BAD CHILDHOODS, EXTREME BOUTS WITH DEPRESSION AND ILLNESSES, DISASTERS - PLENTY OF REASONS TO BUY INTO DESPAIR - BUT THESE PEOPLE CREATED THE GOOD LIFE - SEEING WHAT REALLY MAKES LIFE WORK
One has reached full wisdom and maturity when one recognizes that the childhood paradigm of powerlessness and dependence on outside people or circumstances is no longer true and that one can definitely create one's own happiness regardless of circumstances and especially regardless of the justification that people use to say that their past determines their future.
As an adult, I hopefully have learned that I can’t solve the past, as it is not a problem right now, for it doesn't even exist. The only "problem" is that my old beliefs have me believing a delusion and that what I really need to do is replace my old beliefs (from childhood) for ones that are reasoned out.
Since people may be so convinced of their false beliefs around this, I have started to collect the stories of people who have every reason to feel bad about their circumstances and/or their past, but who do not buy into that bullbleep of false beliefs about life. They have grown up to create a philosophy based on reality and what works in life.
I would hope that anyone stuck in the story about their past or their circumstances is able to progress in letting go of their false evidence by reading the evidence on the other side, so that they can embrace the role (the persona) of being a rational, nurturing adult - which we all have the capability of choosing to become.
Tony Robbins: "Your past does not determine your future."
Landmark Education: "Much of what makes up today and even tomorrow seems to be an extension or variation of what has come before." But we have the choice not to be limited by that past...
The above title is a take off on the title of a top recommended resource, Dr. Laura Schlessinger's Bad Childhood, Good Life, which I do recommend to help people "get it" (that they are not victims of their past).
Read these people's lives - and establish a life philosophy that is "happy no matter what" and/or which you can create regardless of the cards dealt you in this life. You might also want to read the stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Life Lessons for Loving the Way You Live.
THE PEOPLE
Google Jeff Bell OCD for others.
ELIZABETH EDWARDS - Read her book Resilience, learn her attitude about her husband's betrayal and her death sentence (sometime in the next year or more). As summarized by Oprah: "Stop resisting what is. Start saying what is the best I can make of what I have now." And, Elizabeth adds, don't get stuck in believing the child's fairy tale about the perfect life - it will never happen that way, so stop wasting effort on it!
VICTOR FRANKL - He lost all of his loved ones, was facing death in Nazi prison camp, yet he found a point of view that worked. Man's Search For Meaning was one of his books. Even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanized situation, life has potential meaning. "If a prisoner felt that he could no longer endure the realities of camp life, he found a way out in his mental life – an invaluable opportunity to dwell in the spiritual domain, the one that the SS were unable to destroy."
PATRICK HENRY HUGHES - "I am potential" [the name of his book also] Born with a rare genetic disorder: arms that could not straighten; legs that would never be able to walk, and permanent lindness - born with no eyes. Declaring "I am potential", he defies his disabilities at every turn.
BYRON KATIE - Prominent author, wisdom followed by many. After decades of despair, convinced that she wasn't enough and never had been nor would ever be, one day she woke up and the suffering was gone, replacedby joy. "I discovered that when I believed in my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer, and that is true for every human being. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment."
W. MITCHELL - Burnt all over his body and face, later crippled in a plane crash, not someone you'd think would be an inspirational speaker...
PEACE PILGRIM - Severely sexually abused, but claiming that the past is irrelevant, this woman created a whole viewpoint that was unique and uplifting and did her famous "peace walk" of 28,000 miles. She created a life that was fulfilling. Blog piece , You Tube Tribute.
DAVE PELZER - Subject to one of the most gruesome and extreme cases of child abuse...he has created a good life. Read his best selling book A Child Called "It".
BRADLEY QUICK - By eight years old suffered the death of 5 siblings, at nine was paralyzed and left for dead, only to end up a skidrow junkie. Today he is an author, motivational speaker, and radio host of “The Quick Fix with Bradley Quick” the most successful self discovery talk show in the nation.
MONTEL WILLIAMS - Doctors proclaimed he had MS, would live a very restricted life, and the he had few years to live, but he decided with whatever years were left he would live a great one - now, many years later...
