Here & Now 2016 Editions October 2016 | Page 2

EDITORS NOTE KEEP THEIR MINDS WEAK There’s a scene in the true-story movie The Great Debaters in which professor Melvin Tolson, played by Denzel Washington, educates his students about a slave owner’s method of controlling his slaves. His strategy was, “keep the slave physically strong but psychologically weak and dependent on the slave owner”. W e have to watch out for the negative words that attack us every day. Sometimes they come at us from people around us. It’s not that they’re bad people, but negativity is so widespread that sometimes people can’t help it. For example, a young lady was told by her mother: “Your looks would be perfect if it weren’t for your nose…” And that’s from her mother! It’s not that the mother is a bad person — I know her. It’s just that sometimes people don’t realise how negativity works, and they allow it to use them to harm others. 2 Sometimes it comes at us from within. Negative self-talk — that little voice you hear at a very inconvenient time telling you why something won’t work, or why you can’t do this or that, or why another person is more capable than you. The negative mind wants to enslave you. Its favourite method is to weaken your mind. In case you didn’t know it, words are the structure of your thoughts. Watch out for them. P.S. In this magazine, you will learn the secret to having a positive mind. Keep reading to find out how.