The Rule
Our Mind is an amazing thing. It can form the image of who we are and the world we live in quite clearly and this image in our mind is the results of our views, experiences, and the events that have happened to us in our lifetime. I would like to categorize the two most important images that we formed in our mind. The images are our self-image and the world-image.
These two can be further categorized into 2 more sub-categories. They are physical self-image, mental self-image, physical world-image and mental world-image. Physical self-image is the physical aspects of us. Examples are our face, our voice, our height, our skin complexion or our skeletal structure etc.
Mental self-image on the other hand is the mental image that we formed in our mind regarding ourselves. Regardless of our current situation, we can always view ourselves positively that we are smart, intelligent, successful, confident etc. On the contrary, there are some people in this life who view themselves negatively that they are failures, not-good-enough, below-average etc.
Physical world-image is the physical aspects of the world. Examples are the blue sky, the green forest, the big city, fast cars, a busy job etc.
Mental world-image is how we view the world in our mind. We can view it positively such as beautiful, lively, great, best or negatively such as boring, dull, harsh, bad etc.
The best part is you can change both your mental self-image and world-image fully and your physical self-image and world-image to a certain degree. What we want to have are all the positive images be it physical self-image and world-image or mental self-image and world-image. Having only positive images will attract the positive things life has to offer while having negative images will similarly attract negative results.
How to implement this rule?
For your physical self-image, you might not be able to change the shape of your face, your voice, your height, your skin complexion, your skeletal structure etc. However, you can always change your hair style, your dressing style, your weight (by dieting & exercise), your voice tone, your smile etc. Having positive physical self-image will tell others that you are a positive person. This will make others view you positively and this in turn will allow you to attract all the positive things life has to offer.
The mental self-image is how you view yourself in your mind. Your mental self-image will to some degree determine your life. If you view yourself as a successful person, then Insya Allah success will come your way. If you view yourself as a happy person, then Insya Allah happiness will come your way.
For example, one of the results of negative mental self-image that affects people is phobia. By definition, phobia is defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding despite the fear often being recognized as irrational. Some of the examples of phobias are Acrophobia – fear of heights, social phobia – fear of people or being in a company, Aviophobia – fear of flying etc. These phobias are caused due to emotional stressful event usually during childhood that imprint very strong mental image in your mind. For example, if you had very frightful flying experience when you were a child, you would probably develop Aviophobia – the fear of flying. The only way to cure phobia is to change the mental image related to that event but since this mental image was imprinted so strong in the mind, it would probably take a lot of hard work with the assistance from a therapist to change the mental image and cure the phobia.
The same can be said about physical world-image. The physical aspect of the world image is the physical reality of the world i.e. the colour of the sky, the size of the world etc which cannot be changed. There are however some aspects of your physical world-image that you can change. Those images that can be changed are related to your properties and surroundings. For example you can change the size of your house (by renovating or moving to a bigger house), the colour of your house (by painting your house with new colour), the type and colour of your car, the arrangement of the furniture in your house, the arrangement of documents in your office etc.
The mental world-image is how you view the world in your mind. Consider this fact: a princess might live in a castle, but if in her mind she thinks that her freedom is restricted by the castle then she will view the castle as a cage. She will feel trapped and unhappy. On the other hand, if you give a beggar the chance to live in a castle, he/she will view the castle as the best home in the world and he/she will feel very happy. It is the same castle but depending on the point of view of the person, the same castle is a cage from the point of view of the princess and it is the best home in the world from the point of view of the beggar.
The benefit of this rule
So regardless of your situation, whether good or bad, your view can change everything. In this world, there are things that are beyond your control. For example you cannot control the weather, other people’s attitude and action etc. Even when you are in a bad situation due to circumstances or other people’s decision and action such as when you lose your job, you can always view the situation positively. Well, you only lose your job. You still have your health; knowledge and strength so just go out there and find a new job.
I would like to relate this rule with the general rule of happiness. In the general rule of happiness, I said that if you want to be happy then you have to be grateful. If you want to be grateful, always view yourself positively regardless of your situation. Think about other people who are in a much worse situation than you, and then you will be grateful and happy.
More about this rule
There is a story regarding mental image which involve an elephant. Elephant is the strongest animal on land. The story goes like this. There was a baby elephant that lived in a circus. In order to limit the movement of the baby elephant, the owner tied the leg of the baby elephant to a log post using an iron chain. The baby elephant did not like being tied so everyday he tried to break free by pulling on the chain. After the baby elephant tried thousand of times, he then decided that the chain and log post were unbreakable so he therefore stopped trying. Time passed by. The baby elephant is now a grown adult elephant and he was involved in the circus performance. Everyday after the performance his owner will still tied him to the same log post using the same iron chain. The elephant which had now grown into an adult never tried to break free again because in his mind, the log post and the iron chain were unbreakable.
In this story, the baby elephant has formed a mental image about himself that he was not strong enough to break either the log post or the iron chain. This mental image continued throughout his lifetime, even when he had grown big and strong into an adult elephant. In his mind, he was still weak like a baby and therefore he never tried to break the log post and the iron chain. If only he changed his mental image into the strong elephant that he truly was, he could have easily broken either the log post or the iron chain.
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