The Element of Finding Joy in Every Victory and Its Hope for Experiencing More Abundance In Our Lives

Oh to be victorious…

…to live life to our full potential… and to make every day a winning day…

….to fill each day with a blessed victory…

…a victory, worth a resounding, private or public, “Yes!”

A mental victory….

A physical victory…

An attitude victory…..

A gratitude victory…..

A relationship victory….

A career victory…..

A health victory…

A lifestyle victory…

A creative victory...

Victories don’t have to come with a trophy, or a certificate, to mean something to us.

Our most meaningful victories will be private victories.

Our most meaningful victories will be conquests of our own limitations, fears and habits, or resolutions of private difficulties few people know about.

Our personal victories are more important than our public victories.

Only we know what is keeping us from living life to our full potential, or keeping us from having healthy relationships, or keeping us from living a stable life.

There may be an ocean separating us from what we want to be, or who we want to be.

But every positive move in that direction is a victory.

It starts with visualizing a better life.

Developing a vision is a victory

Our progress towards any goal starts with a vision and a goal.

It was his vision and his goal of a better life, and his desire for a relationship with his son, that kept Weldon Long focused on turning his life around while in prison. This vision led him to pursue an MBA and to start writing daily letters to his son.

When he finished his sentence, Weldon Long was already a different man, ready to pursue the vision he had formed for himself.

A different future awaits anyone with a vision.

As the Dalai Lama said, “in order to carry a positive action we must develop a positive vision.”

Developing a clear vision is a victory.

Taking action is a victory 

The next priority is taking action.

Things don’t just happen.

You can’t put money in a machine and have success pop out of it.

We have to make our vision happen.

To paraphrase Leonardo da Vinci, “People of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They go out and happen to things.”

Staying the course is a victory

We need to be consistent.

We have to persist in what we are doing.

We have to be strong.

Things are not always going to go our way.

Things are not always going to go as planned.

Even if it’s one step forward and two steps backward, we have to keep going.

As Thomas Carlyle said, “Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.”

We have to stay strong. 

Being positive is a victory

Believing in ourselves and in the future is essential.

Williams James said, “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.”

We have to keep ourselves going by looking on the bright side.

We have to count our blessings and be grateful. 

We have to look for the silver lining in every cloud.

Recently, I came across some interesting information in an article on the mind-body connection.  The author, who was studying the effects of the body on depression, found out that those who have had Botox injections were unable to frown. Being physically unable to frown made them happier people.

This shouldn't inspire all of us to run out and get Botox shots, but it got me to thinking what else we can do to make our body work for our minds.

Exercise is an answer.

I saw someone whistling in the Coffee Room the other day, and I thought, hmmm....maybe that's an answer too.

How can you possibly whistle and be unhappy at the same time?

Let's all start whistling when we begin to feel low and see if it lifts our spirits.

The wonderful thing about being optimistic is it’s a force multiplier, says Colin Powell.

Doing our best is a victory

Doing our best is the next priority.

We have to give our vision and goal all we’ve got.

It may seem a long way to that vision of health or success or relationship happiness we are striving for, but we must “do our best”

In fact, it is all we can do.

Doing our best, even if we don’t succeed, will make us feel better about ourselves and give us more confidence.

As John Wooden said, “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

Knowing that we have put our best foot forward - that’s a victory.

Overcoming obstacles is a victory

As we move towards our vision and goal, life will throw different obstacles at us.

Some obstacles will be permanent.

Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken and Sea Biscuit, got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the age of 22 or 23, and has been confined to a home-bound life ever since.

Overcoming obstacles is a victory.

In Hillenbrand’s situation, she had to learn to overcome the limitations of being confined to her house.

She did not let it stop her.

When she came up with the idea to write a book about Sea Biscuit, she did all her research and her interviews right from home.

She did this again to chronicle Louie Zamperini's life in her book Unbroken.

Booker T Washington said, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”

Washington, an educator, author, orator and advisor to Presidents, overcame the obstacle of being born into slavery and having few privileges, to become one of the most accomplished and revered African American figures of his time.

As A.P. J Abdul Kalam, the scientist, and 11th President of India, said, “When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.”

Conquering our fears is a victory

 “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to our courage.”

These words were said by the author Anais Nin.

It takes courage to face our problems.

It takes courage to accept responsibility for our mistakes.

It takes courage to accept our weaknesses.

It takes courage to recognize the truth of what is holding us back from happiness and success, or a fulfilling and abundant life.

We need to find that courage.

Conquering our fears is a victory.

Being open to change is a victory

Change is hard, but as the saying goes, “Anything worthwhile is difficult”

We should not shrink from anything which could put us on the path to a better life.

Sometimes to get our lives back on track, we will have to make some big changes, maybe even completely overhaul our lives.

The best things in life start with change.

We should not resist change.

Being open to change is a victory.

Dealing with our dragons and demons is a victory

We all have our private dragons and demons.

One of my demons was being a high maintenance person.

Through meditation, I learned to deal with being high maintenance.

I have never looked back.

Here's the Rx for it.

The book How God Changes Your Brain got me started.

You can read my review of this book on Amazon, or my post Connected Minds.

You will learn about all the different ways in which meditation changed my life, and can change yours too.

Rising above adversity is a victory

David Brinkley said, “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

Sometimes life snows us down.

But like Louis Zamperini, the hero of the movie Unbroken, we have to pick ourselves up after each blow.

The movie, a study in human resilience, is worth watching.

It is amazing Louis Zamperini survived what he survived as a POW.

When he became a free man, he initially turned to alcohol and became an alcoholic.

But he was able to bounce back from that as well.

Whatever life throws at us, we have to learn to pick ourselves up.

A Bachelor’s degree in adversity often precedes a Masters in joy and victory.

As Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. ”

Finally, being grateful is a victory

We have two choices.

We can be grudging and resentful, and think of all the wrong things people have done to us.

Or we can be thankful and grateful, and think of all the right things people have done for us, or the things that have worked in our favor.

As James E Faust said, “A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.”

As soon as we start to think grateful thoughts, we will start feeling better about our lives.

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

I will end with these words by Joyce Meyer, encouraging us to be careful with the words we think, and the words we speak:

“Our words will either bring life and victory or death and destruction. If we want to be happy, we have to be serious about speaking words of life that line up with God's Word.”

Think about the words you speak and the words you think as you go about your business today.

As always, thanks for reading, and hope you have a victory-filled day and week…..M…..a Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay for his comments and compliments on my last post, and thanks to the rest of you, for your likes, pins and votes. Much appreciated.

P.S. I am excited to learn that Ajay’s book Operation Al-Nagrib is out on Amazon.  Woo-hoo! I can’t wait to read it.