When
Life Kicks You, Let It Kick You Forward!
by Dolores Seymour
The truly liberated person makes decisions,
takes risks, and accepts responsibility for their personal choices, all
the while exploring new and positive ways of thinking, feeling, and doing.
These people accept their past, whatever it may be, but they make
decisions from a positive perspective rather than simply deciding that -
for them - it's too risky. The latter believe that their past is what's
holding them back; actually, our past can propel us forward, with
determination and strength. When life kicks you, let it kick you forward!
Let's remember people like Helen Keller
who, blind and deaf from birth, became a great writer; Beethoven, who
composed his greatest symphonies after becoming totally deaf; Franklin
Roosevelt, who served as our president from his wheelchair; Abraham
Lincoln who, after years and years of so-called failures and
disappointments, became one of our greatest presidents. And we could go on
and on... struggles make us strong, period. Benjamin Franklin tells us,
"Those things that hurt us, instruct us." In other words, what
strengthens us is not our successes but our problems - our challenges. We
don't ever want to let our problems become an excuse; problems call forth
our courage and wisdom, and it's because of problems that we grow mentally
and spiritually; it's through the pain of confronting and resolving
problems that we move forward in life. It's always our choice. To move
forward - take that risk, and that's when fantastic things begin to
happen!
Author Irving Stone devoted his entire life
to studying the lives of great people and writing their biographies:
people such as Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Michelangelo, Vincent Van
Gough... all with similar characteristics. These people were knocked down
time and time again and for years they got nowhere. But every time they
were knocked down, they got right back up again, and at the end of their
lives, they accomplished what they had set out to do. Not because they had
special talents, but because they had faith and determination.
Finally, we might compare the problems of
life (I prefer to call them challenges) to the powerful March winds.
Botanists tell us that these powerful winds are necessary because the
trees need to flex their trunks and main branches so that the sap is drawn
up to nourish the budding leaves. Likewise, we need the gales of life,
even though we may dislike enduring them; that blustery period is often
the prelude to a brand new spring of life, health, and happiness.
____________________
Dr. Dolores Seymour, Msc.D., Ph.D.,
specializes in positive motivation, stress management, and holistic health
counseling. Dr. Seymour is Executive Director of the International
Association For Positive Living, Inc., a non-profit organization, private
counselor, lecturer, columnist and author of Create Yourself and Who
Care Why. For information call Dr. Seymour at (401) 463-5331or email
at: drseymour2002@msn.com.
