Lance Miller, the 2005 World Champion of Public Speaking, often sends great information in his email newsletters. I encourage you to subscribe to them. Here is his latest, with an incredible message that every public speaker should pay attention to.
I was in a bad mood yesterday.
It was just one of those days.
I was mired down in the minutia of monotonous meaningless machinations of life.....
Late in the afternoon I remembered a quote I read years earlier that had a profound effect on me. It was by Buddha and read: Rule your mind or it will rule you.
Once again I had slipped into letting my mind rule me with thoughts of how bad it all is. Within a few minutes I turned my entire day around and was once again enjoying being alive!
In my early years of speaking, I would have so many nervous negative thoughts about how bad my speech was going to be and how I should not have agreed to speak in the first place. I was simply letting my mind rule me with negative, defeatist thoughts.
Through this quote and some additional concerted efforts I came to know that I had the ability to control my thoughts, or per Buddha, I could rule my mind. I didn't have to think negative, defeating thoughts. I could think positive, successful thoughts - just by doing it!
I'm not sure where it stems from, but it seems that human nature tends to default to "how bad it all is." Many people seem to thrive on the negative. Just turn on the news and we have professionals telling us how bad everything is 24/7!
With my friends, co-workers, organizations and businesses I have found no forward motion happens allowing my mind to rule me and focus and think on the negative.
Having a few people around, better yet - being one of those people - who focuses on the positive and reminds others about "how good it all is" can really make an incredible difference in everyone's life.
I think we should all encourage those around us to rule their own mind and see the fun and good in life. It is a much more enjoyable place to live!
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