|
My favorite sand box in the entire world is the Empty Quarter of
Saudi Arabia. Over a million square kilometers of sandy
adventures await those who are willing to outfit an
expeditionary vehicle so that it is ready for deep desert
exploration. I had three Land Rover Defenders while I
worked in Arabia, and each weekend we climbed into our Defenders
and headed off into a sea of sand.
Once we arrived in the Empty Quarter, we lowered
our tire pressure to 18 psi before venturing into the soft sand.
Fully inflated tires are an engraved invitation to bogging down
and becoming stuck. Even with low tire pressures,
sometimes we sunk down to our chassis in large patches of soft
sand.
We camped between 60 to 90 nights a year in the Arabian sands.
On a scale of one to ten, I rate the Arabian sands as an eleven,
and I wish that I was still gliding over those dunes in one of
my Defenders. As far as I am concerned, the best
antidepressant on planet earth is a Land Rover Defender
exploring the mountainous dunes.
The instant my Defender turns off the highway
and enters the dunes, my life immediately improves. My
spirit lifts and my worries evaporate. Problems magically
disappear. I become centered, and I can hardly believe
that I am living my sand dreams.
Enjoy the pictures of my Defenders in the
Arabian sands. Discover the meaning of Positive
Overlanding.
Life is good.
Follow Positive Overlanding on facebook.
ENDLESS PERSISTENCE
Never underestimate the power
of endless persistence.
When you feel like quitting, endless persistence will get the
job done.
The battle's not to the best and the brightest; it's the most
persistent who prevails.
If you know who you are and where you are going, then endless
persistence becomes your best friend. It sticks beside you
through thick and thin, and makes a way when everyone tells you
that there is no way.
Achiever are not more talented or brilliant than those who do
not reach their dreams. However, they do possess one quality
that the rest of the world lacks: they are endlessly persistent
in pursuing their dreams. They are willing to do whatever it
takes to make their dreams come true.
Endless persistence separates the daydreamers from the doers. I
am an Unstoppable, Consistently Positive, Endlessly Persistent,
Doer of Dreams. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make
them happen. No matter how long it takes, or how many times I
fail, I will make my dreams come true.
|
|
 |
|
|
I AM WILLING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES
Positive change isn’t
a matter of the will. Rather, it’s a matter of being willing to do
whatever it takes. When I am not willing, no matter how much I say I
want to change, it will not happen. I am only playing a word game, and
everyone understands what I am saying.
The difference between the will and being willing is great. Making my
dreams come true doesn’t require an iron will. I don’t need an
indomitable spirit before I start the journey. I don’t need to spend
years pumping myself up in preparation for the moment that will takes
over, sweeps me off my feet, and carries me to total victory. That is a
fairy tale of the will. No one has a mountain of will that sweeps away
all opposition.
I don’t need a massive will to succeed. I do need a willingness to do
whatever is required to make my dreams happen. Although I don’t have an
iron will, I do have a willingness to work around, go through, over, or
under whatever obstacles get in the way. This is a quiet willingness.
Eloquent speeches of dramatic resolve aren’t part of the script. I
simply get on with the business of living my dreams. Every day I focus
on my purpose and act on my plan, because I am willing to do whatever it
takes to make my dreams come true.
|
|
 |
|
NOTHING TO LOSE
You start out life with nothing, and you end it the same way. But
between the start and the finish, you can have an awesome adventure.
If you are going to live, you may as well live as if you are a great
person. That means, you live as if your dreams are possible and work
each day to make them happen. You travel far, travel light, and make
your life into what you want it to be. You never forget that life isn't
about stuff; instead, it's about living your dreams.
As you face problems each day, ask yourself, "How would I handle this
challenge if I was a great person?" After you answer that question, go
ahead and do what a great person would do.
Don't tiptoe through life trying to just get by. Instead, make your
life into something memorable, something great.
You only get one life, and you may as well make it into a great one.
You have little to lose and much to gain, so go ahead and live as if you
are great. |
|
 |
|
THINK POSITIVE
No matter what happens, I choose to think positive.
When I lived in Arabia, I spent my free time driving in the sand dunes
south of Riyadh. In this picture, my Defender sits high and dry in the
Bakra dunes. I am high-sided, and I'm not going anywhere until I
recover the vehicle by digging out the sand from under the chassis (the
hard way) or by having someone pull me off the top of the dune using a
snatch strap (the easy way).
