Bonsai Tree
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Melting The Thinking Mind: Is your self confidence based on what you accomplished in the past?
   
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Bonsai Garden
Five Design Considerations in Creating a Bonsai Garden
A bonsai tree, bonsai literally meaning tree in a tray , has become a .....
Five Design Considerations in Creating a Bonsai Garden
A bonsai tree, bonsai literally meaning tree in a tray , has become a .....
Do you ever find that your level of self confidence tends to go
up and down like the stock market? Or perhaps it even goes up
and down along with the stock market! Here is a story about a
Japanese businessman that might give you a new perspective.
I recently heard from a friend, about a Japanese business man
that has created a highly successful business with hundreds of
stores throughout the country. At first I thought my friend was
going to be telling me about the "how to" of business success,
but instead the story took quite a different path than I was
expecting. What follows is my version of an inspiring story.
The man in my story had actually failed at numerous businesses
over the years. He started out with a large and successful
family business, but he ran that business into the ground and
eventually went bankrupt. After his bankruptcy he said, "Even
though my business had failed, I did not feel like I had failed.
I still had confidence in myself. I still knew that I could do
something good. I didn't try to figure out all the details of
The Wonderful Art Of Bonsai
The potential for enjoyment of Bonsai trees is enormous. These
are the dwarf-sized trees that have been developed in the Asian
countries of China and Japan for many hundreds of .....
what I had done right or wrong, I didn't try to understandThe potential for enjoyment of Bonsai trees is enormous. These
are the dwarf-sized trees that have been developed in the Asian
countries of China and Japan for many hundreds of .....
whether I was a good business man or a bad business man. I just
continued to believe in myself, and the vision that I had."
After his bankruptcy he searched around and managed to borrow
some money for a new business. In a reasonably short amount of
time he ran this business into bankruptcy as well. Afterwards he
said, "Even more so now, I still had confidence in myself. I had
seen some flashes of brilliance, and I knew that I could do
something good. Once again, I didn't try to figure out right or
wrong, good or bad, I only concentrated on how I could borrow
more money and start all over again."
So, he manages to borrow some more money, and starts another
business, and of course this business also goes bankrupt, or I
wouldn't be telling this story! After his third bankruptcy he
said "I knew I was getting closer to getting it right." What a
fantastic spirit this guy has! He has huge confidence in the
face of big time short term failure.
Back out on the streets he went, and this time he only managed
to borrow a rather small sum of money. Not being able to start a
"real" business with such a limited amount of cash, he rented a
Maple Bonsai
Controversy Surrounding the Maple Bonsai
The maple bonsai has always been a favorite among people who love bonsai. There are two main species .....
small Japanese pick-up truck. (The small ones are REALLY small.Controversy Surrounding the Maple Bonsai
The maple bonsai has always been a favorite among people who love bonsai. There are two main species .....
Sort of like a bonsai version of an American pick-up truck).
With little money to spend he shopped around in various
wholesale markets and wound up deciding to only buy things that
he could sell cheaply with no seeming connection to the various
products, except that they were inexpensive and of reasonable
quality. He loaded his goods into the back of his tiny pick-up
truck and parked illegally on a busy street where he hawked his
wares to the passersby, and the launch of a new retail phenomena
had begun. Over time he parleyed the success he had with his one
tiny truck, into a chain of highly successful stores.
When asked to what he attributed his success, he replied
"Believing in myself, and not picking apart all of my pluses and
minuses." He said, "Right from the beginning I knew that I could
be successful. When I failed the first time I suddenly had a lot
of free time on my hands since I no longer had a business to
run. I figured that I basically had two choices in regard to
what to do with my time: 1. Do a lot of thinking about what went
wrong and try to correct my many mistakes in the future. Or: 2.
Take the time to relax and gain a new perspective on life. I of
course chose the latter. From a relaxed state I was able to
understand things that I was not able to understand when I was
running around trying to be successful. I knew that dissecting
what I had done right and wrong would eat up a lot of time and
energy, and most likely not give me the formula for success. I
knew that the formula for success was already inside of me, and
that my job was to find a way to allow this formula to be
expressed. I didn't try to understand what to do, I tried to get
myself to the point where I was already doing what I needed to
do."
To me this story offers a great deal of inspiration. Continuing
to believe in myself regardless of the challenges to be faced,
is a gift that I have often struggled to give myself. It is
wonderful to be presented with such a fine example to learn
from. The faith this man has in himself can be a gift to all of
us. And at the same time I can't help but chuckle when thinking
what a business consultant might say about this man's method for
conducting business.
This story also reminds me of an article I read in a business
magazine a number of years ago. The story told of the careers of
a number of highly successful business people, all of whom had
"failed" at least three or four times along the way. Each person
in their own words said the following "I could not be the
success I am today, had it not been for all of my previous
failures!"
Do you have some "failures" in your life that possess the seeds
of future success? I am guessing that we all do.
About the author:
About the author: Charlie Badenhop, the originator of Seishindo,
a licensed instructor of Aikido, a long term practitioner of
Self-relations therapy, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and the Japanese
healing art of Sei Tai. Has students throughout the world.
Contact Charlie at seishin@seishindo.org and subscribe to his
complimentary newsletter "Pure heart, simple mind" at
http://www.seishindo.org/newsletter.html