Positive to Think Today

This is a very touching and inspiring true story that gives so much hope. Especially for those who have mental and/or physical disability or taking care of someone with such condition :

"He spent 12 years trapped inside his body and you won't believe what he went through. This is Martin Pistorius's remarkable story...


Martin Pistorius was stuck for years in a nightmare. As a healthy 12-year-old South African boy, he became suddenly ill and slipped into a seemingly vegetative coma called "total locked-in syndrome". Several years after the onset of his illness, his brain began to slowly waken and recover, but his body did not. Martin was stuck like a "ghost" for over a decade watching people interact around him without knowing he was fully aware of their activity and conversations, which sparked a very depressed period of dark thoughts and frustration. When Martin learned how to use a computer to communicate, his whole world changed and nothing could hold him back. He got a job, started a company, and even fell in love.


Ghost Boy: Worthy of Attention
by Martin Pistorius


The smell of the mandarin oil is sharp but sweet as Virna massages my arm. Her hands move seamlessly as she works the leaden muscles. As I stare at her, she raises her head to smile at me, and I wonder yet again why I didn’t notice hope when it first arrived in my life.

At first all I knew was that Virna never showed her teeth when she smiled and she twitched her leg nervously as she sat cross-legged in a chair. She’d started working at my care home as a relief caregiver, and I noticed such details about her because that’s what you do when people don’t talk to you. But then Virna started speaking to me, and I realized she was someone I could never forget.

Most people speak at, around, over, or about me, so anyone who treats me like a cut above the average root vegetable is unforgettable.


One afternoon Virna told me her stomach was aching. It’s the kind of everyday confession I’ve heard from the people around me for years as they’ve chatted unguardedly, thinking I’m not really with them. What I know about some of the caregivers’ health problems is hardly worth knowing: one has a husband with Alzheimer’s, another has problems with her kidneys, and one woman’s l tumor almost left her childless.

But when Virna spoke to me it was different. She wasn’t talking to herself, someone else, or even the empty room like most people do. She was speaking to me, chatting as she would to anyone her own age about the thoughts that floated through her mind like dust motes in sunlight. It was a conversation any twenty-something friends might have but I’d never experienced it before. Soon Virna started telling me about everything from the sadness of her grandmother’s illness to the new puppy she’d got and the boy she was excited to be going on a date with.

I felt almost as if I was making my first friend.

That was the reason I started looking at Virna, which is not something I often do. My head usually feels like cinder block when I try to lift it, and I’m rarely at the same eye level as other people because I’m always sitting in a chair or lying down. It takes so much effort that a long time ago I gave up making eye contact with people who look but never see. I sit for hours each day staring blankly into space. But that changed when Virna began giving me and some of my fellow inmates aromatherapy massages to soothe our twisted limbs. Lying on my back while she kneaded my aching muscles, I was able to let my eyes follow her as she spoke to me, and bit by bit I started to peep out from the shell I’d retreated into.

Virna looked at me properly, which was something no one had done for a long time. She saw that my eyes really were the windows to my soul and became more and more convinced that I understood what she said. But how could she convince anyone else that the unresponsive ghost boy was capable of more?


Months turned into one year and then two. About six months ago Virna had seen a TV program about a woman who’d been helped to communicate after being rendered mute by a stroke.

Soon afterwards Virna went to an open house day at a nearby center where she’d heard experts talk about what could be done to help those who can’t speak, and she came back excited to tell me about what she’d learned.

“They use switches and electronic devices to help people communicate,” she said. “Do you think you could do something like that, Martin? I’m sure you could.”

Other care staff had also gone to the open house day but weren’t as convinced as Virna was that I might be a suitable candidate.

“Do you really think he’s got it in him?” one of them asked after she’d spoken about her hopes for me.

The woman bent towards me with the shadow of a grin on her face, and I smiled to try and show her that I understood what she was saying. But my only two gestures—jerking my head down to the right and smiling—are interpreted as the knee-jerk reactions of an undeveloped mind, the kind of responses that any six-month-old baby can make, so she didn’t take any notice.

The caregiver looked at me and sighed as her grin faded. I wondered if she knew that her breath was bitter from the coffee she’d recently been drinking.

“Can you imagine anything so ridiculous?” she said later to her friend after Virna had left. “There’s no way any of them could communicate.” The two women looked around the room.

“Maybe Gertje?”

