Do you ever wish that you could talk to your younger self? To tell her that you shouldn’t do this and do that? Or maybe you wish you have a time machine so you can fix the past and cheat for your future. Just IF…
I may call myself as a 'bookworm'. Not a person who’s a big fan of books to read them, but more to people who really like to buy books and keep it. Basically, I am a book collector.
However, I eventually read my books, not as soon as I bought it, but it sometimes takes time. I just put them on my waiting list to be read. Today, I read a book I bought almost 8 months ago. It still has a price tag on its cover too. Apparently, I’ve read until chapter 16, but I kinda forgot how’s it. Then I decided to take a random subchapter for a short reading time on this rainy evening.
It’s Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”. Perhaps you knew about the infamous book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, so this book should be on your wish list too. So, I was down to the content page, and I interested to re-read Part four, Seven Ways to Cultivate a Mental Attitude That Will Bring You Peace and Happiness.
Well, as a throwback, I bought this book in Japan, when I was really down -maybe this is the common problems of some foreigner, or foreign student, in Japan-. Back then, I asked for some advice from some friends, about why am I feel so lonely and worried about a lot of things. But, don’t you also think, that whenever you ask for advice, you basically just ask for a supporter, because you already have your own decision, your own point of view. And, all the advice, just ended for… maybe nothing.
So, one day, after I went back from work as a part-time English teacher in Umeda, I decided not to go home soon after I finished, but I went to the city center by myself. It was Friday night, so why didn’t I spend time strolling around alone? That must be fun. I bought my favorite cheesecake and a soda from the vending machine. Walked through the city center, watched people sang on the street, and a lot of people commuted, busy. Felt enough with the crowd, I went to the station to go back home, but my eyes caught a bookshop, Kinokuniya, and I found this book. And tadaa~
So yeah, talking about Part four, Chapter 12 looks so catchy for me, “Eight Words That Can Transform Your Life”. This chapter basically wanna tell us that we shouldn’t be that worry about our life. We should live our life, our present. And we should keep our positive mind. Believing that everything will be okay in the end. We should always think and always try to be happy.
The eight words were from the philosopher who ruled the Roman Empires, Marcus Aurelius. Eight words that can determine your destiny: “Our life is what our thoughts make it”. Yes, if we think a happy thought, we will be happy. If we think miserable thoughts, we will be miserable. If we think fear thoughts, we will be fearful. If we think sickly thoughts, we will probably will ill. If we think failure, we will certainly fail. If we wallow in self-pity, everyone will want to shun us and avoid us.
That was a mantra! Like seriously, to be honest, I've proved it myself. I used to be worried a lot -and sometimes I still do- but I realized that when we overthink, and afraid of it, everything is getting worse. But when I believe that everything will be okay, that I can make it, that there’s a big power, the biggest power in this universe will help me, then everything is just going easier. I used to feel that my life was so black and blue, and it’s kinda difficult for me to smile, or even hanging around with people. I always afraid of what’s on people mind. I was afraid that they’ll hate me. But now, I tried to think about it in reverse. That I don’t have to be worry that much. That life is more to yellow and orange. I tried to look at everything differently and it works. Like, seriously… your life depends on what’s on your mind.
Okay, back to the book. What I love from this part is also there are some stories that I definitely Agreed and said “YES” because the stories are similar to mine. Like the story of a guy who had been down in over worried. He said
“I can honestly say that I am glad I had a breakdown, because I found out the hard way what power our thoughts can have on our mind and our body. Now I can make my thought work for me instead of against me. “
And in the next paragraph, he also said
“I deeply convinced that our peace of mind and the joy we get out of living depends not on where we are, or what we have, or who we are, but solely upon our mental attitude. “
The deepest part of this chapter is on the last two pages, it’s really deep until I realized how ungrateful I was for what I have.
The mind is its own place, and in itself, Can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven.
Napoleon and Helen Keller are perfect illustrations of this statement: Napoleon had everything men usually crave – glory, power, riches – yet he said “I have never known six happy days in my life”; while Hellen Keller – blind, deaf, dumb – declared “I have found life is so beautiful”
When I read this chapter, only this chapter, I was thinking I should read this book days before. I shouldn’t keep it on the bookshelf. At the end of this chapter, there are also ten things you should do JUST FOR TODAY. And closed with a nice statement that if we want to develop a mental attitude that will bring us peace and happiness, here is Rule 1:
Think and act cheerfully, and you will feel cheerful.
