Media13.com is a source of free to republish or reprint articles, writers may submit your articles in our database as long so you agree that your article will be freely republish or reprint by other.

Submit Article

Search our database

Received article from us.

Name

Email Address

Friends

Bollywood News
Link building
Article submission service
Freelance Writers
Laser hair removal

We have been looking for freelance writers. Contact us

Mental Toughness For Modern Life by Hirini Reedy

Have you ever wondered how would survive in a hostage situation? Being captured and held as a hostage by terrorists? What would give you the will to survive and stay alive?

Make a mental list of memories, loved ones, beliefs, techniques that would keep you alive if taken hostage or a prisoner of war. In today’s uncertain world there is a reasonable chance that someone we know will be one or two degrees removed from a hostage, a bomb blast victim or a prisoner of war (POW).

My own grandfather was a Maori prisoner of war during World War 2. Taken prisoner by the Germans during the Crete campaign, he had to endure the harsh conditions as well as the humiliation of being taken prisoner. A key lesson I learnt from his experiences and others was the power of the mind to transcend one’s physical situation. A bare cell, little food, psychological and physical mistreatment. Reducing a human being into an object of no more significance than a cockroach. He had to look deep within himself to endure his plight and make some sense of his suffering.

Other examples come to mind.

Major James Nesbeth spent seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During those seven years, he was imprisoned in a cage that was approximately four and one-half feet high and five long. During almost the entire time he was imprisoned he saw no one, talked to no one and experience no physical activity. In order to keep his sanity and his mind active, he used the art of visualisation.

Everyday in his mind, he would play a game of golf. A full 18-hole game at his favourite green. In his mind, he would create the trees, the smell of the freshly trimmed grass, the wind, the songs of the birds. He created different weather conditions – windy spring days, overcast winter days and sunny summer mornings. He felt the grip of the club in his hands as he played his shots in his mind. The set-up, the down-swing and the follow-through on each shot. Watched the ball arc down the fairway and land at the exact spot he had selected. All in his mind.

He did this seven days a week. Four hours a day. Eighteen holes. Seven years. When Major Nesbeth was finally released, he found that he had cut 20 strokes off his golfing average without having touched a golf club in seven years.

Another example is Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner`s rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again.

Stockdale had an additional challenge. As the highest ranking officer, he had to also help his own servicemen survive their ordeals. He instituted rules that would help people to deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, so he created a step-wise system—after x minutes, you can say certain things—that gave the men milestones to survive toward). He instituted an elaborate internal communications system to reduce the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for 25 letters, c doubling for k.) After his release, Stockdale became the first three-star officer in the history of the US Navy to wear both aviator wings and the Congressional Medal of Honor. Like many others, he lived to tell and inspire others of his POW experiences.

What can we learn from these prisoner of war experiences?

I believe it illustrates the power of our mind to transcend our current circumstances. We don’t need to be a prisoner of war to learn this. We sometimes imprison ourselves with our own fears, our own limiting thoughts. Thoughts like:
- I can never be rich!
- I will never get out of this dump!
- My life sucks!
- I blame my mother for my weight problem!

I would say to the above, “toughen up and get a life”. Weak thinking begets weak results. Feel sorry for yourself for a moment and then get over it. This type of repetitive sorry thinking would create a loss of hope in a POW and lessen their chances of survival.

Also we can create our own internal mind ritual that we can turn into a daily mental discipline. Go inside your own mind and create your desired outcomes. Live the dream inside your own mind. Change it daily by adding something new. Make it fun. Make it short or as long as you like. 5-10 minutes a day.

I believe these inspiring prisoner of war stories shows us clearly that an enduring faith, an unyielding will to succeed combined with a daily mental discipline gives us the power to overcome incredible odds.

Author Info:

Hirini Reedy is a mental toughness expert who helps people find inner strength. A former military officer, martial arts founder and NLP mind coach, he has designed short sharp mind-body fitness workouts for the high achiever. Visit http://www.maori-secrets.com

Latest 20 articles

A Christian Debt Relief Solution: Debt Settlement Christian families are impacted by difficulties with mounting credit card debt just like non-Christian families. Christians often can be particularly sensitive to finding themselves faced with a situation where they may not be able to meet their unsecured debt commitments. There are many types of Christian credit card debt help out there, and quickly becoming one of the most popular is Christian

Finding Affordable California Health Insurance If you reside in California, it is a strong bet that you need affordable California health insurance. There are many different insurance companies and different types of plans available. Deciding on which one is best for you and your family will require some research. It may be overwhelming but it is paramount to finding the right policy for your particular situation. California individual

IRS Tax Settlement: Could It Provide The IRS Tax Relief You Need? The IRS is coming after you! You owe them money and can’t hope to ever pay the debt! The IRS has threatened to seize your bank account or garnish your paycheck! Everything seems hopeless and there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that the IRS is going to ruthlessly take everything of value that you have. However, there are options to rolling over for the IRS. There are IRS tax relief solution

Credit Card Debt Reduction: Do it Yourself Tips Anyone who's ever owned a credit card, taken out a student loan, financed a car, or paid a mortgage has gathered debt. Debt can feel like a deep pool, but you don't have to drown in it. All you need is a little common sense and some solid budgeting. Remember, you own the debt – it doesn't own you. Here are a few tips that can help you get credit card debt relief you seek. It's like a “do it you

