Two Rivers of the Mind

Our lives and how we live them are like a river adventure-and it's up to us to make the experience fun. It's not the river's job to make us successful or happy. What we make of every day is up to us, and we get to decide if we will face the challenges in front of us or stop halfway through the adventure. Captain Bon, a real tugboat captain and former Navy man whose service taught him about leadership and hard work, is your guide in this book that will help you create a system to succeed. The captain has made it his life's work to support and raise a family while chasing his dreams, and he shares lessons from great thinkers such as John Maxwell and Tony Robbins and his study of high achievers like Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Nelson Mandela, and Gandhi. Through the experiences of Captain Bon, you will see that everyone faces fears, but that our success depends on the perspective we have about our worries. So, take a journey with the captain and learn a new way to live life.
About the Author: I am not very fond of writing about myself. That is why I wrote a story with a fictitious character. Though Captain Bon's life experiences come from me and others, I wanted to be able to entertain you as you learn. Another reason I prefer this type of approach is that through the story, you will become the main character. You will associate and relate to the experiences he has in life and how he gets past his challenges. If you imagine yourself as the character, you will see yourself changing your life through his adventure, and the lesson will be cemented in you. I also know many people want to know more about the author so that they can relate or evaluate whether he or she knows and lives what he or she writes. With that in mind, I will tell you a little about who Christopher J. Bourg was in the past and who he is today. I have been married twice, and I have two sons (Jake and Mason) of whom I am very proud. My wife, Tammy, is the love of my life and my best friend. She has given me the courage I never knew was in me, and I am forever grateful to her. With Tammy I have gained two more great children Joanna and Adam. I am an industrial engineer by training but have not worked as an engineer very much of my life. I came from a very low-income family, and my father died when I was very young. I have held positions in multiple fields, including fabrication, inspection, industrial cleaning, and cement construction. I have been the guy pushing a broom and also been the senior Vice President of a large company. I've spent most of my career in research and development, as well as in training. I also have a great passion for safety, which I gained after two close friends died from accidents in the industry. Through my career, I have traveled the world and worked in more than fifty different countries. Through these experiences, I have learned that people are people in each part of the world and that we are all the same. Some of us are good, and some of us are bad; however, for the most part, we are all good and bad. Through my life, I have been blessed with mentors who have taken me under their wings and taught me. These mentors appeared in each step of my life, but I had to ask for help. They wanted to help, but again, I had to be open to them. I mention this because all too often in life the next great lessons or mentors are standing in front of us, but we are closed off to them. Please stay open-minded as you go through life. When I was young, two of these mentors were family members, both with completely different backgrounds in life. One was a farmer and a jack-of-all-trades, and the other was a welder who eventually started his own business doing welding and fabrication. Both men taught me how to work hard and to work toward my goals in life. They never accepted that I couldn't do anything. Whenever I complained that something was too hard or that I didn't know how to do it, they both would say, "If you want something out of life, you will have to work for it. Life owes you nothing and will give you nothing." Through this attitude, I learned to work hard and find the answers I needed to succeed. I have read thousands of self-help books in my life and have attended hundreds of seminars. I can say I have learned something from each book and seminar, even if it was what not to do. I believe that you have to question everything. If you find something isn't congruent or doesn't work for you, then change it or stay away. But make sure that what isn't working isn't you; make sure that you aren't being lazy or avoiding the truth about yourself. I have followed the work of three great men through my life, and each has helped me develop who I am. These three men are Napoleon Hill, John Maxwell, and Tony Robbins. Though I have studied others and have learned from their lives, these three have been my main resources. I am not telling you to follow just these three men. There are many great people you can learn from;...