Guest post by Michael Hegeman, SIA Advisory Board Member. He traveled with me to Kenya and Malawi this year.
“I’ll always be poor.” “I’ll never make enough money to feed my children.” “I don’t deserve to have a good life.” “I have only known poverty.” “I don’t know how to build a successful business.”
These are self-defeating thoughts. We can find them in any culture around the globe. And not only are these thoughts self-defeating; they are self-fulfilling as well. If you think you will always be poor, you most likely will always be poor.
The first thing that Spirit in Action coordinators encounter with potential grant recipients is a way of thinking that cannot see past present circumstances: the necessity to escape dire circumstances, provide immediate nutritional needs for one’s family, and send children to school. Because SIA coordinators “target” the most vulnerable members of their communities to receive SIA grants, they are sure to encounter a “mindset” that has pre-determined failure as the only option.
Canaan Gondwe, SIA Small Business Fund Coordinator in Malawi, is passionate about mindset preparation and helping people live up to their God-given potential.
Power of Positive Thinking
Norman Vincent Peale, sixty-five years ago, published his now famous book, The Power of Positive Thinking, in which the reader is “encouraged to achieve a permanent constructive and optimistic attitude through constant positive influence of his or her conscious thought (that is, by using affirmations or visualizations) and consequently achieve a higher satisfaction and quality of life.”
Many of us are quite familiar with the practice of using positive affirmations to shift one’s way of being in the world. For SIA Small Business Fund (SBF) grant recipients, the circumstances of poverty seem overwhelming. The principles of “mindset preparation” are crucial for coordinators to use to help others get ready for big changes in their lives.
The SIA team visiting Malawi and Kenya in May of 2017 heard testimony after testimony from SBF grant recipients about how changing the way they thought helped them take actionable steps to positive change in their lives. And the results were evident. Paul Lungu told the group: “At one time I had only a blanket to my name, and I slept in empty houses, begging for food. Now, I have a home of my own, a small farm, and a business that helps me provide for myself and my family.”
The Lungu family have been able to build this brick home since starting their shoe repair business in 2005. Paul says, “life is no longer the same.”
Mindset Preparation
The key elements in “mindset preparation” are”
Training the body, mind and spirit to say, “Yes, I can do it.” “Yes, I can succeed.” “Yes, I am worthy of a good life.” Change doesn’t happen overnight. SIA SBF Coordinators tell us that they need to be vigilant with support during the process. “Don’t sink back into that stinking thinking! You can do it.”
Hosting motivational sessions: These positive messages need to seep into the subconscious mind, and the most powerful way for this to happen is to hear the testimony of those who have succeeded and to witness the changes that others have made in their lives.
Reminding people of their God-given potential, and how, through Spirit, they can co-create a better life. “You can do something different from what is currently happening.” ~ Canaan Gondwe, SIA SBF Coordinator, Malawi
Using biblical passages that speak to the need for perseverance: “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23
Supporting them to see what each of them “brings to the table.” When we discover our own natural gifts, we can use those gifts to help ourselves build a successful life.
Encouraging them build a network of support with like-minded people, that is, others who are using their full potential to succeed.
Urging them to Share the Gift, pay-it-forward in some way, whatever that gift is. The expression of gratitude is healing to the weariest soul.
The perception of poverty effects every aspect of one’s being: mentally, emotionally, socially, economically, physically, and spiritually. Genuine and lasting change comes through thoughtful and diligent mindset preparation. The realization of this success creates a joyous experience in every aspect of one’s being as well.
“I never thought I could be leading the life I now live. I respect myself and my community respects me. I have become a leader and an example to others. I want to pass on this happiness I’ve found.” ~ Sylvester Nkhoma
“I never thought I could be leading the life I now live. I respect myself and my community respects me. I have become a leader and an example to others. I want to pass on this happiness I’ve found.” ~ Sylvester Nkhoma
