Think Results NOW: You Are What You Think book 1 – #3: Change Attitude Toward “Guard” In Your Life

You Are What You Think book 1

Article #3

My life is an Excellent Adventure from using “You Are What You Think”

Change Attitude Toward “Guard” In Your Life

MANY PEOPLE FEEL that they are somehow trapped.

They find themselves in an unpleasant situation and think there is no way out.

Their lives drag on, each day as miserable as the last.

IT MIGHT BE THAT they resent their boss, or dislike their job.

Perhaps they don’t like their school, or their teacher.

It could be their marriage partner, or their home life.

IT IS PARTICULARLY sad to hear young people talk negatively about themselves, our country, and life in general. Many seem to feel it has no meaning.

If only they realized that if they don’t like things the way they are, they have the power within themselves to change them !

A PERSON WITH A BAD attitude will find himself constantly reacting to the happenings of his life.

He will be the victim of his circumstances, rather than controlling them.

Control your reactions, change your attitude, and your circumstances will lose all of their power over you.

I DOUBT IF THERE is any one group of people anywhere who feel that they have less control over their lives than men in prison.

Their whole lives are regimented, except for one thing: they still have control over their thoughts, and the way they react to situations, just as we all have.

I was discussing these things with my class at Folsom Prison one day. I will tell you how one man proved all of this to be true in a very dramatic way.

FIRST, LET ME EXPLAIN about Folsom Prison. It is called the “end of the line.”

When a man finally reaches Folsom, it generally means that everything has been tried and failed.

He’s had therapy, psychiatry, and whatever else the system had to offer.

TEN YEARS AGO I had an interview with their warden asking if I could start a monthly class on a volunteer basis. I felt I could help the men develop a better attitude and self image.

The warden was very pessimistic.

“These men don’t have the slightest desire to improve themselves,” he said, “you will just be wasting your time.”

I WAS CONFIDENT I would prove him wrong. Not because of me, but because the PRINCIPLES I would be teaching them are absolutely infallible.

They are NATURAL LAWS, and work regardless of one’s race, creed, financial condition, age or sex.

On the day I was referring to, I was challenging the men to produce a circumstance that couldn’t be changed.

A BIG FELLOW NAMED Joe stood up. Joe had been in prison for the better part of twenty years. Much of that time had been spent in solitary confinement.

Joe was somewhat belligerent when he said, “I’ve got a circumstance that can’t be changed by any change of thinking or attitude.”

He went on to explain that he had an early morning job in the mess hall. He was awakened at 4 a.m. and escorted by a very surly guard to help with the breakfast crew.

THIS GUARD WOULD come in cursing loudly and rattling his keys, purposely awakening the whole cell block.

Joe hated this man so much it was making him a nervous wreck.

“The only way I can change this situation is to hit him over the head, which is exactly what I am going to do someday !” I could tell by the way he said it that this accomplishment wasn’t very far off.

I SAID ALL RIGHT, but let’s try something else first.

I shocked him by telling him to feel sorry for the guard. I explained what a miserable, unhappy person he must be or else he wouldn’t act the way he did.

Then I suggested to Joe that the next morning when the guard came around, he should say “good morning” to him.

ON MY NEXT VISIT, Joe was there with a big grin on his face. It was the first time I had ever seen him smile. He stood up and told his story to the group: “I laid awake all that night wondering how I was going to say good morning to that S.O.B.,” he said, “but I managed to grunt it out.

“I stopped him cold !

“THE NEXT MORNING he came in quietly and we grunted good morning to each other. The third morning we started talking and found we had a mutual interest in fishing and hunting.

“Since then, we have become friends, and he has changed his attitude towards others and is becoming well liked.”

EVEN IF THE GUARD hadn’t changed, it wouldn’t have mattered as far as Joe was concerned.

The situation lost its power over him the minute he changed his mind about it !

Joe changed so completely after this incident that he was released much sooner than he had previously dared to hope.

HE WROTE ME THAT it had given him such a wonderful feeling to know that he had the power within himself to handle any situation that might come along, simply by controlling his thoughts and his attitudes.

He was confident that the change that had taken place in him was a permanent one. So am I, and it didn’t take years of therapy.

All it really took was two words, and the realization that he had the power in his own mind to determine the life he would have. You have the same power !

IS THERE A “GUARD” in your life ?

As your attitude changes toward your circumstances, those circumstances will change as if by magic !