Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #18m "The Race” – Male version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

If you are a female reader please go the Female version of this post.

The Race

I
"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout out and plead.
"There's just too much against you now.
This time you can't succeed!"

And as he started to hang his head
In front of failure's face,
His downward fall was broken by
The memory of the race.

And hope refilled his weakened will
As he recalled the scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenated his being.

II
A children's race--young boys, young men;
How he remember well.
Excitement, sure, but also fear;
It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope:
Each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win, to be the hero there
Was each young boy's desire.

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
"My dad will be so proud."

But as he speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win,
Lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope
He couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race!"

He quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself
To catch up and to win
His mind went faster than his legs:
He slipped and fell again!

He wished that he had quit before
With only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father's face.
That steady look which said again:
"Get up and win the race!"

So he jumped up to try again.
Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought,
"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had,
He gained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lay there silently
A tear dropped from his eye--
"There's no sense running anymore:
Three strikes I'm out, why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared
All hopes had fled away;
So far behind, so error-prone:
A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought.
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low.
Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."

With borrowed will, "Get up," it said,
"You haven't lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to win once more,
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose,
At least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now.
The most he'd ever been--
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win.

Three times he'd fallen stumbling:
Three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed, first place,
Head high and proud and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race.

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he won the
Race to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said,
"I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," his father said.
"You rose each time you fell."

III
And when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy
Will help you in your race.

For all of life is like that race.
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.

"Quit!" "Give up, you're beaten!"
They still shout to your face.
But another voice within you says:
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"

(Based on a poem of unknown authorship)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• When have you wanted to quit, but something made you keep going and you were glad you did? (Be Specific!)

Go to Section II (Installment #19)

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #18f "The Race” – Female version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

If you are a male reader please go to the Male version of this post.

The Race

I
"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout out and plead.
"There's just too much against you now.
This time you can't succeed!"

And as she started to hang her head
In front of failure's face,
Her downward fall was broken by
The memory of the race.

And hope refills her weakened will
As she recalled the scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenated her being.

II
A children's race--young girls, young women;
How she remember well.
Excitement, sure, but also fear;
It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope:
Each thought to win the race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And mothers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for the one she nursed.
And each girl hoped to show her mom
That she would come in first.

The whistle blew and off they went!
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win, to be the hero there
Was each young girl's desire.

And one girl in particular
Whose mom was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought,
"My mom will be so proud."

But as she speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little girl who thought to win,
Lost her step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch herself
Her hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
She fell flat on her face.

So down she fell and with her hope
She couldn't win it now--
Embarrassed, sad, she only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as she fell her mom stood up
And showed her anxious face,
Which to the girl so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race!"

She quickly rose, no damage done
Behind a bit, that's all--
And ran with all her mind and might
To make up for her fall.

So anxious to restore herself
To catch up and to win
Her mind went faster than her legs:
She slipped and fell again!

She wished that she had quit before
With only one disgrace.
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd she searched
And found her mother's face.
That steady look which said again:
"Get up and win the race!"

So she jumped up to try again.
Ten yards behind the last--
"If I'm to gain those yards," she thought,
"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything she had,
She gained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead
She slipped and fell again!

Defeat! She lay there silently
A tear dropped from her eye--
"There's no sense running anymore:
Three strikes I'm out, why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared
All hopes had fled away;
So far behind, so error-prone:
A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," she thought.
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then she thought about her mom
Who soon she'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low.
Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."

With borrowed will, "Get up," it said,
"You haven't lost at all,
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall."

So up she rose to win once more,
And with a new commit
She resolved that win or lose,
At least she wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now.
The most she'd ever been--
Still she gave it all she had
And ran as though to win.

Three times she'd fallen stumbling:
Three times she rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win
She still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As she crossed, first place,
Head high and proud and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line, last place,
The crowd gave her the greater cheer
For finishing the race.

And even though she came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought she won the
Race to listen to the crowd.