Getting high-sided on the top of a sand dune isn't a problem; it's only
an embarrassment. It simply means I miscalculated my speed as I was
going over the dune, and at the last minute, I slowed down too much, and
I didn't have enough momentum to make it over the top.
If you want to enjoy driving in the sand, you must learn to think
positive. It's inevitable that you are going to get stuck many times
when you drive in soft dunes. It doesn't matter whether you are
high-sided or sunk to the chassis in soft sand, a positive attitude
turns this inconvenience into a real adventure. A few minutes of work
with your shovel and sand ladders free you from your sandy prison.
There's no need for panic, recriminations, or berating yourself for
getting stuck. It goes with the territory. If you drive in soft sand,
you will get stuck, so get over it and keep on trucking. The goal isn't
to never get stuck. Instead, the goal is to have an adventure and to
live your sand dreams.
Driving in the sand dunes is a lot like life. You frequently find that
you are up to your axles in problems and are high-sided by the
challenges of life. That's to be expected, because you are living your
dreams. If you don't panic, and instead, maintain a positive attitude,
it won't be long before you escape the sand trap and start moving in a
positive direction.
Everybody gets stuck at many points in their life, but not everyone
thinks positive. Negative thinkers bog down in their problems, and they
may stay stuck for years at a time.
Positive thinkers know that getting stuck is only a temporary
inconvenience. No matter what happens in their life, they choose to
think positive. For them, positive thinking is a choice they make
dozens of time each day. They know that if they want to be positive,
nothing and no one can stop them.
Think positive. |
|
 |
|
WHEN YOU ARE IN A
HOLE, STOP DIGGING
One of the first rules you learn about driving in sand is that when you
are in a hole, stop digging.
When I started driving in dunes, I frequently got stuck in patches of
soft sand. As a novice, when I bogged down, I spun my tires which made
me sink progressively deeper until the chassis rested solidly on the
ground. Only then did my Defender stop sinking.
Eventually I discovered that if you don't spin your wheels when you
first get stuck, you don't sink down nearly as far. It's much easier to
recover a bogged vehicle when it's not buried all the way up to the
chassis.
We developed a damage control rule for everyone who drove with us in the
sand. When the forward motion of the vehicle ceases, you immediately
stop spinning your tires so that vehicle recovery will be easier. When
we did it that way, we could usually go in reverse and back out of the
sand trap if a couple of people got out and gave the vehicle a push with
their hands. Only occasionally was it necessary to use sand ladders,
winches, or snatch straps.
This rule is applicable to life in general. When you find your self
stuck, when forward motion ceases, it's time to stop digging. If you
continue to spin your mental wheels, you will only sink deeper into the
muck and mire. Whatever it was that you were doing before you got into
trouble, you must immediately cease and desist. If you don't stop, you
will only sink deeper making it more difficult to get your life back on
track.
You might want to write that rule on paper and look at it several times
a day when you are having problems. If you stop digging and start doing
something constructive, it won't be long before you are back to living
your dreams. |
|
 |
|
|
GETTING STUCK IS GOOD - YOU ARE
LIVING YOUR DREAMS
I'm grateful for all the times I've been stuck over the years. That's
what happens when I live my dreams
I've been up to my axles in sand too many times to count. That's
terrific because it means I am living my sand dreams.
I been sailing offshore in forty five knots of wind and eighteen foot
seas trailing warps behind my boat, and that's fantastic. That means I
am sailing on the ocean of my dreams.
I've been stuck in front of a computer screen writing books on positive
thinking for more than ten years. That's good because my writing is
helping other people live their dreams.
I've been stuck for thousands of hours working on my websites, and that
totally awesome, because I now have a Positive Web Ring that reaches
people in 180 countries around the world.
If I'm lucky I'll get stuck somewhere in Africa when I drive from Cape
Town to Cairo in my Land Rover.
I've been stuck too many times to count, and I hope my good fortune
continues.
TESTING
YOUR LIMITATIONS
Sand driving teaches you about your limitations.
The first lesson you learn is that appearances are deceiving.
