Inspiraelevation

Yes, always aim high.

Life is too short to live beneath your success potential. You are too special.

You must dare to be more! You must dare to be greater.

Never strive to be the big fish in a small pond as it will never be reflective of your true potential.

This is what is termed as “thinking small”.

But rather,

Don’t believe that you are limited in what you can achieve.

Truth be known, what one see’s as a limitation is really only a mental impediment. These can be overcome by a change in thinking and then acting according to that new pattern of thought.

Unfortunately,  a move in direction of that perceived limitation is often required. Limitations cannot be overcome without advancing toward it, challenging it, and overcoming it.

Greatness is only a byproduct of challenging yourself to stretch beyond what seems possible.

It is understandable that sometimes you just don’t know how.

Don’t worry, there is always a process, there is always a way.

Here is a process that can work for you!

•  First, you  must move past mental confinement (Believe anything is possible)
•  Second, you must understand that you have to strengthen yourself to succeed; and the fundamental way to accomplish something hard is to simply sweat it out.

• Thirdly, never fear or accept labels from others, especially the label that you are average. Remember the very fact that you are challenging yourself, believing it is possible, and sweating to make it happen means that you are already  beyond average

Sometimes the fear of being labeled average drives some to hold back from running in more challenging circles. Don’t let this be you.

• Fourth, don’t worry about failing. If you set your sights to the mountains and yet fail to reach the summit remember even if you are, for the moment, at the base of the mountain you are still higher than what you would have been at the apex of the hill.

• Fifth always aim to find something that will stretch you, that will lead you to struggle, to build greater competence, and in turn greater confidence.
• Sixth, inspect and expand your circle. Seek out those whose success, intellect, and habits, create within you a drive for aspiration. Those are the people that you will learn from. Someone once said you are the sum average of those you keep company with. Look around at your close group of confidants, peers, and friends. Then look at where you are. Ask yourself two very important questions.

1.  Does your circle of friends reflect your aspirations?
2. Do they challenge you to be better?

If not maybe it is time to expand your circle.

•  Seventh,  get to work. Vow to break the barriers that hold you back from reaching beyond your limitations and growing to your greatest self.

Eating the bread of idleness gives way to misdirection and misalignment.

The yeast of such catalyzes the bloat of non-commitment, apathy, or boredom.

What is Idleness?

Idleness is the state of inertia, a lack of movement, often resulting from  disinterest or boredom “a state of mental complacency.”

Because a person has lost interest in an activity or fails to find interest in another he or she remains idle.

Fundamentally, boredom often leads to acquiescing oneself to a state of inertia.

When one reasons to remain dispirited or morose due to lack of interest in anything in their immediate environment, depressed emotional states are perpetuated, thus further increasing the desire for stasis.

It is an ugly cycle that one must immediately break.

During these time of idleness is when calamity begins to fall upon one.

A mind empty of activity is like a pitcher waiting to be filled

Idleness tarnishes one’s brilliance and shine and if not careful one’s reputation and subsequently his or her life.

It as these times when misdirected activities gain in allurement.

It is in these hours of under occupation that our unfocused thoughts run rampant wreaking havoc on our sense and sensibilities.

The creative and innovative mind is never bored.

There will never be a time where there is nothing to do.

The world is too vast.

There is much to be done.

The dreamer and achiever can create meaningful experiences.

Boredom is ultimately a sign of disingenuousness.  It is a sign of lack in one’s life; lack of sincerity, drive,  and direction.

Ingenuity and creativity are solid attributes of success and achievement.

Excellence is a result of industriousness, not inertia.

Set challenges.

invest your time in activities outside of your norm.

Do something constructive.

If your interest wanes then ask yourself a few questions.

1. Have I been creative?
2. Do I need a change of scenery?
3. Is there a good book I have not read yet?
4. Have I exercised?
5. Is there some volunteer work I can do?

There is always a cure for boredom and idleness if one so chooses.

Make the right choice on the path to success.

Disavow idleness and move towards excellence.

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, the main part.

There are several core strengths one must have to excel, and this is unquestionable.

Many of my articles have been written to address these strengths, some concrete and observable while others abstract and unobservable.

Many of the articles to follow will address many other components of success, some in detail, others in summary format

Some will focus on practical application. Others will give a broad overview of concepts.

