Attack Before Getting a Checkmate

by Saalik Siddikki

“Attack life, it's going to kill you anyway. -- Steven Coallier”

Have you ever paused for a moment and pondered, in the hustle bustle of everyday hectic activities that life is going to kill you anyway. There is no doubt about it.  What only matters is span of time.  Stop in the middle of your tracks right away and check your performance.  Ask yourself bluntly:

• What were your goals?

• When and where did you start pursuing your goals?

• What tracks did you choose towards your destiny?

• What luggage did you take with you and how much is left now?

• Did you have any companions or your left alone to conquer the world?

• What milestones came your way and where did you move from there?

• Have you achieved any single goal or more?

• Are you satisfied with your journey towards your destiny?

OR

Have you been just wandering around, only doing window shopping, killing time, joining and quitting jobs merely to make both ends meet and wasting your energies purposelessly in futile exercises?

It is only you, indeed, who could answer these questions to determine your current status.

Suppose, if you say that you have achieved all or most of your goals, then what?  Will you be spending the rest of your life huddled up in the comfort zone of your fulfilled dreams and desires?  I don’t think you would think on these lines.  No successful person does.

On the contrary, if you are one of those who could not achieve anything in life and have fallen victim to complacence and self-pity, then you certainly need to take a revolutionary step to get out of this state of mind that is eroding your remaining ambition, enthusiasm and fervor.

Remember, you are never out of the battleground of life till your last breath.  In that case you cannot take risk of ignoring the surroundings where everybody is fighting for his/her own survival and there is a definite probability that someone attacks you before you could raise your defending shield.  What to do then?  Should you take out your sword of revenge and start killing others?  No, I didn’t mean that.

The only point that I intend to convey to you is that you should not become the scapegoat of circumstances.  Don’t kill anyone to make your way forward towards survival, but then, also never get assaulted in ignorance.

What is life?  Composition of opportunities - sometimes recurring and sometimes new – giving you a chance to avail, exerting every drop of your energy and doing as best as you can.

If no opportunity comes your way, create one for yourself.  Do your best on every frontier as if this is the last battle of your life and see how victories pile up behind you raising you to the zenith of achievements and gratification.

That is exactly what it means to attack life.   

                                                                        

  

Stop Being a Punching Bag!

by Saalik Siddikki

Does everybody feel tempted to use you as a punching bag, any time and anywhere without expecting a counter-blow?  If so, you are trapped in a terrific situation.  What should you do – drop down to disintegrate or build resistance to be felt rock-hard and cause an agonizing reaction to the punchers? The choice is exclusively your own. 

There would have been a number of reasons for your state of being a punching bag and these reasons must have roots deep into your early childhood.  Now recall your memories when you were perhaps six or eight year old. 

·        Did everybody at home make a mockery of you?

·        Were you the only one, for everyone at home and in the neighbourhood, to be taken as a natural scapegoat for everything wrong done by others?

·        Did you always or mostly feel nervous in the company of boys of your age group or a bit elder and preferred to avoid their presence around?

·        Was it usually your mom whose lap was always the best solace for you?

·        Were you ignored by your parents, brothers and sisters for no apparent reasons?

·        Were you underweight and skinny and felt misfit in the atmosphere?

·        Did you have any other weakness in your personality that prevented you from expressing your true self before others?

·        Did your teachers treat you as the twelfth man of their team?

·        Did you take shelter in escaping from challenging situations that required leadership initiatives?

Well, nobody in the world could help you determine the reasons that transformed you, slowly, silently and irritatingly, into a punching bag.  You could never have been satisfied with yourself in accepting such a humiliating existence.  There would be moments when you might have had an irresistible urge to rebel against your helplessness, to explode like a volcano.  The question is why didn’t you?  What stopped you from breaking the shackles of torture and agonizing pain? 

Think about it seriously.  It was always you who chose to nestle in the comfort zone of complacence and retreat instead of stubbornly reacting to every blow that you received.  Perhaps no one ever extended a helping hand towards you to get you out of this quagmire that continued to swallow you like an insatiable vampire.

