The Lion, The Hedgehog and the Case of Missing Self Confidence

Self confidence at times can be a fragile quality. Many other people can destroy our self confidence particularly if our actions are driven by the desire to please them at the expense of what we believe to be true.

 

Here is the tale of the lion and the hedgehogs.

 

Once upon a time there was a lion living in the jungle with all his lion friends. One day he grew adventurous and decided to go and see the wider world. He stumbled on the home of the hedgehogs. This was a nice place; a place he liked very much. He asked the head hedgehog if he could stay with them.

 

“Sorry, you can’t stay here you are too different. Cut off your tail and become like us” said head hedgehog.

 

With some deep reservations the lion took the advice and cut off his tail. On his return to head hedgehog he was told

 

“No, still too different. Shave off your hair and come back to me.”

 

Although he thought this rather drastic, he was eager to please so he shaved off his hair.

 

“Your claws are too long” retorted the head hedgehog. “You’ll have too chop them off”.

 

Desperate to gain the acceptance of the hedgehogs he clipped his claws back to nothing and returned to the head hedgehog once more.

 

“No still not right. Look no matter what you change about yourself, you are still different. It must be your personality. It’s in your nature to be a lion. You will never be a hedgehog so please go away and leave us alone”.

 

The lion set off to find his old lion friends in the jungle. But once there he found more rejection.

 

“You’ve lost your identity” cried out one of the others. “You’re no longer a lion”.

 

No longer a lion and didn’t get to make it to hedgehog status either, whom or what had he become?

 

The lion had sold his identity in exchange for acceptance by the hedgehogs. He had sold his true self for the approval of others. People can be like this lion too. Perhaps we change the way we dress or do things that other people want despite this going against our better judgement, purely to gain acceptance. This results in either acceptance but no self confidence or rejection and a loss of identity.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate but other people do respect others with differing opinions, ideas and interests. By discarding our identity for the acceptance of others we lose our true selves. Yes we can change ourselves for the better but we should do it for ourselves and not for other people.

 

Although I believe that believing in God is becoming fashionable again it was not that long ago that having a faith deemed us as not conforming. It was not “cool” to declare our belief in God. Yet having our faith, no matter how we choose to follow that faith, forms part of our personality. We must never deny God just to appear to be “cool” in the eyes of others.

 

Unto thine own self be true.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

Faith and Religion

What is the meaning of faith?

 

Is faith about religion?

 

Do we have to follow a religion to have faith?

 

I like to consider myself a Christian. I believe in God and I go to church most Sundays. I pray to and have my conversations with God.

 

But how much do I really understand about the Christian faith?

 

My confession now is that I don’t read the bible as much as I should. I haven’t study the theology of the Christian faith to any great depth. I very often forget to say grace before taking in food particularly when eating on the go or grabbing a breakfast at McDonalds. I’ve been known to mutter the odd expletive and throw a spanner or two across the room when things don’t go according to plan or I’m running short of time.

 

But does this make me a bad person? (It probably does if that spanner hits somebody on the head.)

 

Does this make me a bad example of Christianity?

 

Does this mean I don’t have faith in God?

 

Despite my faults and failings I believe that I am a good Christian. My intention always is “to treat others as I would like to be treated”. I try to do good deeds for others in the course of a day. I don’t steal, kill or covet my next door neighbours’ gorgeous wife. I provide for my family in an honest manner and don’t tell lies (although sometimes the full story isn’t always revealed). Above all I have a total belief in God.

 

Knowing that God is walking by my side every step of my journey through life is the most important part of being a Christian in my view. This is faith. The fact that I don’t have a deep knowledge of all his works doesn’t stop me from believing in him. It doesn’t stop me from trying to live the Christian way of life. How I live my life and how I treat others is the mark of the person I set out to be.

 

Granted I can open my mind to his works and Jesus’ teachings every single day and no doubt some of my faults and intolerances will be erased in time because of them. But it is not necessary to be fully educated to be a Christian.

