"We share what we know, so that others may grow."
 
                                 *
LIVE YOUR DREAM THROUGH OVERCOMING OBSTACLES AND
NEVER EVER QUIT (Updated)
 
A collection of thoughts and quotations compiled by Craig Lock
(in 1994) ...
 
Authors' Note:

Quotations in this article have been extracted from A THIRD
SERVING OF CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL and CHICKEN
SOUP FOR THE MIND: 101 stories to open the heart and
rekindle the spirit. These fine books were written and compiled
by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Sincere thanks to
Jack and Mark for sharing your "global voice of inspiration"
through your work...and most importantly, for encouraging
and inspiring me to follow my path in life - no matter what!.

"What you ARE is as important as what you do."
 
"Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who
are doing it."
- anon
 
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." 
- Henry Ford
 
No matter what path you are on, people (often well-meaning) will
not understand and will criticise you. Are you strong enough to
handle the critics? 
 
Passionate people, who live their dreams, embrace what they love
and never give up. They overcome many (and often seemingly
insurmountable) obstacles on the path to success in pursuing
their life vision.
 
"Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern
resolve."
- Leonardo Da Vinci
 
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your
eyes off the goal."
- Henry Ford
 
"We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who
walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last
piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof, that everything can be taken away from a man
but one thing: The last of his freedoms - to choose one's
attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own
way."
- Viktor E. Frankl in his book, 'Man's Search for Meaning'
 
                                                    *
 DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL
 
You've failed many times; although you may not remember.
 
* Didn't you fall down the first time you tried to walk? (What
would you have done, if your dear mom had given up on you ever
walking as a baby). No, she waited patiently for you to take
those first tentative steps.
 
* You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim, didn't
you?
 
* Did you hit the ball the first time you swung a bat? Heavy
hitters, the ones who strike the most home runs, also strike out
a lot.
 
Now for some examples of famous achievers, who refused to quit...
 
R.H Macy failed 7 times, before his store in New York caught on.

Harland Sanders was 65-years-old, with little more than a $105
Social Security payment in his pocket, when he started Kentucky
Fried Chicken.  The Colonel apparently was rejected by over 1,000
banks before he became successful in selling his unique recipe
of southern fried chicken. Was he chick'n to keep on asking for
orders for his "finger-lickn good creation"? 

Mark V Hansen had been working with his partner, Jack Canfield
on an inspirational book for some time; however their idea was
rejected by 140 book publishers as "unsellable."  Today, the
70 books in the 'Chicken Soup' series have sold
more than 90 million copies in 39 languages!  

TIME and PERSISTENCE!

English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he
published 564 books. A glimmer of hope for me then!
 
Baseball legend, Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times; but he also
hit 714 home runs.
 
So don't worry about failure. Worry about the chances you miss,
when you don't even try.
 
Abraham Lincoln didn't quit. He once wrote:
 
"The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A
duty to strive is the duty of us all. I feel a call to that
duty."
- Abraham Lincoln
 
"The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped out from under
me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said
to myself, 'It's a slip and not a fall.'" Lincoln spoke these
inspiring words after losing a senate race. He never quit...and
so won't I.
 
Will YOUR name be mentioned some day as not being a "quitter",
who overcame almost insurmountable obstacles? 
 
Will YOU quit, whatever you are doing...if you really believe in
your "unique calling" on this planet - a tribute to the power of
persistance and great faith? A tribute to the sheer strength of
the indominitable and unquenchable human spirit - the spark
of God within EACH one of us.
 
WILL YOU SAY, "I WILL UNTIL"

and
 
"BE ALL THAT I CAN BE?"
 
Craig Lock ("Incorrigible Encourager, Information and Inspiration Distributor")
http://www.craiglockbooks.com

"Be all that you are CAPABLE of being."
- Catherine Mansfield
 
"Every man has his own destiny;
the only imperative is to follow it, no matter where it leads
him."
 - Henry Miller
 
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how
the strong man strumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again
because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who
knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause,
who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and
who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place
shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither
victory nor defeat."
 - Theodore Roosevelt

P.S: Thanks, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Rooseveld for being
true inspirations to me!
 
"For me true success may be measured by the fortitude, with which
so many ordinary people around the globe overcome numerous
seemingly insurmountable obstacles through sheer force of
character and spirit. They rise above the severest adversity
down the ordinary, yet often rocky, tempestous (and tumultous)
journey of life. Unheralded, yet with an indominitable, unquenchable
and infinite generosity of human spirit, they are the true heroes of
this world.".
- Craig Lock (13th August 2004)

"God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into the world with a different collection of life circumstances that often severely challenge us, things that give us joy and in expressing our talents allow us to bless the people, the world around us."
- craig