Do not look at the wall …

This past month has been rough financially.  During tough times, we often reflect on certain lessons that help us to face the challenges before us. As I look forward to the challenges of the upcoming year, I remind myself to not “look at the wall”.

This past week I re-read the book where I first recall mention of this concept. Anthony Robbins mentions how he learned this lesson from race car drivers. They warned him that when his car is out of control not to focus on the wall. We tend to direct ourselves to where we look and looking at the wall creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of hitting the wall. Looking at the road and our intended goal helps us to straighten out our driving and we can succeed in achieving our objective.

Another approach is to say that focusing on the negative aspects of an experience makes the experience negative. Likewise, one can choose to be happy instead. So, my family focuses on the positive and adopts an attitude of gratitude. Yes, things have been tough this month, but we managed to make it through and everything will work out better in the long run. We have enjoyed some wondrous moments with our family this month and received assistance from some really great friends and family. We have also made some great new friends this past month.

If we do not “look at the wall” (that represents fears and negativity), we will survive and thrive. As Frank Sinatra once said “The best revenge is massive success.”

As for the book by Anthony Robbins, I totally recommend reading “Awaken the Giant Within”. Even if you do not share all of his beliefs, you will definitely find stories and examples that will inspire you.

Book: Awaking the Giant Within      
Author: Anthony Robbins
Title/Sub-Title: Meaning is Often a Matter of Focus, p. 161    
Key lesson: “Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear”.
Link:Google Books

¡Hola mundo, 2011!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is my first post on this new blogger.  In the process of updating my website from a my personal website to our family website, I ended up having to update my MSN Space and here I am.

The title of this blog is from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: “Those who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” As a student of psychology during my academic career, I find the distinction between sanity and insanity a curious one. As such, I provide the disclaimer that I am a so-called sane man.  If anyone ever reads this, they can decide or judge one way or another.