 

It could also be said that to have faith you don’t need to be a Christian. Muslims, Hindus and many of the other great religions believe in one God too. And they too try to live good clean and peaceful lives, do good by others and follow in the path of God. Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu or a follower of some mystic religion we still all have faith.

 

By having faith we have hope for the future, a belief that a good life will prevail, and if we have a positive belief then positive things will happen. Although I love the bits of the bible that I do read and this enthuses me to want to read more, it isn’t necessary to know all the teachings from testaments new and old to have faith. Faith comes from the soul, the subconscious mind. The knowledge that God is there always, any time we want to reach out and find him, is the true meaning of faith.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

What is the Meaning of Faith? Walk on with Hope in Your Heart

What is the meaning of faith?

 

How can we keep faith when nothing seems to be going right?

 

Where can we find motivation and optimism when we are feeling defeated?

 

Football is a great passion in my life and I have been known to sing on the terraces in the past (if you can call it singing). One of the great football anthems is “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Adopted by Liverpool fans and hijacked by many others it really stirs the emotions.

 

The original version has such classic and inspirational words. “When you walk through a storm hold your head up high and don’t be afraid of the dark.”

 

Throughout life we have difficult and troublesome times. There can be many roads to take and we don’t know which one to take. We stumble along the wrong road until we realise our mistake and then we wander back to the junction to try again. Don’t lose hope, don’t lose faith. God has shown us that we were taking the wrong road and has brought us back to the beginning to try again. Eventually the route becomes obvious and our path is no longer shrouded in darkness and we can see the “Golden Sky” and hear the “Sweet Silver Song of the Lark”.

 

“Walk on with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone”. Without hope we can so easily give in. It will feel like we are alone with no help or guidance to get us out of our predicaments. But with unflinching hope and indestructible faith in God there is no need to walk alone. Gods’ intention for every single one of us is to enjoy the abundances that he has placed in this world, and by allowing him to walk alongside us he will guide us to the kind of lives we want to lead.

 

Hope and faith in turn provides the optimism, motivation and drive to succeed. If our problems seem hopeless we become depressed by our situation and we can only focus on the problems. With faith and self confidence comes optimism and it then becomes so much easier to concentrate on the solutions. It seems almost miraculous how problems are no longer viewed as problems but are seen as challenges, challenges that are relished with solutions more easily found.

 

In order to move forward in life we have to step outside our comfort zone; “don’t be afraid of the dark”. It takes courage to take this step but it is surprising how stepping outside the comfort zone becomes “the comfort zone”. We are no longer afraid of the dark. Having taken the risk and survived with God holding our hand, we know that with his guidance we can do the same again.

 

When our troubles get on top of us we need to take time out to find that quiet place within us. By being still and asking God to come into our lives reaffirms our faith in him and that flame of hope is re-ignited within our souls.

 

Remember the next time we see those hordes of red and white scarves accompanying the melody of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it is not about inspiring Liverpool Football Club onto victory, it’s about inspiring us with hope and faith to be successful and live the lives we want.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

Faith. When All Else Fails

When the going gets tough the tough get going, so the saying goes and without doubt resilience and self confidence will get us through many an awkward situation. But how many times have we found ourselves in a seemingly impossible situation?

 

We have all been in the situation where we have planned meticulously for something, done the homework and given it our best shot. Then something unexpected happens to blow the plans out of the water. There doesn’t appear to be a solution and we don’t have the wherewithal to overcome the issue.

 

Vulnerability

 

The trouble is that despite all our strengths, we are all vulnerable. The well built athlete who in training turns his ankle over and is then in plaster for a month.

 

The brainy student who has worked and studied hard for an exam, yet come the day he is stricken down with stomach problems.

 

The vastly experienced investor who has wisely plotted his investments in the financial markets only to wake up one morning to hear the news that his country is at war and the value of his stocks have plummeted by fifty percent.

