Sensing Destiny...

A sense of destiny is the sweetest aroma. 

I’ve always had an overwhelming sense of destiny. In fact, I don’t know how it feels to live without this sense. It makes all of my decisions, the bad ones aside, which this sense assures me aren’t mine. It assures me rather that it will gather these to garrison me until I am fit for what it envisions.

It’s hard to explain this sense to others, to myself routinely. Yet I am keenly aware of its presence. I’m also beholden to its lessons. In fact, I would’ve spurned all that I’ve learned had I not learned to believe in this. Believing is hard routinely and impossible occasionally. Then, I tell myself, “Joel, you’re crazy.”  

Despite my assessments, I still wear destiny’s vestments, however invisible they are to others. Still, I can’t help but wonder about the bumbles and the brambles, the hunger and the stammers, the inability to answer for my choices. Meanwhile others are being promoted; some are retiring. I, however, am still desiring the fulfillment of what is most appealing about destiny. What this is differs for each based on their range and reach.

In this regard, destiny transcends our search for fulfillment. It does so to raise our ceiling until we cease to expect and let God do what He desires. The process stills yet stirs our fires. So much until, part of us feels frozen; the other chosen. We eventually learn, however, that we are beholden. Else we would achieve what cheats us of God’s will for our lives. What this is fulfills immeasurably because it represents our true destiny. We err when we pair destiny with destination.

Stepping into Greatness

Our lives are too large to be scarred by failure indefinitely.

 Greatness demands a commitment so authentic that most of us fear making it. So we accept less than we desire only to admire those whose commitment is authentic. This doesn’t mean everyone begins with greatness in mind. But it does mean that greatness is ingrained in our souls and native to ourselves. Unfortunately, however, most of us weren’t raised in climates wherein greatness was a requirement. Even so, we can still commit to its achievement rather than being cheated by circumstances.

In the Beginning

          The first step is to step outside what we believe is possible for ourselves. We do this by developing a vision that inspires a discipline to do what we routinely avoid. In this regard, discipline isn’t a choice. We all have it and employ it daily. What matters, however, is its direction. If we can work 40 hours a week, we can do likewise when what we seek is worth having. We know its worth instinctively but are discouraged continually by the time it will take to realize our dreams. So we realize schemes that keep us distracted instead. Greatness, however, requires us to use our discipline towards our dreams despite delays and distractions. If we can do this we assist ourselves greatly.

Stepping in to Greatness

          The second step to achieving greatness is to stop seeking guarantees because these grieve when greatness fails. Moreover, if guarantees were possible we would wrestle until we wrested greatness. Hence the importance of planning, patience and perseverance. These offer the only guarantees possible. Everything else is radically contingent however we spin it. This thought should thrill rather than chill. It thrills when we maintain our zeal by respecting ourselves enough to give our all though we fall repeatedly. This respect often resembles insanity. Yet we must be missing a few screws to be enthused when reasons lack and results indict our efforts.

Dessert Time!

          The final step to achieving greatness requires us to embrace our worthiness. In fact, we must develop a sense of entitlement to survive the entanglements we encounter in route. This sense of dessert is underwritten by work. We do this work independent of circumstances. Too many of us enthrone circumstances. Yet we readily cite the resolve of others despite circumstances. Our references indict unless we excite ourselves similarly by deeming ourselves as worthy. These simple steps can help us step closer to greatness.

 

WHAT ARE YOU COMMITTED TO?

    What are you committed to? When all is said and assessed, what desire has possessed you so that you are willing to go to the end to realize it? Do you have such a passion? Do you dream such  dreams? If not, why not? What would you do if you truly believed in you the way you say? Would you be living the same life as you are today? If so, that’s okay. Still, it’s good for us to ask ourselves, what are we committed to. In doing so, we maintain our priorities rather than adopting those imposed from the outside. More importantly, we renew our strength and resolve to invent ways to achieve our goals, whether personal or professional. So, as you go about your day today, take time to ask yourself, “What am I committed to.” In answering this you take risks consistent with your aspirations, which is the prerequisite for living a life of greatness! Enjoy: http://youtu.be/sI7kabeZqzY

