I Will Be Happy When… Equals Never
A lesson in the late Paul J Meyers, Dynamics of Personal Motivation (DPM) programme, noted, as did Norman Vincent Peale, that if you “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
This is a short excerpt of Paul J Myers attitude in action and perfectly illustrates his philosophy that anything is possible to he who knows. This appeared in the June edition of Success Magazine in 2009.
“During his mid-40s, Paul was trying to recruit some peers
into one of his businesses. They repeatedly
gave excuses about being too old
or it being too late to venture into such
endeavours. Paul set out to prove them
wrong by showing that anything is
possible as long as you set a goal, have a
winner’s attitude, and apply discipline
and a willingness to work. At 47, Paul
decided he would make his point by
learning to play tennis and becoming
a champion.
Before he even picked up a racquet,
he bought a wood-burning set and
made an affirmation and put it on his
desk. It read: “I am a Class-A tennis
player.” Then he went to work. He
bought and repeatedly studied every
video from every great tennis player.
“I took lessons from Rod Laver, the
world’s No. 1 tennis player at that
time, as well as from Roy Emerson,
who had won more tournaments than
anyone else at that time; and from
Russell Seymour, the top player in my
age group.”
He then bought a local tennis club,
installed the No. 1 tennis player
(Robert Trogolo) as the resident pro and
sponsored him on the world tour. He
took more than 300 lessons, read 20
books and went to four tennis camps.
He even bought a computerized ball machine, using its 7,000 shot
variations to simulate the style of his targeted opponents. “It would
shoot the same balls at me that you would hit at me,” Paul says.
Within five years he won the Dallas Open and was one of the top-ranked
players in the country in his age group.
When asked how someone his age could accomplish such a
task, he brings the discussion back to the power of goal-setting. “I
put down my goal in writing, listed the obstacles and roadblocks
and then it was about finding a way around them,” Paul says. “I
was over 50 years of age at the time, but that’s what I was willing
to do to learn. It’s what I had to do to be a champion and to be
the best.”
Of course, this is Pauls philosophy. It shows his belief in himself and his ability as a creator. With such an attitude who needs affirmations, he was always going to succeed as his belief is unwavering. Yet he does employ them as noted above. In fact, they reflect the method he teaches in his various courses of giving repeated attention to his intention, “The Progressive Realisation of a Predetermined and Worthwhile Goal.” His mindset is one of knowing that what he conceives and believes he will achieve. His mind has absolutely no room for doubt. Napoleon Hill was another with this mindset. Yet few attain this level of steely conviction.
I bought into this philosophy at a surface level. It was never going to work for me though, as my decision made many years ago concerning my personal meaning of life on Earth would never allow it. I was always going to prove the self-help literature right and sabotage my own success, as success was not congruent with my self-constructed Schema.
Most of us have never had or will have Meyers or Hills attitude to life, for whatever reason we see life as a perpetual struggle. Much of what we are fed by the plethora of media these days reinforces the superior lifestyle of others via TV and movies. Many of them unrealistic, and unattainable illusions that only serve to keep our minds in the future and consume our lives in the present moment as we plot to improve ourselves along a very narrow path of endeavour.
We constantly compare ourselves to others and seldom come up smelling of Roses. Happiness becomes a moving target; a point in the future that depends on us becoming something that we are not, but they are. Comparing our worst to others best sets up a perpetual cycle that reinforces our self-designated role as a victim of circumstances and renders the emotion of happiness impossible for us. This leads to ever increasing anxiety and stress that ends in Depression and worse.
Maybe each life as congealed particles of light on Earth is one of progressive discovery and as we learn lessons we grow to have the same mindset as Meyer. Maybe the insight that brings the realisation that we can create our own heaven or our own hell on earth cannot be hastened by revelation. Maybe revelation only appears after we have suffered many lifetimes. I don’t know the answer to that but by putting my thoughts out here maybe I can help open the eyes of those who are ready to reveal the imposter, the illusion that they see as themselves.
However, with a core belief that the world is an intergalactic prison for bad people who are sentenced to a lifetime of suffering; education and self-improvement were just plastering over the cracks. For a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. While I searched high and low for the answer to why I was not as good as they, happiness would always be outside my grasp and anxiety, fear and suffering would always be my companions. This was a situation of my own creation because I am the only creator in my life; I am the captain of my soul.
We will always fall short of our self-designed measures of success because we can not attain them outside our door in possession of another for you are them and they are us. You already are a success, that is the secret. Yet those that we look to for guidance and leadership have developed unconsciously or knowingly a system that encourages you to seek their guidance and follow their example lest you perish through lack, always worried that the Wolf will visit your door. When you realise you are conceived worthy you will need no help from books.
You must wake up from the sleep that is your Ego mind and realise that you are already the abundant creator you seek. You are all you need to be, you are already successful and have all the attributes to prosper on earth. You are at conception the equal of even the mightiest person on Earth. Only then will you know that you will always find abundant life to sustain you. You will always have access to the source that is perpetual renewal. Because you are part of the source. Mind this may be different from what you currently seek. It may mean you are totally happy with a little food, warm shelter and being free to lift others rather than power, wealth and fame. These, after all, depend on the external gratification of the ego illusion rather than the internal power of self-acceptance that comes with happiness built in. Happiness is an acceptance that this moment is everything that ever was and ever will be. It is perfect right here and now.
“My head is bloody but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears. Looms but the Horror of the shade; And yet the menace of the years. Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”
from Invictus by William Ernest Henley