 

It doesn’t matter how powerful or intelligent we are, how strong our personality is, we all remain at the mercy of the unexpected, the things that we cannot control. Despite the best preparations, external influences can shake our self confidence and the worries that incur reminds us of our vulnerabilities no matter how powerful we are. Through personal development we can learn to strengthen our personalities, control stress and manage a crisis yet the unexpected can still come up and slap us in the face.

 

So how do we overcome the great unexpected?

 

When all our powers fail us we need a higher power to lean on.

 

GOD.

 

Having God on board will help overcome the impenetrable obstacles. Dealing with the problems we can solve and asking for Gods’ help with those we can’t creates a winning team. We can be all powerful, all knowledgeable and extremely resourceful but some problems just cannot be resolved without Gods’ assistance.

 

Why should we believe in God?

 

In times of trouble, those with no faith become anxious, worried and stressed which could lead to depression, and in the worst instance, suicide. Without God there is no back up plan and the suffering will continue until a resolution comes forth.

 

People ask, “Why does God let bad things happen?”

 

Without some bad we could never appreciate the good. Even if only good things happen, the bottom end of good would become the bad.

 

Faith needn’t be blind. After all science is proving more and more the existence of God. As science answers one question more questions seem to follow. Ultimately we can only find the answer in a higher plain, God.

 

By having true, unshakeable faith, God will help us through our helplessness. In turn he will provide us with self confidence, optimism, motivation to drive on forward and above all, peace.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

Faith. If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try, Try Again

What is the meaning of faith?

 

How can we keep faith when we try to do things and it never seems to work?

 

Surely we should just accept our fate and give up?

 

Successful people seem to have luck on their side. Their self confidence and self belief seem to give them all the success they desire. But the truth is life probably hasn’t always been easy for them. What we see now is the product of many years of hard work and focus on creating the success they now enjoy. That self confidence and optimism has come from the learning, learning through mistakes along their personal journey.

 

The fact is it is really only a numbers game. Anybody can achieve their dreams if they have the burning ambition, self confidence and are prepared to work hard enough.

 

How hard is hard enough?

 

We can use the example of skating. It can possibly take a hundred and fifty falls before becoming any good at skating. At a hundred and ten falls we decide to give it up believing that we don’t possess the skills required. Yet if we knew that we only had to suffer another forty falls we wouldn’t have packed it in.

 

The world is full of examples of successful people who persevered despite what seemed to be constant failure. Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb tried one thousand times before he made the bulb that worked. He never considered the other nine hundred and ninety nine efforts to be failures, just incorrect ways to build a light bulb.

 

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company lost his fortune six times and yet recreated his wealth each time.

 

Walt Disney had his idea of Mickey Mouse rejected five times before Mickey became the most famous mouse in the world.

 

John Creasey, famous novelist had seven hundred and fifty three rejections before his books started hitting the best sellers list.

 

It’s easy perhaps to believe that these aren’t the typical person. But look at the examples in our own lives. As a child we wouldn’t have learned to walk if we gave up after falling down a couple of times. Likewise, as we grew older we learned to drive. There would have been many mistakes made during our driving lessons yet we practiced persistence in order to get through our driving test.

 

This little story is one that I find a true motivator.

 

A man visited a famous success guru and asked him to point him in the direction of success. The guru pointed in the direction and off went the man to seek his fortune. Soon a loud bang was heard and the man returned to the guru somewhat frustrated and a little bruised.

 

“Please point me in the direction of success,” the man pleaded with the guru.

 

He was shown the same direction as he previously went and although a little concerned he set off back in that same direction.

 

An even louder bang was heard and the man returned to the guru badly battered and very angry.

 

“Enough” said the man. “Speak to me now and tell me in which direction I will find success.”

 

The guru again pointed in the same direction and said,

 

“Over there. Just beyond BANG.”

 

Success is there for us all to achieve. We can see examples in our own lives and we can see it in others too. Persistence, motivation, optimism and self confidence are the main ingredients with persistence perhaps being the greatest of these.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

Have Faith. Science Proves That God Exists

What is the meaning of faith?

 

How can we believe in something that doesn’t appear to be tangible?

 

Does science prove that there is no God?

