ENTHUSIASM MAKES THE DIFFERENCE – NORMAN VINCE PEALE, 1967

ENTHUSIASM MAKES THE DIFFERENCE – NORMAN VINCE PEALE, 1967, Prentice Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA

Now, I am reading on a book "Enthusiasm makes a difference". Inside, I found one thing very useful and interesting. Here, I am quoting a little bit of it:

There was this one guy, that practises "Daily mental ventilation"
He "emptied" his mind at the end of every day to prevent unhealthy thoughts from lodging in consciousness overnight, for he knew such thoughts can take root quickly if allowed to accumulate even for as long as 24 hours. This mental emptying took the form of a recapitulation of unpleasant incidents that had occurred during the day: a sharp word, an insinuating remark, an hostile act by some other person.

Also, a review of his own mistakes, errors or stupidities. To these he added disappointments, frustrations and every form of unhappiness that had clouded the preceding hours. He held all these in a strong mental view, deliberately drawing from them all the experience and understanding they had to give. Then he 'lumped' them together and mentally 'dropped' them out of consciousness, saying as he did so these theraperutic words: 'Forgetting what is behind, and straining towards what is ahead..." (Phil 3:13)

I like the statement "'lump' them together and mentally 'drop' them out of consciousness" very much. In conclusion: take everything that is positive, anything that you can learn from, and then drop everything else that is unnecessary out of your conscious mind. Don't let any small negative remarks destroy your self-confidence. Don't dwell on it, and then start believing it.
(Pages 25-26)

WHAT ENTHUSIASM DID FOR A PORTER

‘I wrote you some time ago,’ a man wrote me recently, ‘about being laid off from a job I’d held 17 years and the difficulty I had finding other work as an unskilled labourer. But I continued to have faith and confidence as you said, and finally I took a job as a porter. Months went by and I kept asking God, ‘Is this the abundance Dr. Peale was talking about, above all that I could ask or think? God, I have 2 boys ready for college and a girl going into high school. How am I going to take care of their needs as a porter?’

His faith sometimes slipped a bit. But he stuck doggedly to his dream and he ended each prayer with, ‘I believe everything is going to be all right, abundance more than I could ask for or think of.’ Finally after 6 months, there was an opening for a handyman. He took it and his pay went up to $78.00 a week. He said in his prayers to God, ‘It is a little better. At least we are moving.’

Then he went to the library and borrowed books on boilers. Think of it, a porter studying about boilers. He asked God for guidance; he worked hard; he believed that hard work and cooperation was necessary. He finally took the test for No. 6 Oil Burner License and passed. Two weeks later, his boss asked him if he would run a school that needed a superintendent. He prayed for God’s guidance.

‘Well, God and I took the job,’ he continued in his letter. ‘Since He had put all the material down here so they could build the school, I knew that we together would not have too much trouble running it, so God and I are making $145.00 a week, and I love my job.

‘This is not the end because God and I will someday manage a whole group of buildings and manage them well. My son has a bank loan to go to college. My other son has a $4,000 scholarship to college and my daughter won an appointment to high school which carries a scholarship. Yu are wrong, Dr. Peale, when you say God gives in abundance. You should say God gives in super-abundance.’

Here is a man, humble, poor, struggling, with little education. Yet he has learned one of the greatest truths in life, that a man who believes, who thinks confidently, who is full of faith in God, and who will work and study can accomplish amazing results.

…He reactivated remarkable blessings in the lives of his family and himself. He gives the lie to those dreary prophets of gloom, who usually blame the American way of life for their own personal failure.

(pages 99-100)

‘These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full,’ and who also said, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.’

Christianity can put joy and enthusiasm into people’s mind for the purpose of helping them to live creatively and victoriously in this trying world.

One man who holds to this faith happens to be one of the most efficient salesmen in American Industry. He has marketed some of the most widely used items in the economy today. He is a keen-minded, brilliant activist whose service to church and community is outstanding., and his benefactions to all kinds of human service are notable.

He stated his belief that ‘God Himself gave us power and authority over every day to make it either good or bad. Every morning’, he said, ‘we have the choice whether it shall be a good or bad day. As for me, I decide every morning that with God’s help I will make it a good day. I can tell you that as a result, my days while not always easy are still good.’ This man believed that a day called bad by some people could be transformed into a good day by taking charge of it to make it good.

FORMULA FOR MAKING ANY DAY GOOD:
Think a good day. To make a day good, first see it good in consciousness. Do not allow any mental reservation that it will not be good. Events are largely governed by creative thought, so a positive concept of the day will strongly tend to condition it to be as imaged.
Thank a good day. Give thanks in advance for the good day ahead. Thank and affirm a good day. This helps make it so.
Plan a good day. Specifically and definitely know what you propose to do with the day. Plan your work and work your plan.
Put good into the day. Put bad thoughts, bad attitudes, bad actions into a day and it will take on bad characteristics. Put good thoughts, good attitudes, good actions into a day and they will make the day good.
Pray a good day. Begin each day with that powerful affirmation from Psalm 118:24: ‘This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.’
Fill the day with enthusiasm. Give the day all you’ve got and it will give you all it’s got, which will be plenty. Enthusiasm will make a big difference in any day and in any job.
(pages 102-103)

It would seems that most persons take a dim view of a problem. But actually is a problem a bad thing, or on the contrary, might it not be a very good thing?