And to her mom she sadly said,
"I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," her mother said.
"You rose each time you fell."

III
And when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little girl
Will help you in your race.

For all of life is like that race.
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.

"Quit!" "Give up, you're beaten!"
They still shout to your face.
But another voice within you says:
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"

(Based on a poem of unknown authorship)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• When have you wanted to quit, but something made you keep going and you were glad you did? (Be Specific!)

Go to Section II (Installment #19)

The+Race, give+up beaten succeed slipped face fell embarrassed anxious Laughing disgrace win+the+race

Cookies

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10 Secrets Of Advanced SEO Copywriters

In my blogesphere search I found a site "Pajama Professional" with a great link to 10 Secrets Of Advanced SEO Copywriters. This knowledge is seriously important if you want your blog to count with the search engines. It’s a short, succinct article so I highly recommend taking the time to read it and reread it and then read it again. TAKE NOTES.


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blogesphere SEO+Copywriters knowledge your+blog search+engines

State Mottos; What they should have been.

Following is another funny find for some State Mottos. Enjoy!


state+mottos

When Insults Had Class

I found this list of "classy" insults that I wanted to share with everyone.....enjoy! Follow this link: When Insults Had Class


insults

How To Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!

Here is another very simple but useful concept in attaining your dreams. I use a form of this concept myself.
MMP

How To Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!

By: Tiat Leong Ang

We all have dreams. Rosy dreams, big dreams, happy dreams. Far too often, that's all they remain, as we stumble through life struggling with our every day realities, as time flies by. And suddenly, it's too late - and you're looking back at your past, wondering what might have been.

Don't let that happen to you. Create your own magical vision board - and help create the reality you've always dreamed of... starting today.

But... What Is a 'Vision Board'?

Even though the name seems forbidding to the uninitiated, it is really a simple thing.

Your vision board is a collection of your dreams - in the form of pictures, photographs, magazine clippings, bank statements and more - all of which are pictorial representations of your ambitious dreams and long-term goals. Arrange this rich collection on a board to create a collage, a 'Vision' of what you want to attract into your life.

But what is your vision board really for? What is its purpose?

It's deep, simple and powerfully effective. Do you remember how, as children, you collected posters of your favorite stars and heroes, pictures of beautiful homes, animals and baseball cards, many other things that you found fascinating, loved or wished to have. You probably put them up on walls, wardrobes and lockers where you could see them every day.

As children we intuitively knew more about a vision board than we do as adults. These symbols helped us visualize what we wanted to attract into our lives. But we were blissfully unaware of their power. If somebody had told us that we were using the "Vision board" to entrain the "Law of Attraction", we would have laughed.

Yet, you surrounded yourself with these images. And it's startling just how often you see people ending up having many of these things in their reality years later. The imagery conditioned your sub-consciously to work towards attracting them into your life.

Your vision board acts a visual representation of what you want in your life or what you want to become in the future. The concept is so simple yet so powerful.

But many of us forget. Until we are reminded of it. Sometimes it happens by accident. Or maybe its a story someone tells us about the 'Law of Attraction. Or maybe it's a book like "The Secret" that helps us realize what we have forgotten about the vision board.

Everyone needs to see a video of "The Secret". It is an awesome representation of the power of the Vision Board in action. It will help you move from just dreaming to taking action. It's that powerful.

So, are you ready to get started on creating your own Vision Board today?

It can be lot of fun.

Find a board. Anything will do - white board, cardboard, or cork. If you big dreams, get big boards!

Pick up a bunch of magazines, newspapers, old books, old photographs. Hunt out the clippings that you have collected from your childhood, those pictures that you have put away in your shoe box.

Before starting out on your vision board, write in great detail about your dreams or goals, the ones you want to achieve in your life. Every detail is important, so don't miss out anything. For example if you want to buy your dream home - write down all about it, like the location you'd prefer most, the number of rooms, bedrooms, bath, jacuzzi, bathtubs, marble floors, driveways, swimming pool - every little detail about the home of your dreams. Imagine the colors on the walls, the type of doors and windows, the curtains, the kitchen, everything.

