rename+41

=Determination= (By Sam)(ael) (Return to Teachings)

Once when I was young I played soccer. I played on a regular YMCA team with a bunch of other kids and we got along alright.

The reason I am telling this story is because it changed my life. I tried something new and I will never be the same. I am happier for it.

You see I jumped through the loops like everyone else and I was clumsy like I always have been until I tought myself much later to have tact. The main difference was that unlike many of them I did not have a large amount of talent. I was good. Maybe even better than most. But I was playing with some real soccer players.

As the days progressed I did alright. I was very.... ok. Nothing special really though I tried and I gladly did whatever I was supposed to. But a few things were just different. I did not like grappling for the ball. I also had ideas that just didn't work out in the game. And not enough skill to even attempt them. Soooo.

One day something just shifted. I must have gotten a large dose of testosterone or had a violent turn of personality because that day I went into several scuffles like a bull. I felt like I was playing football with my feet. I ran harder, plunged into every fray and kicked so hard that opponents who got in my way got knocked around by the ball. It was great.

You see I was bent upon doing something. And when I applied myself not just willingly but agressively.... I made miracles happen. Suddenly I was a good player on par with the rest.

I even got the name bulldozer because I had a tendancy to plunge into those scuffles and come out with a ball and scatter everything else. It wasn't a foul either. I just sheerly overpowered the other players. I also had a tendancy to grunt loudly as I kicked. I must have hurt some kids pride. But I wasn't interested in the game. I just loved the feeling of putting that ball in a goal or taking it out of a scuffle and passing it.

I was not breaking any rules or living a lower standard of play. But after that day I knew how to get what I wanted. To take the ball out of the scuffle.

Life rarely gives you the first shot at what you want, let alone a second one to mess up. The only way to garuntee a shot is to be the most agressive. The only way to take the moment is to play with everything on the table. I am not talking about gambling. This is life. If I were to gamble with my life I would sit on the couch and gamble each day away on the off chance that everything would just fall on my lap.

Instead I play more fiercly than anyone on the field. I make determination something my opponents can feel shooting out of my body. Life is awed by determination. It leaves everyone else that isn't playing all-out stunned while you sweep away with the prize. A man that knows what he wants can have anything he is willing to play everything on. You will find that when you have that kind of determination about something, no power on earth can keep it from you. Reality is awed by that kind of command.

Once you experience it. You will not know a better way but to love.

(Return to Teachings)