I remember being one of the Boy Scouts. Back then, I took the old ‘BP’ slogan very lightly. Now I realise how truly impor- tant and helpful this can be, in every situation and aspect of life. But do take a balanced approach. While taking all the necessary physical steps to be prepared, you also have to take all the necessary mental and emotional steps as well.
Get rid of your negative beliefs that you are a magnet for bad luck, and install the new, positive belief that perhaps, you truly are a magnet for good luck. That much settled, how are you, then, going to conquer your Conscious Outer Monsters? I’ll call them COMs.
There are several tactics: Avoidance, Evasion, Ignorance, Overcoming & Under- standing (A E I O U). Where, when and if possible, avoid the people who are so negative, so pessimistic, whose every sentence of theirs is punctuated by words such as “Die”, “Can’t do”, “Hopeless”, or any other 4-letter words, in such a way that plants wither and die in their presence and ants run away. Refuse to speak to them. Hey, don’t even associate with such people in the first place!
Evade such ‘attacks’ or such ‘enemies’ by wisely staying neutral about everything, until they find you boring, they will start avoiding you! If in the line of fire, i.e. when you’re actually in that situation of being under ‘at- tack’ in the form of pessimistic talk, criticism, scoffs, derision, mockery, or whatever, ignore it.
Overcome. That’s another choice. Overcoming is the ‘fight’ part of the ‘Fight or Flight’ process. I don’t mean getting into a brawl, taking up arms or throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at moving tanks.
- Be assertive.
- Tell the person off.
- Write a letter to the government.
- Write to the head of that organisation which you feel is acting unethically towards you.
- Whatever it takes.
- Do something.
Another way is to join a group or a large assembly of people with the same ideals as you or who is facing the same problems with the same COMs as you. There is strength in numbers, they say. Face the bully. Show them a side of you they’ve never seen before and frighten them till they’ll never harass you again.
Understanding. This is the peace- maker’s way. Seek to understand the other party or individual. Find common ground, without compromising your fundamental principles, whatever they may be. Remember that age-old advice, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”.
That given, I still contend with the truth that most problems, even the external, tangible ones, are reflections of your inner monsters. Deal with these guys first, then you’ll find that your path becomes much easier to traverse. This is the essence of “Inside-Out” thinking (whatever that means ;-). Now you’ve (hopefully) learnt the tools, weapons and ways to conquer the monsters blocking your way.