Visualize every detail about living in your home. Experience it all, the smell, the textures, the feel. Yes, you need to dream in the greatest detail to get the greatest impact from your vision board.

Find the pictures that closely match your dreams or goals from your magazine stack. Cut them out. Snip away the unwanted details. Just retain the portion you are interested in.

Find pictures that emotionally charge you up. Your pictures should stimulate you visually, mentally, maybe even spiritually.

Organize your pictures so they form meaningful images and represent your goals or dreams. Don't put too many, or you'll clutter it up. You can have as many vision boards as you like. You could begin with a main vision board with the major details in it. Have a note book where you can paste all the minor details.

Next, get some glue or board pins. Fix your pictures on the board

Place your vision board where you can frequently look at it and recharge yourself mentally, emotionally and psychologically.

It's important for you look at your vision board many times daily, so that you fix the images in your brain and attract them in your life.


vision+board vision dreams reality photographs Law+of+Attraction surround recharge organize

Keep Laughing

keep+laughing laugh laughing

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #17 "Attitude” – Male & Female versions)

What happens to the person is less important
than what happens within the person

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

Attitude

As you go through life, remember this fact;
Your attitude will have the greatest impact.
Whatever you do, whoever you are,
It's what you bring to the party that will make you a star.

It's more important than education, skill or money,
Circumstance or looks, whether your sad or your funny;
Whether you fail or succeed, it will see you through.
The way you look at life is the way life looks at you.

What's remarkable is that each and every day
Regarding your attitude, only you have the say.
Say it loud, say it clear, with a meaningful voice,
Concerning your attitude, only you have the choice.

You can't change the inevitable, you can't change the past.
No matter how hard you try, most feelings don't last.
You start young and grow old, that you can't re-arrange;
It's your attitude, you have the power to change.

You can't control what others will do.
You can't control them and they can't control you.
The control that you have, the control that you wield
Is the control of your attitude, that's your only true shield.

Life, you will see, and hold it as true
Is only 10%, what happens to you.
You must believe and take it as fact,
A full 90% is how you choose to react.

(An Original Poem by Mel Kaye)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• What has happened to you recently, where if you had looked at it differently you would have had a more favorable outcome? (Be specific!)

Copyright © MondayMorningPower, All rights Reserved

Go to Section II (Installment #18m - Male version)
Go to Section II (Installment #18f - Female version)

attitude life impact circumstance succeed voice choice control react

Shout-Outs

• Loving Farewells
• Share your friends with the world
• Trail of Joy

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Motivational Quotes (9)

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.
Rita Mae Brown

Hope is the dream of the waking man.
Aristotle

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Charles Austin Beard

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource.
Daniel J. Boorstin

You ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with certainty. They come unsummoned, directly, indirectly - I could seize them with my hands - out in open air, in the woods, while walking, in the silence of the nights, at dawn, excited by moods which are translated by the poet into words, by me into tunes that sound and roar and storm about me till I have set them down in notes.
Ludwig van Beethoven

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.
Aristotle

Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens


Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Thomas Alva Edison

The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

IMBECILITY, n. A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting censorious critics of this dictionary.
Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.
Daniel J. Boorstin

We give our lives to that which we give our time. I have learned that it is very difficult, if not impossible to unclutter one’s life by starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is to just get things sorted and better organized. It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. Much has to be discarded. We must actually get rid of it. To do this we need to develop a list of basics, a list of those things that are indispensable to our mortal welfare and happiness and our eternal salvation. This list must follow the gospel pattern and contain the elements needed for our sanctification and perfection. It must be the product of inspiration and prayerful judgment between the things we really need and thins we just want. It should separate need from greed. It must be our best understanding of those thins that are important as opposed to those things that are just interesting.
William R Bradford

Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind.
Jonannes Brahms

The artist must raise the cup of his vision aloft to the gods in the high hope that they will pour into it the sweet mellow wine of inspiration.
Paul Brunton

Rita+Mae+Brown Aristotle Ella+Fitzgerald Charles+Austin+Beard Daniel+J.+Boorstin Ludwig+van+Beethoven Charles+Dickens Thomas+Alva+Edison Ralph+Waldo+Emerson Ambrose+Gwinett+Bierce William+R+Bradford Brahms Paul+Brunton Emerson Dickens

Dr. Webb's Corner

This corner has been designed specifically for Dr. Webb's students.