Traversing a sea of sand may look like a piece of cake, but fifteen
seconds later you are monumentally stuck with sand up to your chassis.
At other times, you look at what appears to be difficult terrain, and
you pass easily through it like you're driving in a mall parking lot.
You can't tell ahead of time how hard the slogging will become until you
get into gear and start moving. Appearances truly are deceiving.
The second lesson you learn is that the only way to find out if
limitations are real is to test them.
If you want to live your sand dreams, you have to test the sand all the
time. You must allow yourself the luxury of testing your limitations
many times each day. When you do that, you discover that you can do
many things you previously considered impossible.
Take a look at the wheel tracks in this picture. One pair of tracks
leads to a Defender far off in the distance. When he went down the slip
face into the valley of doom, he kept on trucking. You can see two
patches of soft sand in his wheel tracks where he powered through
without getting stuck.
The second set of tracks belongs to a Nissan Patrol. This vehicle went
into the valley of doom and got stuck. His tracks show that he almost
made it out the other side on his first attempt, but he had to back up
and make another try. He made it out on his second go.
I'm standing on top of the dune surveying the landscape trying to figure
out which way to head. I had no clue as to whether I would get stuck in
the valley of doom, but I also had no choice. If I wanted to test my
limitations, I had to go down the slip face and see what happened. I
put the accelerator all the way to the floor in second gear when I hit
the bottom of the slip face, and I easily powered out of the hole.
That's the way life works. There's hundreds of sand traps out there,
and if you want to drive in the sand, it's inevitable that you will
discover many pits of apparent despair. That's to be expected, because
you are living your sand dreams.
If you want to live your dreams, you must test your limitations every
day. There is no other way.
TESTING
LIMITATIONS AND LIVING DREAMS
God gave us a lifetime to TEST OUR LIMITATIONS and to LIVE HIS DREAM FOR
OUR LIFE.
God's dream for our lives is better than anything we can imagine. God
created a beautiful world and populated it with life, and then He gave
it to us for our enjoyment. He also put an eternal spirit inside us,
and we have the privilege of living as one of his children. That's why
some of us call him Father. God is on our side and has our best
interests at heart. He has a powerful and positive dream for our life,
and if we get in agreement with him, that dream can come true.
But there's a catch. The only way for that dream to come true is for us
to test our limitations. God doesn't have any limitations - all of them
belong to us. To the extent that we cling to our limitations, to that
degree we limit the ability of God to work a miracle in our life.
It's incumbent on us to step up to the front and test every limitation
found in our mind. We must relentlessly look past our limitations and
act as if we cannot fail. That's the only way we can break through to
the awesome future that God has in store for us. We have a choice, If
we cling to our limitations, we miss out on God's best. If we test our
limitations and break through them, God works a miracle in our life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At the
Positive Thinking University, your mind is always
under construction.
Isn't it about time that you got a new way of thinking and feeling?
Visit
Positive Thinking University.
The
Positive Thinking Doctor has more than 200 positive websites in
cyberspace. If you want to learn how to become
a positive person, pay a visit to the
Positive
Thinking Doctor.
Positive Thinking Links is your link to
positive thinking websites around the world. Visit
Positive Thinking Links.
Either you control your mind, or it controls you.
When you control your thoughts, you control your life. Learn
how to control your mind. Visit
Positive Thinking Seminars.com.
Positive Thinking
Radio has powerful positive podcasts that will
supercharge your
life. Visit
Positive Thinking Radio.com
The
Great Positive Thinking Secret is that we must learn to think as God
thinks. Jesus said that when we
think like men we stumble. How we think and what we think is
extremely important. Wrong thinking trips us up. We need a new way
of thinking. We need to think as God thinks. When we think like
God thinks, we get in agreement with God about who we are and what
we can do with our lives.
Visit
Positive Thinking Secret.
Changing the world one web page at a time and one life at a time.
Visit
Positive Thinking Web Ring.
More than 100 positive thinking podcasts from Dr. Dave that give
you a new way of looking at yourself and the world.
Send your mind a positive message
with free positive thinking podcasts from Dr. Dave.
Visit
Positive Thinking Podcasts.
Positive
Christian Radio sends the sound
of God's love around the world.
