Ponderings Along the Pathway...Success

Hello folks! It is time for another edition of Ponderings Along the Pathway, an exclusive feature over here on the Path of Positivity. We're in luck as Pat's writing muse is with her again this month. The purpose of this column is to continue with the goal of this blog which is to create a space "designed to inspire, nurture and provide support for the soul by creating a positive path to follow, one project or post at a time". Providing some motivational introspection, is one way of achieving this goal.

This month, PAT is here to share her thoughts on the subject: SUCCESS

How long did it  take you to learn to ride a bike? Did you start with training wheels? When they came off, did you have any problems steering or braking?

How many...

• times have you tried to whistle before you mastered it?
• mini M&Ms did you try to swallow without chewing to go from liquid/chewable pills to the real deal?
• images did you color with alcohol markers before succeeding in blending and highlighting until you were satisfied?

Very few people master something without failure. Practice makes perfect may be a cliche, but cliches are made from real experience. I wonder how long it took somebody to make up that cliche??

Success doesn't happen immediately; it may not happen for a long time. But people who do succeed have built their success on past failures, learning something new, but most importantly, they keep trying.

Every time I pick up a paintbrush, my mind and my hand will use every lesson learned from the previous canvas. In fact, I still toss or scrape clean a canvas when things go the wrong way. Yet I continue to paint, not knowing if my canvas will be successful or not. And that's the secret to SUCCESS. Perseverance is an attitude one needs in order to complete the race, master a skill or just plain get to the completion of your goals.

There used to be a sports show called The Wide World of Sports in which the narrator started off with something about "...the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."  Defeat might be an agony, but it's also a spring board toward that thrill you get when you accomplish your goals, create an awesome card, and succeed where you previously failed.

Personally, I journal my "thrills and agonies" almost daily. I keep a to-do list and when I manage to tick off several things on that list, it goes right next to the water color that turned into an ugly gray glop and had to be thrown away in my journal. Success is just the culmination of many small and large failures. Then I can track all the failures in it that led up to my successes. It empowers me to know that I stayed the course and didn't stop trying.

Another thing I do to keep me focused on success is to find affirmations and encouraging quotes on Pinterest. Here is one of my favorites that I hang next to my bed so that it's the first thing I see:

Finally, don't dwell on your failures. Think of them as notes taken in school before the big test. Learn from them, because we all may be on different paths, but Success is always there. It's just a little further down the path. So keep walking. I believe in you!! I believe our paths may intersect and we can stop and share our success stories before going our own ways. Keep positive!

 

Success is something that we all strive for. Good luck on your journey of discovery to make each of your own endeavours successful ones! As you learn and grow, may your Path be strewn with many successes along the way.

Stay healthy and we'll see you on Monday when we'll be back with the midway.