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THE GIFT THAT NEVER STOPS GIVING

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Memorization uses the power of repetition to put good things into my mind.  It’s a gift that never stops giving and asks nothing in return.  Memorization went out of style after I learned my multiplication tables.  Although it’s nice to know that six times six is thirty-six, what’s really important is I will still know it when I am ninety-six.  I will remember it for the rest of my life.  It’s an automatic thought that comes effortlessly into my mind.

If I repeat a thought enough times, my mind starts repeating it back to me.  It becomes an automatic thought that pops into my mind whenever I need it.

I use memorization to inject positive thoughts into my memory banks.  I memorize positive slogans, affirmations, and scriptures from the Bible.  I memorize speeches and empowering passages from inspirational writing.

A motivational book sitting on my bookshelf may look nice, but it will not transform my life.  If I put the same book into my mind, my life will never be the same.  Memorization gives me the power to change who I am by putting positive things into my mind.

Copyright © 2013

Life is all about focus.

It’s all too easy to focus on the storms of life and worship at the altar of fear.  It’s easy to forget that storms come and go, but dreams can last forever.

In more than thirty-three thousand miles of offshore sailing, we have had winds to fifty knots on only three occasions.  That makes about six days of gale force winds during an eleven year sailing voyage around the world.  I think that our experience is fairly typical for people who do trade wind circumnavigations.  If you stay out of the higher latitudes and don’t sail in hurricane season, it’s unlikely you will ever encounter a storm that poses a significant threat to your yacht.  That’s the real world of sailing.

The fear mongers would have us live in a very different world.  This year, they predicted that hurricane season would be one of the worst on record.  There would be more storms and storms of greater severity than at any time in recent history.  Fear makes you tune in to the Weather Channel so that you can listen to their forecasts of doom and gloom.  The Apostles of  Fear would have you believe that we live in a dangerous world, because fear is big business.  Capitalism has embraced fear and wants you to buy their particular antidote to fear.

I am not buying what they are selling. Whether I am on land or sea, I am not afraid, but I am tired of listening to the fear mongers.  I wish they would go away or go silent.  They are boring me with their negative and toxic palaver.

I listened to the fear mongers tell me how dangerous it was to live in the Middle East, and contrary to their prophecies of doom, I lived in Saudi Arabia for sixteen years without a problem.

I listened to the fear mongers tell me about the perfect storm and how dangerous it was to sail the seven seas, and contrary to their predictions, in eleven years, I never sailed in winds over fifty knots.

I listened to the fear mongers tell me that catamarans were dangerous to sail offshore, and I sailed one around the world without a problem.

I have figured out that when people tell me that I should be afraid, they either don’t know what they are talking about, they are trying to control me with fear, or they want to sell me something as an antidote to the fearful world that they are trying to cultivate.

Fear is a coward that flees in the face of positive action, and  it doesn't take much action to make it happen.  An ounce of action is more powerful that a megaton of fear.

There's no reason to ever allow fear to dominate your life because the smallest amount of positive action will send fear packing.