Too Many Drummers is the
featured band on Positive Christian Radio. Dr Dave also has more
than twenty positive podcasts that give you a new way of thinking
and feeling.
Visit
Positive Christian Radio.com
Learn the guideposts on the journey
to a positive mind. Visit
Positive Thinking Guideposts.
You live in a world ruled by your expectations.
You don't get what you want. You
get what you expect. Fill
your mind with positive expectations. Visit
Power Of
Positive Expectations.com
Positive thinking wallpaper
is a great way to fill your mind with positive thoughts and emotions.
Every time you turn on your computer, you see pictures that make you
into a stronger person. Visit
Positive Thinking Wallpaper.com.
Reading transplants positive thoughts into
my mind. Visit
Thought Transplant.
Positive thinking
women
think positive thoughts, experience positive emotions, take
positive actions, and lead positive lives.
Are you ready to become a positive thinking
woman? Visit
Positive Thinking Woman.com
Jesus is the greatest positive
thinker who ever lived. He created a world ruled by
positive expectations. That is why he said, "As you believe, so
shall it be done unto you." Visit
Positive
Thinking Man.
Positive parents create positive children.
Visit
Positive
Thinking Children.
Free swimming lessons in God's
ocean of love. Visit
Positive
Thinking Fish.
When your mind is full of thoughts
consistent with God's love, your mind is exactly the way God means for it
to be. Your mind is positive.
Visit
Positive
Thinking Christian.
The headquarters for positive thinking on the
world wide web. Visit
Positive Thinking Headquarters.
Positive Thinking Psychology
is simply thinking the way God thinks.
It's the way God intends for us to think and feel. It's getting in
agreement with God. Visit
Positive
Thinking Psychology.
News that's worth
putting into your mind . Visit
Positive Thinking News.com.
The
Positive Thinking Network is the home of
positive thinking on the world wide web. More than
200 positive websites fill your mind with positive things.
Visit the
Positive
Thinking Network and get a new way of thinking and feeling.
|
|
DR. ABBOTT CREATED THE
POSITIVE THINKING NETWORK WITH OVER
200 POSITIVE WEBSITES
|
|
AN EXCELLENT FAMILY ADVENTURE THAT
INSPIRES YOU TO LIVE YOUR DREAMS.
You
can support the Positive Thinking Network by purchasing
Dr. Dave's DVD: The Red Sea Chronicles.
The Positive Thinking Network features more
than 180 Positive Podcasts and thousands of pages that push your mind in
a positive direction. It's time to get a new way of thinking and
feeling. It's time to fill your mind with positive things.
Thanks for your support. |
 |
|
|
THE RED SEA
CHRONICLES - A FIRST CLASS SAILING ADVENTURE
When Dr. Dave isn't working as a flying Doctor for the Indian Health
Service, he is sailing around the world on his sailboat. Find out what
it's like to sail on the ocean of your dreams by watching Dr. Dave's DVD
- The Red Sea Chronicles. Put some positive adventure into your mind
and push your life in a positive direction.
Captain Dave and his
family spent eleven years sailing around the world on their Privilege 39
catamaran, Exit Only. During the trip, the crew of Exit Only shot 200
hours of video with professional cameras to show people what it's like
to sail on a small boat around the world.
The Red Sea Chronicles is a one hour and twenty-two minute feature
film showing their adventures as Exit Only sails through Pirate
Alley in the Gulf of Aden and up the Red Sea. The professional footage
documents their experiences in Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, and
the Suez Canal. It chronicles the rigors of traveling in a remote
section of the world rarely visited by cruisers. Exit Only dodges
Yemeni pirates, fights a gale and sand storms in the Bab al Mandeb at
the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The crew explores deserted
islands on the western shores of the Red Sea, and learns to check the
cruising guides for land mines before venturing ashore.
The Red Sea Chronicles also has outstanding Special Features that
include an Instructional Video on Storm Management that tells
sailors how to deal with storms at sea.
And don't forget the two Music Videos: "The
Red Sea Blues", and "Captain
- Save Our Souls".
The Red Sea Chronicles is a first class adventure that stokes the
sailing dreams of both experienced and wannabe sailors alike. Order
your copy of the Red Sea Chronicles and experience the adventures of
Exit Only as they sail around the world and up the Red Sea. |
 |
|
|
|
|
