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Article:
Mental Toughness For Modern Life by: Hirini Reedy Have you ever wondered how would survive in a hostage situation? Being captured and held as a hostage by terrorists? What would give you the will to survive and stay alive? Make a mental list of memories, loved ones, beliefs, techniques that would keep you alive if taken hostage or a prisoner of war. In today's uncertain world there is a reasonable chance that someone we know will be one or two degrees removed from a hostage, a bomb blast victim or a prisoner of war (POW). My own grandfather was a Maori prisoner of war during World War 2. Taken prisoner by the Germans during the Crete campaign, he had to endure the harsh conditions as well as the humiliation of being taken prisoner. A key lesson I learnt from his experiences and others was the power of the mind to transcend one's physical situation. A bare cell, little food, psychological and physical mistreatment. Reducing a human being into an object of no more significance than a cockroach. He had to look deep within himself to endure his plight and make some sense of his suffering. Other examples come to mind. Major James Nesbeth spent seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. During those seven years, he was imprisoned in a cage that was approximately four and one-half feet high and five long. During almost the entire time he was imprisoned he saw no one, talked to no one and experience no physical activity. In order to keep his sanity and his mind active, he used the art of visualisation. Everyday in his mind, he would play a game of golf. A full 18-hole game at his favourite green. In his mind, he would create the trees, the smell of the freshly trimmed grass, the wind, the songs of the birds. He created different weather conditions '“ windy spring days, overcast winter days and sunny summer mornings. He felt the grip of the club in his hands as he played his shots in his mind. The set-up, the down-swing and the follow-through on each shot. Watched the ball arc down the fairway and land at the exact spot he had selected. All in his mind. He did this seven days a week. Four hours a day. Eighteen holes. Seven years. When Major Nesbeth was finally released, he found that he had cut 20 strokes off his golfing average without having touched a golf club in seven years. Another example is Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the 'Hanoi Hilton'¯ prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to '1973
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