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Which is Why….

Everyone says that people should learn from the past, and famous quotes are pieces of advice that people from the past have left for us.  Lincoln, Thoreau, Peterson, Dr. Seuss, Mickey Mouse, Hannah Montana, Mumford & Sons, book authors, parents, family, friends.  They all offer little tidbits of information in catchy songs, short sayings, and insightful ideas.  I love quotes because the ideas within the quote resonate so clearly with current life situations.  I love quotes because they clarify things i might not understand yet because i haven’t fully lived it. I love quotes because its something to hang onto when you feel like you have nothing.

So tonight I share with you a quote from Wilferd Peterson; an american author (1900-1995).

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…”

• Wilfred Peterson

take what you need from that, ill try to share more quotes, and maybe leave a little something for someone to grab on to?

XOXO

LA

“I AM SUCCESSFUL”

Life, is mostly about being in the *Now*, enjoying each moment to its maximum and getting the most out of it. As is often said, the past has been and gone, and the future has yet to arrive. All we truly have, is this moment in time. But… yes, there’s a but with it… I think it is also good to have goals, dreams and hopes for what we would like to be or become in the future, else wouldn’t we just drift along and have no motivation to change things let alone take responsibility for how our life is shaped, anyone else agree? As Elbert Hubbard said

“We work to become, not to acquire“

This is not to say that we are not successful now, for we are. I truly believe we are where we are meant to be at this point in our lives. But as each day brings new experiences, we change ever so slightly and become *more*. What then of our future? Do you really want to be roughly in the same place, doing the same thing, being the same person you are now? Or do you wish to increase your knowledge, your wisdom, your heart, your love… or anything else that you may want to add to that list… a list that’s as unique as the person who creates it!

How do I define success in relation to this? To me, it could be choosing to do something new, or speaking in a different way, how I interact with friends, family and strangers… and then acting upon it. That’s it. Whether I continue doing it or not, I will have done it at least once and I will learn from that experience. If I’ve learnt that I don’t want to do something again, then that is not failure… it’s giving myself knowledge and learning from it. That’s success.

But how to achieve it? Baby steps, one little step forward at a time. OK, so you may take a couple of steps back from time to time, but pushing forward in this way will also take you where you want to go, which is just what I read in some emails from thoughtfortheday:

“Winners make big things happen a little bit at a time.”

“Your determination pulls success towards you, and your focus pushes obstacles away”

“Think Big Rise above little things. Be a big thinker. You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, dream big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, image big, love big, live big. Carry that list and you’ll start feeling big. Be a believer and you’ll be an achiever.”

You often hear in the media about how someone has suddenly achieved some great success, and how wonderful everything is, how lucky they are, but what is not reported very often is the years of struggle that that person has gone through to get to that point. Each moment a learning experience, each moment a choice of continuing down the path they want or doing what they know is meant for them. And every single baby step of the way is as important as the other.

Who comes to mind when you think of someone successful? These days, more often than not, a celebrity or media person would automatically come to mind, because society seems to deem money and status as the necessary items to have in order to be classed as successful.

But what about a person who has had a car accident and been hospitalised for a year? Been told they won’t walk again… and then proceeded to push themselves… until one day they are walking down the aisle towards their loved one? That to me is success.

Or the Mum who builds a loving and supportive relationship with her child? What about someone who has dyslexia and is told they will never amount to anything and go on to be a writer? Or the person who uses their most painful experiences to help someone else who undergoes a similar experience, get through it, learn from it and become a happier human being with less pain? Again, these examples shout out success to me.

A quote which I love in relation to this is:

There are no secrets of success. Success is doing the things you know you should do. Success is not doing the things you know you shouldn’t do. Success is not limited to any one area of your life. It encompasses all the facets of your relationships: as parent, as wife or husband, as citizen, neighbor, worker and all of the others. Success is not confined to any one part of your personality but is related to the development of all the parts: body, mind, heart and spirit. It is making the most of your total self.
~~ Wilfred A. Peterson ~~

So, some questions for you to ask yourself in relation to this week’s affirmation are:

How do you define success?
How successful do you feel?
What barriers to success do you have at present?
How can you help yourself be more successful?
What secret success do you wish you could have?

