Who is it that you desire to Be? What is the life that you wish to be leading? For many of us, there is a fantasy life that we tuck away in the most private corners of ourselves, labeling it as ‘unrealistic’ or ‘childish’; not realizing how possible it is to take these dreams and breathe life into them. The difference between a dream and a reality can be found within the mind: that taken-for-granted, yet all-powerful part of our selves that can take formless matter and create tangible and visible miracles.
Life has taught me many things, but the most powerful lesson I have ever opened myself to has been the power of my mind. For every great thing that I have achieved in my lifetime there has been a starting point; a decision taken, and an action persistently followed. Therein lies my greatness, and therein lies yours too.
At an early age I learnt that life can be unpredictable, and that sometimes those we trust most can let us down in the most hurtful of ways. Left to parent myself when I was still a child, I was forced to consider how I would survive; not just for that day, but for my lifetime. Left to my own devices I faced a very brutal realization, there was no Saviour coming to rescue me, so it was up to me to save myself.
I came to understand that the world owes me nothing, because I came to earth with infinite potential. If you are born with hands that work, the capacity to move, the ability to think, and legs and eyes and fingers in good working order, you have already been supremely Blessed.
So I asked myself, “What will you do with your blessings?”
I came to understand that my survival and my success would be my responsibility and no one else’s. There was absolute power for me in that realization, because in understanding that there was no-one responsible for my success, it freed me from the fear of failure.
Then I decided. I decided to shape my life to suit my desires; and in that decision came a paradigm shift…it was my “Aha” moment.
I realized that I had the power to create – and that creation is not an overnight process. In the same way that life takes time and care to develop successfully, whether it is a child within a mother’s womb, or a seed buried in the earth, so too do dreams take time to become reality.
The old adage “patience is a virtue” is one of the most overlooked and powerful life lessons. We have become addicted to “quick fixes”. Cell phones make contact instantaneous, emails have replaced “snail mail”, but in this comes the potential loss or blurring of one of the most valuable lessons I have learnt. Success takes dedicated and committed work.
I have learnt that Time can be a blessing or a curse depending on how you use it. With time comes the ability to create all things; but creation can never be an overnight process. Left on my own at a young age it occurred to me that shaping my life would take time, and that growing up would not be an overnight process. So I chose to use that time wisely, reminding myself that if you stick to something long enough, with passion, determination and vision, you will succeed.
Time therefore became my biggest obstacle, but even more importantly, it became my greatest ally.