“What lies behind us, and what lies in front of us are tiny matters, compared with what lies within us.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
I recently read about a former baseball player named Doc Ellis who allegedly threw a no-hitter in 1970 while under the influence of the hallucinogenic drug LSD. Scientists and other doubters probably scoff at such a story, and call it pure fiction.
In my mind, there is no doubt it could and did happen. Doc – while you may not like his drug of choice – nonetheless had programmed himself for success. If my memory serves me correctly, he was an above-average professional pitcher who spent as much sweat time honing his skill as more sober people spend in front of a brain-sapping TV.
I have digressed because so many very intelligent people often buy into the economic paradigms which can short-circuit success on any level. The drug of bad news and dark times is very addicting indeed.
In fact, it is the drug of choice for people who are too busy to think on a level deeper than a TV sitcom (situation comedy). Your mind is a sponge and whatever you allow in without question will affect your attitude and your altitude in life.
So let’s look at the fear of recession, which is no more than an idea – that is, until too many people bite the hook. Recessions cause spending to slow because people fear they will have less and receive less under the prevailing market conditions. Lending institutions tend to make money tighter, so few businesses can expand and startups find it between difficult and impossible to secure seed money.
When the idea of recession is watered and given sunshine, almost everyone begins to hoard and fear the worst. The sunny optimists who had lead the surge in boom times quickly become the lunatics or fools in the eyes of most realists.
But here is the irony: No matter how downtrodden an economy may be, there will always be winners and losers. It’s just incredible that when almost everyone is wallowing in despair, a few visionary souls see and act upon the silver lining in the clouds…and prosper handsomely!
How is that possible? Some of us are programmed to believe that all who prosper magnificently in good or bad times must somehow be dishonest or unethical thieves. Clearly, a few business vultures could fit into this predatory category…but only a few.
Prosperity – other than through winning a lottery or having your long-shot horse win the derby – is a mind set. It has been said wisely that luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
In these stormy days when the stock market is reeling and the banks are sputtering because of predatory practices, the fundamentals are no different than in the bubble days. Plan, prepare and educate yourself to see opportunities where others see only problems.
I guarantee that no matter how far south the world economy goes, there will be winners and losers. Like it or not, the choice of which side of the great economic divide we find ourselves is not determined by the news but by how we interpret the news.
People may lose their dreams, but your sufficient money and happiness in those dark times is assured by helping people see a vision of better times again. Sell that picture to those in the doldrums, and people will follow you like lemmings into the sea. Don’t take them there.