Cultivating the Faith and Desire to Succeed

Far better it is to dare mighty things To win glorious triumphs even though checkered with failures Than to rank with those poor spirits who neither Enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight That Knows Neither. Victory nor Defeat. --Teddy Roosevelt

A burning desire to reach your goals is a factor that sets you apart from one who wishes or is a dreamer. Without desire nothing can be accomplished. It creates the energy necessary to do what is ever needed to achieve success. What is desire?

There is a story of a wise, old sage who lived in the mountains. A youth trying to find the meaning of desire traveled into the mountains to find this wise old sage. Upon finding the old sage the youth asked, Sire, it is said that you can tell the true meaning of desire. Is that possible?

The wise old sage said, Follow me and I will show you the true meaning of desire. The old sage led the youth to a lake.

Follow me, continued the old sage as he waded into the lake followed closely by the youth.

The old sage stopped and turned to the youth and commanded the youth to place his head under the water. The youth did what he was told and placed his head under the water. The old sage placed his hands on the back of the youths head and held it there.

The youth struggled with all his might to lift his head out of the water as his lungs were burning and crying for air. Finally, he was able, with a mighty effort to force his head out of the water and take that precious breath of air.

The old sage then said, Now, when you want something as badly as you wanted that fresh breath of air, you now know, my son, what true desire really is!

Think for a moment about this statement, When you have everything to gain and nothing to lose, by all means try!

Many of us are preoccupied with a search for certainty. Let me give you an analogy to explain what I mean... We travel a busy highway and there were traffic lights along the route. All of us would like nothing betterthan have all green lights so we could get to where we are going very quickly. But that is not the way it works, there undoubtedly are going to be some red lights.

All of our life must be built on faith and belief. We have to make a decision; we must know where we are and understand the values by which we are going to live life. Then we have to take action.

We dont always have to know we are right. We will either live our life by faith and commitment or we live with doubt and fear. Just about all negative attitudes stem from this ugly twosome, fear and doubt. It crops up as worry, self-concern, helplessness and discouragement. Some people like to think you can conquer fear and doubt by positive thinking, but it is not that simple. Were too much in their grasp.

Worry and fear are the same garment - they produce fatigue, they hold us back and they restrain the mind. They are opposite of courage and faith. They affect our total health and they make us miserable.

What is fear? We are born with only two fears: The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. The rest are learned. They are nothing more than habits of thoughts or our attitudes. They are faith misplaced.

We get into a dark pit of fear and we dig deeper instead of using our strengths to get out. It is easy to develop the habit of fear and worry. The human mind is more intrigued with the shocking and the bizarre. The awful headlines crying about the demolished car, the mad dog slayer... The newspapers every day are talking crime and violence. We start to verbalize these bad happenings and we are actually programming our subconscious mind and it becomes part of our life.

Fear and doubt are devastating! They rob us and hold us back.

There is a saying that is very powerful. Fear knocked at the door, faith answered, and no one was there.

So the very first thing you must do is have positive faith. Your degree of success may very well be measured by your degree of belief and faith. We must be willing to face rejection and problems with no effect on our positive direction. Faith and belief provide for a foundation for life of achievement and fulfillment.

Live one day at a time. There was a sign on a bridge, Warning 5 ton load limit. That bridge handles hundreds of tons daily, But you see, not all at one time. Almost all fear and worry is something in the future, 90% of which never occurs. Why carry the load? So stop and smell the roses, live one day at a time. Shut off the past, the dead yesterdays and shut off the future, too.

The load of tomorrow added to that of yesterday carried today, makes the strongest falter. That is powerful - let me go over that again...

The future is today. Plan for tomorrow but concentrate on being the best you can possibly be today!

Finally, have a sense of humor. This is one of the least used gifts for handling fear, doubt and problems. It serves as a safety valve. Laugh at your serious situations. John Glenn, the astronaut, just before going into space, was asked what he would do if the retro rockets would fail to ignite? He laughed and replied, It would probably spoil my whole day.

These are things that all of us can do. Start doing them today!