The Diffidence of Greatness

It's difficult not to be diffident amid despair. But that's when we must believe that we will get there, though for now how eludes and life elects to deny our progress. Even so, we must continue to go in the direction of our dream. In doing so, we diminish the sting of failure and the nagging "whether" that makes us wonder if we will ever succeed. Yet then more than ever we must believe. Doing so is better than quitting, all things considered.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3NLjUDRFnUjIdn_BF2IECQ?feature=mhee

GARNERING GREATNESS

    

     Greatness is exhausting. So it's normal to get discouraged when days fail to deliver what we envision for ourselves. Then more than ever we are tempted to resign our pursuit. In doing so, however, we are allowing inevitable delays and dilemmas to bring our passion to a simmer rather than keeping it inflamed. That's why it's important for us to gain the right perspective regarding our endeavors. Unfortunately, however, most people under-estimate just what it takes to be great.

     They routinely assume talent to be sufficient, at least until they discover that it isn't. Success at acheiving greatness also demands that we monitor our attitude. In this regard, we must be willing to fail repeatedly without being defeated or becoming indifferent toward our dreams. That's one of the things winners do that others don't. Others tend to focus exclusively on outcomes. They fail to develop the insight necessary for greatness. Outcomes matter but they are routinely contrary to what we envision for ourselves. Thus, we should strive to control our attitudes when we can't control our outcomes. If we focus on doing this, outcomes will change inevitably as we adjust accordingly to practical demands.

     If we want to garner greatness we must make acommitment to ourselves to manage our attitude. In doing so, we are creating a climate of greatness for ourselves. Moreover, we must find joy in the moment by occasionally stepping away from our efforts to appreciate other aspects of our lives. We must use undesirable outcomes to deepen our insight on into ourselves, our circumstances and what we truly envision. In doing so, we will find ourselves refreshed, empowered and better able to garner greatness!

If we don't fulfill our promise we owe others an apology.

        If we thought the impossible were so, life would cease. Yet none of us believes in the impossible.  We acknowledge it but we don’t believe in it. To believe in the impossible is to reject our passion. Yet our passion stirs us nightly and sustains us daily. The moment we believe in the impossible life passes. Only by rejecting its myth do we master.

DENSITY AND DESTINY

You must be porous to hear the chorus that calls some to greatness. Those who can't ignore its chant, being deaf to music.

         

          You have to be dense to do what makes no sense, especially when you do it at your own expense because inwardly you are convinced that you are being spent in Destiny’s service. Thus nights find you working and days find you nervous because your only resource is a fund of courage that renews itself without your help (or permission), compelling you thus to pursue the vision. Meanwhile others behave as if you don’t exist. Those that are aware often stare stymied because you keep aligning yourself with the unseen with no guarantee that you will succeed.

          In your defense you erect a fence between their doubts and your own even as you are driven to labor to manifest a greatness that only you believe in enough to invest despite the stress and ridicule. The only consolation is that you have now become indifferent when, in referring to you, others whisper, “fool.” Instead you flash a half-smile because you too have turned this stile in an effort to turn away from what consumes your days and command your nights. Not even God is the consolation that religion excites. Yet HHe is the Source of Destiny’s summons.

          He’s also the reason your friends start running when they see you coming. It isn’t because you solicit money or anything else. You just sometimes need help believing in yourself. But it seldom happens, so you keep hoping and working that Destiny is certain, and that you aren’t deceived. Yet in reviewing the lives of the great similar parallels you perceive. That’s what makes it hard just to discard the time you’ve invested and to discount the ways you’ve been tested. So, you just vow to die until you are ushered into eternity away from time. At least it can’t be said that you denied your allegiance to the thing that kneaded itself in your soul.

A GOALIE OR A ROADIE

Are you a goalie or a roadie? Are you guarding your dream or running from things that would help you to accomplish these? How do you stand the tease, the tears, the irrational fears that keep your feet moving and desire brooding for fulfillment? That's what I wonder when I sit in the window looking at others peeking around corners trying to escape opportunities that are unique and designed especially for them. Yet they refuse to embrace, let alone guard them. They prefer instead to travel along paths that are dim. Metaphorically, they are roadies who lack the boldness to pursue their dreams.