Articles & Essays

• 10 Rules of Focus
  
• 10 things in Life that you Control
• Achieve Your Ambition and Believe in Yourself
• Achieving Success By Expecting Success
• American Idol: Jordin Sparks - Attitude
  
• Are You a Monday Morning Winner
• Attitude is Everything
  
• Awaken The Sleeping Attitude Within You
• Being Positive
• Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life
• Climb Out Of That Bucket and Live the Life of Your Dreams
• Cookies
  
• Failing to Succeed
• Gratitude is the Key to Abundance
• Handling Failure
• Happiness is a Decision, Choose To Be Happy
• Happiness Made Simple
• Happiness is a Moral Obligation
• Happiness Vs. Human Nature
  
• How to Create Your 'Magical' Vision Board - And Make Your Dreams Come True!
• How To Distinguish Between Your Constructive And Destructive Inner Voices
• How to Have Confidence and Enjoy Every Moment of it
• Keeping Negative Energy at Bay
  
• Laws of Success
• Let Happiness Find You
• Living in the Moment
  
• Negative Thinking Robbing Souls of Inner Peace
• Power of a Positive Attitude
• Power of Positive Thinking - The Undeniable Truth
• Success Requirements, Apply Within
• The Place Where Success Lives
• The Optimism Revolution
• The Secret to Real Confidence
• Therapeutic Effects of Laughter
• Turning Negative Self Talk into Positive Self Talk
• Your Mission Makes Itself Known Through Your Passions
  

Motivational Quotes

• Motivational Quotes (1)
• Motivational Quotes (2)
• Motivational Quotes (3)
• Motivational Quotes (4)
• Motivational Quotes (5)
• Motivational Quotes (6)
• Motivational Quotes (7)
• Motivational Quotes (8)
• Motivational Quotes (9)

• Happiness Quotes

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Gratitude Is The Key To Abundance

Following is another article in regards to "gratitude" which is one of the key aspects to attaining happiness. MMP

Gratitude Is The Key To Abundance
By: Mohamad Latiff Bin Rahim

Truly I tell you, gratitude is the key to abundance. For if you are grateful, surely you will experience an increase in all the good things you feel you are deserving in life.

Gratitude does not come from a 'this is too good to be true' feeling. Nor does it come from feelings of lack and desperation, such that you are dependent upon external factors as if the world owes you anything. Gratitude comes from a realisation, a proper understanding of things, that goes as deep and as true as that of a mother's love for her child.

Thankfulness cannot be faked or forced. You can train a child to say 'thank you' when he is given something good, but you cannot cause him to truly experience deep feelings of gratitude and appreciation in his heart.

Perhaps this is why grateful people have always been in short supply. I am referring to the truly grateful, not the masses that only profess gratefulness by the tongue but do not possess it in the depths of their hearts. However, like any other tendencies, true gratefulness can be slowly and steadily instilled in one's being by consistent and diligent observation and practice.

How does abundance come into the picture of gratitude?

To give a weird but vivid analogy, imagine a person living in a dark, claustrophobic and almost airtight pod. Let's say, for the sake of this analogy, she is able to live solely on air. Her only supply of air streams in from tiny almost imperceptible holes puncturing the surface of the pod. These holes also happen to bring in a little light into her pod.

Abundance is the virtually infinite supply of air that exists as a plenum outside her pod.

Gratitude is the hole that punctures the pod, allowing some air and some light to enter it.

