One of my favorite events in Acapulco is watching the famous divers perform at the Quebrada. What a nice surprise to find that Pastors Juan and Dina (who are like son and daughter to me) presently live close to this area in the city. In fact they are so close that I could walk down to watch the waves crashing against the rocks and enjoy the sea air every morning.

We went down to watch the divers one afternoon and once again I was reminded of the training that champion athletes go through. These young world champions (15-24 years of age) do intense training in the gym and the pool most every day.

The day we watched them the sea was very rough. Five young men dove into the rushing waves and swam across the narrow stretch of water to the other side from where they would make their dives. At least they tried to swim across.

The waves were so strong that it took them two attempts to reach the other side.

During their first attempt they were dragged back to where they started by the force of the current.

Once they did reach the other side, they scaled the cliff, some to reach the 25 meter level and one was to dive from the 35 meter level. The video shows the 35 meter dive.

As we watched these young men perform, I was struck by one major key to their success and safety as they made their dives.

This dangerous, yet spectacular dive requires laser focus.

They need to be focused on:

Timing. Their focus gave them the exact time to make their dive. For the current of the sea to be in their favor, precise timing is absolutely imperative.

Positioning. There is a very small area of water where it is safe to dive into. It takes laser focus to aim at this area where it is deep enough as well as far away enough from the rocks to be safe.

Overcoming Fear. Do these young men experience fear? Of course they do (and they will admit it). What enables them to overcome all fear and make the jump? Their focus is FIXED on their goal.

You will probably never dive off of a 25 meter or 35 meter cliff in order to achieve your dreams, but nevertheless you DO need to stay focused to reach your goals.

Are you training every day to achieve your dreams and goals? Are you staying laser focused?

Acapulco – Divers from Jill Rapley on Vimeo.

After listening to the recording, I continued to meditate on this reality and came to some conclusions.

Yesterday late afternoon, I went down to the “Quebrada” in Acapulco to enjoy the sea air. The waves were a little more fierce than I have seen them so far during this trip to Acapulco. I took so photos for you to see (I love to take photos).

Life is full of daily challenges, decisions and reactions (or responses – your choice). Some days the sea of life may be calm for a season, other days the waves may come crashing in.

However your day is, YOU have the choice as to how you will react or respond. Consequently you choose to build your mindset or faith or allow fear to destroy you belief system.

Many daily habits are unconscious. You and I often react to situations without thinking. These are the spontaneous reactions that come out of your mindset (or mental structures).

• Your positive mindset is formed (or destroyed) by every decision you make every day.
• Your positive mindset is also formed (or destroyed) by every reaction you have towards the events of each day.

How come a reaction affects your mindset? Every react is a decision (often a spontaneous one). It comes from your mindset. In the same way that every time you use a physical muscle you strengthen it, every time you use a mind muscle you strengthen it.

This means that every time you reinforce a decision or reaction by USING it, you strengthen it.

How to make sure you are creating a strong mindset of faith.
Determine to become aware of every decision and every reaction you make each day. To do this you will need: Discipline and Focus.

Determine that you will change ALL negative reactions or decisions that you detect. Changing your habits and belief system (mindset) is YOUR choice.

Determine to deliberately focus your daily decisions and reactions towards constructing a solid mindset of faith. To do this you will be to focus! Be alert to take note of what you are doing, saying and thinking. Then you can change each and every negative response you catch yourself making.

Deliberate, focused, daily action will enable you to build a strong faith mindset.

The local newspapers reported this event as a miracle, and it certainly was, (and no I am not an American, but the car was.)

The biggest miracle:
What impacted me the most was that it happened on a road that is normally full of traffic, mostly heavy trucks. Yet as the car was swerving out of control back and forth across the road before it rolled, there was not a car in sight!!

Both the Green Cross and the Red Cross were called in which meant that the police had deemed the situation as life threatening and serious.

When the Red Cross arrived, they could not believe seeing me sitting up with no blood flowing. Both ears and the side of my face were fully and deeply bruised, a deep scratch on my arm from climbing out of the car, but that was all.

I was released by the Red Cross, and so I thought I was fine.

Back to “normal”
Once I got back home I continued to work as normal. At least I tried to continue as “normal”, but something was not right. My concentration was gone, and I was not reacting right.

Finally I called a friend and described what was happening to me and he replied: “That is a light concussion. It will take a couple of years to recover fully from that”.

I did not want to hear that, but at least I knew what I was fighting. Still I could not get my brain to work. I just could not concentrate, nor react as I used to.

Finally, I managed to face the fact that I could not do any work that required tedious concentration (such as programming, building websites or Forex).

An Amazing Discovery:
One day I started to talk to myself out loud. (No I did not answer myself back

To my amazement my brain started to react. I discovered that instead of simply trying to think things through and plan in my mind, if I spoke my plans out loud, my brain became clearer and could react.

So I began to speak out to myself, with step by step instructions. My mind reacted to my own voice and it obeyed! What a difference. I was ABLE to take action, and I did!

What was the key? It is what some call “self talk”. It may sound a little strange at first, but I proved the statement Mike Murdock declared be true.

When things get tough and negative forces try to direct your mind:

• Speak out your plans, your goals and your dreams.
• Speak out your affirmations every day.

This is a major key to being able to:
** Train your brain for success … and
** Overcome the negative forces that come against your mind.

What is that key again?

If you have not already tried “self talk”, why not start today? You just may be rather amazed!