Broken Halo's and Life

Have you ever chased a dream, something you genuinely believed in? The loftier the idea the faster you seem to run towards captivating the things that belong in your dream; like the angels above you are seemingly flying towards a successful conclusion. About this time is when you run into people, sometimes those with really strong beliefs that are intent on clipping your wings and knocking your halo to the ground... just when you were flying so high. Why does this happen? Are the people around you intentionally trying to detour you or cause you to fail? It sure can feel like it!

There are rules to being a successful dream chaser. Rule number one is to never share your dream with anyone who does not support it. No matter how tempting it may be, never share the dream or the progress you are making towards achieving it. If you break this rule you invite a landslide of comments about how foolish and unreachable your ideas are, about how no one has done it because it's impossible. Soon, not only have your wings been clipped, your beautiful halo of dreams is sitting askew like a child's toy on your head. You may or may not ever regain your momentum. It's even more unlikely that you will forget all those reasons why you can't make it. It's good to understand that these people imagine they are helping you; they want you to be realistic and deal with reality. What they cannot understand is what they believe is their reality, not yours. Everyone has a reality, don't adopt anyone else's.

Rule number two is more fun; you will never be given a dream that cannot be achieved, if you stay the course and press on regardless of appearances. This sounds easy but presents most of the challenges encompassed in achieving your dreams. It is the 'press on' part that is fraught with peril. It may be easy to say 'I'm trying,' but to press on means to ignore the images of everyone else's reality that will be presented to you in graphic detail. It means you must exert as much or more pressure to press through things that may seem impossible to penetrate barriers or alter you course around the obstacles. Both require a miracle from the human mind. You must be willing to change your mind to find the solution. For a human to really change their mind requires a miracle. Once our mind is set we are very nearly immovable from that position. We typically stop right about here and decide the naysayers were right and we were foolish. That means you decided not to press on.

The champions' in life share a few odd characteristics; they have tunnel vision with eyes that remain fixed on the goal, ignoring the pitfalls as they run right past them. They refuse to give up no matter how hopeless things appear. Champions find pleasure in the pursuit; they laugh at obstacles never imagining them to be a stop sign but rather see them as something in the path to make them stronger. There is no spilled milk in the mind of a champion but rather a host of stories about things that were put in their path to make them strong enough to stay the course and win. Champions are keenly aware that a strong and powerful hand is guiding the wind beneath their wings; they find great comfort in this and hear the words of encouragement, 'just press on.' And one more thing, they all arrive at the finish line with their halo in place having never taken the time to allow anyone to knock it off!

Be a champion, press on and wear your halo with pride.