As she lives and breathes in the pod, she is able to notice the tiny holes that have been sustaining her throughout her life. As she has been paying attention to only a fixed area of tiny holes, she thinks those are the only holes that exist to nourish her with much needed air, when in truth, tiny holes dot the entire surface area of the pod.

Every day, she lives a life of struggle, constantly panting and heaving and gasping for air, punctuated only occasionally when she musters the courage and effort to place herself close to an area of holes and really suck in the air from outside the pod.

Let's say she is not likely to suffer from asphyxiation because she is able to survive on very minimal amounts of air.

One day, she experiences a breakthrough. During one of those rare moments in which she gets the strength to really suck in air from one of the holes on the pod, she notices that her suction had caused the hole to expand in size, thus, the amount of air that streams in increases.

At first, she ignores this phenomenon. But when the effect happens for a second, and a third time, she sets out to turn her hypothesis into a fact. Soon she discovers that there are actually more holes dotting the surface of the pod than she had realised, because of the increased amount of light that enters due to the increasing size of the hole. So she experiments with the other holes dotting the pod, sucking in the outside air with all her might, until eventually, she has a couple of big holes on her pod that bring in really huge amounts of air and light.

Day by day, she continues this new hole-expanding effort of hers. One day, because of the increasing sizes of the holes and the number of holes that have expanded, the structural integrity of the once solid pod diminishes, and she finds that she can easily, almost effortlessly, rip apart the pod as if it were made of paper - hence, finally liberating herself and transcending into a whole new world of abundance.

Bizarre as this analogy might seem, most of us live like the girl in the pod. There are tiny streams of abundance entering our self-imposed imprisoned life. All it takes is our awareness of these sources of sustenance and abundance and to expand our awareness of them, thus increasing our prosperity in all areas of life.

Everything is an asset. Are you sitting on them or are you finding ways and means of fashioning those assets into materials that you would use to design the life of your dreams?


gratitude abundance grateful thankfulness appreciation pod breakthrough sucking prosperity materials

The Meaning of Freedom

Once in a while I find a post that may be just a little outside my focus, but it so important that I must refer to it. Well I found such a post on An Unquiet Mind. Please go to this link and read it: The Meaning of Freedom.

The+Meaning+Of+Freedom freedom

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #16f "It’s All In The State Of Mind” - Female version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

This is the female version of this post. If you are a male reader, please go to #16m.


It's All In The State Of Mind

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world you'll find
Success begins with a woman's will-
It's all in the state of mind.

Full many a race is lost
Ere even a step is run,
And many a coward falls
Ere even her work's begun.
Think big, and your deeds will grow;
Think small, and you'll fall behind;
Think that you can, and you will-
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are out-classed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster woman;
But sooner or later the woman who wins
Is the woman who thinks she can.

(Based on a poem of unknown authorship)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• Your mind is a powerful tool and thoughts can influence actions. What would you like to convince yourself of?

Go to Section II (Installment #17)

State+Of+Mind beaten win lost coward falls think+big prize rise success think big

Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #16m "It’s All In The State Of Mind” - Male version)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

This is the male version of this post. If you are a female reader please go to #16f.

It's All In The State Of Mind

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world you'll find
Success begins with a fellow's will-
It's all in the state of mind.

Full many a race is lost
Ere even a step is run,
And many a coward falls
Ere even his work's begun.
Think big, and your deeds will grow;
Think small, and you'll fall behind;
Think that you can, and you will-
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are out-classed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

(Unknown Author)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• Your mind is a powerful tool and thoughts can influence actions. What would you like to convince yourself of?

Go to Section II (Installment #17)

State+Of+Mind beaten win lost coward falls think+big prize rise success think big

Happiness Made Simple

Wrong

• I will be happy when………
• I will be happy if…………..
• I will be happy after……….
• I will be happy (any conditional statement)..........

Right

• I am happy because……….
• (There is always a “because!”)

• I am grateful for (whatever makes up the "because")

happiness simple wrong right happiness+made+simple happy

Who the hell designed this ride?