 

Well in fact in doesn’t. Many eminent scientists are concluding that science doesn’t provide all the answers. A lot of these great minds practice a faith of one sort or another as well. As science provides an answer to one question more questions seem to arise.

 

What is the meaning of faith?

 

If science cannot provide answers then perhaps the answers can only come from god. How we view god and how we choose to live our lives through god is obviously down to each individual but there is becoming almost indisputable evidence that God does exist.

 

I was reading a fantastic article today which outlines just a few unanswered questions by science. It was great in the fact it managed to keep the science understandable to a layman like me. I shall try to create the simplicity myself.

 

The Probability of Random Cell Formation

If cells were not deliberately formed with some kind of order or structure then the first living cell would have been randomly formed. Some clever bod has worked out the probability of this being 1 in 10^840. Considering 1 in 10^50 is considered zero in the probability stakes I would suggest you can put your calculators away at this point.

 

Cells and Proteins

Living cells are made up with thousands of complex proteins. A protein molecule consists of 288 amino acids. With there being 12 different types of amino acids it is possible to arrange these in 10,300 different ways. Only one way is right. That is a jigsaw puzzle of the highest extreme with a probability factor of 1 in 10^300 just to form the one protein molecule. You’re probably getting the picture by numbers by now.

 

Chicken or the Egg

A living cell requires enzymes to exist and enzymes cannot be present without the presence a living cell. So which came first? No complicated maths to support this point.

 

The Big Bang Theory

For those that are not aware of this theory which is supposed to be backed by much scientific evidence, the planets, galaxies and universe were created from one single point; from an object or atom with infinite density and virtually zero volume. So the questions are, where did that object come from and how was the explosion created?

I dare say that somebody will explain that the splitting of the atom by nuclear fusion or fission caused this colossus explosion but what was the chain of events that lead to this?

 

Material in Space

Believe it or not but space is not hollow. Scientists explain that the vast gaps in the universe are filled with a transparent material. Yet the universe is expanding at an incomprehensible rate. How is this transparent material generated to keep filling in the gaps in the universe as it expands?

 

Coincidence

Back to earth now with a biology lesson. If all life forms were created in the male form this could be considered a coincidence. Likewise, if we were all created in the female form this would be considered coincidence also. Coincidence brings about individual elements but can coincidence create males and females with suited reproductive organs and package it in a fully functional system?

 

Hopefully the science and mathematics bit hasn’t blown your head away. The point is that science doesn’t provide all the answers therefore is it logical to conclude that only God can?

 

Believing in God means that we can have faith; faith that as our creator he wishes us no harm. As a parent, therefore creator of life myself, I would never wish ill on my children therefore thinking as a human being, God wants to look after all his children likewise.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

It Wos Me Wot Won It

People who know me well know that from a very early age I have been mad keen on football. As a school boy I ate, drank and slept football. My only desire was to play in goal for England. Although I had some good success at school boy level, today my interest is via the television or in the stands at Priestfield Stadium.

 

Priestfield Stadium is the home of Gillingham Football Club, the team I have followed for over thirty years when at the age of fourteen I first went to see them play against the might of Crystal Palace. Of course I was ecstatic when at the end of this season they made it to the League Two Play-Off Final at Wembley Stadium against Shrewsbury Town. The Saturday prior to the big game I queued for four hours to get those precious tickets to Wembley for my friend Paul and me.

 

Whilst queuing I was adamant when talking to those around me that the Final would result in success for the glorious Gills.

 

On the big day I drove over to Faversham to meet Paul and catch the train from there. The North Kent Coast Line journeys through the Medway Towns so the train was guaranteed to be packed with the blue and white of Gillingham supporters. Paul had also arranged to meet up with two of his friends, Alec and Annabelle, who had also dedicatedly queued up for their prized Wembley tickets.

 

It was the first time I had met Alec and Annabelle but I took to them both straight away. Like me, Alec had been a virtual life long fan despite having periods where he had lived well away from the area. It was great soaking up the atmosphere on that train as stop after stop saw more and more blue and white taking over the carriages. Two trains pulled in together at Victoria Station and it was simply amazing to see the stream of Gillingham supporters flood onto the platform.

