HOPE can CHANGE Your Direction
“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and often writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is, with what he hoped to make it.”-J.M Barrie
Have you been intending to create a “new” you for some time, but just cannot seem to find the time or the motivation to do something about it? I’m sure you are familiar with the old saying about the road of good intentions. Throughout the course of your journey, that is one road you can’t afford to venture down. There is a flashing neon sign located at its starting point which does its best to deter you. For this way is the path littered in abundance with the fearful, the procrastinators, and the broken down. Many travelers with the best of intentions figure this detour might be a temporary rest stop. Some may not even realize at first that they have made a wrong turn. But this trip is headed down a one-way street to nowhere, hurling its unsuspecting visitors onto a fast track to getting off track. Though returning is always an option, most who end up here find a quick U-turn almost impossible to navigate.
Recently, a participant in a health and wellness seminar I was privileged to conduct, questioned his ability to bring to pass lasting changes in his life, or in a sense, re-write his personal story. Given his family’s history of serious health problems for several generations, his ongoing struggles to overcome his own, and the confusing and quite often contradicting information concerning the best method to produce a much desired change, he simply asked if he was beyond hope. “Where there is no hope there can be no endeavor.”-Samuel Johnson
As I looked around the room, my mind opened and showed me the faces of countless people who had expressed the very same sentiments to me over the years. In those brief seconds, my heart swelled with compassion. I knew that I must do everything that I could to lift up this downtrodden individual. I desired to rekindle the hope within him, to enlarge his vision of his personal potential in order that he might feel an increase in the courage needed to continue his journey. I realized in that moment of reflection all who were gathered had heard the same clarion call, the call to learn to change, to grow, and to progress. Each of them wished to find a degree of happiness they’d never known before by coming unto a simpler, healthier, optimistic way of living.
There is not one whose physical being is ever completely beyond repair; not a single one whose past destructive habits cannot be cast away; not one who has been touched with sorrow or grief or frustration who can’t soon feel some degree of relief, joy, and jubilation.
I shared with the assembly a creed which I had committed to memory. “I Choose…to live by choice, not by chance, to be motivated, not manipulated, to be useful, not used, to make changes, not excuses, to excel, not compete. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others.”-unknown author It is a very serious responsibility to look within yourself and assess the depths of your convictions and the truth of your conduct. For what grand purpose are you desiring a transformation of your physical appearance? Do you believe in yourself, even just a little? Do you believe in the infinite power of hope? You’ve done some things over and over again and yet have not been able to produce a different result. You are not insane. But are you afraid of trying something brand new, something completely different, something more challenging and uncomfortable? Can you clearly identify the pattern of your mistakes? Can you forgive yourself ? Are you willing to accept the reality that all things will not be within your power to control? Will you embrace your personal duty to do your absolute best? Are you sufficiently humble to understand that you can in no way proceed without assistance? Are you ready to make your changes visible to the world? Do you know that it will be impossible to hide the “better way” of life that you may choose? Do you know that others may hurl obstacles taking the form of hatred, jealousy, and temptation your way as your conversion to a newness of life begins? Are you willing to do this even with the foreknowledge that your physical transformation will not be lasting? I encourage you to honestly search and ponder for the answers to these questions. To the gentleman at the seminar and to you, I promise that no one is a hopeless case. You can become a new man or woman, full of good health and enriched with hope.
“Those who stand in the threshold of life, always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land. Today is the day of decision.”-Joseph B. Wirthlin
So, the warning is obvious. If you choose to indulge in further procrastination, you will most assuredly come to a crossroad, even the “road of good intentions”. It matters not whether your choice to delay was born of sheer fatigue with your journey, mere laziness, fear of failure, or clear complacency. You run the risk of condemning yourself to this awful state: you cannot do the thing you most desire for you have run out of time. Don’t let this happen to you. Set your alarm clock for now. Give thanks that you have this very moment to decide that hope can propel you to change.