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Happiness Vs. Human Nature

So many of us tie happiness to the fulfillment of "more." The concept of "more" is one of the basic characteristics of "human nature." Happiness is not a function of human nature; it should not be tied to it.

The basis of Human Nature is "not to be satisfied." Human nature is to seek pleasure, to fulfill desires, to accomplish, to better our world, to never quit, to persevere, to constantly strive for "more." whatever the aspects of human nature that we strive for, we will never be satisfied. Insatiability, and the drive to be satisfied are at the heart of human nature. You can never have enough intimacy, food, love, accomplishment, money, success, etc. The problem that we run into is that many of us feel that we would be happy "if." For such a small word, so much can hang on it. "If" is considered a condition. As an example; polls show that people in general state that they would be happy "if" they had 50% more salary. Then, after that goal was reached and they were polled again, they would be happy with 50% more again. No matter how much we have, we want "more."

To want "more", in and of itself, is not a bad thing, in fact it is a great thing. To desire "more" is what has produced all of the great inventions and discoveries of our civilization; not to mention artwork and the overall betterment of the human condition. "Human nature," unfortunately, has also created what is "bad" in this world, like Hitler, Mussolini, street gangs, wars, man's inhumanity towards man, etc.

Where we go wrong is to base happiness on the attainment of accomplishment, or the achievement of a goal, or on any level of success (however we define it.) The result of this behavior is the assurance that we will never be happy.

If you have read my postings, then you know my basic philosophy of happiness; “Happiness is a decision.” Actually, happiness is a decision to be grateful for what we have, no matter how much, no matter how little. Happiness can be had by rich and poor alike. If you practice this philosophy "happiness is a decision to be grateful," you can be happy most every day of your life, while still striving for “more.”

Basing happiness on any aspect of human nature is a recipe for disaster; you assure yourself of never being able to attain happiness no matter how much you have or how much more you get.

To better understand how "happiness" and "Human Nature" can exist side by side I have created this following quote: “Human nature is what drives us, happiness is what sustains us." Think of two perpendicular lines, one pointing up and the other pointing sideways. The one pointing up represents human nature, a constant up-hill battle to achieve. The one pointing sideways represents happiness; we have the ability to maximize happiness no matter where we are on the vertical line, by the simple process of choosing and the power of gratitude. On the other hand we also have the ability to choose misery and sadness.

There are those who state that the world has so much pain and hardship, wars and evil, and that knowing this, "how can we be happy?" At the end of the day, it comes down to individual choice as to what we do with this knowledge. The vertical line that represents achievement can also represent the desire to change the world around us.

My constant companion is Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Pledge: “God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference.” If we can apply this to everything we do, the ability to choose happiness becomes a lot easier.

The one thing to remember from this is that the "choice is yours!"

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Are You Prepared For Success? (Section II - Installment #15 "Only You” - Male and Female versions)

(If this is your first time on this site, please begin with "Are You Prepared For Success?" [Introduction])

Only You

Whatever may happen, by accident or plan;
Whether by nature or whether by man;
No matter how terrible you feel you've been hit
Look for the seed of a much greater benefit.

With every adversity, failure, and heartache;
With more bad news than you think you can take;
And all seems lost with nowhere to turn;
Take a deep breath, look, listen and learn.

Recovery and success are out there to find.
Believe in yourself and have a clear mind.
Stand up and stand tall and know that you will,
With courage and faith, conquer that hill.

Be sure of yourself and know you won't fail.
Leave the doubters behind as you blaze your own trail.
Only you know what it is that you need.
Only you can decide if you fail or succeed.

(An original Poem by Mel Kaye)

I strongly suggest that you write down your immediate reaction, after passionately reading this poem.

• Look at recent disasters in your life and find at least one positive outcome that resulted from each one.
• Now look at them again and see if there was some positive outcomes that could have resulted if you had looked at it differently?

Copyright © MondayMorningPower, All rights Reserved

Go to Section II (Installment #16m for male version)
Go to Section II (Installment #16f for female version)

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