own. They are not easily swayed by others, but develop clearly defined goals and with dogged determination pursue them with a sense of purpose and destiny.
I continue to come across too many individuals who would be classified as bright and intelligent but who still cannot think for themselves and therefore end up repeatedly making less than sensible choices.
If for the last 11 months you recognised that you were permitting the thoughts of individuals to dictate the direction in which your life should go, I recommend that you take hold of the opportunity this month to put a full stop to the practice.
The Holy Bible gives excellent counsel in Philippians 4:8 when it said: “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s Word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [centre your mind on them, and implant them in your heart].”
Plot a path to be an independent thinker before the door of thisyear closes. With the aid of theintangible gems of God’s matchlessgift of wisdom and understanding, get on with the business of adding value to your own mind.
Can you think of the endless possibilities of deciding to habitually think positively, pleasantly and progressively?
• Haynesley Griffith is a marriage and family life consultant. Email: [email protected]
