FOF
FOF is the acronym for the very common malady of Fear of Failure. That fear causes paralysis, which keeps us from achieving our dreams and goals. It keeps our dreams in the dream state. Not trying is the ultimate failure. It leaves you with a life of woulda, coulda, shoulda…
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert Kennedy
“There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.” – Sir Francis Bacon
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills
“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” – Nikki Giovanni
Grasshoppers
After forty days crossing the desert, the Jewish people are about to enter the Promised Land, as told in last week’s Torah portion Shelach.. Before they do, Moses sends twelve spies/scouts to go in first and report back what they see. Only two of the twelve came back with a positive report. The remaining ten were frightened and saw an inhospitable land filled with giants. In the first part of a very telling statement they said, “In our eyes we seemed like grasshoppers…. Notice that they said in “our eyes. When we come upon a new challenge, how often do we react fearfully? How often do we see ourselves as to small, too weak, and unable? How often do we see ourselves as grasshoppers? When this paralysis of fear hits us we become stuck where we are. We hold ourselves back from continuing our climb to reach our goals, dreams, and discover who we were created and destined to become.
In the second part of the statement they said, ..and so we were in their eyes.” Numbers13:33 If you see yourself in a negative light, then that is how you will present yourself and be seen by others. If others see you negatively, then doors will be closed. Believe in yourself, if you don’t, no one else will, and if you don’t why should they?
“Within yourself deliverance must be searched for, because each man makes his own prison.” – Edwin Arnold
“You become what you think, even if you don’t think so.” – Dr. Morris Mandel
“We all have a fear of the unknown what one does with that fear will make all the difference in the world.” – Lillian Russell
Do Be A “Do-Bee”*
Ideas begin in the Head. That thought flows to the heart for refinement and ultimately and what matters, not most but only, is to the body for action. We are all inherently special and unique. We are all here with and for a special and unique purpose for the benefit of all. Yet we are not special just because we are. We are special when we become that which we are meant to. We become when we do. What you do and how you do it determines who and what you ultimately become.
“The soul was sent to this world not to be, but to do.” – Yanki Tauber
“Say little and do much.” – Ethics of the Fathers 1:15
Intentions sent out to the universe alone don’t matter. Actions matter and are your fulfillment.
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.” — Abraham Maslow
“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” – Vince Lombardi
“It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” Bruce Wayne in “Batman Begins”
This post was inspired by a very powerful Commencement speech given by Wellesley High Teacher David McCullough Jr. where he said “You’re not special”
Watch it here
Read it here
*from the TV show Romper Room
“Here Come Da Judge”*
Too often, too many of us rely on external validation to determine our self- worth. We make ourselves the defendant in a trial and allow everyone else to be Judge. If your self-testimony is “I am kind, compassionate, ethical, and giving most of the time. My goal is to be all of those all of the time.” Then you know who you are and you don’t have to worry about being judged. Remember that your self-testimony is under self-oath and self-perjury leads to a life sentence of not being you.
“A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Pesach and Chana Burston
If you allow yourself to live by the jury’s verdict, you run the risk of always living by some jury’s verdict and never following through in executing your dreams and goals.
“When the doubters tell you it can’t be done, nonsense. If you can get to the root of who you are, and make something happen from it…..you are going to surprise yourself.” – Vidal Sassoon
*(Originally said by Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham)
Mistakes, I’ve Made A Few
And who hasn’t?
We all have and will.
The biggest mistakes are dwelling on mistakes made and the mistakes we repeat. The mistakes we repeat are in the biggest category because it means we learned nothing from the negative result of the previous. That means we are knowingly making a mistake.
A mistake is not necessarily something you do that results in a negative return for you and/or another. That’s a miscalculation or error in judgment due to lack of experience. Know that you will make those also and continue to.
A real mistake is the repetition of actions that produced negative results. Learn from the first mistake and errors and move forward with that new information. That new information prepared you to get through the next decision faster and of course stronger, healthier, and better…Heart and Soul!!
“One who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”. – Albert Einstein
“All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” – Winston Churchill
“Who is a wise one? One who foresees the outcome of his actions”. – The Sages
“Everybody Falls Down”
Here is an inspiring lesson from the courage, attitude and strength of a nine year old girl.
Haven Sheppard lost her legs as an infant in the arms of her Vietnamese biological parents, who had strapped a bomb to themselves and detonated it. They died. She was adopted by the Sheppards, an American couple with six of their own children.
Recently, Haven began competing in running non-disabled track (click here to view a video of her). It was very difficult for her with her regular prosthetic legs. With a grant from the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation, she got special prosthetic legs for running. She now runs with great spirit and while she doesn’t win, she says that her Mom taught her to say:
“It really doesn’t matter if you have fake legs or real, everybody falls down, getting up is the big deal”.
Memorial Day
We honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice to attain and preserve our precious gift of freedom. In cherishing their memory we remember to cherish our freedom. The fallen understood this:
“Liberty is one of the most precious gifts heaven has bestowed upon man. No treasures the earth contains or the sea conceals can be compared to it. For liberty one can rightfully risk one’s life”. —Don Quixote
“When you know what you are willing to die for, then you will know what to live for”. — Jewish saying
The Spinning Rabbi - Heart & Soul 