positive thoughts

My dad has many interesting traits, and one of them is his insistence on semantics.

For example, should I happen to utter the words "If I..."

Immediately I am interrupted by my father saying "Not if. When."

"Okay, okay WHEN I..." Inevitably I respond.

One of many examples of how my father taught me the importance of words, and how what is spoken can change how you act, how you think. Thus here I stand, firm in the belief that I can do or be whatever I want.

He wasn't like this with just my siblings and myself; this is part of who he is.

A favorite anecdote I like to recall of his entails this positive thought. My parent's church, the parish I grew up with, started having an annual carnival a few years back to raise funds.

Every year they would pray for no rain, no bad weather. Every year it rained.

Until my dad suggested they stop praying for the bad things, because all those people thinking of the rain inevitably made it a reality. Therefore the church began to pray for sun and good weather.

It has been sunny every year since.

Believe in prayer, believe in the power of positive thinking, or believe in coincidence. Whatever you believe, this ideology is now in a bestselling book, The Secret. My company publishes this book, and they distributed free copies to all of us to celebrate its success. So I sat down today and started to read, shocked by the familiarity of the message.

Too bad my dad didn't go and write it first.