I heard one of the greatest allegories at a little rural church in the Ozarks. In the middle of his message, the guest preacher dropped this little story.

Two men were out chopping wood. One was an old man.  The other was young and egotistical. He challenged the old man to a race, knowing he was younger and twice as strong. Surprisingly, the old man accepted.

Laughing, the younger man tore into cutting wood as fast as he could. It was powerful to see how hard the young man worked.

The old man chopped steadily, but he would stop every little bit, sit down, and sharpen his ax again. Every time, the young man would laugh at him. The man wouldn’t say a word. He would just sharpen and then get back to work.

By the end of the day, the young man was in for a surprise. The old man had chopped almost twice as much wood as the young man. The young man was furious.

“How in the world did you beat me? I was swinging twice as hard and twice as fast.” 

The older man just smiled and sat down to sharpen his ax. He let the young guy stew around for a while. Finally, the young man calmed down and asked him again.

“What did I do wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You are the best wood chopper I’ve ever seen. I could never compete with you in strength, but I kept my ax head sharp. You must keep your edge sharp, son. Never lose your edge.”

Wow. The preacher went on to talk about other things, and I’m not quite sure how they tied into the story. But this story hit me so hard. I had to write it down and share it with you guys. What a lesson!

 How many of you guys have gotten tired and stopped sharpening your edge? I know I have lately.

This girl’s going to sit down and sharpen that ax. I’m getting my edge back. How about you?

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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What is P.M.A.?

P.M.A. is an acronym for Positive Mental Attitude. This concept was first introduced in 1937 by Napoleon Hill and has been adopted as the key to success by all the greatest motivational speakers, from Tony Robbins to Zig Ziglar. 

“Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles Swindoll.

Life can be difficult, and without a positive attitude, most fail miserably. We set out as young adults eager to enter the game of life. Some start a little better than others, but most get to the end of their life and are filled with regret. 

There are a lot of problems created when we are taught misinterpretation of scripture at a young age. How many of you have heard that you need to give thanks because of the scripture that says in everything, give thanks?

“In everything, give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”1 Thessalonians 5:18

There is one keyword that completely changes the meaning of this verse. It’s the word “in.” It does not say “for.” So many people wonder how I should be thankful for this tragedy. By using the word “in,” the scripture says, “despite” the negative, give thanks. Meaning we may not be thankful for the traumatic event, but we should find something positive to focus on and be grateful for that. 

Toxic positivity will not make anything better, either. But having an overall positive attitude will get you through the hard times much better than a negative attitude ever will. 

There is a great book titled, “As a man thinketh” by James Allen. This book dives into the concept that we, as humans, become what we think about consistently. If we always think about the negative things, this will snowball into a giant mess. How many of you can relate to this? I’m sure you all can. It’s human nature to dwell on the bad and completely ignore the good. People don’t realize that your thoughts determine your emotions, your emotions determine your actions, and your actions become your reality. So thoughts truly shape your world. 

Thoughts —> Emotions —> Actions —> Reality

What if you could completely change your world by developing a positive mental attitude? What would your world be?

Tony Robbins has a great saying that I have taped to my mirror. He says, “Where Focus Goes, Energy Flows.” When trying to explain this concept to my coaching clients, I ask them this question. What is life? Your life consists of energy. You only have so much of it before your eyes grow dim and life ends. When you focus on the negative, you are literally giving that negative person or situation a piece of your life. Think about it. Does that hateful coworker deserve a part of your life? Does that problem deserve a portion of it? The answer is a resounding NO!

How To Develop A Positive Mental Attitude:

• Visualization
• Affirmations
• Gratitude
• Optimize Environment
• Transform Self Talk

What is visualization, and how can it help you to develop P.M.A.? Visualization is simply using your imagination to visualize what you want instead of using your imagination to blow the negative out of proportion. Take a few moments to imagine what life would be like if you could focus on the positive things most of the time. What would that do for you? How would it feel?

Create a vision board of things you want in your life, and ensure everything is positive. Don’t put stuff on there that might have any negative undertones. Here’s an example. If you want to lose weight, don’t use that phrase. But I want to be healthy, fit, and strong. Don’t write pay off debt. Instead, put financial freedom. When the board is complete, place it where you will see it daily.

As Christians, we sometimes shy away from things like affirmations, but there’s nothing in scripture to support this. In fact, it encourages us to quote scripture out loud. It says to let the weak say they are strong in another place. By using positive affirmations, we are literally reprogramming our subconscious mind. I say “Re” programming because we hear affirmations every day of our lives. Those negative affirmations from childhood still affect you today. So why not weed out the garbage and add in some positive programming? 

Gratitude is the key to changing your mindset quickly and redirecting your thoughts from negative to positive. 

Optimize your environment is a phrase I heard when I started studying with my multi-millionaire coach Christan Mickelsen. He talks about how you need to optimize both your physical and human environments. Who do you spend the most time around? Are they discouraging your dreams, or are they pushing you toward them? 

The last way is to transform your self-talk. Tomorrow I want you to take note of everything you tell yourself. We have this voice in our heads; it can ruin your day, year, and even your life when it’s negative. Take note when your self-talk is negative and flip it to a positive thought. If you keep this up long enough, you will reprogram that inner voice to look for the positive. 

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Like a lighthouse in the storm, gratitude will guide you through to calm waters. This guided gratitude journal is a very personal project of mine and I can’t wait to share it with you all. My life hasn’t seen the sun in almost two years, but when I remember to practice gratitude my ship sails smoothly through the day. When I forget the waves crash over me and I find myself flailing about amid troubled waters. Once I catch my breath I’m again drawn back to the light of gratitude and the inner peace it brings.This journal is more than just another list of self help topics, or scientific facts. It’s a tried and true journey that I am on. I do believe I can see the clouds parting and the sun shining through . It’s time to share with you all.

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“All that we achieve and all that we fail to achieve is the direct result of our own thoughts. Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. ” ― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

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How many times do you find yourself plagued with self-doubt? A great opportunity arises, but you are afraid to step through that doorway because of this little nagging voice that says you’re not enough.

Who said you are not enough? Tell me why you are not enough. Give me examples. I’ll give you a few excuses or examples of why I sometimes feel self-doubt.

• I don’t have the right last name.
• I didn’t go to a good school
• I wasn’t raised in a wealthy family
• My weight in health aren’t where I would like them to be
• I have fibromyalgia
• I don’t have the connections

Okay, Well, you get the point. I hate to tell myself this, and I hate to tell you, but I’m trying to be honest here. What I just wrote were nothing more than six excuses. They may sound valid and legitimate, but they are still excuses.

If you study the most successful people in the world, 70% weren’t raised in a wealthy family. Most of them didn’t have the perfect last name, and no one had ever heard of their name until they became successful.

There are a lot of celebrities who deal with the painful disease of fibromyalgia. So that’s not even an excuse. It’s just another challenge.

Some of the wealthiest people in the world didn’t go to college at all, much less an ivy league school.

I could continue and debunk every one of my excuses, and I can probably discredit yours too. Just because they are debunked does not mean they aren’t valid. It just means that they are still capable of being overcome. They are a challenge that you are more than capable of conquering. Once you realize this concept, no excuse will be enough to hinder your journey again.

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When we focus on something we literally give our energy to it. What is life? It’s energy. When we spend our energy focusing on our painful past then we are wasting our life energy on something that cannot be changed. When we focus on something, we give it more energy and more of our life.

Our life is the most valuable thing we have. Do you want to give it to the past? Why not turn your focus towards positive things you can do today?