A Man Hears.

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
The Boxer ~ Simon & Garfunkel.

The young salesman looked his manager square in the eye and said:

"What do you do when you can't go on any more?  What do you think about when you really just want to quit? ~ How do you keep going?
The old sales manager smiled and replied ~ "Let me tell you a story." 

When I first came to America I was a very young boy. I got off the boat in New York and found that it was a brutally cold place for a child who didn't know a soul. I had no money, no friends, and every single day I wanted to go home. To get away from this hostile, and challenging, new place where every thing was uncomfortable, difficult, and foreign.

The voices in my head were telling me to quit and go home with my tail between my legs. But those voices made me feel sick and ashamed.

"I had to play mind games with myself", the sales manager said.

Movies and music helped. I found that I had to convince myself that I wasn't a quitter. That I was a fighter. A boxer who would keep getting up ~ No matter what. ~ You see... It's all about what we tell ourselves.

Every day we choose songs, voices and people to listen to. When things get tough these songs, voices, and people, don't whisper  - They scream. Who do you want to listen to? ~ What do you want to hear?

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."