Change Thoughts Change Results
A Story to Remember
Dr. Norman Vincent Peal at Charlotte Positive Thinking Rally
In 1976 while working with the Chapel Hill Training Outreach Project I read Dr. Peale's book The Power of Positive Thinking for the second time . As a trainer for the project I had the responsibility of traveling to the developmental daycare centers I was assigned to each month to train their staffs and parents in the latest techniques of working with children that had severe developmental delays.The conditions in the children ranged from mental retardation, autism to cerebral palsy.
In the process of reading Dr. Peale's books I began to realize how important the attitude of the teachers was in helping the children reach their potential in spite of their particular physical and mental challenges. The handwriting was on the wall and the message was clear.The time had come for me to start helping the teachers and parents develop the attitudes necessary to help the children grow and develop. The question was...How do I do that?
Up to this point nothing had been developed to work with the teachers and parents in acquiring the attitudes necessary to be successful with the children. All the effort had been on gaining the skills of behavior modification to eliminate negative behavior and reinforce positive behavior and a technique called error free learning.. While this was highly successful in certain instances, helping the teachers develop an attitude of positive expectancy coupled with the skills would be my challenge.
As I read his books, exposed myself to his writings and listened to his messages on television, I began to notice my own attitude was beginning to change. Central to Dr. Peale’s message was the power of positive expectancy. Something I was soon to learn to apply in my own life.
Now during this time of exploration I began to realize how important growing in positive expectancy and it’s application in my own life would be to communicating it to teachers and parents. As I continued to read and study on the subject of attitude and specifically positive expectancy, the thought grew in me that I wanted to meet Dr. Peale and tell him what an impact he was having on my work with the centers.
With the power of positive expectancy growing in my life I made the decision that I wanted to go to New York, visit Marble Collegiate Church where Dr. Peale preached, and meet him. Shortly after making this decision I was informed that our entire Outreach Team was going to be going to New York to work with a Head Start School to train teachers. I got very excited because this would be the opportunity I was looking for. Needless to say my positive expectancy was in high gear.
A Shift Occurs
I’m not sure of the chronology of the events that followed, but it seems to me about 2 weeks prior to the trip to New York, the plans were cancelled. Now while this occurred I noticed it didn’t stop my expectation that I was going to meet Dr. Peale. I continued to read, listen and expect. Seemed this positive expectancy was really getting hold of me. It was becoming part of my thinking. I learned that it was the repetition of exposure to Dr. Peale’s writing and recordings that was impacting my behavior and would eventually bring the results I desired.
After being away from home and family for about a week as I was working with one of the centers, I walked into the house to the usual cheerful greetings from Priscilla and the children. What happened next was a total surprise. Priscilla said, in her usual smiling enthusiastic way, “You got something in the mail today!” She handed me a flyer concerning a Positive Thinking Rally to be held in Charlotte and the key note speaker? I can just hear the applause and see the balloons as I read...
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. That settled it, this positive expectancy stuff just must be taught to the teachers and parents. As far as I was concerned I was on my way to meet Dr. Peale.
The Rally
The day of the rally came and I was pumped to say the least. I gathered all the positive expectancy I could, gathered my ticket and my small reel to reel tape recorder and I was on my way. This was a glorious opportunity and I couldn’t wait to get settled in my seat high up in the nosebleed section. I’ll tell you the significance of where I was seated later.Now this was the days before cassette recorders and it was not against policy to record at a live event.
Once I was seated I turned on my recorder and settled in to listen to Dr. Peale. He was speaking about how they started Guide Post Magazine, the challenges they faced and how important positive expectancy was to getting the magazine off and running.
When he completed his speech they called an intermission. When this started I felt compelled to get out of my seat, stretch and then decided this was the time for me to meet Dr. Peale. I turned and looked at the guy seated beside me and asked if he would look after my recorder. He asked me where I was going and I replied I was going down to meet Dr. Peale. With a less than positive look on his face that communicated “Fat Chance!” I responded with, “This is a positive thinking rally!” and proceeded to walk down many flights of stairs to the stage.
I remember walking down to the floor through what appeared to be an endless crowd of people and not one time thinking I couldn’t do this. It was as if I was on autopilot.
I walked up to TY Boyd the MC. Just that year TY had been named by National Toastmasters Speaker of the Year. I was very familiar with him because he was a radio and tv personality in Charlotte. When I got to him I stuck out my hand and we shook.
I told him how Dr. Peale has impacted my life and work and that I wanted to meet him. The first thing out of his mouth was that Dr. Peale had a flight to catch at 3pm, then he paused and said, “Follow me!” He took me behind the curtain and walked me right up to Dr. Peale and introduced me as his good friend, Ken Davis. Dr.Peale and I shook hands, I had him sign a little book he had written, and then told him how much his books, tv and audio messages had impacted my life and the teachers I was training to have positive expectancy. I then asked him to pray for me. With no hesitation and a few moments of encouragement we shook hands and I was on my way with an incredible skip in my step.
