In today’s quote, Henry Miller claims everyone has a destiny. If it is true, that can be a scary proposition. If life isn’t going the way we hoped, if we are going through a tough time right now, we tend to believe that is our lot in life and to just accept it.
But should we? If our vision and values are misaligned with our current situation, should we just accept that’s the way things are?
We have the tendency to think that where we are at right now is where we will be for the rest of our lives. But we are never permanently stuck. Sure, today may be a puzzle for us.
We can feel like a skier that is stuck in a snowbank.
Discouragement can make us feel like giving up. We feel panic or a feeling of panic or despair well up within us.
Nothing great was ever done without much enduring.
St. Catherine of Sienna
Patient endurance is a quality that is in short supply these days. Marketing appeals to our need for instant gratification. The problem with that is the feeling of being gratified is gone as quickly as it came.
But the truly great things that satisfy take time and patience.
If you have a vision of something great, stay with it through the messy middles. There will be interruptions. There will be times something else sounds better. Be so patient it makes the hotheads want to put up their dukes because they can’t stand it!
Each older generation thinks life was better in the “good old days.” Apparently, judging by this verse, they were thinking the same thing thousands of years ago.
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 NIV
We tend to romanticize the past. We think of the good memories and tend to forget the bad. The seventies and eighties were no cakewalk!
We have much to be thankful for today. Remember the past fondly, live in the present and look forward to the future. Besides, in a couple of decades, we’ll look at today as the good old days.
Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress! With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis.
Henry Ford
Change only comes when someone or a group is excited enough to make things happen. It gives people motivation to move forward. It allows people to see a vision that a better outcome is possible.
An enthusiastic person can annoy others because they can’t see that things can be any different. Others may even do what they can to bring the other person down to their level.
Don’t be that person. Be enthusiastic. There is always a better way. There is always a possibilty to make things better. Start feeling it and begin to see what is possible!