Dripread - Book

He restored happiness to his home. It was four weeks later in a private conference that the instructor asked the student, "How are you coming along with your problem?"

"It's solved!"

'That's wonderful! But how did you solve it?"

"I learned: when 1 am faced with a problem that involves misunderstandings with other persons, I must first start with myself When I examined my own mental attitude, I discovered that it was negative. My problem was really not with my wife after all ? it was with me! In solving my problem I found that I no longer had one will her."

Now, what if Socrates had said to himself: "When I am faced with a problem that involves a misunderstanding with Xanthippe, I must first start with myself"? And what would happen if you would say to yourself: "When I am faced with a problem that

involves a misunderstanding with another person, I must first start with myself? Would you life be a happier one?

But there are many other cobwebs that interfere with happiness. Oddly enough, the one that is the greatest hindrance is the very tool of thought itself: words. Words art symbols, as S. I. Hayakawa tells us in his book. And you, will find that a one-word symbol can mean to you the sum total of a combination of innumerable ideas, concept, and experiences. And you will also see as you continue to read Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude that the subconscious instantaneously communicates to the conscious mind through symbols.

Through one word you can motivate others to act. When you say to another person "You can!" this is suggestion. When you say to yourself "I can!" you motivate yourself by self-suggestion. But more about these universal truths in the next chapter. First let's recognize that a whole science has grown up around the important discoveries made about words and the communicating of ideas through words: the science of semantics.

And Hayakawa is an expert in this field. He tells us that to find out what a word really means on the lips of another person, or even on your own lips, is essential in the process of accurate thinking.

But how does one do this?

Just be specific. Start with a meeting of the minds and many needless misunderstandings will be avoided.

One word can cause an argument. The uncle of a nine-year-old boy was visiting in the home of the boy's parents. One evening when the father came home, the following dialogue developed:

"What do you think of a boy that lies?"

"I don't think very much of him, and I know one thing certain: my son tells the truth,"

"He told a lie today."

"Son, did you tell your uncle a lie?"

"No, father."

"Let's clear this thing up. Your uncle says you lied. You say you didn't. Just exactly what did happen?" he asked, turning to the uncle.

"Well, I told him to take his toys down to the basement. He didn't do it, and he told me that he did."

"Son, did you take your toys to the basement?"

"Yes, father."

"Son, how do you explain this? Your uncle says that you didn't take your toys to the basement and you say that you did."

"There are several steps leading from the first floor down to the basement... About four steps down is a window... I put my toys on the window sill... The basement is the distance between the floor and the ceiling... My toys are in the basement!"

The argument between the uncle and his nephew was due to the definition of one word: basement. The boy probably knew what his uncle meant, but he was lazy and hadn't wanted to run all the way downstairs. When he was faced with punishment, the boy tried to save himself by using logic to prove his point.

Now this may be intriguing. But more motivating will be the story of a young man who didn't know what the most important word symbol in any language means. And what is the most important word in any language? That word is God.

Not so long ago a student from Columbia University called on the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Minister Emeritus of The Riverside Church of New York City. The student had hardly gotten through the door before he said:

"I am an atheist!" When he sat down, he repeated defiantly, "I don't believe in God."

Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude