As I proceed,  I notice my habits of thoughts over and over again. How do I encourage myself and skip the self blame and discouragement? Today I noticed that I want to review the date I had last weekend. Tempted, instead I reach for new thinking.

Have you ever said to yourself, “But this has not worked out for me before. I cannot _____” ? Many of us look to times past when we did not attain what we wanted. Many of us have been acculturated to use that as evidence against ourselves. Ready to take a different view?

I love thinking about the path of Thomas Edison and his development of the light bulb. The story goes that he took 1000 experiments to create that device that sustains illumination. I wonder what he said to himself at experiment 750. There he was presumably in his laboratory, had  already been working for a good chunk of time.  Some of us might say, ” This blankety-blank thing will never work. I quit” But Edison says something like, “Maybe if I adjust this widget this way, it would improve…”  He stays psyched, he persists, knowing not when his mechanism will shine forth.  When he awoke on a day down the road, it was like any other day at first. That day in the lab, the bulb worked. He is just like you and me.

Once I had the chance to view an exhibit of John Lennon’s illustrations. One of them displayed this sentence, “My aunt always told me, ‘The guitar is very well, John,  but you will  never make a living at it.'” Isn’t it fun to picture the day John heard his aunt say that and see in your mind’s eye his ignoring her? He just kept doing what he loved. Imagine!

Jack Canfield includes a page called “Consider This” in Chicken Soup for the Soul. I offer a few of his entries:

– “Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.”[1]

– “The parents of the famous opera singer Enrico Caruso wanted him to be an engineer. His teacher said he had no voice at all and could not sing.”[2]

– “Henry Ford failed  and went broke five times before he finally succeeded.”[3]

–  ” The sculptor Rodin’s father said ‘I have an idiot for a son.’  Described as the worse pupil in the school, Rodin failed three times to secure admittance to the school of art. His uncle called him uneducable.[4]

Take away for Readers

Please… tell yourself stories of success– those like these and YOURS.

Notice what feels really good to think or do and think and do more of that!!

Enjoy all you can

Daydream

Keep going.

Do you have accounts that relate to this essay? Have a question? Contact me at jpearl@streamofyes.com. Together we add shine to this wonderful world.