Words and Thoughts Control Our Destiny: Story of a Brave Soldier
Lieutenant Arsalan Alam has died. He was killed by the enemy fire while guarding a military post at the Pakistan-Afghan border. The young soldier at the age of 22 has been declared a martyr. His body has been laid to rest with full military honour. His coffin was wrapped in the national flag. This type of ‘state funeral order’ is practiced by all the countries of the world to honour those citizens who sacrifice their lives for the safety, security and welfare of their country.
Many soldiers die almost every day in battles or accidents. But what was different in the case of Arsalan was that he chose for himself the kind of death he wanted to die. I was watching the interview of the parents of Arsalan on TV channels. I also read the text messages he sent to his friends and the tweets he posted on Twitter. His sister said that Arsalan would often speak about his desire to sacrifice his life for his country. He would feel joy in visualizing himself in a coffin wrapped in the national flag. He spoke about his funeral with full military honour. He Tweeted and sent texts to his friends looking forward to his martyrdom.
The mind experts and spiritualists believe that we determine our destiny by our thoughts and by the words that we speak or use in our imagination and thinking. The book stores and internet are flooded with reading material providing evidence of the power of words and thought. “As a Man Thinketh” is the title of a very famous book by James Allen. The book gives a very convincing argument about the power of thought in shaping the personality and destiny of a person. Change your thoughts and you change your destiny. There is the famous quote by Mahatama Gandhi: “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes”.
Words and images are very powerful tools that influence our behavior. They shape our present and future life. We listen to the speech of a person. We like the speech and get absorbed into it. The words of the speaker sink into our subconscious. Those words slowly and gradually influence our behavior. This is what happens in hypnosis. The words of the hypnotherapist sink into our subconscious mind. We follow the instructions of the hypnotherapist at the given time as per instructions given to us. I remember the case of a young man who came to me with the complaint of severe anxiety and fears regarding his destiny. His problems started after he consulted an astrologer. The soothsayer warned him of some bad times that were going to take place in his life. The man was, somehow, convinced that what the soothsayer told him was right and was going to happen in his life. The man got so scared that he lost his concentration and focus on the realities of life. He developed fears and anxiety. He had to undergo several counseling sessions in order to wash out the negative influences of the fortune-teller. There was nothing wrong with his life, his health or his destiny. What went wrong was his thinking, his speech and his imagination. He was obsessed by the words and thoughts of the soothsayer. The thoughts of disaster and calamity kept haunting him. In a way, he self-hypnotized himself with those negative thoughts. But when he changed his thoughts, everything changed in his behavior and in his destiny.
There is a woman who frequently complains of various fears and anxiety. She also complains of muscles tension, joint pains and some other physical ailments. The doctors have told her that she has no physical problems as such. In fact her problems are there because she keeps thinking about problems of life. I have told her that unless she changes her thoughts to positive mode, she will not be able to overcome her fears and physical ailments. She needs to change her negative thoughts and speech to positive words. I realize that this is not easy and does not come in a flash. One needs to practice for fairly long time to develop the skill of walking into positive mode of thought and speech. But once we develop the skill of positive mode of imagination and speech, we enter into the realm of joy, success and prosperity.
It is the universal law that we get in life what we think and imagine. Thoughts are composed of words and images. We need to be very careful in choosing the right kind of words in our thoughts and speech. I remember that when I was a child, my parents and grand-parents always encouraged us to use positive words in our speech. Abusive, filthy and nonsense language was neither allowed nor appreciated. Once my younger brother asked me: “What shall we do if our house catches fire?” Before I could explain to him, my grandmother quickly intervened, and stopped him from uttering such words. She said:”Why should any calamity befall our house?” Negative thoughts are never appreciated because they bring disaster and confusion.
We become what we desire. A man is as he thinks. If you think negative, you will face worries and problems. If you think positive, you will meet success and joy. Arsalan wanted to do an act that would project him as a martyr. He wanted to sacrifice his life for his country. This was his heart’s desire and that was what he repeatedly spoke about. Martyrdom had become his dream, his ultimate goal. I am not saying that what Arsalan did was bad. No, never! What I am trying to say is that the words and images that we use in our thoughts and speech do have a tremendous influence on our life and destiny. Nevertheless, Arsalan’s thoughts and speech led him to an honorable and noble end. Long live, Arsalan.
Mumtaz Shah
Thanku for the share well said a positive attitude is the beginning for everything bright
Thanks Sony for your comments. You are very right that the story is about positive thinking. But more than that it says that we are the masters of our destiny. Our thoughts control our destiny. Thanks again for your prompt response to the message. Prayers and blessings for you.
That’s right, our words have power , it has negative and positive effects on us , we must be careful while talking about is or about our children etc, if we want our children to have bright future , we ought to put positive thoughts in their minds.
Dear Julian Jamil, you are absolutely right in saying that we must teach our children to develop positive thoughts for their bright and successful future. Thanks for your support with Prayers and blessings.
Well said Shah G, The power of the word is an instrument to bring change, wise are those who use them on the right time and place.
The power of the word makes you a leader and ruler over the nations of the world. By the power of the words we express our love, emotions and feelings which may cause positive or negative impact on us. The power of the word binds us in a strong unbreakable lifetime relations. With the power of the words God created the world. We must be very careful when using the words.
My dear Tony, you have made my day by your comments on the power of word. It’s an absolute truth written in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God”. That’s the power of the word. It manifests itself into reality if we learn to use it with faith and feelings. Thanks brother for your love and support.
Thanks for share. Yes,words shape the very existance of our lives. As “Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly — they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.”
― Aldous Huxley,
Dear Goshi: Thanks for this scholarly quote by the famous Aldous Huxley. This indicates the power and magic of the words we use. That’s why the Gospel says: “In the beginning was The Word, the Word was with God , and The Word was God”.
You are right sir. Our lives are shaped by our thoughts. Therfore got to be very careful how we think. And from where we get the food for our thoughts. What kinds of friends we have and what kind of books we read. Our actions are result of our reflections. Thanks . Clement Maurice
Dear Maurice Sahib: you are absolutely right that we need to feed our mind with noble and illuminating thoughts and only then we shall be able to shape our destiny in the right way.
Dear Sir, I fully agree with your opinion about power of words. This is totally man made artificial behaviour that is against the life instinct (or fear of Death), which is a basic and first instinct in living creatures. How is it possible as a normal human being that someone is able to break the laws of nature? But misuse of words and thoughts is another dark side of human nature especially in group psychology. Here the question arises, what is difference between suicide and desire of martyrdom? Definitely a mentally sick i.e. Schizophrenic or chronic Depressive person thinks about suicide, but why does an energetic and normal person desire for death (martyrdom). Definitely there are some psychological reinforcement behaviour pushing him to commit this act, how they hypnotise collectively influences people towards the dark side of religion and patriotic-ism. Since centuries the rulers and priests using innocence young blood for their vested interest Hassan bin Saba, Japanese and Taliban’s are best examples. To be noted I am not talking about those brave people whom sacrificed their lives while fighting in defence for their country, countrymen or in honour of whom they love.
Dear Emmanual Christian:I’m really very grateful to you writing this Behavior analyzing note. In this brief note you have spoken volumes of human Psychology. I leave it to the readers to ponder and comment.