"At other times, the true obstacle isn't the obstacles
in front of us but the obstacle inside of us. Perhaps it's our inflexibility,
our arrogance, or our fear, but when victory over external barriers is
contingent upon victory over internal ones, the greatest benefit a situation
has to offer us is wisdom."
"Wisdom is so powerful, in fact, that it can even put
a halt to suffering without changing the circumstances that cause it."
"An undefeated mind isn't one that never feels discouraged
or despairing; it's one that continues on in spite of it."
"Extraordinary people may be born, but they can also be
made."
"If we think of a mission as a car that can take us to
a more resilient place, then resolve or commitment must be considered the
engine that makes it go."
"People who succeed, in other words, don't succeed because
they're necessarily smarter or more creative than people who don't.
They succeed because they have an increased tolerance for failure, paradoxically
suffering even more failures than people who don't succeed."
"The greater our belief that we can do something, the
greater the likelihood we can actually do it."
"The reason optimism yields results isn't that we necessarily
tend to try harder when we think a goal is achievable, rather, we tend
to try more often."
"Nothing keeps us believing success is possible, even
in the face of failure, like overestimating our abilities."
"Studies show that when high expectations for success
are warranted, that is, when they're based on accurate appraisals of both
our abilities and the circumstances we face, such optimism does in fact
become a self-fulfilling prophecy, increasing the actual likelihood of
success."
"The moment you resolve to be victorious, every nerve
and fibre in your being will immediately orient itself toward your success."
"Studies show that unrealistic goals inspire greater effort
than do goals that are more pragmatic."
"Research shows that people who take on difficult goals
outperform people who take on easy goals, placing difficult goals, in many
cases, paradoxically within closer reach than easy ones."
"Once we make a determination, whether to pursue our life's
mission or merely our most trivial wish, we typically begin to take action."
"We forget, or fail to realize that genuine happiness
doesn't come from having things but rather from a strong life force forged
by adversity, a life force that enables us to enjoy all of life."
"Finding a way to make ourselves feel good in the present
also improves our ability to survive and thrive in the future."
"In short, gratitude represents a powerful tool to help us construct and maintain an undefeated mind. It improves our well-being and buffers us against a wide range of maladies, including dependence, drug abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder and even bulimia."
Written by Alex Lickerman MD
The
Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self
