He Can Who Thinks He Can

If you wanted to be a lawyer, would you go to medical school?

Of course not!

As Marden so eloquently tells us: “He must be so grafted on the legal tree that he can feel its sap circulating through him.”

OK.

So, if you want to succeed, should you immerse yourself in thoughts of failure?

Riiiight.

Not a good idea.

If we want to succeed, we need to think we can. We need to be so grafted on the success tree that we can feel its sap circulating within us.

This isn’t just 1908 self-improvement bravado.

In addition to being common sense, it’s common science. We need what researchers call “self-efficacy.” We need to believe in our abilities to create the outcomes we’d like to see in our lives.

He (or she) can who thinks he can.

Do you think you can?

P.S. “So long as you carry around a failure atmosphere, and radiate doubt and discouragement, you will be a failure. Turn about face; cut off all the currents of failure thoughts, of discouraged thoughts. Boldly face your goal with a stout heart and a determined endeavor and you will find that things will change for you; but you must see a new world before you can live in it. It is what you see, to what you believe, to what you struggle incessantly to attain, that you will approximate.”

“Self-depreciation is a crime.”

Why?

Because we’re denying the Divinity within ourselves. As Marianne Williamson tells us, playing small does not benefit anyone. We were born to make manifest the Divine within.

Also reminds me of Walter Russel (see Notes on The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe) who tells us: “I believe that every man has consummate genius within him. Some appear to have it more than others only because they are aware of it more than others are, and the awareness or unawareness of it is what makes each one of them into masters or holds them down to mediocrity. I believe that mediocrity is self-inflicted and that genius is self-bestowed.”

Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed. <— Powerful.

P.S. Marianne’s brilliant passage is always worth a re-read: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Love that.

Want to build a house?

Sitting on the foundation while “wishing” (!!) it will go up won’t quite do the trick.

Hustle? Hard work? Determination? Grit?

That’s the trick! :)

Now THAT’s the way we want to go thru life—as if “the world is a great university.”

Leo Buscaglia (see Notes on Love) echoes this wisdom. He tells us: “A total immersion in life offers the best classroom for learning to love.”

You fully immersed and rockin’ the finger paint + play doh at God’s kindergarten? :)

Here’s to seeing every moment as another opportunity to learn just a little bit more—to become just a little wiser, a little more optimized and actualized.

Compound that over time and magic occurs.

First, this reminds me of James Allen’s genius prose from As a Man Thinketh (see Notes).

He tells us: “Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.”

Amen to that.

Cherish your visions!!! Cherish your ideals!!

And, let’s reflect on this for a moment: ‘The great thing is to try to fashion the life after the pattern shown us in the moment of our highest inspiration; to make our highest moment permanent.”

We have a flash of inspiration. How do we make that highest moment permanent?

The short answer: A lot of work. :)

As Ken Wilber (see Notes) tells us, we need to make that “state” experience a permanent “trait.” And the only way we do that is by showing up day in and day out such that we evolve into a new way of being, a new stage of development.

S.N. Goenka’s wisdom comes to mind: “Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you’re bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.”

Here’s to the consistent baby steps toward making our highest moment permanent!

P.S. What steps can YOU take today to make that happen?

Dreaming.

It’s awesome.

Provided we DO SOMETHING about it!

If all we do is stare at our vision board all day long and dream and dream and dream, well, we’re gonna struggle. (States obvious.)

It is, as Marden advises, “only practical dreaming that counts,—dreaming coupled with hard work and persistent endeavor.”

Amen.

Reminds me of (P90X) Tony Horton. In his fun book, The Big Picture (see Notes), Tony tells us about what he calls “functional optimism.”

He says: “So when obstacles show up, it’s important to recognize the need to deal with them realistically, with a plan, but one that is born from a positive mind-set. I call this Functional Optimism and it’s a key component of achieving your Big Picture goals. It’s not about knowing everything can work out. It’s about knowing that everything will work out because you’re going to do whatever you need to do to make it happen.”

So, functional optimism = Believing everything will work out BECAUSE WE WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

I like it.

How about we apply that to dreaming?

Functional Dreaming = Imagining all the amazing things we can create and then doing WHATEVER WE NEED TO DO TO MAKE IT HAPPEN! :)

Here’s to bringing our dreams to life!

That’s an amazing idea.

Marden shares it in the context of a little essay called “Responsibility Develops Power” where he describes the fact that Lincoln never would have had the opportunity to demonstrate his extraordinary latent powers had he not been challenged by the horrors of the Civil War.

And so it is with us.

It is great responsibility that calls forth our great ability.

Yet, for too many of us, we seek a life of comfort—avoiding great responsibility. Playing small. Trying to create (or wishing we could create) an enviable lifestyle where we work a few hours a week on a beach somewhere.

That’s not going to ignite our greatest power.

As Marden says, “They are giants because they have been great conquerors of difficulties, supreme masters of difficult situations. They have acquired the strength of the obstacles which they have overcome.”

Campbell echoes this: “There is an important idea in Nietzsche, of Amor fati, the ‘love of your fate,’ which is in fact your life. As he says, if you say no to a single factor in your life, you have unraveled the whole thing. Furthermore, the more challenging or threatening the situation or context to be assimilated and affirmed, the greater the stature of the person who can achieve it. The demon that you can swallow gives you its power, and the greater life’s pain, the greater life’s reply.”

We must step into the arena of life.

Dream big. Go for it. Be willing to fail. Be challenged—truly challenged!! We must dare greatly.

THEN we will see what we are capable of.

Then, and only then, will we ignite our latent power.

I just love this old school, 1908, steam engine-powered era wisdom.

Reminds me of Campbell again. He tells us: “Sri Ramakrishna said, ‘Do not seek illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is on fire seeks a pond.’”

Do you have a mere lukewarm desire to live an extraordinary life?

Two hundred degrees? Maybe two hundred and ten?

Remember: No power is generated until we bring ourselves to boil.

Let’s dial it up to two hundred and twelve, please! :)