Is Thinking Positive Enough?

I was reading a critique about Tony Robbins, in which the reviewer stated that one of the flaws of all the self-help gurus out there is they promote an idea that positive thinking will overcome obstacles.

Those who know me know that I am a proponent of positive thinking, and have been a reader, viewer and listener of Tony Robbins for many years.  Whether it is Tony Robbins, or other motivational speakers, this part of the message almost always seems to get misunderstood.

Regardless of how this statement is presented, positive thinking alone does not get you what you want.  And most motivational speakers make this clear.

But this is an important aspect of self-help. Why? Because it is motivational.  It is sort of like the ignition to get started on the road to success. Success is achieved not by thinking, but by action.  However, if you think about a positive outcome, you will more likely act upon your thoughts, and those actions will be more diligent because you will care more about the result.

So, today's post is a shout out to all those motivational speakers out there who motivate us and get us to do things for ourselves instead of just daydreaming.

Finding Inspiration: Visualization

While in high school, I read the book, The Silva Mind Control Method, by Jose Silva.  The book introduced me to the concept of visualization.  Visualization helped me perform better on tests, and I used visualization alot until I graduated from college.  Then I stopped, until I read Antyhony Robbins, book Unlimited Power. 

I still read and listen to motivational speakers, but I generally do a half-hearted job of the using the techniques, now days, except when I was recovering from spinal cord injury.  But even then, I concentrated on the walking part, and not on other issues. 

When you set a goal, then visualize you acheiving the goal, it is like a premonition, and then your sub-conscious starts working to acheive it.  When you see yourself acheiving your goal, it motivates and inspires you. Give it a try. 

Finding Inspiration: Motivational Speakers, esp. Tony Robbins

I've been listening to motivational speakers since high school.  Before Tony Robbins came on the scene, I think they were called self-help authors/speakers.

I had read books by others, such as Dennis Waitley, but the book that put everything together was Unlimited Power by Antrhony Robbins.  I had seen Robbins on tv, and liked what he was saying, but I couldn't afford to attend his seminars.  One day, I picked up this book, and all the stuff that I had been reading the last few years all came together.  I found out that one of the first authors re: self improvement was Jose Silva.  Silva's book, The Silva Mind Control Method, happened to be the book that got me interested in the art of visualization.

Anyway, it doesn't matter who you listen to, and there are many, but motivational speakers, do just that - they motivate you.

When I was recovering, I started listeing to some old Anthony Robbins CDs. Granted, I didn't do the exercises - although I had done them years ago, and it wouldn't have hurt to do them again - but listening to these motivational talks inspired me, and I believed they helped me get better, faster.

Finding Inspiration

Recovering from a spinal cord injury is not a cakewalk, especially if you are not 100% sure you will be able to walk again.  Not to mention all the other adjustments you have to make to all the other body functions that have been affected by the damage.

There are many days when frustration set in.  The key, I believe, is to not let these frustrations get in your way.

  I pulled inspiration from many different sources: family and friends, hospital staff, entertainment, in the form of songs, movies, books, and stories of strangers who have overcome obstacles.

Over the next several days or weeks, maybe, the bulk of my posts for the rest of this month and into the next, I plan to write posts of how I used some of these sources to inspire me.  One thing to consider is that some of the examples of inspiration fall into multiple categories of sources. For instance, I will write about Social Media, and about finding inspirational stories on the internet, but some examples can fit into both categories.

On of the greatest benefit of being inspired is motivation.  It spurs you into action to better yourself



  

Evolution of Reasoning Behind Toe Up to 10K

When I was in the hospital, I wanted to have a baseline to compare my recovery.  I wanted to know wanted to know when my legs would start to move, when my bladder and bowels would recover, when I would be strong enough to stand, etc.

Except for that I would probably spend a year in a wheelchair and that I would be walking "well enough: in two years (and this was stated when it was thought I had Guillain-Barre syndrome).  And no answer to when and how the bladder/bowel would recover.

Finding info on regaining the ability to walk wasn't so bad.  There were some stories of people were able to walk again, but there were other stories of people who were still not able to so after some years, and some who took several years to regain enough strength to stand.  However, just finding stories of walking recovery were difficult to find.

As far as bowel and bladder recovery, I found even less info.

So, initially, I wanted to share my chronology.  I know everybody recovers at a different pace, and the amount of recovery differs among individuals, and the issues differ depending on where the injury(ies) took place, but if I contributed my story, there would be at least a record of how, how long, and how much I recovered from my issues. 

But as I wrote the book, and as I experienced a rather rapid pace towards "normal enough," my theme seemed to change from providing my story to which others can compare to, to providing an inspirational and motivational piece for someone who finds him/herself in a similar situation - and reach out to those who have issues other than physical, and perhaps use the same strategies I did (finding inspiration, movitation and working towards goals) to overcome his/her obstacles - with the one advantage I did not have, which is the trial and error I went through to find the right mind-set and action-set.

So, what I think I ended up, with Toe Up to 10K, is a book, superficially chronicles the timeline and progress I made during my recovery, but is really about how I drew inspiration and motivated myself to recover as best as I could.  I realize that I've had a remarkable recovery, and I know not all of it is due to own hard work - that my body responded to some intangibles, but I don't think I would have recovered as well as I have without the work I put into recovery - and ultimately, I just wanted to share my story, for I believe each story of a successful builds upon other people's stories and provides inspiration for those who found themselves in the same situation I found myself in two years ago.