Live Your Dream through Overcoming Obstacles
and Never Ever Quitting
by Craig Lock
Pascal once said: "Our achievements of today are but the sum
total of our thoughts of yesterday. You are today where the thoughts of
yesterday have brought you, and you will be tomorrow where the thoughts of
today take you."
A collection of thoughts and quotations compiled by Craig Lock (in
1994) ...
Authors' Note:
Quotations in this article have been extracted from A THIRD SERVING OF
CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL and CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE MIND: 101 stories
to open the heart and rekindle the spirit. These fine books were
written and compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Sincere
thanks to Jack and Mark for sharing your "global voice of inspiration"
through your work...and most importantly, for encouraging and
inspiring me to follow my path in life - no matter what!.
"What you ARE is as important as what you do."
"Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who
are doing it." - anon
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
- Henry Ford
No matter what path you are on, people (often well-meaning) will not
understand and will criticize you. Are you strong enough to handle the
critics?
Passionate people, who live their dreams, embrace what they love and
never give up. They overcome many (and often seemingly insurmountable)
obstacles on the path to success in pursuing their life vision.
"Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern
resolve." - Leonardo Da Vinci
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your
eyes off the goal." - Henry Ford
"We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who
walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last
piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof, that everything can be taken away from a man but one
thing: The last of his freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any
given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." -
Viktor E. Frankl in his book, 'Man's Search for Meaning'
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL
You've failed many times; although you may not remember.
* Didn't you fall down the first time you tried to walk? (What would
you have done, if your dear mom had given up on you ever walking as a
baby). No, she waited patiently for you to take those first tentative
steps.
* You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't you?
* Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy hitters,
the ones who strike the most home runs, also strike out
a lot.
Now for some examples of famous achievers, who refused to quit...
R.H Macy failed 7 times, before his store in New York caught on.
Harland Sanders was 65-years-old, with little more than a $105 Social
Security payment in his pocket, when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The Colonel apparently was rejected by over 1,000 banks before he became
successful in selling his unique recipe of southern fried chicken. Was he
chick'n to keep on asking for orders for his "finger-lickn good creation"?
Mark V Hansen had been working with his partner, Jack Canfield on an
inspirational book for some time; however their idea was rejected by 140
book publishers as "un-sellable." Today, the 70 books in the 'Chicken
Soup' series have sold more than 90 million copies in 39 languages!
TIME and PERSISTENCE!
English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he
published 564 books. A glimmer of hope for me then!
Baseball legend, Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times; but he also hit 714
home runs.
So don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss, when
you don't even try.
Abraham Lincoln didn't quit. He once wrote:
"The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A
duty to strive is the duty of us all. I feel a call to that
duty." - Abraham Lincoln
"The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped out from under me,
knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself,
'It's a slip and not a fall.'" Lincoln spoke these inspiring words
after losing a senate race. He never quit...and so won't I.
Will YOUR name be mentioned some day as not being a "quitter", who
overcame almost insurmountable obstacles?
Will YOU quit, whatever you are doing...if you really believe in your
"unique calling" on this planet - a tribute to the power of
persistence and great faith? A tribute to the sheer strength of the
indomitable and unquenchable human spirit - God within
EACH one of us.
WILL YOU SAY, "I WILL UNTIL"
and
"BE ALL THAT I CAN BE?"
Craig Lock ("Incorrigible Encourager, Information and Inspiration
Distributor") http://www.craiglock.com
http://www.craiglockbooks.com
"Be all that you are CAPABLE of being." - Catherine Mansfield
"Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it,
no matter where it leads him."- Henry Miller
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done
them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the
arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is
no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great
devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in
the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails
while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid
and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -
Theodore Roosevelt
P.S: Thanks, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt for being true
inspirations to me!
Edwin Hubbel Chapin once said, "Every action of our lives touches on some
chord that will vibrate in eternity." That is the definition of a legacy.
Wouldn't you love to do something that might strike a beautiful chord that
will "vibrate in eternity"?
"For me true success may be measured by the fortitude, with which
so many ordinary people around the globe overcome numerous seemingly
insurmountable obstacles through sheer force of character and spirit.
They rise above the severest adversity down the ordinary, yet often
rocky, tempestuous (and tumultuous) journey of life. Unheralded, yet
with an indomitable, unquenchable and infinite generosity of human
spirit, they are the true heroes of this world.". - Craig Lock
(13th August 2004)
"Inspirational Books" by Craig Lock are available at:
http://www.craiglock.com/books.html and
http://www.bridgeniche.com
Hard-copies and e-books, fiction and nonfiction: self help, novels, travel,
humorous, writing, inspiration and money management
Uplifting, encouraging and empowering people through the power of words and
thought energy. Change YOUR world and you change THE world."