Live Your Dream Through Overcoming Obstacles And Never Ever Quit

Category/Subject:
Inspiration, inspirational books, inspirational writing, success, npersonal growth, motivation, persistence, dreams.
Web Sites: http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html and http://www.craiglockbooks.com
Other Articles are available at: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles.htmln(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, words of inspiration, "spiritual, spiritual writings" (how "airey-fairey"), and money management - how boring now, Craig!)

Publishing GuidelinesnWe hope that the following article (formatted to 65 characters, napprox) may be informative and helpful to your e-zine readers, or non your web site. If it helps others "out there" in any way, then nwe're happy. This article (as with all my articles) may be freely npublished, electronically or in print. n
"We share what we know, so that we all may grow."n n *
LIVE YOUR DREAM THROUGH OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AND
NEVER EVER QUIT (Updated) n
A collection of thoughts and quotations compiled by Craig Lock n(in 1994) ...

Authors' Note:
Quotations in this article have been extracted from A THIRD
SERVING OF CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL and CHICKEN
SOUP FOR THE MIND: 101 stories to open the heart and nrekindle the spirit. These fine books were written and compiled nby Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Sincere thanks to
Jack and Mark for sharing your "global voice of inspiration" nthrough your work...and most importantly, for encouraging nand inspiring me to follow my path in life - no matter what!.

"What you ARE is as important as what you do."

"Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying." n- Ralph Waldo Emerson n
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who nare doing it."n- anon n
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." n- Henry Ford n
No matter what path you are on, people (often well-meaning) will nnot understand and will criticise you. Are you strong enough to nhandle the critics? n
Passionate people, who live their dreams, embrace what they love nand never give up. They overcome many (and often seemingly ninsurmountable) obstacles on the path to success in pursuing ntheir life vision. n
"Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to ste
nresolve." n- Leonardo Da Vinci n
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your neyes off the goal." n- Henry Ford n
"We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who nwalked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last npiece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer nsufficient proof, that everything can be taken away from a man nbut one thing: The last of his freedoms - to choose one's nattitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own nway." n- Viktor E. Frankl in his book, 'Man's Search for Meaning' n n *
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAILn
You've failed many times; although you may not remember. n n* Didn't you fall down the first time you tried to walk? (What nwould you have done, if your dear mom had given up on you ever nwalking as a baby). No, she waited patiently for you to take nthose first tentative steps. n n* You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't nyou? n n* Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy nhitters, the ones who strike the most home runs, also strike out na lot. n
Now for some examples of famous achievers, who refused to quit...

R.H Macy failed 7 times, before his store in New York caught on.

Harland Sanders was 65-years-old, with little more than a $105
Social Security payment in his pocket, when he started KentuckynFried Chicken. The Colonel apparently was rejected by over 1,000nbanks before he became successful in selling his unique recipenof southern fried chicken. Was he chick'n to keep on asking fornorders for his "finger-lickn good creation"?

Mark V Hansen had been working with his partner, Jack Canfieldnon an inspirational book for some time; however their idea wasnrejected by 140 book publishers as "unsellable." Today, the
70 books in the 'Chicken Soup' series have soldnmore than 90 million copies in 39 languages!

TIME and PERSISTENCE!

English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he npublished 564 books. A glimmer of hope for me then! n
Baseball legend, Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times; but he also nhit 714 home runs. n
So don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss, nwhen you don't even try. n
Abraham Lincoln didn't quit. He once wrote:

"The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A nduty to strive is the duty of us all. I feel a call to that nduty." n- Abraham Lincoln n
"The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped out from under nme, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said nto myself, 'It's a slip and not a fall.'" Lincoln spoke these ninspiring words after losing a senate race. He never quit...and nso won't I. n
Will YOUR name be mentioned some day as not being a "quitter", nwho overcame almost insurmountable obstacles? n
Will YOU quit, whatever you are doing...if you really believe in nyour "unique calling" on this planet - a tribute to the power of npersistance and great faith? A tribute to the sheer strength of nthe indominitable and unquenchable human spirit - the sparknof God within EACH one of us. n
WILL YOU SAY, "I WILL UNTIL" nnandn
"BE ALL THAT I CAN BE?"

Craig Lock ("Information and Inspiration Distributor, "Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder")

"Be all that you are CAPABLE of being."n- Catherine Mansfieldn
"Every man has his own destiny; nthe only imperative is to follow it, no matter where it leads nhim."n - Henry Miller n
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how nthe strong man strumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have ndone them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually nin the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, nwho strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again nbecause there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who nknows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, nwho at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and nwho at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place nshall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither nvictory nor defeat." n - Theodore Roosevelt

P.S: Thanks, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Rooseveld for being ngreat encouragers and true inspirations to me! n
"For me true success may be measured by the fortitude, with which nso many ordinary people around the globe overcome numerous nseemingly insurmountable obstacles through sheer force of ncharacter and spirit. They rise above the severest adversity ndown the ordinary, yet often rocky, tempestous (and tumultous) njou
ey of life. Unheralded, yet with an indominitable, unquenchable nand infinite generosity of human spirit, they are the true heroes of nthis world.".n- Craig Lock (13th August 2004)

"God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into the world with a different collection of life circumstances that often severely challenge us, things that give us joy and in expressing our talents allow us to bless the people, the world around us."n- craig

"Our talents are our gifts from God...nbut what we do with them are our gifts TO the Ultimate Source"

About the author:
Craig believes in sharing information and insights to make a difference in nthis world: to help and especially encourage people along life's magical njou
ey ... and that brings him the greatest joy.nhttp://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html and http://www.craiglockbooks.com

The various books that "Craig felt inspired to write" are available at:nhttp://www.myspace.com/craigloknwww.lulu.com/craiglock andnhttp://www2.webng.com/write
z/books.html

All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children - MINE!

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Uplifting, encouraging and empowering people through the power of words and thought energy. Change YOUR world and you help change THE world." nn