How old are you now? 14, 18, 25, 30 or above, and are you still the same punching bag that people love to pound?  Come on man, stop punching your ego and burst out of the shell of self pity.  Yes, self pity is the most lethal poison that is taking its toll.

How long will you be deceiving yourself?  Make up your mind now, right at this moment and get rid of the cloak of helplessness – burn it down to ashes.  It is just like burning your boats to not leave a chance to back away from the battleground of realities.

The realities are hard to face but you have to.  Do a little self talk, take a bold decision and stick to it.  Remember, God does not like you to remain like this for a single moment.  You have enough courage to defy God’s will.  Why can’t you defy people’s will?  You certainly can and you should.

You have two options now.  One, move out of the reach of people’s punching range and it is not that easy.  You cannot create your own special world minus bullies – they are in abundance everywhere.  Two, turn yourself into a bag of rock-hard cement so that when, from now on, anybody punches you, he would break his own knuckles and forget about repeating it.

You may face a little embarrassment occasionally but, ultimately you would succeed in keeping the bullies at an arm’s length. 

Do it now or you would never be in a position to do so.  If possible, look around to find a mentoring friend to help you in taking a courageous decision. 

It is only you who is to take action now.  It is only you who is to transform into a new being.  It is only you who is not to act like a punching bag any more.

Power of Greed vs Ambition

by Saalik Siddikki


Synonyms of Ambition carry an air of positivity :

Goal

Aim

Aspiration

Objective

Dream

Hope

Desire

Purpose

Synonyms of Greed are shrouded in negativity : 

Gluttony

Voracity

Ravenousness

Greediness

Hunger

Insatiability

Self indulgence

Now the question is what passion a positive thinker should fuel to achieve success - ambition or greed?

We normally see ambition tagged with a desire to attain positive goals while greed labelled as a negative emotion to gain advantages or benefits by hook or by crook.

My point is what if we replace ambition with greed to achieve positive goals?  Whether it makes sense or not is not an issue here.  It has just occurred to me that the massive force of negative energy should be used to attain targets.  The intensity of negative energy is beyond question.

Think about a nuclear bomb and watch your reactive thoughts.  Do you visualize nuclear energy providing electricity and fuel to run the industry or act as a steering power to move huge ships in the seas?  Not at all.  Your mind, in a fraction of a second, goes back to world war II when America used nuclear bombs to cause devastating damage in two Japanese cities.

But now the nuclear energy is used in other fields for the benefit of scientific and medical research and producing energy for positive usage.

Similarly, we can use the power of greed to achieve our set targets merely because of its intensity.

Keep your thoughts focused on your targets but think like a greedy villain with an insatiable lust for success and achievement who does not give a damn about anything in the world while pursuing his objectives fiercely and ferociously.  

It does not mean, in any sense, that you should take steps to cause damage or loss to others.  

Thinking like a villain and using the fuel of greed simply means to build a fortress against lethargy, procrastination, complacence, lassitude and indolence which are internal hurdles in your way to march towards your destiny.

Eliminating each of the above hurdles is imperative to achieve success and you cannot take risk of ignoring these nuisance.

So, try to change your thinking pattern and take full advantage of the fierceness of negative emotions.  I am sanguine it would lessen your chances of failure and enhance the prospects of success positively. 

How to deal with bullies?

Four Practical tips to deal with difficult colleagues.

Do you have to deal with the special species of colleagues around you who are bent upon spoiling working ambiance even without any provocation? 

They are everywhere like parasites, particularly in small organizations and every organization cannot afford to get rid of them for one reason or the other.  It could be their quality of work, relationship with any of the high-ups or the benefits the employers enjoy through them.

The price of their nasty bullying is always paid by their colleagues.  Are you stuck up in such an undesired cul-de-sac of situation with no immediate way out?  Here are four practical tips to save your neck from any mishap that could cost you the job or land you in hot waters:

1. Make your worth felt 

You may already be doing your level best to achieve the set goals and doing utmost justice to your job.  Yet, the top most action that you can take to save your face, your job and your self-esteem is to do more than your current performance. 

Demonstrate to your colleagues, your seniors and your employers that you are no less in worth, to the organization, than anybody else. 

