I believe that a library is not complete without having Og Mandino sitting on the shelf; one of my favorites is his book titled:
-
Greatest Salesman In The World.
This is a philosophical tale to serve as a guide of salesmanship and success. The story is of Hafid, a poor camel boy who achieves a life of abundance and is given ten scrolls of wisdom.
Here are the Ten Scrolls:
Scroll 1. Today I begin a new life.
To me this statement is very powerful taken from the perspective of living in the ‘now’, for yesterday is gone and every new day we begin anew. The mind that we were yesterday is no
longer, we have been influenced by the present moment and this affects our course.
A new life comes from a decision to start anew. To trust your higher self and know that all will be well. Well,
how could it not?
Take a look outside… is the sun still shining above? Are the stars still twinkling? Does the rain still fall without your help? Then, today I begin a new life for I am not in control.
Scroll 2. I will greet this day with love in my heart.
The day has done no harm but come forth like a faithful
servant from the ebbs of darkness, to greet the day with Love is to honor the life before it is
lived. Imagine to fill your heart and every part of your being with Love… why, I would say that is
truly as if Heaven were here on Earth.
Scroll 3. I will persist until I succeed.
Most of us can not recall our very first steps, we do not
remember the many attempts we
made as we would raise our bodies to take those early baby steps… we do not recall how many times we
fell; and truth, that does not
matter. What is important is that
we are wired to succeed.
This very second we are proof that our inner being will persist, here we are today standing tall and taking
many steps. So why is it that we beat ourselves up when things don’t go our way?
It’s not in the falling, it is in our ability to pull ourselves back up and persist – until we succeed!
Scroll 4. I am nature’s greatest miracle. We are more than a miracle through the process of mystery and we live on the breath of Faith.
The human body may be one of the most complicated machine in the world (if it could be called that). With this body we see, hear, breathe, walk, run, and sense
pleasure with it. As different as each part of the body is to the other all is made of the same material: cells. How and when did cells, which have such varied
functions, come into being? All the approximately 100 trillion cells that make up our body today came from the division of one single cell. That single cell which
had the same structure as all the cells in our body now.
It is certainly a miracle that we could come into existence from a drop of fluid. Can this be the result of a random process or a conscious process of Creation
from something more greater than we could ever fathom?
This miracle is experienced by every person on the face of the earth: the miracle of creation.
Scroll 5. I will live this day as if it is my last.
~no explanation necessary~
Scroll 6. Today I will be master of my emotions.Here Og Mandino has a lovely way of explaining this (so please pick up the book and read up his wisdom). We are such intricate beings, we have the
ability to respond in ways that will worsen or improve our situation. We can chose to “regulate”
our emotions. Many of us have a tendency to forget this incredible power we have. So you get
some bad news, it makes sense to feel sad. But we can regulate how we respond and by doing this we begin the process of mastering our emotions.
The key here is to acknowledge how we feel and then to regulate the emotions
before we respond or react. The way that we respond to the emotion will influence the
“life-span” of that emotion.
The truth is, we can feel any emotion we want by DECIDING to feel it.
Happiness is a choice. And so is depression, anger, frustration, or any other emotion.No one makes us feel “happy” or “angry”, it’s based on how we’re
interpreting each situation in our life and the meaning we associate to it.
Scroll 7. I will laugh at the world.
Scroll 8. Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
Scroll 9. I will act now.
Scroll 10. I will pray for guidance.
I believe in the power of prayer. Many underestimate it so much and are left to swim in a sea of hopelessness.
I believe that prayer is a direct communication with God (or to the Universal Energy). Regardless of ones religious faith, every time we pray, even if it is only one word, it is received by this
Greater Force. Nothing is too trivial … or too big to pray for either. We may not be the ones to
determine the time and place when our prayers will be answered… I believe we should expect
almighty results, whether or not God chooses to grant our petitions or deny our requests.
Whatever the answer to our prayers, the God to whom we pray is the source of the power of
prayer.
We need to have faith that our prayers will be answered all according to the Divine Plan.
