August 30

”Being defeated is only a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” Marilyn vos Savant

How easy it is for me to give up. It only takes a moment of doubt that I cannot do it, cannot go on any longer and before I know it my actions have followed suit. Defeat starts in my own head; it is not something that comes from an external source, from fate, God or any power greater than me. I am defeated when I choose to be. I am not trying to confuse this with losing. I can, and do, lose at many things. Or perhaps more positively worded, I do not always succeed. But I always have the option to try again. If it is something important enough, worthy for my journey in life, then I need to pick myself up, brush off the dirt, and take the next step. I can see in retrospect that it takes work to give up on many things. It is not usually a simple task to let something go. I need to make excuses, find reason to beat myself down as to why I won’t succeed, find someone or something to blame my failures on – all time and energy I could be using to try again. It is a little like learning that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile – and smiling always makes me feel better.

Affirmation Today I choose to smile, to dance in the rain, to be a light in the dark, and to keep on keeping on.