29 Oct “Having A Positive Attitude Will Take You To The Moon!” By Martin Wright
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Who was the second man? Those of us of an age will know he was Buzz Aldrin. The third? Michael Collins was the guy who stayed in the command capsule. The rigors of the training that the whole crew, including the crews of the other ships, endured was nothing short of miraculous. The effect this experience had on the astronauts and their families has beome legendary – and now conveyed in this new movie with Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. When you think that they were blasted out of the earth’s atmosphere with less tech than our current phones currently have, basically, nothing more than basic complex maths. The whole achevement of this project is astounding.
NASA protocol should have meant that Buzz Aldrin was first on the moon as the junior officer, but rules changed just before the mission. Buzz has shared his story many times over the past fifty years on how he learned to be proud of being the second man on the moon.
In his book No Dream is Too High, Buzz highlights 13 steps that helped him reach his dream of going into space. Each mantra could fit well within an Advance Performance course. The ones which stand out are:-
The sky is not the limit – there are steps on the moon
Don’t allow anyone to put a stop to your dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. Your dreams can take you higher and farther than you would ever have thought possible.
Keep your mind open to all possibilities
Gather and consolidate as much information from as many sources as possible.
Show me your friends and I will show you your future
We all have heroes. Choose them wisely and be careful who you idolise. Ultimately, you will become like the people you choose to associate with. The people that you surround yourself with will have either a positive or negative impact on you.
Maintain your spirit of adventure
Nurture your adventurous ideas and find pleasure in the little things. Don’t be put off by what initially seems like too much of a mountain to climb. They are there to be climbed. If you can imagine achieving a goal, you can pursue that dream.
Practise respect for all people
No individual has the right to be a snob or put people down regardless of who we are or what we have accomplished. No human has the right to be disrespectful of another person.
Do what you believe right even when others choose otherwise
Making the right decision may often set us apart and put us out of sync with our peers. But we must remember, what they think of us is not the issue, we have to live with our own conscience and follow our own values.
Keep a young mindset at every stage of life
It is inevitable that we will all grow old, but we don’t have to grow old mentally. Maintain a youthful outlook regardless of your age, embrace all experiences, new, old, near or far. We only have an average of 30,000 days, so enjoy every one of them and make them count.
Help others to go beyond where you have gone.
We all have a responsibility to give back. Appreciate the knowledge and actions of others, and let the feelings flow through us so that we are able to help others enjoy their life. Perhaps even more important is that all of us should have the determination to ‘pay forward’. This will enable us to help others go beyond where we have been and what we have done
By following our dreams it is possible to obtain whatever we want. Could our dreams take us to the moon? Who knows – it certainly won’t be too far in the future when our descendants will be able to travel into space – either to the moon or wherever.
But let’s be like Buzz Aldrin. Be positive, live our life to the full and always follow our dreams.