 

As Alec talked about football and his hopes for the day it struck me that he kept saying “if” we win. In response I would interject with “when” we win.

 

“Oh I don’t like to say that in case I’m wrong” he would say.

 

“You’ve got to be positive” I kept replying. “Power of positive thinking.”

 

The fact of the matter was that these weren’t just words, I really felt that Gillingham were going to win. I could only picture scenes of jubilation at the end of the match never contemplating the despair of losing. At that point I wasn’t sure if my constant optimism was getting to Alec.

 

This was my visit to the now new Wembley Stadium. The flow of people down Wembley Way was incredible particularly as most of these seemed to be favouring the Gills. Inside, the stadium was awesome and the noise reverberating throughout was awesome too. Despite there being fewer Shrewsbury Town supporters they contributed fantastically to this echoing sound.

 

The first half saw the Gills dominate in the main and despite them not scoring by half time, I still remained confident that they could do it.

 

The second half became a more even affair as Shrewsbury Town managed to close down the Gillingham midfield to more affect. The time ticked away and some of Gillinghams’ passes became more wayward, yet deep down I still could only imagine victory.

 

The ninetieth minute, with only stoppage time between now and an extra thirty minutes. A corner to Gillingham on the left. Goal !!! 1 – 0. The Gillingham end exploded into the rapturous jubilation that I had imagined. Chanting and singing for joy the crowd saw the boys through those last few minutes of stoppage time which never stopped as the team celebrated a wonderful victory upon that hallowed turf of Wembley.

 

After the match Alec declared “I really felt nervous about the outcome, but having spoken to you before the match I knew that we could do it.”

 

As a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, surely it was my overwhelming belief that helped Gillingham win this match. OK, perhaps the players and Simeon Jacksons’ last gasp header might also have played a part in it, but if I can display this same belief every match Gillingham will soon be winning the European Champions League. Won’t they?

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

The Meaning of Success. How to be a Great Leader

Self confidence is required in so many fields of life but another quality that is a must in business is leadership. If you run your own business or head a department, even manage a large organisation, the people beneath you in the chain of command will look to you for leadership, inspiration and self confidence.

 

So what must we have to be a great, inspiring leader?

 

1.  An extraordinary vision is definitely required. A leader has big dreams and motivates his team with those dreams. His communication skills convey emotion, continuously accentuating the positives to drive forward the business or project. Leaders are forward thinkers, seeing what doesn’t exist at present and then visualising it as existing with the sole aim of making it a reality. Their dreams will always be larger than those of the rest of the team; they have to be to create that magical inspiration and self confidence of the team.  

 

 

2.  A leader will have an attitude far more positive than those that he leads. They continuously have powerful thoughts and his manner is always upbeat with self confidence. It is so necessary to always show positivism and self confidence. Both positive and negative thoughts can be contagious yet negativity can spread so much more easily than positive ness. It is therefore so essential to remain positive, never allowing yourself to make criticism about the company, management or product. An organisation can so easily be weakened or destroyed by one critical remark (remember the Gerald Ratner effect).  

 

3.  How approachable are you for your team if you are always right, never ready to admit mistakes. Nobody is ever likely to make suggestions if they think that they are not going to make a difference. And when things go wrong, where should the buck stop? With the leader of course; the leader is responsible for the success of the organisation or project. A great leader will see the harm that can be caused by shifting blame onto others and will instead place him/herself in the firing line for criticism. Learning from your mistakes builds self confidence plus admitting them earns the respect of those around you

 

4.  A leader has to be a decision maker. Lacking decisiveness and self confidence can be so frustrating for a team. They need to depend on those that can make a decision so they in turn can have a direction to follow. A manager is always concerned about doing things correctly whilst a leader is more concerned about doing the correct thing. It is impossible to always make the right choices but the important thing is that you are making them and making them for the right reasons. As long as lessons are learned, experience combined with self confidence will determine that more and more correct decisions are made in the future.  

