The Lighter Side of Things P2

 

“The things you cried about will make you laugh in the future, but the things that made you smile, will make you cry in the future”

Reminiscing about the past makes me smile sometimes. I recall a time in my life
when I was down in the dumps I did not even want to get out bed in the morning. Funny thing is, that was my MOST transformative time <insert Michael Bay reference here>. I knew I was at my lowest point and decided to change everything about myself. The way I walked, talked, thought, the things I did, the things I read, the things I learnt, the things I watched. I was a changed man, a better man.
Its a lifelong process though, to improve yourself, never give up on that. Never settle. Although you may be good enough as you are. Keep pushing yourself to do more, to learn more, to BE more.

Today I want to share what everything culminated to in my most transformative time. I managed to learn a lot and change my entire life perspective. In 2010, I put everything I learnt into a speech and presented it at ‘speech competition’ at my high school. I won. My lovely prize was to present to the entire school during assembly.
That faithful Friday morning, the skinnier, younger version of myself climbed onto the stage, while wearing my rather unappealing grey pants and navy blue jersey (damn school uniforms!!) to say this:

 

Good morning ladies and gentleman.

I want to open with 2 quotes:
“The secret to a healthy mind and body is to not think of the past, not be fearful of the future nor anticipate troubles but instead to live wisely and earnestly in the moment”

“Although nobody can go back and create a brand new beginning, anyone can start now and make a brand new ending”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your wake up call. We have all heard it before. Think positively, life is short, be happy etc. etc. but this time it’s coming from me! And I am not kidding around

Firstly we need to say “THANK YOU!!” for EVERYTHING. Wake up in the morning with a smile and be thankful for the fact that you have woken up! Be thankful that you have 2 eyes to see with, 2 ears to hear with, a mouth, a heart, a brain, lungs, kidneys and all the other things inside your body. Be thankful for the fact that you have a roof over your head, be thankful for the fact that you have food on the table when you go home at night. Be thankful for your HD TVs, your iPods, your Xbox 360s and your blackberrys. Be thankful for ALL THE PROBLEMS that come your way, for indeed they make you into the person you are meant to be

How can a person not be thankful for everything that we take for granted? We live in a golden age when technology is abundant, new discoveries every single day! This golden age is passing us by so quickly because life is so short. Life is so unpredictable. Nobody knows what can happen to us in 10 years, 10 months, 10 weeks, 10 days or even 10 minutes from this very moment. Life can pass us by so quickly without us even realizing it. How much time can we afford to waste?? How much more time can we spend thinking of the past and worrying about the future?? How much more time are we going to spend crying over things that happened to us in our life. (I’ll admit…things DO happen that DO hurt us, and it is normal to feel pain, but realize that your life cannot be consumed from that pain). All these bad things can be controlled by the power of our most powerful tools as a human being…our mind.

I want to state a law: WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT. I want to repeat that. WE BECOME WHAT WE THINK ABOUT. Our minds have the power to create the reality that YOU want to see. To put in simpler terms, imagine your mind as a piece of land and you are the farmer of the land. You have 2 different types of seed, one of wheat and one of nightshade, a deadly poison. It doesn’t matter which seed your plant because the land is always going to give results. As ye sow so shall ye reap, your mind works in the same way. If you plant a negative mind set into your mind, then your life will become negative, you will not enjoy life, you will constantly be unhappy and you won’t see any of the good things that happen around you. However if you plant a positive mind set into your mind then you will become a positive person being able to see the joy in the simplest of things, being able to smile everyday without knowing why. Be sure to use your mind!

What is left to do now…nothing but change? Ladies and gentlemen you know the theory. I have shown you the door. It is now your choice to walk through it. These changes are as simple as waking up with a smile, do something new and exciting in your life, say thank you more often, exercise more and use the body that you were given, help people around you and always have a kind word to say and lastly say I LOVE YOU to the people who you love because I know they won’t there forever. Go out and live life happily ladies and gentlemen, it is up to you and only you to change your life for the better.

Thank you

---

 

I was treated to hearty round of applause and then a disheartening lesson of maths. Ah school….

It took me a long time to learn those things and much much more. I knew from that moment, that I wanted to help people, that I could make a difference, that I was capable of changing the minds of men and women.
All I had to do was change my own mind for the better…