Feeling Your Best

Feeling your best is totally controlled by your emotions. Therefore, you can have everything but have nothing, or have nothing and have everything. The decision is up to!

During my lifetime I’ve met people from all walks of life. Some are wealthy and have everything to feel good about, but sometimes they come across as miserable people, often complaining about others, and at times most notably going out of their way to be nasty. On the other end of the spectrum I’ve met people who are poor, but seem so happy.

Foto Rubens Guelman, Nigeria

A friend of mine who came back from a business trip to West Africa many years ago was excited by the smiles he encountered from the locals, many who were poverty stricken and, in some cases, facing starvation, and he even took many photographs of them which he displayed in an exhibition in MIS – Museu da Imagem e do Som in Av. Europa, Sao Paulo, in the 1990s. He made a point of comparing them to Brazilians in that they looked livelier.

Back then it struck me and today it strikes me that we all have the ability to control our emotions while dictating how we feel. Having such control allows us to manipulate our brains the way we see fit, and therefore our mindset is an important asset that can make or break us.

However, the fact we have such ability does not mean we should abuse it as some individuals have done. Rather we should use it to control stress that eats away at us and over time weakens our immune system which in turn can make us more susceptible to sickness. The point I’m trying to make is that we have a choice in life. It allows us to see things, as we think is best to serve us.

An example would be you going for a job interview and your nerves have got the better of you. You come across too worried and not confident, whereas another individual who perhaps isn’t as qualified and right for the job as you manages to connect appropriately with the interviewer whilst showing strong interrelationship skills making the employer assured of the other person’s ability to carry out the job.

In other words, your communication with yourself is off and you might want to consider confidence building, so next time you come across having the ability to provide a first-rate service. Obviously, effort is required to get the training whether through a professional course or self-study. This isn’t rocket science, but rather having control of your emotions and making decisions that will provide a suitable outcome.

On another note, you’ve come out of the interview not sure if you are going to get the job. Days go by and you are all flustered awaiting good news, but it doesn’t come. Instead, eventually you receive post and you are nervous as you open the letter. They thank you for your participation, but you have not been employed. You feel awful and start worrying about work and the probability of getting a career started.

Telling yourself that you are in control and taking action to provide an opportunity are key attributes. Brushing off the negative experience and concentrating your effort on finding suitable employment is the way to go forward if indeed a positive experience leading to the ultimate objective is to be sought. Life in general is all about these moments of reflection, toughening up, and doing what’s required to turn difficulty into simplicity.

Once simplicity is achieved then life becomes a breeze as mind over matter to a better you is on the horizon and mastered it improves the quality of life. Some people seem to understand what is needed to make things happen time and time again, but that isn’t the case for everyone. Building self-confidence is a sure-fire way to take a step in the right direction.

Don’t put off for another day what can be done today. Live by this motto and feel the drive that accompanies the right mindset.

Take Care!

Prof. Carl Boniface

Multi-choice question:

1 – What does the highlighted section in the sentence from the text mean, “However, the fact we have such ability does not mean we should abuse it as some individuals have done.”?

a)  Have done means some individuals at one stage or another have done something in the past that has been mentioned, and could do it in the future if they are still alive.

b)  Some individuals have done means they are guilty of having done something in the past with the potential of its reoccurrence.

c)  Some individuals have done means some people have afflicted such atrocities.