2. Never lose your self-esteem 

Whatever reaction you get from the bullies, always hold your head high with self-esteem that is the strongest power you possess in dealing with negative forces under any circumstances.

Everybody is valued in the scale of his/her self-esteem.  Even those who are jealous of you, for any reason, hold you in high regards for your self-esteem whether they let you realize it or not.

3. Be cooperative, not subservient 

The best strategy to survive and to achieve set goals is to do your best in creating a congenial ambiance in your working place.  Thus, your proffer of cooperation should be apparent so that your colleagues could feel up to asking for it without any obligation.

Make the difficult colleagues realize that you are willing to cooperate and help them in achieving their targets sorting out whatsoever problems they have, but simply as a colleague, not as a subservient and weak person.

4. Respect them as human beings 

Since every human being deserves to be respected, you had better express your feelings, even to these difficult colleagues, through your communication, body gestures and actions.

Initially, they may take it as their victory to fuel their arrogance but, with the passage of time, they would certainly understand your character and positive attitude.

Confrontation, in these situations or any other similar like these, is never a solution.  Rather you had better understand their inner compulsions, psychological factors and human nature.

I personally had to deal with such bullies during my job/stay in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1984-1987.  Thank Lord, I succeeded, through the above tactics, in transforming those difficult colleagues into friends who were crying like children when I left the Kingdom.  Why can you not do it?

Performance vs. Achievement

by Saalik Siddikki

      

            Whatever you do is your performance to achieve some target and whatever you achieve is the result of your performance.  If so, then what is more important in value and worth – performance or achievement?

            To me, the various stages of performance are true source of lasting gratification and delight comparing with joy of achievement that is usually short-timed.

            Each performance comprises actions if done with an intention and reason to reach a certain milestone, to achieve certain goals and to gain some benefits.  But, every action is not a performance like habitual activities.  They are done without a purpose in mind.

            Performance is the result of a plan to accomplish some task.  It is a process of taking steps for doing things in a certain sequence to reach a specific point of satisfaction.  

We can say that performance is a combination of:

• A plan
• Actions in a sequence
• Satisfactory accomplishment
  
  

  

  Image credit: Yogendra Singh - pexels dot com

            So, what if, regardless of all the passionate actions and concentrated efforts, you fail to pull it off?  The definite outcome is disappointment, regret, displeasure and frustration or, in exceptional cases, could be worse.

            Can you, in such a disheartening situation, do something to avoid the blitz of negative thoughts and emotions?  Most people fail to do so and fall victim to tension, depression, self-rejection and remorse.  It is merely because they are not prepared to accept a setback. And thus, they do not equip themselves with the appropriate tools to deal with a failure.

            It is simply a matter of mindset.  If you are a positive thinker, you enjoy every action of yours towards achieving your goals and in case of failure; you do not lose your heart.  You take your failure as a setback like all successful people do.  They know that setbacks are temporary phases to learn from and forget.  They do not let their feet stuck up in the muddy grounds for the rest of their life.  They move ahead to find other ways to reach their next milestone.

            Since the ultimate destiny of performance is the satisfactory accomplishment of the intended job, it is of colossal importance that you keep your thoughts totally focused on enjoying every action, for you definitely get at least two benefits from each step that you take:

• You do not remain stagnant and move ahead depending on the size of your step
• You learn something that you did not know before

            I always suggest and this is the basic theme of Think SUCCEEDED that your ultimate accomplished goal should never skip your mind.  Nonetheless, concentrating on the current moments will certainly enhance not only the quality of your performance but also your chances of success.

            The phase of satisfaction, pleasure and joy of achievement does not last long while you recall the high moments of your struggle and endeavour for a long time.  You love to mention repeatedly, to your family and friends, how you overcame the hurdles and took the challenges.  You feel euphoric in describing your struggle to overcome difficulties and obstacles.

            Do your best to make your performance excellent and exemplary for others to follow and reap the bliss of being appreciated and acclaimed.

Noisy Coins vs Cool Currency Notes

            Have you ever noticed that if you have a few coins in your pocket they make noise even without your touching them.  Try to walk a little fast or jog and they start rattling in your pocket disrupting your thoughts and making you realise their presence. 

