Enlightened Beings ~ The Miraculous Power Of Persistence

Lia's picture

Jafree Ozwald

There are many visualization techniques and manifesting exercises you can do to start attracting a specific goal, vision or dream into your life. However, sometimes Life will test you, and your ordinary day can become extremely challenging just so you will grow, expand and evolve onto the next level. Whenever you are pushed to your limit in life, the Universe is attempting to expand the old ceiling you’ve placed above yourself. It’s trying to help you get in touch with a deeper aspect of yourself that is fearless, unstoppable and undefeatable. Whenever you are truly blocked by life, just stop and notice the end result you truly trying to attain, and how much you are actually invested in creating it.

The old saying that we must either “sink or swim” in life, is one that shows up on a moment to moment basis. Every second of your life you have the choice to thrive or survive. You can choose to just get by or start living your dream life. It’s the ordinary moments in life where big decisions are made and our true character appears on the stage of Life’s grand play. You can either learn to become a sheep and follow the flock wherever it leads, or become a lion who must constantly break free from its false “sheep clothing”. You can find great strength in playing the rebel, and also find tremendous peace in merging with the flock. However, the most enlightened path of all is coming from a place that is free from both extremes; living beyond the world in a state of being that is at peace no matter what occurs. This is what inner mastery is all about.

“Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein

In order to grow in life, we must take risks. The greater the risk, the more the potential is for tremendous growth to occur. When we take a bold step out of our comfort zone we immediately move into our power. This can be scary for others, who can feel a lack of control, status quo, and become threatened. This is never to be taken personally for these controlling people are simply pretending to be the general manager of their Universe, trying to keep their life on track, safe, and inside a certain container. Any original thinking, words or actions could make them realize how unhappy they are inside, and then they must admit how small and overly controlled they truly feel inside.

I believe one of the main goals of life is breaking free from all limitations and boundaries on what we think is possible. Whenever you feel defeated by life or encounter tremendous resistance, remember that it is an opportunity to build tenacity, courage and persistence. There are no failures in the eyes of the Divine, everyone is on purpose and everything happens for a reason. When you were baby you first learned how to crawl, stand up, take your first steps and fall down dozens of times before you got the balance right. Even though you may have landed flat on your face, the truth is that you never gave up. You persisted to learn how to walk and eventually you even learned to run!

“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Many of the most successful and famous people in life did not have an easy ride to the top. Most of them met huge resistance and rejection along the way. Below is a list of a few truly amazing beings who met violent opposition along their journey and still persisted to succeed. As you read, take note of where you are feeling deeply challenged by life, and what you most need to do this week to transcend it.

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was “sub-normal,” and one of his teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.” He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up.”

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a captain and returned a private. Afterwards, he was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. He later became the 16th President of the United States of America.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

Henry Ford could not read nor write, failed and went broke five times in business before he succeeded.

As an inventor, Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail a thousand times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs for being “non-productive.”

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this, to the sister of one of his friends, for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn’t stop him from completing over 800 paintings.

F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, “he didn’t have enough sense.”

When Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, “What use could this company make of an electrical toy.” And how many people have a telephone today?

Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.

Rocket scientist Robert Goddard found his ideas bitterly rejected by his scientific peers on the grounds that rocket propulsion would not work in the rarefied atmosphere of outer space.

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation.” Lombardi would later write, “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up.”

After Carl Lewis won the gold medal for the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games, he was asked to what he attributed his longevity, having competed for almost 20 years. He said, “Remembering that you have both wins and losses along the way. I don’t take either one too seriously.”

Babe Ruth is famous for his past home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career (about which he said, “Every strike out brings me closer to the next home run.”).

Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwaukee Braves.

Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was “too awkward and clumsy.” He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the US Open…and eight Davis Cups.

Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of the 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the distinction of having the worst records of first-season head coaches in NFL history – they didn’t win a single game.

Johnny Unitas’s first pass in the NFL was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Joe Montana’s first pass was also intercepted. And while we’re on quarterbacks, during his first season Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn’t win a single game. You think there’s a lesson here?

Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn’t hire him.

After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home.

Fred Astaire once observed that “when you’re experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion.” And here is the reward for perseverance: “The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it’s considered to be your style.”

After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.

When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, “Try any other profession.”

The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through “a minute-and a half” of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

After Harrison Ford’s first performance as a hotel bellhop in the film Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round, the studio vice-president called him in to his office. “Sit down kid,” the studio head said, “I want to tell you a story. The first time Tony Curtis was ever in a movie he delivered a bag of groceries. We took one look at him and knew he was a movie star.” Ford replied, “I thought you were spossed to think that he was a grocery delivery boy.” The vice president dismissed Ford with “You ain’t got it kid , you ain’t got it … now get out of here.”

Woody Allen: “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying. Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

Michael Caine’s headmaster told him, “You will be a laborer all your life.

Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered “nonsense.”

Decca Records turned down a recording contract with The Beatles with the evaluation, “We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out.” After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”

Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him “hopeless as a composer.” And, of course, you know that he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf.

Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. He was described as both “unable and unwilling to learn.” No doubt a slow developer.

Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.

Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime.

18 publishers turned down Richard Bach’s story about a “soaring eagle.” Macmillan finally published Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

Jack London received six hundred rejection slips before he sold his first story.

21 publishers rejected Richard Hooker’s humorous war novel, M*A*S*H. He had worked on it for seven years.

27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’s first book, “To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking
we used when we created them.” ~Albert Einstein

Would you like to know the secrets to transcending any challenge that you’ve been facing in your life?  There exists a powerful daily morning manifesting routine that anyone can easily do. It helps you rise above any situation as you transform your life in seemingly miraculous ways.

Comments

Wow

KarenLove's picture

wow, wow and wow!!!!

You met me right in my

Sent's picture

You met me right in my thoughts. You have inspired me in this moment to try again. Encouragement overcomes self-defeat every time. Kudos for sharing.

InTheFlow

Inspiring...

TheFlashRon's picture

Inspiring article. Thanks for posting this timely reminder that success comes only through effort.

In Lak'ech.