2 Miracles of Positive Expectancy
When I returned to work after this experience my commitment to train the teachers and parents in positive expectancy was deepened. When I would visit the centers I would listen to the staff and parents to learn about the children. They would talk about the challenges and frustrations. After a time of observation a plan would be developed to overcome the challenges. The usual techniques of behavior modification would be applied and then I would say to the teachers, “ If you follow through on the plan with positive expectation, when I return in 30 days the child will have overcome the obstacles.”
Penney: She was 5 years old, had never spoken, had been institutionalized and would only sit in a playpen and cry, rock and scream for long periods of time, stopping only when she would fall asleep. Needless to say this was very wearing on the staff and parents. Frustrations were very high and the only expectations were there was nothing that could be done.
As I worked with the team I constantly reminded them that they needed to walk with positive expectation that the situation was not hopeless. Once we had an attitude of positive expectation going we worked as a team to find the key that could bring about change for this child and the staff. By the end of the week we had found what we believed was a key and developed a plan around it. Prior to leaving at the end of the week I spent an hour talking with the staff about positive expectation. I told them that my expectation was they had the skills to work the plan and the positive expectancy to stay motivated to achieve success. The last thing I said to them was, “When I return in 30 days this whole situation will be different.”
The Rest of The Story
I was sitting in my office in Chapel Hill when my phone rang and it was the lead teacher at the center Penney was at. She was very excited and said, “We can’t wait for you to come see the progress that’s been made with Penny since you left”. She went on to tell me that Penny was playing with dolls, beginning to feed herself and all the rocking and crying had stopped. When I got to the center a week later I was amazed. When I walked in she was sitting in a rocking chair combing the hair of a doll. From that time on the staff remained high with positive expectancy for each child in their care.
Tommy: He was 5 and had been in an institution for severe learning problems. He didn’t talk, Scooted around on the floor rather than walking, even though physically he was able to walk.Throughout the week we made observations concerning the issues the staff was having with him. The last day we sat down as a team and pulled out thoughts together. We discussed our expectations and arrived at a consensus of positive expectation getting him to the place of walking, feeding himself and dressing himself before my return in 30 days. We developed the plan and put it in place with each of us expressing our positive expectation. We also met with the parents and got them to expect the same.
The Rest of The Story
We had an identical experience with Tommy to the one we had with Penny. In 30 days Tommy was walking, dressing himself, feeding himself and because he was walking the staff had a whole new set of issues, but their expectation was they would be successful.
Seed of the Gospel
One of the things that came from my reading Dr.Peale’s book and subsequent writings was a growing hunger to read Gods Word. Throughout his book, The Power of Positive Thinking, he relates stories in people's lives about how learning to practice meditating on the Word changed their lives and moved them from being negative thinkers to positive thinkers. How changing their thinking changed their lives. The Bible reinforces how powerful our thinking is. Proverbs tells us, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he”. To change our lives, change our thinking.
I noticed how my thinking was growing more in line with Dr. Peale's concept of positive expectancy when I focused on the Word. It’s amazing how thinking on the word begins to change your perception of things around you. When your perception changes your behavior changes and when your behavior changes your result change.
Conclusion: I can see clearly now!
To coin a modern day term I find their are two “Takeaways” from what I’ve written that I know are powerful and when applied along with positive expectancy and God’s Word will change things.
1.Where we are relative to where we want to be. If you remember I said I would explain the significance of my sitting in the nosebleed section of the colosseum Many times we can find ourselves in situations that are filled with seemingly impossible obstacles that separate us from where we desire to be. The obstacles separating me from my goal of meeting Dr. Peale where the many steps I’d have to walk down from where I was seated, the huge crowd of people I’d have to press through, ( there was a women in the Bible that had to do that ) and the encounter with TY Boyd and the time problem. We also can have people around us that don’t see the same situation the way we see it and they don’t mind telling you how impossible it is. I certainly had that experience with the guy sitting next to me.
2.The power of Repetition. I realized that repeatedly listing, reading and talking about having positive expectancy was impacting my own perception, behavior and results. This led me to explore ways to expose the teachers and parents to the concept of positive expectancy. This is way I began to talk about it in their staff meetings, my instructions to the group and one-on-one. Hearing it repeated in context to the desired result brought belief and belief brought about a change in attitude and a change in attitude brought about a change in results.
Well there you have it. I felt like I had uncovered a hidden treasure. Over the years I’ve found these principles powerful as I’ve applied them in my own life and shared them with others.. My positive expectancy is they will be equally effective in your life. Oh! Go ahead and give them a try. It won't hurt and it could possibly change things.
For help in applying these principles go to my website at Click Here,fill out the contact form and let's talk.
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Ken Davis
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