 

5.  Those that lead will always put those that they lead first. By putting others before your own interest, will gain the trust and confidence of the team. By looking out for their best interests, your crew will work harder knowing that you want them to succeed. This in turn will build your self confidence as a great leader.

 

6.  The best way to be a leader is to show how it can be done. To prove that you                have the skills necessary will really gain the respect of your team. Yes, if the team is particularly large you will most likely not have the skills required in every department, but you should certainly have enough wherewithal to demonstrate to the people immediately beneath you. There has been recently a programme on British television where the owners or Managing Directors of organisations go back to the shop floor to tackle and see for themselves the tasks undertaken by the productive staff. This exercise usually demonstrates their lack of abilities in this field, but being involved and showing a willingness to understand the needs of their workers nearly always gains them respect. It also helps build their self confidence in order to run the business more effectively.

 

 

7.  By doing the right thing and having pride in your team, confidence in you as a leader will be built in your team at every level. Upon you, all the hopes and desires of your team will be on your shoulders. As a leader you must show a hundred percent commitment to honesty and truthfulness. By being honest and true you know that everything you do and every decision you make is entirely for the right reasons and does wonders for your self confidence in the process. A leader must seriously consider making this his/hers number one priority.

 

 

8.  There is no place for inferior workmanship or performance from a leader. Your attitude to appearance and courtesy plus a total dedication to excellence will mark you down for success or failure. Your team will only look up to you if this attitude is at a level above theirs. If you can only mark yourself as an 8 in this area, only the people whose attitude is 7 or below will look up to you as a leader. By striving for a perfect 10 not only gives you the respect of all your team members it creates the desire to do everything to the best of your ability and enhances your self confidence in the process.

 

 

9.  Self confidence is a part of personal growth. But so is the need to understand your business and constantly keep on top of new developments within your industry. The University of Life teaches us something new every day and if we are not prepared to learn the lessons, how can you expect your team to. The business, like your knowledge, will fail to grow. It is so necessary to grow personally as nobody likes to be around a leader who is just prepared to stand still. That would be a sure fire way of loosing some valuable members of your crew. Be positive and be prepared to learn and you along with your self confidence will grow enormously.

 

Whilst it is said that many great leaders are born, many more can develop the self confidence and skills for leadership. If you have the strong desire to succeed and you need a highly motivated body of men and women behind you, you can and must create those leadership qualities. Self confidence is an extremely important attribute required for success, but also is leadership, the power and ability to lead and inspire others to greatness.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

 

The Meaning of Success. Stand Tall with Self Confidence

Communication applies to us all. To provide inspiration and motivation to others we must be able to communicate and communicate with self confidence. Most of us will consider the most important part of our communication to be speech. The ability to express our words certainly will be an inspiration and motivation to others particularly if delivered in an enthusiastic and engaging way.

 

Yet the truth is that only 45% of effective communication is verbal. Although others hear your words, they also receive signals generated by our body language. It is body language that provides the other 55% of effective communication. Thus when we are trying to convey a message to somebody else, we must be conscious that our body is telling the same story as our voice.

 

Most people, except perhaps the really insecure, find self confidence to be an attractive quality and the body will demonstrate a great deal about whether someone possess that fantastic quality called self confidence.

 

So what are the posturing signals that give off self confidence vibrations?

 

• Standing with hands behind our backs demonstrates a naturally self confident person or at least somebody who is on top of a situation.
• Clasping hands in front of our stomachs is a stance that you will normally see being taken by world leaders during press conferences and speeches.
• Finger tips of both hands touching each other
• Standing upright with both feet firmly placed upon the ground.
• Walking with long strides shows somebody with purpose, someone who is ready to take on new challenges.
• Being someone who refuses to panic when mistakes happen.

 

Sitting with one leg crossed over the other and hands clasped behind our heads tends to show an air of superiority and over confidence. We do use this posture sometimes when we have completed a difficult task of finished a hard exam but care has to be taken as others may consider this to be impolite.