Image credit: Pixabay

            Attitude.  Yes, they want you to take them counted.  The attitude of narrow minds, unpolished characters and under-grown personalities.   People with these qualities are hell-raisers who talk loudly, shout casually and argue obdurately over trivial matters merely to make their value realised, for they certainly possess a value like every single coin does.

            On the other hand, a bulky pack of ten grand does not create any noise whether you walk fast, jog or jump.  Sometimes you do not even feel its presence but deep somewhere in your subconscious mind you are silently and repeatedly reassured of its value.

Image credit: Pratikxox

            Does it imply then that the more value you possess the more self-contained, self-maintained and self-esteemed you become?  Yes, that is true.  You cannot increase your value through shouts, outbursts and stubbornness.  Never.

            Now find a life-size mirror.  Go straight to it.  Stand firmly with full confidence.  Look at yourself, eyes into eyes.  Ask yourself bluntly "Where do you like to be placed?"  At the bottom of a nicely erected heap of coins or somewhere in between the high denomination currency notes, roughly stacked?

            If you feel that you are still being placed, by the world, under the heap of coins, take the boldest step of your life and refine your qualities, define your characteristics.  First, create your worth and then prove it to the world with a pinch of pure self-esteem which is the essence of your value to others.

            Remember, if you do not realise your own value then how can you expect others to understand your worth? Making noise is a healthy activity but not at the cost of your devaluation. Wake up, dozing soul, wake up! Put the best side of you in the window.  If people do not feel up to paying for you, they would certainly appreciate you as we all do while window-shopping.

            When we see something of value and are unable to get it, we take pride in telling about it to our friends.  At least be something that valuable.  Make them realise your merits by keeping cool and self-contained like currency notes not by shouting or creating noisy scenes like coins.

            The above crap is the afterthought of an SMS message that my Facebook friend Azhar Abbas Azee sent me yesterday ------ "Coins" always make sound but the currency notes are always silent. So, when your value increases, keep yourself "calm and silent".

Never Give Up Quotes

3 Awesome Quotes to Ignite Your Passion to Succeed

Never give up quotes contain powerful words and emotions which can inspire change. These are quotes that have stood the test of time and that have affected the human race profoundly.

If you feel like you're on the verge of defeat or if you feel like there's no hope left, these words will help you get through.

Below are a few never give up quotes that will make even the most cynical person in the world budge.

Never Give Up Quote # 1: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." - Confucius

Life is not always easy. However, this doesn't mean that we should just roll over and play dead. According to the famous Chinese philosopher and strategist Confucius, success is not measured by the number of accolades we have hanging on our walls, but by the number of times we forced ourselves to get up and try again.

Granted, you'd much rather win than lose, but losing gives you the opportunity to learn something new. It also shows strength in character. And in the long run, having that strength to keep on going is more important.

Never Give Up Quote # 2: "You just can't beat the person who won't give up." - Babe Ruth

Legendary baseball player Babe Ruth sure knows what he's talking about. There are many different kinds of victories in this world. One of them doesn't involve a title and an award. Instead, it involves strength of character and perseverance.

Think of the countries that fought valiantly for their independence. These former colonies didn't win the war from day one. They must have lost more than a few battles and good men before they won back their freedom. Such a situation shows that as long as you keep on trying, you'll never be defeated.

Never Give Up Quote # 3: "When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place." - Anonymous

This quote is one of the most profound ones I've ever stumbled upon. It tackles one of the most important points of defeat.

Sometimes, we feel like giving up. We feel like enough is enough. This quote doesn't just tell us to get back up on the dance floor, but it reminds us to draw strength from our purpose.

These never give up quotes are all useful guidelines for getting past obstacles. I hope they serve you well.

To help you achieve your dreams and succeed in record time, I'd like to give you FREE instant access to some of the best self-help e-Books worth over $2,355.00! Download them free at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/goldaccess.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Lee

Mental Energy and Focus

How to Maximize and Harness Them

Mental energy is essential for productivity in daily life, and is even more vital when juggling more and more daily tasks and challenges. Maintaining your mental energy at a healthy level often requires some self maintenance and focus. Here are some tips to help you do this and enjoy the process.

