| Have you ever wondered how would survive in a | | | | the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his |
| hostage situation? Being captured and held as a | | | | eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale |
| hostage by terrorists? What would give you the will to | | | | lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set |
| survive and stay alive?Make a mental list of memories, | | | | release date, and no certainty as to whether he would |
| loved ones, beliefs, techniques that would keep you | | | | even survive to see his family again. Stockdale had an |
| alive if taken hostage or a prisoner of war. In today's | | | | additional challenge. As the highest ranking officer, he |
| uncertain world there is a reasonable chance that | | | | had to also help his own servicemen survive their |
| someone we know will be one or two degrees | | | | ordeals. He instituted rules that would help people to |
| removed from a hostage, a bomb blast victim or a | | | | deal with torture (no one can resist torture indefinitely, |
| prisoner of war (POW).My own grandfather was a | | | | so he created a step-wise system-after x minutes, |
| Maori prisoner of war during World War 2. Taken | | | | you can say certain things-that gave the men |
| prisoner by the Germans during the Crete campaign, | | | | milestones to survive toward). He instituted an |
| he had to endure the harsh conditions as well as the | | | | elaborate internal communications system to reduce |
| humiliation of being taken prisoner. A key lesson I learnt | | | | the sense of isolation that their captors tried to create, |
| from his experiences and others was the power of | | | | which used a five-by-five matrix of tap codes for |
| the mind to transcend one's physical situation. A bare | | | | alpha characters. (Tap-tap equals the letter a, |
| cell, little food, psychological and physical mistreatment. | | | | tap-pause-tap-tap equals the letter b, |
| Reducing a human being into an object of no more | | | | tap-tap-pause-tap equals the letter f, and so forth, for |
| significance than a cockroach. He had to look deep | | | | 25 letters, c doubling for k.) After his release, Stockdale |
| within himself to endure his plight and make some | | | | became the first three-star officer in the history of the |
| sense of his suffering.Other examples come to | | | | US Navy to wear both aviator wings and the |
| mind.Major James Nesbeth spent seven years as a | | | | Congressional Medal of Honor. Like many others, he |
| prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During those seven | | | | lived to tell and inspire others of his POW |
| years, he was imprisoned in a cage that was | | | | experiences.What can we learn from these prisoner |
| approximately four and one-half feet high and five long. | | | | of war experiences?I believe it illustrates the power of |
| During almost the entire time he was imprisoned he | | | | our mind to transcend our current circumstances. We |
| saw no one, talked to no one and experience no | | | | don't need to be a prisoner of war to learn this. We |
| physical activity. In order to keep his sanity and his mind | | | | sometimes imprison ourselves with our own fears, our |
| active, he used the art of visualisation. Everyday in his | | | | own limiting thoughts. Thoughts like: - I can never be |
| mind, he would play a game of golf. A full 18-hole | | | | rich! - I will never get out of this dump! - My life sucks! - |
| game at his favourite green. In his mind, he would | | | | I blame my mother for my weight problem!I would say |
| create the trees, the smell of the freshly trimmed | | | | to the above, "toughen up and get a life". Weak |
| grass, the wind, the songs of the birds. He created | | | | thinking begets weak results. Feel sorry for yourself |
| different weather conditions - windy spring days, | | | | for a moment and then get over it. This type of |
| overcast winter days and sunny summer mornings. He | | | | repetitive sorry thinking would create a loss of hope in |
| felt the grip of the club in his hands as he played his | | | | a POW and lessen their chances of survival. Also we |
| shots in his mind. The set-up, the down-swing and the | | | | can create our own internal mind ritual that we can |
| follow-through on each shot. Watched the ball arc | | | | turn into a daily mental discipline. Go inside your own |
| down the fairway and land at the exact spot he had | | | | mind and create your desired outcomes. Live the |
| selected. All in his mind.He did this seven days a week. | | | | dream inside your own mind. Change it daily by adding |
| Four hours a day. Eighteen holes. Seven years. When | | | | something new. Make it fun. Make it short or as long |
| Major Nesbeth was finally released, he found that he | | | | as you like. 5-10 minutes a day. I believe these inspiring |
| had cut 20 strokes off his golfing average without | | | | prisoner of war stories shows us clearly that an |
| having touched a golf club in seven years.Another | | | | enduring faith, an unyielding will to succeed combined |
| example is Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the | | | | with a daily mental discipline gives us the power to |
| highest ranking United States military officer in the | | | | overcome incredible odds. |
| "Hanoi Hilton" prisoner-of-war camp during the height of | | | | |