 

That great quality of self confidence can be seen by all and attracts many people to those that possess it. Inspiration and motivation radiate from these people providing optimism that everybody can attain this quality too.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington

 

 

Meaning of Success

There seems to be some people who are blessed. They are vibrant and happy; the glowing companion linked to their arm and abundance seems to flow into their lives. So why does life always appear good for them yet for others misery seems to follow with every step they take?

 

I was with two colleagues today; Sid and Steve. Sid is happy go lucky, a colourful character who has experienced a lot of life’s ups and downs. He is a great example of the phrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. He lives off of his wits and always seems to find that extra buck or two. Despite being obviously very street wise, he does attend church and appreciates a spiritual side within himself.

 

Steve is a worker. He does work hard yet always seems to be just keeping his head above the financial waters. Although he doesn’t constantly moan about his problems there are many hints and signs that he is tremendously concerned about his money situation.

 

We had two conversations of note during the course of the day; the first was when Steve stated that “I can’t see the point in religion. It only causes all the troubles in the world. It seems that people who don’t believe, like atheists, are the ones that are peaceful”.

 

The first thing that I pointed out was that the troubles are caused in the name of religion. It isn’t the religions themselves that cause the issues. Fundamentalists; people with such a deep beliefs in their teachings that they cannot accept other faiths, races and points of views seem to be at the heart of the troubles. The mainstream religions of this world have one common theme. They all believe in one creator. We may have differing guidelines on how to worship our creator and how to practice our religions but that one common link should be what binds us together and allow us to live in harmony with each other.

 

Secondly, I focussed on the Islamic faith. I don’t profess to know much about the religion but I hear many times that this is a very peaceful religion that denounces any form of violence. Any atrocity caused in the name of Islam is really so far removed from their teachings. Unfortunately within any race or creed; even amongst the atheists, there are good people and there are bad. It is a sign of the times that the world’s media only focuses on the bad.

 

It is an indication of Steve’s thought patterns that he had chosen to start a conversation on a real negative. This was even more noticeable with the statement he made later on in the day.

 

“I’ll be glad when this year is over”.

 

Considering that, at the time of writing we are only into the third week of January, this took Sid and me a little by surprise.

 

“Why’s that then?” I asked

 

He went on to point out that we were doing a horrible job (his words were a bit more flavoursome than that), and that the recession was really getting him down.

 

Admittedly the job wasn’t likely to be classified as our favourite, but I felt the need to express the notion that sometimes we need to experience the rough to truly enjoy the smooth.

With regards to the credit crunch I asked him

 

“What can you do about it?”

 

“Well nothing” he replied.

 

“Exactly” I countered. “So why keep thinking about it. Concentrate on what you can do to work around it”.

 

I then highlighted that the world is a beautiful place. Continuously seeing it as a dark, horribly place; one full of misery will lead to his world being one of misery. Conversely, choosing to see it for what it really is, a wonderful place full of abundance will mean a life that god wants us to experience, full of the abundances that he has put here for us to enjoy.

 

Undoubtedly there will be harder times than others. If we decide to see the world in its full glory, those harder times will be so much easier to handle, obstacles so much easier to overcome.

 

Sid pointed out that if we visualise life like a steeplechase race, we have hurdles to straddle. If we view the world with tremendous optimism and confidence we will jump the hurdles. If we see our planet as a world full of darkness we are going to clip those hurdles and fall over. Worst still, we will probably run straight into them.

 

Sid obviously had a better grasp on how to view his world and consequently experiences a lot more of the good that is out there.

 

We can all decide to see the world in a positive light; full of hope and optimism. It is our choice and we don’t have to let other people’s negativity cloud our vision. It doesn’t come easy, but catching ourselves thinking negative thoughts is a start. Substituting those thoughts with ones of vibrancy, abundance, happiness and tranquillity and then truly believing that we deserve these riches, will, eventually, develop us into those that have and not those that have not.

 

How fantastic is that?

 

Terry Norrington