PERSEVERANCE
I am called stubborn by those who know me. I used to think that was an insult until I discovered that stubborn is synonymous with perseverance. Perseverance is persistence in doing something despite the difficulty or delay in achieving success. To me that is what life is all about. You see, we are all here to succeed. Life is about moving forward, regardless of the obstacles. At the end of your time on earth, you need to answer just one question before moving on to your next adventure. Did you live the way you were supposed to live? Only you can answer that. You have to answer that question not your next of kin, or your loved ones, or your friends. You owe the answer to yourself. You have an obligation to live a complete life. A complete life according to how you chose to live. Not how others have defined it for you. I know there is something, that only you can do better than anyone else. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be from having an electrifying smile that moves whoever comes into contact with you to inventing the next intercontinental high speed travel machine. We are all one. We all come from the same universal intelligence. We are all created equal. That doesn't mean we all have the same start in life but what is really important is that we all have access to universal intelligence. Some call it god, Christ, Mohammad, soul, spirit etc... I call the universal intelligence god. The god I refer to in all my articles is not a god of any religion. It is the god within that we all have. A god that is pure, unconditional, never before felt love. A love that we will eventually reunite with after our time on earth.
Where perseverance plays a role is that it flames the spirit within to continue chugging along, although, others may have ridiculed us, or the light at the end of the tunnel is nowhere to be seen. It is that "thing," that moves you when most individuals would have given up. The way I see it, nothing will ever take the place of perseverance. Education or money can never be a substitute for perseverance. If you don't believe me just take a look around. There are lots of highly educated poor and unemployed people. Further, I am sure you have heard of many who come from money but have lost it all or have done nothing with their lives. The flip side of the coin is that we have all read or known individuals that came from absolutely nothing and have created wonderful lives for themselves and their loved ones. If you study this phenomena, as I have, the missing ingredient between the successful and unsuccessful individuals is perseverance. Perseverance flames the intense inner desire to accomplish what you set out to do. The simple truth is that we all have it, but we don't all use it. This is all connected to my enlightenment. I get asked often what does it mean to be enlightened. To me, it is an understanding that we are all created equal. That we all have god within, not an external god. That we are all connected to god through our minds and our thinking. It is an understanding that we are not alone. That any problem that we perceive, has a resolution if you only believe and have faith in our universal omnipotent power. That is what enlightenment means to me. Once we understand this, everything that we want to do is attainable. Not some things but everything. Look at a very young child learning to walk. They fall and what do they do? They get up and keep trying until they succeed. Look at a child in a swimming pool holding on for dear life on the edge contemplating whether to let go or not. Eventually, they let go. Makes you wonder what happened because they didn't learn any new technique from when they were holding on to when they decided to let go. That is true perseverance or stubbornness in action. That is life! You fall but you keep on until you reach your goal. Once you reach your goal, you set other ones. I leave you with a poem on point titled, "A Thousand to One."
"There's a thousand "can't-be-done-ers" for the one who says "it can!" but the whole amount of deeds that count is done by the latter clan. For the "can't-be-done-ers" grumble, and hamper, oppose and doubt, while the daring man who says "It can!" proceeds to work it out. There isn't a new invention beneath the shining sun. That was ever wrought by the deed or thought of the tribe of "can't-be-done." For the "can't-be-done-ers" mutter while the "can-be's" cool, sublime, make their "notions" work till the others smirk. "Oh we knew it all the time." Oh, the "can-be's" clan is meager, its membership is small, and it's mighty few who see their dreams come true or hear fame's trumpet call; But it's better to be a "can-be," and labor and dream and die, than one who runs with the "can't-be-done's" who haven't the pluck to try."
Berton Braley (1882-1966)
Just a thought.
Where perseverance plays a role is that it flames the spirit within to continue chugging along, although, others may have ridiculed us, or the light at the end of the tunnel is nowhere to be seen. It is that "thing," that moves you when most individuals would have given up. The way I see it, nothing will ever take the place of perseverance. Education or money can never be a substitute for perseverance. If you don't believe me just take a look around. There are lots of highly educated poor and unemployed people. Further, I am sure you have heard of many who come from money but have lost it all or have done nothing with their lives. The flip side of the coin is that we have all read or known individuals that came from absolutely nothing and have created wonderful lives for themselves and their loved ones. If you study this phenomena, as I have, the missing ingredient between the successful and unsuccessful individuals is perseverance. Perseverance flames the intense inner desire to accomplish what you set out to do. The simple truth is that we all have it, but we don't all use it. This is all connected to my enlightenment. I get asked often what does it mean to be enlightened. To me, it is an understanding that we are all created equal. That we all have god within, not an external god. That we are all connected to god through our minds and our thinking. It is an understanding that we are not alone. That any problem that we perceive, has a resolution if you only believe and have faith in our universal omnipotent power. That is what enlightenment means to me. Once we understand this, everything that we want to do is attainable. Not some things but everything. Look at a very young child learning to walk. They fall and what do they do? They get up and keep trying until they succeed. Look at a child in a swimming pool holding on for dear life on the edge contemplating whether to let go or not. Eventually, they let go. Makes you wonder what happened because they didn't learn any new technique from when they were holding on to when they decided to let go. That is true perseverance or stubbornness in action. That is life! You fall but you keep on until you reach your goal. Once you reach your goal, you set other ones. I leave you with a poem on point titled, "A Thousand to One."
"There's a thousand "can't-be-done-ers" for the one who says "it can!" but the whole amount of deeds that count is done by the latter clan. For the "can't-be-done-ers" grumble, and hamper, oppose and doubt, while the daring man who says "It can!" proceeds to work it out. There isn't a new invention beneath the shining sun. That was ever wrought by the deed or thought of the tribe of "can't-be-done." For the "can't-be-done-ers" mutter while the "can-be's" cool, sublime, make their "notions" work till the others smirk. "Oh we knew it all the time." Oh, the "can-be's" clan is meager, its membership is small, and it's mighty few who see their dreams come true or hear fame's trumpet call; But it's better to be a "can-be," and labor and dream and die, than one who runs with the "can't-be-done's" who haven't the pluck to try."
Berton Braley (1882-1966)
Just a thought.