Teach it to others!

If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others - Tyron Edwards, American Theologian

Introducing my first novel Land Echoes to teachers and students of St Joseph International College
 during a National Book Week.

I have decided that every time I have negative emotions in personal relationships I will replace it with reading my books and writing more works. In this way I can replace negative emotions with positive ones. I have to rewire the brain to accept the positive experiences for doing away with negative ones.

Everything happens for a reason. Everything works according to a higher plan. “God must have something better in store for me,” is the last paragraph of Chapter 6 in Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. Chapter 6 is "Principle Six: Become an Inverse Paranoid.” I liked Principle 6 immediately as I was going through some negative emotions in the last two days. I was unhappy with the way things turned out in the personal relations department. I will get back to it later, but the expression “God must have something better in store for me,” is attributed to Peggy Bassett, a popular Minister (pastor) friend of Jack Canfield who did not get selected for the California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility. That was Pastor Bassett’s response when asked why she was not selected.

On reflection, she has the most powerful expression that anyone could use. God has a plan for me. God has something better in store for me. I know, every time we miss out on something we blame others and ourselves for the missing out. We never think of it as an opportunity with an opportunity. We must look for the good in the bad. We must look for the positive in the negative. Every negative event has a positive outcome.

Jack Canfield writes in the same chapter of The Success Principle: “Look for the opportunity in everything. What if you, too, were to greet interaction in your life with the questions “What’s the potential opportunity that this is?” The supersuccessful approach every experience as an opportunity. They enter every conversation with the idea that something good will come from it. And they know that, what they seek and expect they will find.”

I am empowered reading this chapter again this morning. It is in this chapter that Jack Canfield talks about the lesson from W. Clement Stone, his mentor and self-made millionaire and former publisher of Success Magazine. “When life hands you a lemon, squeeze it and make lemonade,” is one of the most powerful statements invented. Opportunities are like lemons, squeeze them and make lemonade out of them.

If I have to teach anyone to realize that opportunities do not always come as opportunities, but also as negatives, which require one to step out of the box to see what the opportunity is. We are reminded: “Every negative event contains within it the seed of equal or greater benefits”,  Napolean Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.  

Motu Villagers Returning home after market at Koki Fish Market

Jack Canfield asks: “Was there a time in your life when something terrible happened later that became a blessing in disguise?” This is the crux of the matter. Most times so many things happen in our lives, but we never stop to think about the reasons such events or things are behaving that way. Is there an opportunity for good in the experience?

If I am to share the experience with someone who has a negative experience I will work with them to find a positive experience. I have replaced the negative experience of smoking 50 cigarettes a day for 26 years with a positive family experience. It is now 6 years of having positive experiences without smoking a cigarette or even having an urge to smoke. The data for smoking has been replaced with the positive experience of a non-smoker. I’m happy with that and will never ever go back to that stupid 26 years of negative experiences as a smoker.

Now I want to quit chewing betel nuts. I am working on finding a positive reason for replacing betel nut chewing. It will happen soon I believe. I will replace it with the positive experiences of higher responsibilities and duties. I am already doing that. I need to do more.

In the personal relations department, I think the opportunity in the negative experience is in the sense of taking control of my emotional reactions. I am replacing these negative emotions with reading books waiting to be read. I am –re-reading Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles again and studying it more deeply. I am empowered and energized to experience success at another level. 

Cheryl Winduo's second book cover. To be published soon!

I have a lot of books waiting to be read. Maybe reading can bury the negative emotions. Reading is an escape into another reality, another world, and another imagination. I have that opportunity around me all the time. Perhaps that can help me to complete writing my own novels? Maybe that will help me to keep posting on my blog: www.stevenewinduo.blogspot.com so as to create a platform for learning and teaching others to transform their lives. It is an opportunity to develop self-esteem and motivational platforms that can change the lives of others.

I have been struggling as a self-publisher for some years now. I have not been making money or much profit if anything. I wanted to be a successful publisher in PNG and internationally. It feels like a negative experience, but the good out of this situation is that I have learned a lot about books and publishing. I have a lot of knowledge about the industry than I was before I began. If only someone gives me a bag of money and asks me to publish so many books I will go miles with it.

I think one thing I took out from this piece is that I can start my own personal development program and run it. Principle 64 in The Success Principle is “Empower Yourself by Empowering Others”. Jack Canfield (JC) begins the chapter with Dolly Parton’s words: “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, then you are an excellent leader.”  He encourages me to read The Success Principles over and over several times.

Literature Students Cohort 2018 Bung (Photo: Peter Severa)

In this chapter I first came across the American theologian Tyron Edwards, whose line became my line too: “If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others.” It is my personal teaching philosophy now.

The encouragement from Jack Canfield is empowering:

 “The greatest gift you can give anyone is a gift of empowerment and love. What could be more loving than helping people you care about get free from their limiting beliefs and ignorance about success, and empowering them to create a life that they truly want from the depths of their souls?” 

Yes, I concur with JC we need to empower ourselves; we have the power to change things around, to make the positive out of the negative, and make us create the life we deserve for ourselves:

Wanigela Koki, NCD

“ So many people currently live in a state of resignation or despair. It is time to turn that around. We all have the power within us to create the life we want, the life we dream about, the life we were born to live. We all deserve to fulfill our full potential and manifest our true destiny.”