He says, “I’ve been walking six miles a day. I do three in the morning and three more at night – and I listen to your Theatre of the Mind CDs the entire time. It’s awesome.”
“Great,” I said. “Let’s go for a walk.”
He smiled.
We started to walk and talk. And as we walked he began to ask questions. Really good questions.
He wanted to know the main difference between self-esteem and self-image – and how each relates to success.
He wanted to know why some people who achieve various successes, still don’t feel good deep inside.
I explained to him that many people cannot wrap their mind around the very word “success.”
They don’t have a clear or working definition of what it is. Ask these people to tell you about a success experience they’ve had and they literally draw blanks.
Truly. They cannot conceive of a single success experience.
Even if they’ve completed 8 years of college and have a doctorate – or they’re medical doctors, they can still find reasons WHY they haven’t really had a success experience yet.
I know people who’ve built their own homes, earned a ton of dough, married the woman of their dreams, written books, created companies, traveled the whirld – and yet, deep down, they still feel like nothing.
How can this be possible?
Truth be told, this situation is more common than you’d think.
Some people don’t feel successful, regardless of what they’ve done, because they don’t know how to be grateful, to stop and smell, touch and kiss the roses.
As soon as they accomplish one thing, they’re off to the next thing. Gratitude doesn’t exist. Taking time to breathe and be free doesn’t exist.
It’s more, more, more.
And more is good – provided you have the decency to appreciate what you have, where you’ve been and what you’ve got.
How many people do you know who say “thank you” – and mean it?
How often do you take a few moments during your day to think about all the things, all the people, all the circumstances you’ve had, are having – or will soon have – and how marvelous it is to be in your shoes – with or without the problems that go with it?
How often?
Chances are excellent that you NEVER take the time to be grateful. Or you do it so seldom the answer is practically never.
Last night I was playing ball with my son. When we finished, I said, “Son, I have something for you.”
I walked toward him. He’s waiting for me to give him something. But where is this something? Where am I hiding it? Am I going to get it out of my car? Or from the house?
As I walked toward him I could sense his curiosity growing. And when I was a foot away, I threw my arms around his torso and gave him a hug.
“Way to work today,” I said. “That’s awesome.”
We tend to overlook the little things that pay big dividends.
We tend to overlook the bigger things that are central to where we are today.
And we’re so good at overlooking the little and the bigger – that we even overlook the really BIG things, the pivotal people, the life-changers, the knowledge, the information, the six honest serving men – as Kipling called them.
No, I’m not successful because I’m not as rich as Bill Gates.
That’s B.S.
No, I’m not successful because I wasn’t valedictorian, or didn’t win the World Series, or the Super Bowl or get my Ph.D.
More B.S.
No, I’m not successful because ….
Because what?
You’re alive, aren’t you? Your heart’s still beating. You can still breathe. You can still walk, talk, read, write and feed yourself.
The fact is you could do NONE of the above when you were getting started – and breathing and having a heart beat are not something you do to yourself. They’re automatic.
Even if you cover your mouth to forcibly stop breathing, eventually nature will force your hand so you gasp for air.
So what’s the #1 Path to Success?
It’s the path of remembering who you are, where you came from, who helped you along the way – and how grateful and happy you are for everyone and everything.
Know someone who won’t show gratitude?
They’re on the path to failure.
And you’re not.
The greatness of Theatre of the Mind is that the process puts you into a state of gratitude and a state of flow – and it does so easily and naturally, without you even realizing it.
What a way to live.
Yours,
Matt Furey
P.S. Want to know of one of the biggest reasons why so many visualizers, affirmers and goal setters never get what they want? Listen to Theatre of the Mind and it’ll be clearer than crystal.
