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“The
president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But
how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us.
If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the
water, how can you buy them?
“Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine
needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow,
every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my
people.
“We know the sap which courses through trees as we know the blood
that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is
part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer,
the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices
in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the
same family.
“The shinning water that moves in the streams and the rivers is not
just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land,
you must remember that it is sacred. Each ghostly reflection in the
clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of
my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.
“The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our
canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness
you would give any brother.
“If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us,
that the air shares its spirit with all life it supports. The wind
that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last
sigh. So if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred,
as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the
meadow flowers.
“Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That
the earth is our mother. What befalls the earth befalls the sons of
earth.
“This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the
earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man
did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever
he does to the web, he does to himself.
“One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious
to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on it creator.
“Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo
are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the
secret corners of the forest are heavy with the sent of many men and
the view of the ripe hills is blotted by talking wires? Where will the
thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is it to say
good-bye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the
beginning of survival.
“When the last Red Man has vanished with his wilderness and his
memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will
these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the
spirit of my people left?
“We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So,
if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as
we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it
is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love
it, as God loves us all.
“As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This
earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you. One thing we
know: there is only one God. No man, be he Red Man or White Man, can
be apart. We are brother after all."
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I. Why Important
Perseverance is perhaps the most important key to success in any
endeavor. It can replace deficiencies in talent. While this is widely
acknowledged, not many people seem to have developed this important
ingredient in their life.
Genius is one percent inspiration and 99% perspiration.? Thomas A.
Edison
II. Perseverance and Its Applications
Perseverance is persistence in the pursuit of an end or in an
enterprise undertaken in spite of difficulties, opposition or
discouragement. It means being able to handle one's reaction to
difficulties, and not get carried away by such emotions or reactions:
1. Career or Life Work
2. Building Wholesome Relationship
3. Self-Development, Maturity and Spiritual Perfection
III. Developing Perseverance
1. Clarify Your Values
Without knowing what is truly important to you, it is almost
impossible to be truly persevering. One must have a strong reason for
keeping on a chosen path. That reason must be important enough to
override less important factors that cause discouragement.
Make sure that what you are aiming for is grounded on solid
foundations. An objective that is not ethical will create inner
conflict in you. Therefore, your aim should be morally sound. It must
not cause injury to others. It must not be selfish.
Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount of stalking will
lead to a game in a field that has none. -- I Ching
2. Regularly Reaffirm Your Goal
Once you have set your goal, then continually reaffirm to yourself
that you wish to finish the task or reach the objective. Remind
yourself by writing it in a place or a notebook where you will
constantly see it. Read materials that will enhance your determination
to pursue your objective.
3. Create Greater Leverage That Will Increase Your Motivation
To make your body, feeling and mind be more supportive of your
determination, deliberately create leverage so that you will be more
motivated. Suppose you wish to reduce your weight for health reasons,
and you have difficulty resisting good food, and you constantly
violate your new year's resolution to watch your diet.
Example: Increase your motivation by creating a mental association
that will connect sweet and fatty foods to something you dislike. Or
reward yourself for resisting sweets, or penalizing yourself for
succumbing to it. Make a game out of it. Let your family take part in
your resolution, if possible.
4. Develop the Habit of Finishing What You Started
Once a person has developed this habit, he has within him a powerful
tool connected with perseverance. He will not give up until something
is done, no matter how inconvenient.
Nothing is so fatal to character or accomplishment as unfinished jobs.
- S. W. Sill
5. Be Aware of Your Fears
Lack of perseverance is often due fear to do something or face
consequences. You may wish to learn how to speak in public, but you
are always overcome by fear. Conquer your fears, for they are often
our own traitors, turning ourselves against our priorities.
All too often people quit when the going gets tough, often when just
one more step would have carried them triumphantly to victory. There
is one unbeatable rule for the mastery of sorrows and disappointments,
and that is transmutation of those emotional frustrations through
definite planning. It is a rule that has no equal. -- Napoleon Hill.
Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair, -- Burke
6. Make a Timeframe for Attaining the Goal
. . .It is said that a goal without a deadline is not a goal.
Put a timeframe to what you wish to achieve, say in two years time.
Don't be vague. Be as definite in your deadline as you can. Make it
reasonable, but stick to it.
Make a timeframe for doing the intermediate steps necessary for the
attainment of your objective. If you wish to finish a book in two
years. Make a schedule to devote time to writing and finishing
specified chapters consistently.
7. Stick Closely to your Timeframe
Your timeframe is your own appointments with yourself. Do not skip
them in the same way that you do not miss your appointments with other
people.
8. Realize that there is No Failure
There is only temporary defeat. Failure is in not trying to pursue
what is worth aiming for. Keep on. Keep at it. Once you know that it
is worthwhile, you will not fail.
We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough. --
Helen Keller Success in life depends upon staying power. The reason
for failure in most cases is lack of perseverance. Men get tired and
give up. -- J R. Miller
Diligence is the mother of good fortune. -- Cervantes
Victory belongs to the most persevering. -- Napoleon
The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means and
the exercise of ordinary qualities. These may for the most part be
summed up in these two -- commonsense and perseverance. -- Owen
Feltham.