Debt Settlement: Know the Pros and Cons Many people who select a debt settlement program may have already tried credit card consolidation in an effort to resolve their financial difficulties, but may not have been satisfied with the arrangements or the amount of time it was taking to pay off what they owed. For these individuals, debt settlement may provide a faster way to eliminate their debts for the least possible amount of money, wh

Debt Settlement – How Does It Compare? Debt settlement has quickly become one of the preferred methods of reducing credit card debt and starting a new financial future that is free of the vicious cycle that credit card debt problems create! Why has debt settlement become so popular lately? The benefits of a debt settlement program can probably best be illustrated by comparing it to the other options available to consumers caught in th

LCD Wall Mounts and Brackets: WeMountU Offers Versatile Product Range TV wall mounts are undergoing a revolutionary phase of technological improvements. High- end technology has enabled manufacturers to design products for common consumption. Smaller size high- definition TVs have now filled the market stores and anyone with a desire can now afford such luxuries with entertainment.LCD technology based smaller screen size TVs are very common among the customers aro

TV Wall Mount and Brackets Best Buy Online with WeMountU If you have recently purchased a high definition TV based on LCD, TFT, or plasma technology then you must have thought of enjoying viewing digital media experience of the 21st century in its complete sense. Gone are the days when the digital media like the TVs used to be put on a wooden platform or a metallic stand. Wall mounting is the current trend and consumers across the world are enjoying thi

Cantilever TV Wall Mounting: A Revolutionary Concept in Viewing Digital Media with More Comfort Cantilever technology has entered in to a new phase with the incoming of wall mounting feature of the popular digital media. Variable screen sizes of these new age digital media such as the high definition LCD, Plasma, and TFT screen TVs are increasingly becoming popular among the users across the globe. Wall mounting feature of these entertainment hubs has made them even more flexible and people

Large TV Mounts and Brackets: Innovative WeMountU Technology for Large Size Digital Media Size matters and it matters a lot when it comes to TV viewing. The more is the size of TV screen the more it is convenient to view and enjoy with complete comfort. Oncoming of large screen size TVs is mainly because of the introduction of high end technology based LCD, Plasma, and TFT TVs. large size TV wall mounts and large size TV wall brackets are required to place the big screen TVs on the w

TV Wall Mounts and Brackets: Achieving Compatibility with High Definition TVs We are living in an age of high definition wall mounting TVs as the entertainment hubs inside our homes. Things around us have high technological standards and user friendly set ups. Entertainment has undergone a sea change during past few years. We do not view things as we used to view them on televisions .The digital world has changed the whole concept of television viewing. We now have high def

Large Digital Photo Frame: Best Option for Public Display Digital display technology is achieving new echelons with the digital photo frames. Displaying pictures and videos on a screen that can be placed as a simple frame on the shelf or can be fixed on a wall is such a comfortable viewing concept that it is gaining acceptance across the world among millions of users. Display and clear viewing is somewhat proportional to the screen size. It makes an eq

Pictorea-Pro: an exclusive Range of Digital Photo Frames from UDiggit Digital photo frame is an advance technology device that facilitates you with displaying your family photographs, images, presentations, videos, and movies. UDiggit brings a huge range of such digital picture frames for you. The company also enjoys a leading role in this segment across the UK markets There is an exclusive range of digital photo frames offered by UDiggit for customers who are

Best Buy Digital Photo Frames from UDiggit: Go For Something Unique and Elegant A specialist knows what and when to deliver in best way. Exponentially growing technology based market is becoming digital in all aspects very fast .Digital display technology has now achieved a new hallmark with the introduction of huge range of digital photo frames by UDiggit, a market leader in the United Kingdom. As a manufacturer and a retailer both, UDiggit has attained a level of digital ph

Boardroom Digital Photo Frames: A Customized Digital Display Device for Corporate ‘Screen’ is the keyword for present day digital media that propagates and disseminates information by all means. Whether it is a presentation, a discussion, a meeting, or a boardroom deliberation screen comes in the central role. Digital photo frames are actually an advance form of a simple screen. In corporate world the boardroom digital frames are actually the large size display screens. This

Digital Photo Frames: An Innovative Corporate Gift and Sale Concept While passing through a digital age everything around us is getting digitized fast. Corporate sales include substantial component of digital media and other related appliances. Corporate gifts are increasingly becoming popular these days and digital media items are being considered as preferred gift items. Many of the corporate gifts look similar quite often. It is simply because the digital produ

Free Software for Sending Bulk SMS Messages With an ever increasing and exponentially growing penetration rate of mobile phone users in India, the SMS text messages are becoming an essential mode of inter-personal communication. Sending SMS messages to a limited number of users may be convenient but sending bulk SMS messages through mobile phone would be a hilarious task. Following the cardinal principle”necessity is the mother of invent

Why choose Kerala for your vacation? Vacation is a time to fly to an unseen place and see beautiful things and charge your battery so that you can work continuously until the next vacation. When this is a correct definition for vacation, then you must choose a place that relaxes your mind and relieves you from stress of daily mechanical life. I can say, Kerala is the best place for your next vacation. Everybody is an ardent lover

Fixy the source for quality door and window hardware & Festool power tools For over the past one hundred and fifty years, Slingers Ironmongers has been serving the public with high quality accessories and tools amongst other things. Today, they offer their services online at http://www.fixy.co.uk/ . With their site neatly organized and appealing to the eye, Fixy.co.uk has so many door related accessories you couldn't see enough of them. From Emergency Exits to Door