Let me answer that questions by telling of an incident. …I saw approaching me a friend by the name of George. From George’s disconsolate and melancholy demeanor it was evident to me that he was not filled to overflowing with the ecstasy and exuberance of human existence. His obvious depression aroused my sympathy, and so I asked, ‘How are you, George?’

‘Oh,’ he replied, ‘it’s problems. Life is nothing by problems. I’ve had it. I’m fed up with problems.’ George became so exercised about the matter that he quite forgot to whom he was talking and began to castigate his problems, using in the vitriolic process a great many theological terms. I knew what he meant. He had the power to communicate.

‘What is it that I can do for you, George?’ I asked.

‘Get me free of these problems, that’s what I want. Tell you what. Get me free and I will give you a thousand dollar donation for your work.’

Well, I am never one to turn down such an offer. I meditated and cogitated and came up with a solution which I thought possessed merit. But apparently George did not go for it. I have yet to receive the aforementioned one thousand dollars.

‘So you want to be completely free of problems, do you, George?’ I asked.

‘You said it!’ he fervently replied.

‘All right, here is how it can be done. Theo the day I was in a certain place on professional business, if I may thus characterize it, and was told that there were in that place over 100,000 people, and not a single one had a problem.’

The first indication of enthusiasm lighted up in his eyes and suffused his countenance. ‘Boy, that’s for me. Lead me to this place’

‘O.K., you asked for it,’ I replied, ‘but I doubt you will like it. It’s Woodlawn Cemetery’

And of course no one in that or any other cemetery has a problem. For them ‘life’s fitful fever’ is over; ‘they rest from their labors’. They have no problems.

Problems constitute as a sign of life. Perhaps the more problems you have, the more alive you are. And if you have no problems at all, I warn you, you are in great jeopardy. You are on the way out. The best procedure might be to pray to the Lord saying, ‘Don’t you trust me any more, Lord? Please give me some problems’

(pages 135-136)

Of couse the world is full of trouble, deep, dark, grievous trouble. The world is full of problems, too, hard knotty problems. It always will be so. If any politician or preacher tells you that all problems are going to be eliminated from this world through some panacea, do not fall for it. The world is made on the basis of struggle, and struggle is inevitably attended by difficulty, often by pain plus hardship.

The Bible, the writers of which had seen a lot of life and evolved an in-depth philosophy of human existence, says, ‘Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.’ (Job 5:7). And again, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation.’ (john 16:33). But the Bible also says, ‘Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33), meaning through faith in Christ we, too, can overcome all that the world throws at us.

Religion does not blithely promise some sort of no-trouble, no-problem, no-poverty world; but rather a spirit, a power, and enthusiasm that endows every one with the ability to overcome any and all of it/ Out of struggle we produce better conditions. But as to trouble and problems, you can count on them all your life.

(pages 139-140)

EIGHT SURE GUIDELINES FOR HANDLING PROBLEMS.

Don’t panic. Keep calm. Use your head. You’ll need all your wits (my addition: do not use your feelings!)

Don’t be overwhelmed by your problem. Don’t’ get dramatic about it. Just tell yourself confidently, ‘God and I can handle it.’

Practice de-confusion. Take a paper and pencil and write down every element of the problem.
Skip the post-mortems. Don’t say, ‘Why did I do that? Why didn’t I do this?’ Take the problem from where you now are.

Look for a solution, not for the whole problem but of the next step. One step leads to another and so on to the complete solution. So be content with tackling the next step.
Practice creative listening.

Always ask yourself what is the right thing to do in a given situation. If what you do isn’t he right thing, then it is the wrong thing. Nothing wrong ever turned out right. So do the right thing and you’ll come out right.

Keep praying. Keep thinking. Keep believing. And keep enthusiasm going, for enthusiasm works miracles in problems.

(pages 146-147)

SEVEN STEPS TO A COME BACK

Stop running yourself down. There’s a lot that’s right in you. You have the same capacity you had before. Empty your mind of your failures and mistakes and start respecting yourself.
Eliminate self-pity. Start thinking of what you have left instead of dwelling on what you have lost. List your assets on a piece of paper.

Quit thinking of yourself. Think of helping others. Actually go out and find someone who needs the kind of help you can give and give it. For you will never have a continuing flow of abundance if your thought is only for yourself.

Remember Geothe: ‘The who has a firm will moulds the world to himself.’ Almighty God put a tough thing into human beings called the will. Use it.
Have a goal and put a timetable on it.

Stop wasting your mental energy on gripes and post-mortems, and start thinking about what you do now. Think, think, think. Amazing things will happen when you think constructively.
Last but not least: Every morning and every night of your life, articulate these words: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’