Today's
Meditation:
It's
really easy to give up on things. It's easy to look
at our situation and our efforts and say to ourselves,
"Well, that's not working, and there's no way it's
going to work." When we do that, we feel that
it's time to move on to another project, to work on
something else, when sometimes the fact is that if we were
to just persevere a few more hours or a few more days, we
would find that breakthrough that we need to get our
current efforts to pay off in something wonderful.
If we
adopt determination as a policy for our own lives, we can
do things that otherwise seem impossible. If we
don't give up as soon as things start looking bleak or
impossible, we can accomplish things that others never
will. Because the fact is that most people give up
rather easily-- and it's not a good idea for us to be like
other people all the time. If we're truly determined
to do something that's important to us, then we need to
stick it out and continue to give it our best
efforts. After all, we'll never know just what will
happen if we don't.
It's
true that there are times when determination isn't the
best option. Some relationships aren't meant to be,
and we could cross some very drastic lines if we keep
trying to get someone else to love us or like us.
Some things really can't be done, no matter how much we
try, or have very little value even if we do succeed with
them. Some things that we want to do take away too
much time and energy from the things that we need to do,
and those things will harm us more than help us, even if
we do succeed at them. So of course, we need to be
able to discern between the things that are worth pushing
on with and those that aren't if our determination is
going to be a positive force in our lives.
After all, is it truly success if our determination helps
us to achieve success at work if our marriage and family
are falling apart due to neglect?
Determination
can be the deciding factor between success and failure,
between accomplishment and emptiness. While
sometimes it's important for us to let go of things and
not spend too much time and effort on something that won't
help us, other times it's important for us to push on
through obstacles and disappointment and discouragement in
order to reach success. Our determination can be our
greatest asset in these cases, and we need to do our best
to make sure that we use it to the greatest of its
potential.
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