They looked at a little boy who was playing with a toy car nearby.

“He’s a bit better than some, isn’t he?”

The women were silent for a moment before their eyes came to rest on me. They didn’t say anything as they looked at me sitting in my wheelchair. They didn’t need to. I know I’m considered one of the lowest functioning subjects in a place where the only entry requirement is an IQ of thirty or less.

Despite all these doubts, Virna wouldn’t be swayed. A fire of conviction had been lit within her. After telling people again and again that she thought I could understand what was being said to me, she’d spoken to my parents, who had agreed to have me tested. Tomorrow they’re taking me to the place where I might finally be offered a key to my prison door.

“You’re going to do your best, aren’t you?” Virna says now as she looks at me.

I can see she’s worried. Doubt flickers across her face like cloud shadows racing across the horizon on a sunny day. I stare back, wishing I could tell her that I’ll use every fiber of my being to make the most of an opportunity I never thought would come.

This is the first time I’ve ever been assessed like this, and I’ll do all I can to give some small sign that I’m worthy of the attention.

“Please do as much as you can, Martin,” Virna says. “It’s so important that you show them what you can do because I know you can.”

I look at her. Tears glimmer silver in the corners of her eyes. Her faith in me is so strong I must repay it."


(Note: The rest of the story is available in his book...)
Excerpted with permission from Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a isdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body by Martin Pistorius, copyright Thomas Nelson. By by Martin Pistorius

positive thinking evokes
more energy
more initiative
more happiness

Negative thinking is toxic in your life; mind, body and soul. Get rid of it at all cost. You are in this world for a purpose and your life is absolutely precious. Do you know how many clients I knew could buy their own country and yet are still struggling because they are focusing on things, persons, they do not have? While I have friends who can only afford to live on a very tight budget and yet they are happy and content with the very little they do have.


It is your sole responsibility to be a positive person. There is no excuse for being negative. Unless you don't have eyes to see, ears to hear, limbs to move, and you have no foods on your table, you are starving, etc.


Negative thoughts are such a time and energy waster too! So hope you start thinking positively on purpose for your own good.

love this

"Looking at Mirror"


One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big advice on the door on which it was written:


“Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym”.


In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself.


The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: “Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!” One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.


There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: “There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU.” You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.


“The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself” .


Lesson:

The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed. The world and your reality are like mirrors lying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his divine capability to imagine and create his happiness and his success. It’s the way you face Life that makes the difference.

Another positive story I got from a website...


"Boy’s Weakness"

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.
The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn’t understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move.

“Sensei,”(Teacher in Japanese) the boy finally said, “Shouldn’t I be learning more moves?” “This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you’ll ever need to know,” the sensei replied.
Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.

Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. “No,” the sensei insisted, “Let him continue.” Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.
He was the champion.


On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.

“Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?”
“You won for two reasons,” the sensei answered. “First, you’ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”


The boy’s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength. So can you do with your horrible past and any other weaknesses. You can use them to inspire others toward recovery. You can use them as your stepping stones to a better you!


Lesson :
Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances or ourselves for it but we never know that our weaknesses can become our strengths one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!”

It turns everything around for me. It helps me understand that I am not a victim, I am just living life on life's terms. Years ago I got a parking ticket. I started to get upset, then I decided that this money was going to the city budget and probably paying for the local homeless shelter. My mood changed immediately. Even when I got robbed years ago I decided the robber must need the money more than me. I wrote a story about this.



I was sitting in my car one night, warming up the motor, when a man forcefully swung open the door. Then he reached across me with lightening speed and grabbed my purse. We struggled. Then I screamed and he ran down the street. I was overwhelmed. The next thing I knew, I was running after him. I didn't get very far. Within seconds he disappeared around the corner and I stopped running. Then I walked back to my car, tears streaming down my face. The motor was still running, the door was wide open, and my shoes were lying out in the middle of the street. For the first time, I realized I had been chasing this man in my stocking feet.

The police came and took a report. After they left, I grieved—for myself and for a world in which these things happen every day. I also thought about the reasons people hurt each other—poverty, drugs, greed, anger. Then I went to sleep.

The next day I lay in the bed thinking about what had happened. Then I thought about the man who had robbed me. Who was he? Why did he do this to me? How could I stop being so angry? How could I find some peace of mind?

Suddenly I realized the answer to my dilemma. I must pray for this man as Christ asked us to do. So I closed my eyes and asked God to heal this man who had robbed me and to help me get over my anger.

