Life is Beautiful...: August 2009

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,
"Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"
"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you."
"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder,
Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

Persistence Always Wins

Persistence : Any great accomplishment that has ever been achieved has been brought about and made possible by an all important trait called persistence.

Have you ever thought about how many things “might have been” in our world, that don’t currently exist simply because the person or persons that initially had an inspired idea, failed to act on it or gave up before seeing it through and making it a reality?

How many times have you had an idea that, at the time it was conceived, seemed somehow almost magically inspired by something outside of yourself and you knew somehow, somewhere down deep within, that it was the right thing to do and the best possible path for you to take at the time?

How many times have you truly believed that there was no possible way that it could fail to produce the results you first anticipated and visualized, only to find that after a short time, and after much outside opinion, human analysis, and “logical thinking”, you allowed doubt to creep in, and that initial feeling of certainty and assurance melted away, only to later rationalize that it "Must not have been meant to be" because you encountered some opinion or obstacle that seemed to hard to overcome?

How many times have you given up on an idea or project that you were certain about, and initially knew couldn’t fail, simply because people within your circle of influence convinced you that it just wasn’t feasible, and that those dreams and ideals you held fell outside of the boundaries of what’s logical?

How many times have you allowed the nay sayers to contaminate and effect that initial “knowing” and turn it in to doubt, which resulted in you giving up and never completing what you knew at one point was most definitely the right thing to do?

If you’re like most, it’s happened innumerable times.

So many great, inspired, and original ideas which would inevitably lead to incredible advancements in human evolution are lost daily, discarded and left floating out in a vast universal collectiveness of unfulfilled and wasted hopes, dreams, and ideals.

So many incredible possibilities derived through individual thought, abandoned due to self limiting and humanistic reasoning, or over-analysis, which drowned out what may have been known as the worlds next great discovery.

Think for a moment about some the greatest discoveries in human history. Many, I’m sure fail to think about and actually take for granted where so many of these incredible discoveries were derived from and the unshakable persistence that the inventors who made them possible must have possessed.

I can only imagine the conversations that must have taken place between Thomas Edison and those within his circle of influence prior to the discovery of electricity. It’s almost humorous to think about some of the snide and snickering comments that must have been aimed at the Wright Brothers before they achieved flight. I can only imagine the gossip that must have circulated concerning Alexander Graham Bell. I wonder how many, in the times of Christopher Columbus were absolutely convinced that he would never return, certain that he would meet his doom by sailing over the edge of a flat world?

Each of these great accomplishments, completed by mere men, began as an inspired thought or idea, combined with a deep inner knowing, and were only made possible due to a sincere desire, combined with an undying and relentless persistence.

These few examples are just a small portion of many that could be referred to. Look around at your environment and think about all of the awesome discoveries that exist within it. Try to fathom what the inventors of so many incredible accomplishments must have endured prior to realizing the actualization of each originally inspired thought, each of which changed the course of history in a huge way.

I can assure you, each and every one of them had the all important quality of unshakable persistence. You can bet they didn’t allow pessimism, laughter, snide comments of onlookers, ill given advice from well meaning friends and relatives, or outside negative influence of any sort to interfere, long term, with what they knew down deep was possible, and eventually, through persistence, turned in to reality.

You can be assured they didn’t allow negative self talk and over-analysis to deter them from what they recognized initially as possibility.

Do You Understand The Importance Of Persistence?

How about you? What dreams or ideas do you have or have you had in the past that were thwarted due to this type of outside influence?

What dreams or ideas do you currently hold? Do you have a dream of a currently non- existent product or service? Do you desire to become wealthy? Do you have a vision of making a positive world wide impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people? Maybe at this point your sights are not set quite that high, but instead you just want to provide your family with a better life, or change your career to one that is more pleasing to you.

In Any Endeavor, Persistence Is A Key Element!

Regardless of what your dream may be, and no matter how big or small it is, if you had the ability to think it, you can most certainly and surely have the ability to accomplish it, if you’ll choose to persist.

You have within you the ability to bring even the most seemingly far fetched ideas and notions into physical existence if you will choose to persist, and combine that persistence with a few other essential ingredients.

What are these other Ingredients?

Recipe For Success…

* Develop a firm resolve to persist with your original inspired ideas, regardless of the circumstances.

* Consistently go within and absorb the wisdom and knowledge that is available and necessary to see them through and bring them into fruition.

* Develop a plan to put that newly attained knowledge into methodical and focused daily action.

* Learn to become totally conscious of your moment by moment thoughts and only contemplate on and allow only those that would serve to advance your vision.

* Associate with like minded people, and absorb yourself in information that possess and promote the same attitude of possibility, and stay away from those that would attempt to squash your dreams. Daily feed your mind with material of hope and possibility and refuse to absorb the negativity of the daily news, and other pessimistic views of the outside world.

* Persist in thinking about, visualizing, and contemplating the end result in your minds eye and continually focus your attention on what is going right instead of what may appear to be going wrong. Develop the attitude that all things, no matter how they may appear based on your current human understanding are happening for a “greater good” and are happening only to assist you in your continued growth.

* Learn to recognize the mistakes that you may make along the way as building blocks that bring you one step closer to your desired outcome.

* Keep moving forward, seeing each small step as major progress and one step closer to your inevitable outcome of success. Express gratitude for those small successes.

* Resolve to keep on keeping on regardless of external appearances and perceptions, and you will eventually enable yourself to taste the sweet fruit that is derived from your efforts.

There are so many that quit just prior to reaching and realizing their desired outcomes. Too many fail to persist in following through with an initial inspired thought which would have a major impact in transforming their lives and the lives of others. Don't allow yourself to be one of them. Persist and you will succeed.

An appropriate quote from an unknown author is…

“Remember when you see a man at the top of a mountain, he didn't fall there.”

Discover your passions. Explore and acknowledge your deepest desires. Identify your mountain, start climbing, and persist until you reach the pinnacle. The Rewards are Immeasurable and the View is Incredible.

Winners Persist. Persistence Always Wins. Be a Winner.

Source: An article by chuck Danes