Never Accept Defeat By Empowering Your Thoughts
“Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.” — Bruce Lee
Any belief we hold is a state of mind that we can influence through the power of our own thoughts. Emotions impact our mindset all throughout the day, challenging us and lifting our spirits. We hold the power to never give in to shallow temptations or relinquish our power to control our thoughts.
We ruminate on thoughts and ideas and choose to accept particular beliefs as reality. One belief we can never accept in life is the state of mind called, defeat.
The above quote by Bruce Lee has become one of the core beliefs of my life. I’ve tried to implement it to my strategic advantage every opportunity I have. Life will not hand you peace of mind, success or your dreams on a platter. You must be willing to create your own success.
The problem, of course, is that it’s very difficult to know where to begin. We use our passions to influence our thoughts, which transform into ideas that could be brilliant or hopelessly mediocre.
How will we know the credibility or genius of our ideas?
Time allows us to see things from a different perspective. Feedback and acceptance- or lack of acknowledgement from others- influences our emotions. I choose to delve deeper to a medium that all of us can activate and control: Faith.
The Faith Agent
Faith is the agent that teaches us to believe in ourselves when the left-side of our brain is using the details at-hand to make the case against us. The right-side of our brain relies on our intuition, our creative imagination and big-picture thought. This is what designs the reality that emanates from the seeds of wonder sewn in our hearts.
As many who have come before me have said, life is always trying to teach us a lesson. Depending on your beliefs, you may come to the conclusion that this is for a particular reason. Life is surely not easy. The pain that comes from the losses of loved ones, temporary failures and the struggle to survive- at times- tests our resolve right to the core.
Yet, perhaps counter-intuitively, it’s these same challenges that make us who we are. If we’re willing to rise to the challenges before us, we will experience a renewal; mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. When you sense a defeated mindset coming on, one from the past that robbed you of joy and threatens now to thrust you toward doom and gloom, just stop what you’re doing.
Take a step back. Examine the thoughts that are on your mind. Make sense of these by asking yourself, do these thoughts mesh with my values and the inner-core of who I really am?. You’ll realize that you are not meant to wallow in defeat but to rise above and push forward toward personal victories and goals.
Personal Defeat and Adversity
When I moved to Boston without a job following college, I received a postgraduate degree- prior to my Master’s– in resume design, networking and the art of interviewing. I learned what it meant to “pound the pavement” in order to find the right position.
I had no network and only a referral- from a former college basketball teammate- for a recruiter. I used the Internet and fare on the “T” to get around and walk into employment offices looking for work.
I encountered a staggering amount of no-responses (which are worse than any outcome), rejection and self-doubt. But I kept pressing on.
I’ve dealt with the heartbreak of romantic relationships that didn’t work out during my college years. In my mid-late 20s, I experienced broken hearts that could have destroyed me had I not turned to family and friends and to God for guidance and comfort.
Sometimes it’s as easy as looking at things two-fold: We either give up or we move on. For me, there’s no such thing as giving up. Hopefully the same applies for you.
“While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.” — Maya Angelou
Believe in Yourself
No matter how difficult the moment may seem as you’re going through it, it’s absolutely essential that you keep grinding and moving forward. Life demands that you believe in yourself, even when you have doubt. Even when you’ve failed. Even when you’re disappointed, bitter, frustrated, angry, hurt, sorrowful and grieving.
You have to believe that things will turn around. Your willpower will play a pivotal role in swinging the pendulum of your fortunes from poor to rich in favor. You cannot lose hope. By exercising the power of faith, we actually increase our belief in ourselves by strengthening our willpower.
We live in the moment, with a state of mind that we have actively chosen to embrace.
Anxiety and stress are inevitable during difficult times. Even then, we can prepare our minds to focus on seeing our future in bright, joyous and vivid detail. This futuristic mindset is enabled through foresight and our creative imagination. Feed your mind positive imagery and emotive thoughts of happiness and you will kindle the fire inside of you.
Adversity, temporary defeat and personal loss takes time to overcome. A resolute mind is required to persevere and move forward when all of our emotions are temporarily tugging at us and stalling our progress. Our thoughts must center around positive outcomes.
We must never, ever give up.
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