About an hour later I felt the anger dissipating. Then suddenly the phone rang. In a soft, almost inaudible voice, a young man said to me "I guess you know who this is. I'm the guy who robbed you." Like a surprised child I found myself saying without hesitation, "Oh yes, I'm so happy you called." After a moment, the young robber said, "I just wanted you to know that I am sorry and that I am going to bring your purse back to you." I thanked him. Then he said, "I wouldn't have done it if I didn't need the money." "I understand," I replied.

For the next few minutes I listened to this young man and got in touch with his pain. Then I talked to him about the pain he had caused me. Finally, I counseled him a little. He listened quietly. When I was finished he said, "You know, I try not to personalize what I do, but I feel bad about robbing such a nice lady." "Good," I said. "Perhaps your remorse will help you change."

After this I said, "If you want to bring my purse back just leave it on the porch after it gets dark. Then it will be there in the morning when I wake up. He responded by saying, "Someone might take it if it's out there all night. I will tap on your door when I drop it off and then you will know it is there." "Okay," I said. (The irony of my robber being concerned about me being robbed again did not escape me, but I didn't say anything.)

After this, there was silence. I think we were both hesitant about breaking the connection and yet it seemed the practical thing to do at that point. So I said goodbye and he hung up. An hour later there was a tap on my door. (I resisted the urge to look out the window.) A few minutes later I opened the door and my purse was lying on the porch.

To this day, I continue to pray for this young man. I pray that his remorse has become atonement. I pray that he was released from the burden of his sins. I pray that he was saved even though I will never know if he was. I do know, however, that God used me to try and bring this young man into the light—if only for a moment. And in the process of loving my enemy, who had suddenly become my friend, I got the peace of mind I had prayed for.


I want to add that I chose to share this story with my readers, not just because it is about forgiveness, but because it is about grace. It is about the mystical power of the Lord to intervene—to talk to us through out hearts—to move us to do things we would not ordinarily do. Christ lives my friends! Not just through the Word, but through action. We are not alone and we never need to feel forsaken, because he takes bad things and transforms them into good things. Our enemies become our friends if we are open to that possibility—if we pray for those who sin against us. We may not live in Eden anymore, but we have the Lord at our side. This is what my experience with the young robber taught me, and I think about what happened every time I get discouraged about the world I live in.

Thanks for sharing Susan. You are an inspiration.


Another lesson to remember:


We cannot please everybody. There will always be people who would not like us or have opposing views no matter what we say or do and vice versa. Just like this Aesop’s fable about a man and his grandson traveling to town:


"The old man walked while his grandson rode the donkey. But some people said, “Would you look at that old man suffering on his feet while that strong young boy who is totally capable of walking sits on that donkey?” So the old man, hearing this, switched places and began to ride the donkey while the boy walked. Now he heard people saying, “Would you look at that? A grown man taking advantage of that little boy. Can you believe it?” And so the man and the boy both rode the donkey. Then they heard people saying, “Would you look at those heavy brutes making that poor donkey suffer?” So they both got off and walked until they heard some people say, “How pitiful, a perfectly good donkey not being used!” The final scene of the story showed the boy and the old man staggering along as they carry the donkey."


Therefore, choose wisely from whom you will listen or pay attention to. Remember, only good trees produce good fruits. Bad trees only bad fruits. So be discerning and stop expecting good fruit from the wrong tree.

love this I lost very previous opportunites,because of my negtive thinking in last 3 years.

Make this year your best year.
Make the most out of it...By discovering who you are made to be and by living out your calling. Leave the past behind and focus your energy on what lies ahead. Stop poisoning your mind with negative emotions and POA stalking, hostaging. This is your year now. Take responsibility. Make wiser, better choices for yourself. Believe you can do this!

No one else can defeat me other than myself.
My temporary wounds make me stronger and wiser than I have ever been.
I always count my blessings and I found out that I am richly blessed beyond measure.
I am soaring and renewing daily.
I am looking forward to what is in store for me because I believe the best is yet to come for us who believe.

Even when im down i know in my hart it wont be a long time before im up in my mood.
I change my thought process and i invite possitive atitudes.
You can choose your mood and fix your day it never all lost.

 so wonderful

Getting up in the morning, the sun was shining, the coffee tasted good and then I went outside to clean my car and felt very motivated!