Southwestern Advantage Blog

Several generations ago, during one of the most turbulent of the desert wars in the Middle East, a spy was captured and sentenced to death by a General of the Persian Army. The General, a man of intelligence and compassion, had adopted a strange and unusual custom in such areas. He permitted the condemned person to make a choice. The prisoner could either face the firing squad or pass through the Black Door.  As the moment of execution drew near, the General ordered the spy be brought before him for a short, final interview, the primary purpose of which was to receive the answer of the doomed man to the query: "What shall it be - the firing squad or the Black Door?" This was not an easy decision and the prisoner hesitated, but soon made it known that he much preferred the firing squad to the unknown horrors that might wait for him behind the ominous and mysterious door. Not long thereafter, a volley of shots in the courtyard announced that the grim sentence had be...

What value have you been placing on negative thoughts? What great thing has ever been accomplished by someone who believed it couldn't be done? How much mental energy do you waste on anger, resentment, or envy? What value will these thoughts ever add to your own life or the life of another? 

 We are creatures of emotion. Learning to control our emotions is a life-long practice. Negative thoughts will always come to mind. When we choose to allow those negative thoughts to remain in our minds, and to influence our words and actions, we selfishly turn our focus toward ourselves instead of toward the betterment of others.  What is gained by letting someone or something get you down?  Is the satisfaction of harboring dark emotions worth the happiness and meaning that it robs from your life?  We cannot control what life brings our way, but we  can control how we respond. We can always control our actions and attitude. Negatives will always be easy to find, bu...

One of the most sobering thoughts I have been confronted with is, "What you are someday going to be, you are now becoming." You are now, this moment, exactly what you have been in the process of becoming all your life. Are you now the person you dreamed about becoming? If you had written down several years ago exactly the type of person you wanted to be today, what kind of person would you have described? How close are you to being that person now? What kind of person do you want to be a year from now? Or two years from now? Or five years from now? 10? 20? Right now you are in the process of becoming the person you will be a year, or two, or five, or 10 or 20 years from now.  The habits you have now will determine the kind of person you will become unless you change those habits now. What attitude would you like to have someday? The attitude you have now is a good indication of the attitude you will have someday, unless right now you begin to develop a new ...