1. Take time to think for a few minutes each day. Just let thoughts pass through your mind. Analyze how they make you feel. Check negative thoughts against objective reality. One of two things will result. Either the thought is based on an untruth and you can freely reject it. Or the thought is reflecting a challenge and you can then take steps to solve it.

2. Keep a daily log for ideas, notions, important random thoughts, and sudden inspirations. This is as simple as keeping a small notebook in your pocket, or a ready supply of paper with you. Recording a memo on your cell works great, too. Getting in this habit will inspire you to keep moving and doing, and will increase the number of productive thoughts that you have on a daily basis. 

Over the long term your ideas and inspirations will increase in quality, and you will be a regular idea machine.

3. Make sure that you are sleeping well and getting enough of it. Your body will tell you when you have either had enough sleep, or not, and you can always tell when you have not. This is important enough to dedicate a trip to your doctor if necessary. A lack of sleep reduces quality of thoughts and makes overall functioning very difficult. If you find yourself lying awake worrying about things, make a to-do list before you go to bed. This will provide you with a course of action that will give you peace of mind.

4. Exercise and proper diet are significant factors in establishing and maintaining a healthy level of mental energy. Exercise produces endorphins, which relax us and also stimulate creativity and fun centers in the brain. A proper diet maintains healthy blood sugar levels and provides nutrients that increase physical energy and keep us mentally alert. There are many free resources for proper diet and exercise all over the internet. Use them if you are unsure of how to establish correct diet and exercise routines.

5. A fun way to help keep track of positive or negative thoughts is with a penny jar. Keep a running tally of thoughts as the day goes by. At the end of the day, just before bed, count positive thoughts and negative thoughts. Place pennies in a dish, one for each positive thought. At the end of the week count how many pennies you have. If you have fewer pennies than your tally of negative thoughts, you know you need to readjust your thinking. The next week try to increase the number of pennies. Keep this up until you notice a positive change in your overall mood.

6. If you are not being as productive on a daily basis as you would like create a strict to do list. It's helpful to have a partner who will help you keep focused. If you do not, then some self-discipline is needed. Deny yourself something you enjoy and treat yourself with it when your tasks are done. This is a fun and easy way to stay on track. Another option is to ask a friend to call you and inquire about your progress. Give them some free reign to prod you if needed.

7. Celebrate your task completions. Remember that rewarding yourself for successes is every bit as important as completing them. Reward and punishment still work even on adults, and rewards are much more fun.

Simple strategies combined with conscious effort can skyrocket your mental energy and keep you on track with daily action and goal achievement. If you're not getting where you want to go analyze the reasons and take steps to change the situation. Odds are that it is your mental state that's getting in your way.

Thanks for reading! I'm Dave Cleinman. Our mental state is impacted by numerous influences all the time. Taking control of it requires conscious effort and dedication. While this process is challenging, it can also be great fun and highly exhilarating. For information on how to learn more about the process and for valuable life-changing information, visit my blog Steps to Success and sign up for my newsletter, Step by Step.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Cleinman

Images in Your Mind For Genius Thinking

By Irsan Komarga

According to research, many of us are not really using much of the genius that is within us. Our minds are proven to be very capable of learning and retaining so much information than we usually expect of ourselves. It may not seem it, but genius is within your grasp.

How? There are many ways. One way is using the images in your head. Many geniuses have discovered so much simply because they paid attention to their thoughts. If you do the same, maybe you can increase your confidence. You can recognize the chances that await you in life. You can accelerate your learning and solve most problems.

Your mind is a gift. It keeps a lot of messages for you to access. The problem is you may not be aware about the manner of accessing these messages. Well, it is quite about conditioning-mental conditioning. It is true that there is a genetic aspect to being a genius-there is proof that it is passed hereditarily from one generation to the next. However, it is also true that you can condition your mind to think like a genius, and indeed to be one.