This article addresses the core of all success, GRIT

One of the most significant character strengths underlining success is that of Grit.

Grit in simpler terms is defined as dogged determination.

When all is said in done what will set apart the achievers from the ordinary is the unflinching desire to succeed and to persist beyond what one can conceptualize.

Talent is profuse and an abundant resource in this world.

It is not talent alone that will get you across the finish line. That will just give you a position at the starting block.

We all have the potential for greatness if we are in the right lane.

When it comes for work to be done or roles to be filled, there is no lack or insufficiency.

There is this great myth that there are more people than there are roles to fill.

Be assured nothing is by incident or accident, and everything and everyone has a purpose.

Why are there so many who drift hopelessly along.

The reasons are plentiful.

1. There  are many who do not seek to fill a purpose. They are not concerned with what contribution that they may offer the world or leave to the next generation. They are just existing just to exist.
2. Some do not understand the meaning of purpose. There is great confusion with a job and a calling. One you do to make ends meet the other you do  to meet the needs of others. Many simply cannot distinguish the difference.
3.  others are unaware of their purpose.
4. Then there are those who are too busy trying to fill someone else’s calling.

When you find out what your purpose is and demonstrate the grit necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of what is expected nothing can stop you.

What is for you, it is for you. No one else in the world will be able to fulfill your purpose to the extent that you can.

How does one develop grit?

Through deliberate, targeted practice of course.

Do something challenging (hard) and stick with it.

When you test your limits and then push to expand beyond them, you grow exponentially,

Grit is about pushing past the hard parts.

To learn to accomplish this, you must pursue a challenge.

If it is too easy, it will not work.

You have to stretch beyond your comfort zone and know that you will not be broken.

Start today.

Lay the first brick on the pathway to success.

Find your challenge and then stick with it, “just do it.”

Life is meant to be lived in moments.

We are made to experience the fullness of joy, love, and of pain.

In those moments, we find purpose and reason.

practicing presence is important.

Practicing presence is making deliberate efforts to train all of one’s focus on one activity at a time to experience the fullness of it.

Practicing presence is refusing  to permit oneself to be pulled away by distractions of thoughts, competing interests, or future responsibilities.

“We have to pay attention to this very moment, the totality of what is happening right now. And the reason we don’t want to pay attention is because it’s not always pleasant” (Beck).

However, experiencing the fullness of hurt helps us to savor the sweetness of love.

Tasting the bitter fruit of grief and loss helps us to celebrate life with a robustness of spirit.

Knowing that falling is possible helps us to appreciate the strength to stand.

Lack teaches us the lesson of plenty.

Lessons can only be learned if we are willing to sit still and attentively listen.

“it is only when the student is ready, that the master appeareth.”

Few can embrace such.

Our experience with pain has conditioned  our thinking. Rather than  awakening within us  respect, a resolution, a sacred understanding of our proneness to frailty, it catalyzes deep-seated; fearful thoughts.

Our fearful thoughts tell us to avoid, to run, and to turn.

The fear lodges itself within the brain disallowing free thought, reason, and rationality.

“Clearly, all fear has an element of resistance and a leaning away from the moment. Its dynamic is not unlike that of strong desire except that fear leans backward into the last safe moment while desire leans forward toward the next possibility of satisfaction. Each lacks presence”. –Stephen Levine

Essentially the pent up fear causes a bottleneck.

“The bottleneck of fear isn’t caused by the conditioning, but by the decision about myself I have reached based on that conditioning” (Beck 36).

It is difficult to break free from these patterns of thinking.

It is our thoughts about ourselves, our situations, our experiences, and our connections that must be addressed.

The truth is, some things in life are hard.

Some things take a lot of effort.

Simply thinking about change, or hoping for change, or even pledging change, is ineffective.

It does not work. You have to put in the work.

The work never begins during times of ease but always in the face of harsh realities. This is when we are tried and tested.

Let’s face it, in the presence of pain is hard to think of anything else.

It is hard to think of the lesson beneath.

If we want to live our best lives we cannot afford not to think beyond the pain.

” We do have to be  aware of our thoughts and actions; we do have to be aware of our false reactions to life. Only by doing so can we see that from the beginning the bottleneck of fear is an illusion” (Beck 37).

The illusion works to suppress one’s reality,

Fear paralyzes and keeps us from learning from our experiences.

