learning to live your dreams ...

a third article from yesterday (http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/3-Successes-Only-Failure-Can-Give-You/2#ixzz1bvsENEBs) addressed how to use failure to your advantage. sometimes it’s possible to learn from the mistakes of others. but oftentimes, it’s necessary to learn from your own. instead of thinking of it as a reflection on who you are, take it as an opportunity to evaluate what you did (or didn’t do). focus on changing the things that you can control, not the things that you cannot.

“randy pausch, the professor who gave the ‘last lecture’ while dying of pancreatic cancer, talked about how "brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” failure is what tells us whether or not we were truly meant to do something.

“if, when things get rough, you remain committed and even entranced by your goal, you should keep going. if what you're doing is costing you too much time and energy or the process isn't what you thought it would be or it's not bringing you joy or you find yourself emailing kitten photos, you need to get out and...get a new goal.”

since my friend kelly seems to be on the same page as God and i right now, i thought i would share a few things that i stole from her facebook page over the last couple of days.

“devote yourself to an idea. go make it happen. struggle on it. overcome your fears. smile. don’t forget: this is your dream.”

“DREAM!!! dream big!!! hold onto your dreams!!! fight for your dreams!!!”

“if your memories are greater than your dreams, then you’re already dying.”

as i wrote yesterday, don’t get so stuck in the past that you can’t live for the future. the best is yet to come. and just because it doesn’t come as quickly as you thought it would doesn’t mean you should stop going after it. the harder you work for something, the more valuable it will be when it finally happens.

overnight successes “do not add much wisdom, i suspect, or gratitude. they're fireworks, the kind the rest of us look up at and admire and, all too often, try to jump up and grab—when, in fact, we need to stay down on the ground, where all the stumbling goes on. that is, until we've gained the confidence and experience to walk straight up the mountain.”

it’s so true that if we reached our dreams as quickly as hoped, we would rarely have the strength and confidence required to stay there. most of the time, what we gain through the process of achieving our dreams is what makes it possible to actually live our dreams. i'm reminded of the song ‘overnight’ by amy grant.

if it all just happened overnight,
you wouldn't know how much it means.
yeah, if it all just happened overnight,
you would never learn to believe
in what you cannot see.

even if i never reach my dreams, if i have learned to believe then i think the pursuit was worth every ounce of effort. besides, isn’t belief what is truly at the heart of every dream?