Bionic Eye

| Motivate yourself |
36
By James Ahola
|
Are you talking
TO ME?
“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what
lies within you.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Words are extremely powerful. Words like: “We’re proud of you,” “I love you,”
“Excellent Job,” can have a profound lasting positive impact on anyone. However,
words like: “You’re an embarrassment,” “I hate you,” “You can’t achieve that,” can
have detrimental life long effects. Considering the lasting impact of words, it is
very important to use discretion when we speak to anyone, especially our
children. But just as important are the words we say to ourselves.
VISION | jul_aug | 2008 | The Opticians Association of Canada |
What we say to ourselves, both audibly
and “in our head”, determine to a great
degree who we are and who we will
become. Why? Our inside voice is there and
available 24/7 and it sounds just like us,
the person we trust the most. When we
speak to ourselves, we take it to heart.
The words we speak to ourselves are
often echoes of what we have heard in the
past, whether it be good, bad or indifferent.
It is vitally important to remember, however,
that we can learn to be completely in
control of this voice. We should not speak
about the past and what has been unless
it is to our advantage and spurs us on to
greater personal victories. The past is dead
and has no power over today, unless we
give it power. Instead we need to speak
about our future, what we want, our goals
and dreams; back it up with victories from
our past, and anchor it with the little steps
we are going to take today to help us get
there.
I first discovered this principle (how I
do not know, but I thank God I did) as a
young teenager. I was not a very confident
individual growing up. I did not have the
cool look, the cool hair, cool clothes. On
top of not being “cool” my grades were not
so hot either. My worst subject was math,
where a 55% average was good. In case
you skipped the teenage years, being
“uncool” and bad academically are not a
great combination. However, despite these
external “facts”, two thoughts began to
prevail in my head and I kept saying them
to myself: “People like me, they just
haven’t gotten to know me yet. I am a great
guy to be around.” To this I added, “I like
math. I am having a little trouble right now,
but I will understand it because I really like
math.”
Now those two statements did not
create a miracle and change my world
overnight. No, I still heard the negative
internal language for a while, but gradually
what I knew to be true changed profoundly.
As time passed I slowly made more
friends from the different circles I became
involved in (involvement is a key), and
within a few short years the external social
reality had completely changed. The
previous reality had come into agreement
with what I told myself was true.
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