Your mind has a treasure of images-flashes so to speak that come and go. This is one key to genius. Pay attention to these images. Okay, you can try a little meditation like exercise. Be in a quiet place. Wear loose clothing and be in a loose position. Relax and focus your mind on a certain problem that you are trying to solve. If this is your first time doing this, try to choose a relatively simple problem.

As you do so, keep on focusing, and start to pay attention to flashes that suddenly come to your mind. What are these flashes, these images and these thoughts? They are creative insights hidden in "code". So your mind is actually framing a solution for the problem. The problem now then would be how to decipher the code. Well, it may take quite more practice. But continually paying attention to these images and what they mean for you can enlighten you in problem solving.

This is the key to genius thinking. Start with brainstorming with someone you trust and who is intellectually competent. Go over your "thinking patterns" and never ignore your mind. By doing this, you can begin to enlighten yourself with wonderfully fresh and creatively new genius thinking.

Irsan's passion is to write on wide varieties of subjects. His latest writing is athttp://www.bodysolidhomegym.net which contains reviews on body solid home gym and other information about home gyms.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irsan_Komarga

A huge SUCCESS and ACHIEVEMENT

- Think Succeeded - had not occurred in a flash of a moment, nor is it the outcome of some brainstorming.  Personally I feel that it has grown out of the fertile land of positive thinking.  I have already written somewhere else that all the credit of a change in my thinking pattern goes to Anthony Robbins.  I read only one of his books, 'Mind Power', back in 2004 and applied some of its contents to get rid of migraine and succeeded.

And quite mysteriously, I have been swimming through the stormy waters of unfavourable circumstances since 2004.  I lost my job, sold property to start business and lost everything on the morning of 28th January, 2008.  And then there was a long battle with the damn suicidal depression that almost devastated me physically, spiritually, psychologically and intellectually as well.  And I am one of those bravest people on earth who overcome their suicidal depression without any medication or consultation with a medical expert.  That is God's greatest blessing. 

(Hey, hey, hey - - - please do not take a pity on me, I really hate that.  I am just narrating the facts, not crying over the spilt milk.  Should you feel interested, please move the cursor to your right. There is a page titled as 'You must read this first' under SPECIAL PAGES.  I owe you a special prayer if you do so!)

If you have time and interest, I would like you to please follow me right from the very first post to the latest one and derive a conclusion whether I deserve to be labelled as a SUCCESS and ACHIEVER or not.

Personally I have started considering myself a huge SUCCESS and ACHIEVER because of the mail that I received from an Australian gentleman last week.  He writes:

'Dear Mr. Saalik, I am a 66 year old person living only with my dog 'XYZ'.  My children abandoned me after the death of my loving wife.  

Before I happened to visit your blog today, I had already had the last talk of my life with XYZ.  Life had become so painful for me.  Then I turned on the computer and started net surfing to find someone who could adopt my dog after my death - and found your blog.  I read your story and other articles and have just told my XYZ 'you are so unlucky that I've got another friend in the other side of the world'.

Some of my friends keep asking me about how much I am earning from my blogs.  Till writing this, I have not earned a single cent from any of my blogs nor is it my ultimate goal.  I need to earn a lot to fulfill my children's dreams that they sacrificed for my failed ambitions and adventures.  But I have other plans for achieving monetary targets.  I am studying and learning internet / affiliate marketing.  I welcome any helping suggestions in this regard.

Perhaps my friends measure my success in terms of money whereas I measure it through the achievement that I have mentioned above.

What do you say?  Please share your feelings and thoughts to inspire others.  Thank you. 

God protect you from all failures, mishaps, diseases, tensions, depression, suicidal thoughts, shattered dreams and hopelessness.

Power of Negative Thinking with Positive Attitude

LET GOD FILL THE EMPTY SPACE

It goes without saying that a positive thinker sees the glass half filled whereas a negative thinker sees it half empty.

Oh, suppose you have a half filled glass, what now?  Should you keep it half filled and half empty and for how long?

The day before yesterday I was sitting with a friend.  I was drinking my cold drink from a bottle using straw.  My friend had his drink poured in an imported glass.  He had already finished half of his drink when his young niece, about 4, came over, picked the glass and finished the drink.