The secret of success is constancy of purpose. -- Disraeli
There are two ways of attaining an important end: force and
perseverance. Force falls to the lot only of the privileged few, but
austere and sustained perseverance can be practiced by the most
insignificant. Its silent power grows irresistible in time. -- Anne
Swetchine
Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal;
while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the
last moment, more vigorous efforts than before. -- Polybius
Patience and perseverance are essential in the inner fight. The higher
self's war with the lower self is a great struggle. Develop these two
virtues to a maximum degree and strengthen them by all manner of
intelligent discipline and constant exercise. -- Sivananda
The world wants the kind of men who do not shrink from temporary
defeats in life, but come again and wrestle triumph from defeat. --
Theodore Roosevelt
Tough times never last. . . but tough people do. -- Robert Schuller
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius
will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination
are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always
will solve the problems of the human race. -- Calvin Coolidge
Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is
unattainable; however, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come
much nearer to it, than those whose laziness and despondency make them
give it up as unattainable
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is, that one often
comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't. -- Henry
Ward Beecher
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. - Winston Churchill
Copyright 1995. Permission to reprint is granted provided
acknowledgment is made to: Peace Center Theosophical Society in the
Philippines,
1 Iba St., Quezon City, Philippines
Thank You Kael
from Myspace for posting this.
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The
past cannot be undone.
What you change is how you feel about it.
How Are You Going To Do It?
You're tired of being negative. You're ready to change. You need a
plan. Read on, my friend, for this is the process of releasing
negativity and restoring your spirit. Change is good.
Your body and mind are a continuum. In other words, although they are
not exactly the same, a great overlap exists between your mind and
body, uniting them. Relieve your mental stress and your body will be
happier, too. It's time to unburden yourself of everything that has
been blocking progress in your life by keeping you attached to an
unhappy past.
~Feeling Better Is a Process~
Negativity accumulates in our lives, in our souls, over time. The
process of removing it optimally happens in layers. It's best to
release as much of each stored negative emotion as you can during each
successive attempt. And of course, you want a safe, private means of
release that is as quiet and effective as possible. You can jettison
all that old negativity easily and thoroughly by following simple
instructions.
~Visualization~
Sports teams have used visualization to improve their level of
excellence for decades, visualizing themselves winning trophies, for
example. This same technique that so wonderfully installs positive
expectation can also be used to eliminate negativity. This means that
you can literally let go of old stored feelings of anger, fear,
abandonment, embarrassment, and so on, that have been accumulating
inside of you all of your life.
~Let a Higher Power Help You~
Do you prefer the word God, Source, Universe, Goddess, Higher Self, or
do you have yet another name for that which is all that is? Let your
choice reflect your tastes, and let your Higher Power help you. For
once you release negative energy, your Higher Power can then transform
it into something positive elsewhere in the Universe.
~Humans Store Emotions Physically~
Your body is made of cells, the cells are made of molecules, the
molecules are made of atoms, and those are made up of whirling bits of
energy; ergo, your body is pure energy. We humans store old memories
and emotions in our bodies. That's why the releasing of negativity is
a physical, visceral feeling of expelling energy, because energy is
what it is, what it all is, what we all are. Ask Einstein.
~Examples of What To Release~
Fear, anger, rage, abandonment, rejection, guilt, shame, worry, blame,
numbness, hurt, hatred, jealousy, and disgust are good places to
begin. Your unique soul will know which feelings most need releasing,
and in which order to do them. You may need to release some of the
deepest ones several times to remove ever deeper layers.
~What Does It Feel Like?~
Expelling negativity is not a negative experience, it is a relief. For
example, when you let go of a deep layer of fear, you do not feel
afraid, you feel relieved of fear. Letting go of rage does not mean
that you'll be shouting and thrashing about. Rather, your feelings of
rage simply pass out of you, and it is a relief. The old negative
feelings are fully released and expelled outwards. Releasing negative
emotions needn't involve experiencing the pain inherent in any
individual emotion. You've already experienced way too much of that.
Getting rid of them feels like what it is: a release. It's like taking
a gorilla off of your back. It's removing old baggage that does not
serve you anymore. It actually feels good. And you will feel
progressively better afterwards each time.
~Follow Instructions Through the Steps~
Get quiet and close your eyes. Be in a quiet, comfortable place
without distractions. Visualize that you are standing in a beautiful
place with your arms up, way up, looking up at your Higher Power.
Select the negative emotion you first wish to release, and make that
happen. Feel it physically leaving your body, sailing up your arms,
and then being jettisoned out into space, gone for good, released
permanently. Repeat with all the rest of the stored emotions you wish
to release. Another approach is to phrase it like this: "I
release whatever is obstructing me from my goals," and let the
stored emotions let you know what they are as they leave.
~Then Restore Your Spirit~
Once the bad layers are released, it's best to fill up the spaces they
left with something wonderfully positive. May I suggest that you begin
the restoration of your spirit with Personal Power, Love, Acceptance,
and Inner Peace. Personal Power restores your boundaries to normal
settings, Love returns you to harmony with all that is, Acceptance
assures you that you are wanted and welcomed in the world, and Inner
Peace encloses you in a wonderful blanket of secure and peaceful
feelings. Simply visualize each of these in turn, whatever they look
like to you, and bring each inside of you, merging and bonding with
it, soaking in its individual positive energy, then radiating its
clarity and serenity everywhere throughout your person. Think of these
as permanent upgrades to your soul.
~By: Michelle Beaudry
Supplied
By Sara of Myspace
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