“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.”
The time it takes to achieve certain goals can often create a feeling of discontentment, especially when it’s been a while and/or there is no guarantee in reaching them. But there’s hope when you find yourself in such situations. It’s all about having the right mindset. The right mindset can come from doing two things:
“Sometimes failure is the beginning of success.”
This quote comes from a novel by Astrid Scholte. It makes us imagine ourselves accomplishing a particular goal with our first step or attempt being falling flat on our face. It reminds us that sometimes there’ll be failures on our road to whatever destination we’re trying to reach. And sometimes that failure happens at the very beginning. The key is to not take that initial failure as final. It may just be the perfect beginning.
“Everybody, at some point in their life, has fallen down and not felt like getting back up, but you have to, no matter how difficult it is.”
Sometimes you feel like you have no energy or motivation left in you after a major letdown. This quote, by Charlie Hunnam, is a reminder that everyone has had moments when getting back up feels almost impossible. But no matter how impossible it feels, you have but two choices: to get up again or stay down. So, take the time you need after you fall to reboot. Then, by all means, get back on your feet. It’s not going to be easy, but it gets easier with practice, time, and support.
Living Life Poetically: Dream Catchers
“Dream Catchers” is a poem inspired by a conversation I had with someone close to me. They had good intentions. But my goodness, talking to them was such a buzzkill. I felt like I had to defend every decision I was making toward my personal goals and objectives, and every explanation I gave didn’t seem good enough. It took me a few days to re-motivate and reenergize myself–to remove the seeds of doubt they had planted in my mind and spirit. I had to remind myself of my why, and trust that I was making the right decisions for myself that they may not understand. In the end, I learned…
“The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before.”
In a marathon, the runners typically stop running at the finish line. We don’t see anyone of them deciding to run an extra mile because the finish line is simply where the race ends. This saying about following the crowd, likely by Francis Phillip Wernig (aka Alan Ashley-Pitt), is similar to the concept of ending a race at the finish line along with the rest of the runners (i.e. the crowd). The saying reminds us that until we step outside of our comfort zone and pave our own path, our path would only go so far.
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
It’s hard to imagine that every adversity, failure, and heartache can result in something beneficial to the same or greater degree. However, they each have that potential. This quote, by Napoleon Hill, reminds us that every negative carries a seed. This seed can grow into something positive depending whether we choose to plant and nurture it. So every time we fall to rock bottom can be the perfect time to plant seeds while we’re there. They’ll eventually form roots by which we’ll grow.
“In the end, everything will be okay. If it’s not okay, it’s not yet the end.”
When reading a book, we eventually come to its definitive end. We turn the final page of a story or series and there’s nothing more to be said. Typically, things end on a good note. There’s a sense of closure. Similarly this quote, by Fernando Sabino, reminds us that if everything’s not ok, we’ve not yet arrived at the end of our story. However, unlike a story book the pages of our story are indefinite. So when everything feels broken and we feel like we’ve reached our last page, we can remember that tomorrow’s always a new page.
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“If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
PositLive Music: “The Climb”
“Forget your past, forgive yourself, and begin again right now.”
We tend to be the harshest critic of our own shortcomings and failures. While a little introspection is good, constantly beating ourselves up over past shortcomings and failures means constantly being stuck in the past. As a result, we’re not able to focus on the present. We become so stuck in the past that we may miss the great opportunity life gives us to learn from our mistakes and begin again. Interestingly, at the literal center of this anonymous quote is forgiving yourself. Meanwhile, this is also central to the quote’s message. It’s only when we aren’t stuck in the past (having forgiven ourselves) that we can be “present” enough…
“Failure is the only opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
Failure provides some of the best learnings and insights. But sometimes we don’t try again at that thing we failed at. This quote, by Henry Ford, reminds us to take advantage of the opportunity to try again. It reminds us to apply the knowledge that failure brings. Sadly, so many endeavors go unaccomplished when failure is perceived as an end to their pursuit instead of as a new and better beginning.
“Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo.”
This quote, by poet and writer John Sinclair, reminds us that failure may hurt for a little bit. However, whatever pain or disappointment we feel is not meant to last forever, like a tattoo. Rather, like a bruise, the pain and disappointment goes away. Also like a bruise that heals, with cells that regenerate, failure has a way of healing us. When we handle failure the right way, it should regenerate us into a new and better version of ourselves.