We both watched her silently and hoped that she would leave now, but she did not.  Instead, she asked his uncle, my friend, to fill it again for her!  My friend’s sister came, grabbed the kid’s hand and took her away.  But, the story did not end there.  We completed our talk and I returned home.

Now while I am typing this article, a half filled glass of water on my desktop CPU has arrested my attention.  It is factually this glass of water that has triggered me to initiate writing this article.

I am still thinking about the kid.  Why did she ask my friend to re-fill the glass?  Very simple, she felt that she could drink more.  I don’t know whether she got a re-filled glass or not but, that little rascal taught me a great lesson that I would like to share with you.

My understanding the matter is that if we have a half-filled glass, we should not remain complacent with it.  We should rather try to empty it as fast as we can and think about how to re-fill it again, of course legitimately!

The Creator has set a definite example for us to follow.  And that is the process of evolution which confirms that everything is on the move towards a certain level of growth.  I have been sitting in my chair, before my computer, for the last two hours but, in reality, I have moved 7200 seconds ahead of where I was 120 minutes ago. 

Time is not the same at 1:15 A.M. where it was at 11:15 P.M.  The air is not the same, neither the temperature nor the humidity.  Even my aura must have undergone many changes during this short span of time.  And the age of the whole universe has also decreased (or increased) by two hours and moved further closer to the dooms day.   

So, our state of being complacent with the half filled glass does not mean that everything has come to a standstill.  It is rather us who have remained behind by not finishing the glass and seeking more to re-fill it.  Our complacence solely means one thing that we do not have a desire, a passion or obsession to achieve more in life.

Just imagine what would happen if all the people, since the arrival of Adam and Eve on this earth, would act complacently?  We would still be living in the prehistoric age looking for huge leaves to cover our bodies and exploring caves for a save overnight sleep.

What will happen if we change our angle of vision to that of negative thinkers?  I am still watching my half empty glass and thinking to finish it quickly.  Here I go; the half filled glass is fully empty.  Now it is impossible for me to continue writing.  So, I am going to refill it again but this time with something better like cold milk. 

Oh, please wait.  I won’t leave your thirst for learning unquenched.  The conclusion of all this talk is that if we do not empty our half filled glass, we may not think about refilling it with something better.  Does it also imply that people given half filled glass are actually blessed with a stronger passion to find ways to re-fill it?  I think this is what God likes them to do.

Whatever you possess, physically, intellectually or spiritually, just consume it and share it with others so that God conceives a better idea of how to fill the space again and with something better.  This is also a kind of attitude of gratitude for what we are blessed with and a surefire way to further growth in every sense of the word.

Your learning something and sharing it with others or earning money and spending it on the neediest ones means you put yourself before God in a position where He does not leave the empty space unfilled.  It is against His own system. Try the formula and be gratified.

The power of negative thinking also works this way.

Drink the Half Filled Glass and Fill the Full Empty

Conquering Depression As a God's Warrior

Losing business, job, a loved one, broken relationships, a serious disease or any other setback in life could make a person tense and eventually trigger depressive feelings.

The full-blown depression is a series of episodes of a number of symptoms that occur frequently or infrequently for some time and for different reasons.

These symptoms range from the feelings of being neglected, failed, abandoned, lost, maltreated, used, abused, degraded, insulted, humiliated and hated.  Some or all of these feelings consequently result in different apparent symptoms like:

Anger

Sadness

Distress

Despondence

Nervousness

Feeling Guilty

Seeking Solitude

Extreme Lethargy

Insomnia or Increased Sleep

A Sudden Urge to Weep or Cry

Detachment from Social Activities

No Hunger or Excessive Hunger

Loss or Increase in Weight

Lack of Interest in Life

Suicidal Thoughts

If and when any of the above or similar symptoms appears, a lot depends on the person who experiences these negative emotions and thoughts and equally on those who are close to him/her like family, relatives, friends, colleagues and acquaintances.

The victim of depression can handle the crisis if he/she has some prior knowledge about it and realizes the effectiveness and importance of positive thinking.

It is normally advised by the experts that if any five of the above symptoms keep disturbing a person for about two weeks, he/she must consult with the family doctor or a specialist and seek help.

