Grow You

It’s amazing how much talk of doom and gloom there is. I touched on this not long ago in my post: Open Your Mind – It’s Essential!.

Here in the UK, people are talking about nothing but doom and gloom due to the latest so-called “crisis” in the investment banking world.

I’m beginning to think that, for many people, talking about doom and gloom actually makes them feel better. It gives them this “victim” mentality, a form of self pity.

I think self-pity is a very negative choice of emotions. That’s right – a choice. Anyone can choose to life themselves out of self-pity, it is a creation entirely of their own.

I am a firm believer that any can make his own success. Sure, luck may seem to conspire against you but you have far greater power to influence your own success compared to any external events.

I used to work in the banking industry myself. Not long after I graduated, we had the dot com boom and bust. Everyone just worried and decided to stay in there jobs for as long as possible. And we’ve had lots of mini bubbles since and now this.

So what should you do? It’s a simple choice in my mind.

Either become a victim and feel sorry for yourself. Or realise that the world is your oyster and you can start with a fresh sheet of paper anytime that you want to. You can create your own destiny and your own success.

If you’re in a negative situation where you find it difficult to avoid some doommongerers then I advise you to change it as soon as you can. Such people will only wear you down. This goes for “friends” as well as co-workers.

Something that I would like to try in the future is self defence. The closest that I have come to it is when I was enrolled in my first week of university and my roommate and I decided to check out the free first lessons of all incarnations of martial arts on offer: Wing Chun, Shotokan Karate, Shotokai Karate, Tae Kwon Do and a few others.

In the end, we didn’t do any of them but I sure wish that I had. I have the utmost respect for those people who take up a martial art and advance a few belts.

But the other main benefit is the effect on your confidence. In Britain, many teenagers now carry a knife and think nothing of using it. I think this is a very sad state of affairs and reflects our materialistic, homogenous society, lack of culture and respect and general social degradation.

Imagine if you were well trained in the martial arts and confident that you could easily evade any attacker. It must do wonders for your confidence in general. I have no doubt that you would also get success in many other areas such as relationships and work.

So, while I’m not in shape yet to consider doing a martial art, I am going to look at some books and try to learn some basic street fighting moves. I used to have a small library but I cannot remember where I put it on my PC. In the meantime, I have found a few decent books on Scribd which is an excellent resource for free books.

Elements of Street Fighting

Self Defence Pressure Points

Instant Self Defence by Ashida Kim

USA Kenpo Combatives Self-Defense Course

As I get older (I’m 30 now), I like to think that I also become a little wiser with each year that passes by . Something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the need to always keep an open mind.

Look at people around you. Most people are obsessed with material goods and bombarded by marketing. We know that the media is biased e.g. some newspapers are left wing and others are right wing.

But have you ever gone deeper than that and wondered if we are being spoon fed a bunch of garbage? Is there a conspiracy?

I used to think that consipracy theorists were fools. The absurd conspiracy is often more entertaining than the boring truth – this is how I used to think.

But more and more now I realise that we are subject to as much propaganda in the west as those so-called undemocratic societies that we are supposed to pity.

The great thing about the internet is that we can now choose our media, choose our “information diet” as Tim Ferris likes to call it. You must choose carefully because no matter how hard you try to resist it, it will affect you on a subliminal level.

Let me give you a benign example. I have cable TV and I can access BBC News 24 and CNN. If I watch BBC, all I hear is doom and gloom about the economy. Heck, this isn’t 1929! If I switch over to CNN, despite the American economy also going through troubles – I see and hear mostly positive things.

This is one reason for the success of the United States in many areas. It is not solely due to its wealth. A large part of it is due to it’s “can do” attitude of its citizens who believe that they can achieve anything they put their mind to.

By comparison, the British almost love to lose! This is one reason why I intend to leave these shores within the next year and to experience other cultures and attitudes. I love my country but the general outlook of most people is very negative, in my humble opinion.