Natan Sharansky – is an Israeli politician, human rights activist – was a Jew living in communist Russia in 1970s. However, for some reason he was accused of being an American spy and thrown into the jail by the Russian Government.
The conditions in jail were very bad. Adding to that for 400 days he was in the Siberian jail, the worst of them all. His prison cell was 4 feet by 3 feet, where he used to live. Pathetic…isn’t it?
Now in such a place your body will start deteriorating for the lack of exercise and the brain will also start waning too. But he had a strong will to not only survive but also to remain alright. It was really tough but he didn’t want to give it up. Of course, for his body he would do anti-gravity exercises, but “what to do for the brain?” was the question.
As a child he was very fond of chess, so he decided to play chess in the mind. Now to keep 64 squares in the mind, naturally is a big mental gymnastics in itself. Isn’t it? But he started playing chess. Then the next question was “with who to play with??” “Why not play with the World Champion?” He thought. The world champion in those days was Garry Kasparov. So he DECIDED… he used to play chess with Gary Kasparov in the mind, everyday.
He stayed in jail for 12 years. After 12 years when Bill Clinton became the President of USA, he made an appeal to the Russian Government and the Russian government released him. He went out of jail and travelled to live in Israel, where he became a cabinet minister eventually.
Once Garry Kasparov came on a visit to Israel. As we know the Grandmasters and World champions play demonstration matches with budding players of the Countries they visit.
In the demonstration match they would take on 5 players at a time or even 40 players. Now on this day, Garry Kasparov was playing against 5. One against 5. He defeated 4 of them, but he lost to one person. And the person whom he lost to was Natan Sharansky.
Surprised to the core, The reporters asked him, “Sir, how did you defeat the World Chess Champion? You are not a grandmaster or anything of the sort.”
He said, “You know, for 12 x 365 days I was defeating him every day in my mind. So, I had got programmed. To defeat him was the most natural thing for me. Like as you keep typing, it becomes natural for you.”
Everybody was surprised and awe-inspired by his story.
Now, what does this story teach Us??
The Power of Strong Will – When You Have a Rock-Solid Will Power, you can really move a Rock.
It’s not the Circumstances that make Us weak, It’s WE become weak against circumstances.
To be Weak or Not is a CHOICE in any given situation & not a Compulsion.
An last & the most important thing is THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION!!!
Natan Sharansky was able to defeat Garry Kasporov was the most natural thing, because he had visualized it again and again and again in his mind. He had programmed his subconscious mind for victory against the World Chess Champion. And he in reality he did so. That was the seer power of Visualization.
A Picture speaks 1000 words. When we want something, it’s said that repeated affirmation leads to the law of attraction. However, if we Visualize it, it becomes a picture in mental screen which is equivalent to 1000 times affirmations at once…it’s that simple!! It becomes natural for the things to come to you….!!!Isn’t it AMAZING!!!!
Featured Image Sources Wikipedia
This is my post for Alphabet N written for #BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2021 by Blogchatter
Listen to the Story Here…I really Loved It!!!
i will be honest, chess isn’t my cup of tea but this was a revelatory post of sorts in many ways
Here from ato z https://poojapriyamvada.blogspot.com/2021/04/onism-newnormal-a2z.html
This is such a lovely post- informative, entertaining and inspiring!
Rajeev Moothedath
Nice to know about Natan. An inspiring story.