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No amount of positive thinking will
take something bad and turn it into something good. Nevertheless,
positive thinking will turn it into something better.
I am an expert at snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and I know
how to get the best out of life no matter what happens. Although it’s
impossible to always get exactly what I want, I can take bad situations
and make them into something better.
Going for the better isn’t a fantasy or fairy tale. It’s an essential
skill that I must use if I want to reach my dreams. I will have many
opportunities to take bad experiences and make them better. Whenever I
can’t get what I want, I have a choice. I can accept the bad experience
and learn to live with it, or I can make it into something better.
When life doesn’t work out as planned, I will not surrender or assume
that all is lost. I will take bad things and convert them into better
things. No matter what happens, I will never stop working on my dreams.
Copyright © 2013
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One of the first rules you learn about driving in sand is that when you
are in a hole, stop digging.
When I started driving in dunes, I frequently got stuck in patches of
soft sand. As a novice, when I bogged down, I spun my tires which made
me sink progressively deeper until the chassis rested solidly on the
ground. Only then did my Defender stop sinking.
Eventually I discovered that if you don't spin your wheels when you
first get stuck, you don't sink down nearly as far. It's much easier to
recover a bogged vehicle when it's not buried all the way up to the
chassis.
We developed a damage control rule for everyone who drove with us in the
sand. When the forward motion of the vehicle ceases, you immediately
stop spinning your tires so that vehicle recovery will be easier. When
we did it that way, we could usually go in reverse and back out of the
sand trap if a couple of people got out and gave the vehicle a push with
their hands. Only occasionally was it necessary to use sand ladders,
winches, or snatch straps.
This rule is applicable to life in general. When you find yourself
stuck, when forward motion ceases, it's time to stop digging. If you
continue to spin your mental wheels, you will only sink deeper into the
muck and mire. Whatever it was that you were doing before you got into
trouble, you must immediately cease and desist. If you don't stop, you
will only sink deeper making it more difficult to get your life back on
track.
You might want to write that rule on paper and look at it several times
a day when you are having problems. If you stop digging and start doing
something constructive, it won't be long before you are back to living
your dreams.
I really got stuck this time. I
drove about fifty feet into soft sand, and the easiest way to recover my
vehicle was to hook up a winch. We could have used sand ladders to
extract our bogged Defender, but it would have taken a long time and a
lot of effort. We were about 300 kilometers off-road, and we had places
to go and things to do, so we took the quick and easy way out.
GETTING STUCK IS GOOD - YOU ARE
LIVING YOUR DREAMS
I'm grateful for all the times I've been stuck over the years.
That's what happens when I live my dreams.
I've been up to my axles in sand too many times to count. That's
terrific because it means I am living my sand dreams.
I been sailing offshore in forty five knots of wind and eighteen foot
seas trailing warps behind my
boat, and that's fantastic. That means I am sailing on the ocean
of my dreams.
I've been stuck in front of a computer screen writing books on positive
thinking for more than ten years. That's good because my writing
is helping other people live their dreams.
I've been stuck for thousands of hours working on my websites, and that
totally awesome, because I now have a Positive Web Ring that reaches
people in 180 countries around the world.
If I'm lucky I'll get stuck somewhere in Africa when I drive from Cape
Town to Cairo in my Land Rover.
I've been stuck too many times to count, and I hope my good fortune
continues.
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