Where dry desert ends, green grass grows

I have been reading the late Og Mandino's "Greatest Salesman" book six days a week for many years now. It is unfortunate that the title has the world "salesman" in it, because even though many millions of people have read this little book, many millions more don't because they think it is about sales. This book is really about life. It is a set of simple principles wrapped in a story that are how to do well in life. In the chapter on persistence, which I will be in for the next 30 days (and I will undoubtedly blog about it again), he writes a paragraph that relates to the mind:



"I will never consider defeat and I will remove from my vocabulary such words and phrases as quit, cannot, unable, impossible, out of the question, improbable, failure, unworkable, hopeless, retreat; for they are the words of fools. I will avoid despair but if this disease of the mind should infect me then I will work on in despair. I will toil, and I will endure. I will ignore the obstacles at my feet and keep mine eyes on the goals above my head, for I know that where dry desert ends, green grass grows."



Think about the words you use....do you ever say "I can't" in any of the ways written here? Try to eliminate any of these types of words from your everyday use. Once you are conscious of it, you can catch it...and get rid of it. Some days you will despair...it's natural...it is part of the flow of energy in your life and part of the cycle of things in general...what Og is saying is don't give in to it. Do it anyway and despair will be shorter lived. Consider this paragraph for the day and know that your mind will believe what you constantly tell it.