“A thought in and of itself is just pure sensory input, an energy fragment. At first we feel our thoughts are real, and out of that we create the self-centered emotions, and out of that we create a barrier to seeing life as it is because if we are caught in self-centered emotions we can’t see people or situations clearly. But we fear to see thoughts as they are” (Beck 49).

When we grow, when we get understanding, we can learn to separate our thought life from reality.

We can bring our thoughts under subjection.

We can control our thoughts and not let our thoughts control us.

We can experience life as it was meant to be experienced.

This means that one  learns to look at life as it is.

There are no bad experiences only our thoughts concerning those experiences.

All experiences exist to teach us.

Knowing this, we can be resolved. We can be expectant.

After the test passes comes the reward.

In every situation, whatsoever we find ourselves we will be content.

“Trust in things being as they are as the secret of life”(Beck 48).

There is nothing one can purely rely on in the earthly realm.

At some point or another all things have the potential to fail us.

This is merely the byproduct of materialism.

It is the blight of being temporal and temporary.

“Life is always going to be the way it is”(Beck 48).

It is we that must learn to find peace and contentment with that.

Beck, Charlotte. Everyday Zen: Love and Work. Harper Collins. print.

Enlightenment cannot be sought after.

“If we demand enlightenment, it hides. All that we can do is make ourselves enlightenment-prone. We learn to treasure the possibility of awakening in all moments and circumstances. We learn to simplify and cultivate the receptivity of heart that can be touched by profound understanding. We learn to listen deeply and discover stillness amid the movement in our world.” – Christina Feldman

One becomes enlightened

Enlightenment is the measure of growth or stature gained by he or she who seeks above all wisdom, to live a life of love, of charity, and of giving freely of self, that others may blossom.

It is being the beautiful person you were destined to become.

What does one who is enlightened look like?

Those who are enlightened are fully aware, they are fully conscious.

They are aware of themselves, their surrounding world, and are able to separate themselves from the noise of the world in which they inhabit.

They are no longer humans doing but human’s being.

“Enlightenment is not about becoming divine, instead it’s about becoming more fully human. It is the end of ignorance. ” -Lama Surya Das

 

Those who are then enlightened, use their newfound awareness to rise to levels of greater understanding thereby achieving a state of inner peace that surpasses all comprehension.

It is an inhaling of the beauty and magnificence of life and its myriad complexities and components and exhaling acceptance and understanding.

As Wayne Dyer author of “Wisdom of the Ages,” so eloquently stated, “If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is, “the quiet acceptance of what is.”

Although many seek few fully develop it for many it takes a lifetime.

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small-scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic” – Anais Nin

For one who does manage to become enlightened

• He or she grasps the purpose of it all, of everything, of one’s existence.
• He or she sees the intricate little pieces of life fit together into one giant mosaic.
•  one exquisite landscape.

“To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same.” – Bhagavad Gita

Why is it that so few become enlightened?

Many are looking in the wrong locations for enlightenment.

1. They are looking for enlightenment in places. 

Enlightenment is not a byproduct of having visited zen gardens, mountaintops, cathedrals, temples, or other locales.

2.  They are looking for enlightenment from others.

They are seeking enlightenment apart from themselves, to come from some great teacher.

3. They are awaiting some grand alteration in events, but this is to no avail.

Enlightenment does not change our physical into a metaphysical state. Our physical form and surroundings remain the same. One does not ascend above the drone of daily existence.

There  is a Zen proverb that eloquently states

“Before enlightenment chopping wood, carrying water” (Dyer p 59)

“After enlightenment chopping wood, carrying water ” (Dyer p 59)

There is no significant alteration of circumstances, events, or places required to become enlightened.

“Inside or outside of yourself you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it” (p 63)

 

 enlightenment indicates a change in perception and perspective.

“In general enlightenment will not change your outer world, but will change your way of processing the world” (Dyer p 61)

Old habits are broken and new ones enacted. One becomes reborn a new person. They simply seem different.

To them, the world no longer seems the same because he or she is no longer blind but sees the world in vivid color.

 

Enlightenment awakens.

 

The evidence of such is undeniable, one demonstrates such in the life that they live.

Dyer, Wayne. “Wisdom of the Ages.” Harper Collins. Print