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead ♥

Image origin: Unknown

© 2012 Michelle Payne

when he breaks the chain of routine

and renews his life

through reading new books,

traveling to new places,

making new friends,

taking up new hobbies

and adopting new viewpoints.”

–Wilfred Peterson

1. Greetings from friends who were not with me physically, were busy with their own lives, but greeted me anyway. I did not realize how strict my privacy settings on FB were until a friend told me that writing on my wall was restricted. During my birthday I found out who cared enough to send messages or who were thoughtful enough to find ways to reach me.

A former student told me, “you were my idol.” I was speechless and felt shy thinking I didn’t want to be a teacher in the first place. The compliment hasn’t changed my mind about leaving the teaching profession first chance I get but I’ll take it as motivation to do my best in whatever I get myself into in the future .

2. Food. Due to work and time constraints eating had to be done in different places. So breakfast in the office, Vietnamese cuisine for lunch in a nearby sports club,  dessert at a pretty patisserie next door and dinner at a posh coffee shop. I bought a new top along the way and wore it before proceeding to a five-star hotel pub for cocktails and live music. It was fun.

3. Gifts. I would have chosen purple… I loved choosing and buying these birthday souvenirs.

4. Hair. Me time in the saloon was soothing.

5. Plans. Wilfred Peterson describes the celebration I intend to do today and onwards - “A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.”

Forty. Bring it on!

Greetings from friends who were not with me physically, were busy with their own lives, but greeted me anyway. I did not realize how strict my privacy settings on FB were until a friend told me that writing on my wall was restricted. During my birthday I found out who cared enough to send messages or who were thoughtful enough to find ways to reach me.

A former student told me, “you were my idol.” I was speechless and felt shy thinking I didn’t want to be a teacher in the first place. The compliment hasn’t changed my mind about leaving the teaching profession first chance I get but I’ll take it as motivation to do my best in whatever I get myself into in the future .

Food. Due to work and time constraints eating had to be done in different places. So breakfast in the office, Vietnamese cuisine for lunch in a nearby sports club,  dessert at a pretty patisserie next door and dinner at a posh coffee shop. I bought a new top along the way and wore it before proceeding to a five-star hotel pub for cocktails and live music. It was fun.

Gifts. I would have chosen purple… I loved choosing and buying these birthday souvenirs.

Hair. Me time in the saloon was soothing.

Plans. Wilfred Peterson describes the celebration I intend to do today and onwards - “A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.”

~Living to tell the Story~

The Art of Success
By Wilfred Peterson

Success is ninety-nine percent mental attitude.
It calls for love, joy, optimism, confidence, serenity, poise, faith, courage, cheerfulness, imagination, initiative, tolerance, honesty, humility, patience, and enthusiasm.

Success is having the courage to meet failure without being defeated.
It is refusing to let present loss interfere with your long-range goal.

Success is relative and individual and personal.
It is your answer to the problem of making your minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years add up to a great life.

Change should be a friend. It should happen by plan, not by accident.
–Philip Crosby, Reflections on Quality

It’s not your blue blood, your pedigree or your college degree. It’s what you do with your life that counts.
–Millard Fuller

We compound our suffering by victimizing each other.
–Athol Fugard

When we discover that the truth is already in us, we are all at once our original selves.
–Dogen

I prepared excitedly for my departure, as if this journey had a mysterious significance. I had decided to change my mode of life. “’til now,” I told myself, “you have only seen the shadow and been well content with it; now, I am going to lead you into the substance.”
–Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.
–The Buddha

Do not think of your faults, still less of others’ faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.
–John Ruskin

Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.
–Madeleine L’Engle, An Acceptable Time

The art of being yourself at your best is the art of unfolding your personality into the person you want to be. . . . Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others.
–Wilfred Peterson, This Week (Oct. 1, 1961)

Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
–James Arthur Baldwin,playwright and novelist

The photos were ads made for the Philippine Daily Inquirer in the Philippines.
The ads were made by Dan Matutina from Idea!s, a nonstock nonprofit communications/design shop for nonprofits and development organizations.