HOW LONG

Time spans but God's plans always prevail.

How long have you been waiting? Have you forgotten or are you still dating? The dreams that you envisioned, do they still have the precision to keep you on course despite the divorce between where you are now and where you desire to be? Or did you expect to succeed more easily, like some of the people you've heard about? How do you feel; are you in doubt? If so, that's okay because doubt is inevitable, especially when we desire to achieve the remarkable. So, instead of giving up and cursing yourself out, continue to be committed to what called you out from the crowd, and which gave you the courage to live out loud. Though, for the momemt you are overwhelmed. Even in these moments God is still at the helm, guiding your ship and ensuring that your trip will succeed. Of course, in moments of despair this is hard to believe.

SAY WHAT

What have you done that makes you feel as if you deserve a place in the sun? What have you given; how much have you grieved? Do you know what it is to hope against hope, still choosing to believe? Does being a fan make you feel like "the man" or "the woman?" When others are sleep, greatness are you wooing? If not, you will always clap and yap about other people; then in the same breath proclaim that we are all created equal.

THE MIDDLE

Things always muddle in the middle. But if you keep walking, enduring the dangers (and daggers), you'll emerge with a swagger self-redeeming. Then others will pay to see your wounds, even those who doubt your win.

BEING BRAVE

Will you be brave when things fade and defeat seems certain, or will you prematurely fold and behold the loss of your mission? That's the decision we face when disappointment douses. Then we must decide whether to strive or to have a stroke, surrendering our hope because something broke our heart. Persistence in this regard is another word for "heart." Without it we won't achieve it, whatever it is no matter how much others give us their support. Ultimately, the dream is ours to abort.

THE ROAD

The road we travel often baffles because we chart unwisely and short-sightedly. We do so because we imagine that our directions are synonymous with perfection, at least until we get lost. Then we realize that maps and markers are often harder to read than we imagine. In this regard, the GPS to success often fails to help us in our quest. Thus we must be willing to travel blindly trusting kindly in the goodness of fortune while be willing to hearken to whatever help we can receive in route. Otherwise we will pout and complain at the pain of being detained in our pursuit. If this weren't so, success' road would be empty because each traveler would have fulfilled her destiny. Yet the fact that she hasn't proves that we are given to assuming more than we should about just how good our maps are. If, however, we persist we will arrive eventually.

ON BREEZES

You will if you can. It's all about the demand you make on yourself. Otherwise you will dream yourself to death, only to discover that every other person who eventually acheived stayed committed even when the breeze blew them over. The only difference is that they refused to surrender.

PLEA BARGAINING...

The pining to pursue our dreams is so common that it corrupts. Most are rendered with the rabid, "If I win the lottery..." How can the heart handle such folly? I understand the relief that the idea grants. But I reject the statement it makes about ourselves. Why must we win the lottery to pursue our destiny? What fears must we defeat? Or, are we waiting passively for fortune to favor without changing our behavior accordingly, forfeiting opportunities?

ON BEING PLIABLE

We must be pliable to be liable for success. In being rigid we are apt to stiffen when we should bend instead. Hence, the importance of passion which, rightly managed, enables us to maneuver accordingly without, however, forfeiting our integrity.

THE METHOD OF GREATNESS --CHECK IT OUT!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?1410611390628&oid=161028767246461

ON SEEING

We see more than we admit yet often pursue less than we desire. Some people refrain because the claims of success are too demanding, according to their standards. Others ignore because they aren't sure of themselves. Even so, we still see whether or not we seize accordingly.

ON TRANSITION

When we get stuck in transition we become transients, wandering the streets and enduring the strokes of those who escaped. (www.joelbryant1.com )

GETTING THROUGH TODAY...

If you can get through today with all of its weight, you can win tomorrow despite the sorrow that threatens or the desires that are waiting to be fulfilled. If you don't, someone else will. It's not that they're better than you. They're just more willing to do what it takes to out-wait the cycles of success, which none can rush.