On the 13th of January this year, I was high-jacked and put in the trunk of a car by four gun-wielding high-jackers here in Johannesburg, South Africa – for three hours! This was the worst experience imaginable, but strangely enough the longer it went on, the calmer and the calmer I got.
You know, in the boot of that car, for the first time it really clicked for me, that I ALWAYS have control over my thinking, and that regardless of what those men put me through, I could still choose to hold a positive picture on the screen of my mind.
I am a consultant with the Proctor Gallagher Institute, and I facilitate the Thinking Into Results coaching program. In our program, there’s a lesson on Attitude, where we learn about Viktor Frankl – who was a Viennese psychiatrist who spent the war years in a Nazi concentration camp, and he said that this was the last of human freedoms – is that we have the ability to CHOOSE! And he said, “In the worst circumstance, we can choose meaning, and we can see meaning to life!” Now think about that, regardless of the intellectual or physical abuse that man was subjected to, HE HAD THE ABILITY TO HOLD A POSITIVE IDEA ON THE SCREEN OF HIS MIND. No one can cause you to think something you don’t want to think, and you have the freedom to think anything you want to think. That’s where a person is truly born free!
This story of Viktor Frankl was probably one of a thousand different ideas that crossed my mind in that boot, and as I laid, boxed in there, I thought my experience here literally pales in comparison to what that man went through. In that boot, I started praying for those high-jackers, for their kids, for their parents, and I also prayed that they find a way to make a meaningful difference in the world.
If you’ve been following Bob Proctor’s work for some time, you’ve likely heard Bob talk about Michael Bernard Beckwith’s 3-step process to overcoming any problem – Step 1: It is what it is Accept It. Step 2: Harvest the Good. Step 3: Forgive all the rest. This was another idea that crossed my mind in that trunk, and by that crossing my mind I could immediately start harvesting the good – I thanked the man above that my 4-year-old wasn’t with me when the incident occurred. I thanked my dad for my 39 years on earth, for the good and the bad! And because of the mental angle I CHOSE, I found myself just getting calmer and calmer.
What thoughts are you entertaining about the challenging situations that you facing?
Are you thinking thoughts of fear and worry?
Or, are you entertaining more empowering ideas?
Either you control what you thinking about the situation or it controls you! Even in the most difficult situation, you can still choose ideas that make you feel good.
Fortunately, they eventually let me go, and I’m grateful to be able to write this story for you. I hope you got value from me sharing it and the way in which I connected it back to Bob Proctor’s teachings.
There’s a chapter called SERENITY from the book As A Man Thinketh, by James Allen. I was part of a group of people from around the world who rewrote this chapter every day for 90 days, and luckily for me, my harrowing experience happened 79 days into our daily re-writing of this chapter. Because, man oh man, did the process of internalizing serenity help me in that situation.
As a parting gift, I’ve professionally recorded the SERENITY chapter for you!
https://soundcloud.com/lee-roebeck/serenity-by-james-allen-1
Lee Roebeck
www.builttowin.co.za