However, if the victim does not feel comfortable with doctors or psychiatrists and symptoms persist, he/she can get rid of it through different methods tested and applied by many individuals. 

The writer is also one of those exceptional people who fall victim to the severe type of suicidal depression, due to total loss of investment in business that resulted in immediate bankruptcy. 

In case of not taking any psychiatric treatment and medication, the victim of depression can certainly overcome it through the following surefire strategies:

Be the warrior of God

Rest assured that The Creator loves you more than anyone else in the whole universe.  What He simply wants is to see you face the challenges of life like a brave warrior.  Looking at things with this angle of vision means that you have got to fight back as a warrior of God to defeat hyper tension and depression.

God loves to see you stand up on your own like parents enjoy their crawling baby to learn standing up in spite of falling again and again.

If you understand this reality, your triumph over depression is definite.

Be positive to the extent of obduracy

This tendency is the most powerful weapon not only against depression but any crisis in life.  Obduracy, here, does not mean to be rigid to logic or reality.  It is, in fact, standing firm on your grounds and never let the negative feelings overwhelm you at any cost.

Such obduracy reinforces your resistance against the flood of negative thoughts and emotions that tend to destroy your personal integrity and devastate your self-confidence.

Discover your strengths through self-talk

Self-talk is not an expression of abnormal behaviour.  You will find it most energizing in times of crisis.  The easiest way to explore your inner strengths and vigor is to talk to you at length.  And remember, it is not necessary that you speak words loudly.  You would be communicating with your inner self and the best method of this communication is through deeper thoughts.  Loud words would rather cause a distraction. 

Self talk is close to meditation, but it is not meditation.  You have to be fully awake and aware of your surroundings. You may feel your conscious self standing face to face with the unconscious mind. 

Such an exercise requires very strong conviction in the legitimacy, genuineness and validity of what you are going to do.  The faintest shadow of doubt could cause cracks in your belief and derail your train of thoughts.

Engage yourself in some activity obsessively

What I have learnt from my personal encounter with a suicidal depression is that the quicker you create a long break between two consecutively occurring negative thoughts, the sooner you get out of the sphere of negative energy.  And if you despise taking medicine like me, it is only possible through getting yourself engaged in any positive activity you are obsessed with.

A deep involvement in any activity whether it is reading, playing some sport, internet browsing, writing or doing some creative work, widens the gap between two bombarding negative thoughts, that may devastate your personal integrity and will power, to overcome the nerve-shattering depression.

I discovered that initially an objective internet surfing and lately blogging kept me so much engaged that I forgot, though for some time, all of my problems, tensions and crisis.  Staying at my computer for longer hours, rather for the whole day and whole night except sleeping hours, widened the space between negative thoughts and gave me incredible relief from depressive and negative thoughts.

Keep thinking about the most loved person (s)

This most loved person could be any one from your mother, father, spouse, children, brother, sister or some friend.  There should definitely be at least one single person on earth that you care about.  The one whose peace of mind prevents you from doing anything wrong that could hurt him emotionally, physically or spiritually. 

My depression and disgustingly negative behaviour of some people pushed me to the brink of mental collapse that ultimately results in committing undesirable acts.  I felt myself on the edge of hurting myself or those who were deliberately or unconsciously pushing me into the quagmire of desperation.  I wish they could realize the intensity of the pressure of circumstances from my angle of vision.

Every time I felt close to committing something that I could never have a chance to regret, I thought about my dear daughters.  I do not need any certificate of appreciation from any one, but the truth is my third powerful weapon against the suicidal depression was my love for my daughters.

Push yourself beyond your own limits

Compose all of your energies and strengths to become an aggressive and intense force against the negative emotions and thoughts.  There are very few people who push themselves beyond their own limits and gain victory over all the odds.

You are no exception.  It is a tragedy that you are not aware of your own potential strengths and perhaps it is so because no one has every told you to do so.

Ok, stand up now, and make up your mind, with an unwavering determination to not ever surrender to unfavourable circumstances under any conditions.

The moment you do so, God will express His pleasure with a big wide smile!