(A handout at the Lifestream Basic Seminar)
Why is it that most people’s lives are controlled by small and petty circumstances? I am saddened as I watch people lose the good and the great things that are within their reach, that could be theirs with but a little act of courage.
The mediocre person, the average person, is the one I speak of here. They are the one who has so little self-esteem that they cannot trust their own thoughts and judgments, and who, in the final analysis, must rely on outside sources for their decisions. They are the person who is ruled by the mob, or who accepts all that they read as the truth, and finally becomes like the mob. They are the person who has some degree of success, only when they are caught upon the crest of a wave that was generated by one of the few, exceptional self-directed individuals.
They are the person who has a positive attitude for that moment they are in the presence of positive individuals, but when left alone, falls to their negative knees. They are the person who sells their birthright and the commitment to their own thoughts for fear of what they think their neighbour might think. They are the person who stands tall as they are prompted by the actions of the mob, but is terrified of the silence of their own presence.
They are the person who follows and fears to lead. They are the person who hides their deeds in the cloak of nobility, since their dishonesty prevents them from dealing with truth and reality. They are the person who cries ‘foul’ when life has passed them by. They are the person who is ruled by circumstances.
Strong people create circumstances which serve their needs and desires. If you are a person of circumstance, the cure for their disease is courage.
Courage is the most beautiful of all human expressions. Courage, as I see it, is an act in the face of fear. We only need courage when we are afraid, which means that we need courage almost all of the time because we are afraid of something almost all of the time.
I have discovered that fear becomes a coward when faced with but a small act of courage, and further, that the muscle of courage will grow stronger with continued use.
My advice to myself is…Do those things which you fear and keep doing them until you are no longer afraid. Then you will become the master of your fate.
I have studied the deeds of people both great and small. In that study there appears to be some differences. But all the differences that count have one single thing at their base – Courage!
Courage is that one ingredient that separates the strong from the weak, the successful from the unsuccessful, and the great from the average. All the things you desire in life have one common handle that is made for the hand of the person of courage.
To be afraid is to be alive. To act against that fear is to be a person!
Someone once said, “I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees!
By William Penn Patrick, Founder a the MLM network marketing sales organization called Holiday Magic, which sold cosmetics in the early 70’s.