Outline:
- Failure not for the unconquered spirit
- The whole dignity of man is in thought
- Perfect health with perfect mind
- Our will to conquer our moods
- Imagination, a great power to change unpleasant experience
- Persevering mediocrity, a virtue
- The very consciousness of being dull changed many lives
- The power of persistence
- The cause of success and failure
You may say that you have failed too often, that there is no use in trying; that it is impossible for you to succeed, and that you have fallen too often even to attempt to get on your feet again. Nonsense! There is no failure for a man whose spirit is unconquered. No matter how late the hour or how many his failures, success is still possible. Time and again, in the history of our daily lives, chronicled in our newspapers, recorded in biographies, or exhibited before our eyes, we see men and women redeeming past failures, rising up out of the stupor of discouragement and boldly turning face forward once more. There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self-respect or his self-confidence.
There is hope for an ignorant man who cannot write his name, even, if he has stamina and backbone. There is hope for a cripple who has courage; there is hope for a boy who has nerve and grit, even though he is so hemmed in that he has apparently no chance in the world, but there is no hope for a man who cannot or will not stand up after he falls, but loses heart when opposition strikes him, and lays down his arms after defeat.
The whole dignity of man is in thought. So his whole duty is to think correctly. Unless we learn to think correctly, therefore, life must be a failure. Instead of being the dignified, happy, and beautiful thing that the Creator meant it to be, it will be mean, unhappy, unlovely and unsuccessful.
[the_ad id=”17141″]To have a perfectly healthy body one must possess a cheerful, healthy, optimistic mind. Love, peace, joy, gladness, kindness, unselfishness, contentment, and serenity these are the mental attributes, which, by bringing all the bodily function into harmony, produce a sound and healthy body. Any one who chooses may externalize these attributes in him by persistent correct thinking.
Let us learn how to dominate our moods. Thus we will attain peace and serenity, which ensure health and happiness. Captious moods, fretfulness, worry, anxiety and fear are the dead enemies of man. They can only be overcome by constant watchfulness and persistence.
We can conquer our moods. We can be what we will to be. We can work miracles with ourselves by the power of creative thought. We can make ourselves, magnets to attract the conditions we desire instead of repellent forces. If you are morose, moody despondent; if you have a habit of worrying about things or any other fault which hinders your growth or progress, think persistently of the opposite virtue and practice it until it is yours by force of habit.
You feel unhappy and out of sorts with the entire world. It depresses you. Bear in mind that imagination has great power to change unpleasant thought or experience. When you are the victim of vicious moods just say to yourself, “This is all unreal; it has nothing to do with my higher and better self for the Creator never intended me to be dominated by such dark pictures.” Persistently recall the most delightful experiences, the happiest days of your life. Look on some beautiful object in art or in nature or read a passage in some helpful, uplifting book. Hold persistently in the mind such things as you have enjoyed. Drive out the failure thoughts by thinking of the successful things you have accomplished. Call hope to your aid, and picture a bright successful future. Surround yourself with happy thoughts for a few minutes and you will be surprised to see how all ghosts of blackness and glooms all thoughts which have worried and haunted you, have gone out of sight. They cannot bear the light. Light joy, gladness, and harmony are your best protectors. Discords, darkness and sickness cannot exist where they are. Until we can control our moods at will, we can never do our best work. We must master our thoughts. No man, who is at the mercy of his moods, is a free man.[the_ad id=”17142″]
“There is no art or science,” says Claredon, “too difficult for industry to attain to”. Persevering mediocrity, says one, “is much more respectable and unspeakably more useful than talented inconsistency.” “It is not always the highest talent that thrives vest,” says Joseph Cook; “mediocrity, with tact, will outweigh talent often times.” Germis with a sure foundation of common or to the world. There is probably such a thing as genius; but, nine times out of ten, it is only a great aptitude for patient labor. It is admitted fact that slowly but steadily wins the race. What becomes of the ‘smart boys’ at school who drop back into nothingness so many times when their plodding schoolmaster rise slowly but surely? They fall behind in race of life because they don’t feel the need of hard work in their cases. They have a conspicuous place, short work and a large reward. They loathe the sweat of toil.
Keep in mind that you must have no dependence on your own genius. If you have great talents, industry will improve them. If you have moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. Nothing is denied to well direct labor; nothing is to be obtained without it. Remember that it is not alone a sensitive and passionate heart allied to a vivid and powerful imagination that makes our Iqbal; it is the poet’s unceasing toil that makes him; his genius appears in his “work” “what men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour”.
The very consciousness of being dull and stupid has spurred many a boy on to make the more of what little ability he had. The very humiliation of being told so often by teachers and parents that he is not” bright makes him determined that he will not be a nobody. The. very comparison of himself with his brilliant brother has perhaps made him set his teeth with a resolution to show that the brother has not absorbed all the ability of the family.[the_ad id=”17150″]
Discovering how limited his abilities are, he makes great efforts. Having learnt that he is not versatile, he does not have the temptation to dissipate his energies on a score of things, but simply develops his own talent and makes the most of it. He can concentrate and focus his powers more easily than can the ten talented men. It does not matter how clever a youth may be, whether he leads his class in college, he will never succeed if he lacks persistence.
Persistency of purpose is a power. It creates confidence in others. Everybody believes in the determined man. When he undertakes anything his battle is half won, because not only he himself, but everyone who knows him, believes that he will accomplish whatever he sets out to do. People know that it is useless to oppose a man who uses his.stumbling blocks as stepping-stones.
The success of a dull or average youth and the failure of a brilliant one is a constant surprising. But if the different cases are closely analyzed, we shall find that the explanation lies in the staying power of the seemingly dull boy. His success lies in the ability to stand firm as a rock under all circumstances. Nothing can divert him from his purpose. While the brilliant but erratic boy, lacking persistency wastes energy by dissipating them in several directions.
Perseverance enkindles sleeping powers. It stimulates latent energies and arouses sources undreamed of before. It multiplies ability and often takes the place of talent.
It is this conscious, continuous.
Ceaseless endavour
Over the east and the west
Puts the Momin in power
And not the narcissistic contemplation
Dumb and mute
In the end degrading man
Into a butt irresolute
What Iqbal says Is true to life
“The effort is thy fate”
Hence strive and strive.
