"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do- not that the nature of the thing is changed,but that our power to do is increased."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Think about the things in your life you find easy to do. Now contrast those things with their opposites. For example, which is easier for you to do - work or rest? Education, or entertainment? Confidence or doubt? Fear, or faith? Is it easier for you to choose healthy snacks or stay a junk-food junkie? How easy is it to get on your excise clothes and get out after it? Even in challenging weather? Think about your relationships. Is it easy to do the things that help build true friendships and true love?
May I submit that happiness and success in life are built by taking things in our lives that we know are beneficial and making them easy to do. Sure, they may not be easy at first, but as the quote says, with persistence, they become easy.
At any time, we can choose to change it all. We could choose any day to take a class and open a new door. We can start a new activity, a new hobby, a new attitude, a new career. We can easily start it today - or tomorrow, or next month, or next year. It's our choice.
But, doing nothing is easy too. Sometimes it's easier to pretend rather than to perform. It's easier to sit rather than run. To stay instead of set out towards something new. If change is too challenging, things remain how they are (or worsen). If adding more fitness, more fun, more education, more love in our lives is too demanding, it's easier to settle for less. As business guru, Jim Rohn said:
"The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today."
When considering changes, use your imagination. Dream big. Consider that in 1960 it was technologically impossible for man to travel into outer space. But with vision and ten years, Neil Armstrong took a small step and a giant leap. Dream became reality in the wake of one voice challenging the scientific community to do whatever was necessary to see to it that America "places a man on the moon by the end of this decade." The charge awakened the spirit of possibility in an entire nation, planting the seed of possibility into the fertile soil of imagination. A dream. A bold challenge. It wasn't easy, but it became reality. Today, space flight is commonplace.
Let's apply that lesson to our lives. Hopefully we are each keenly aware of personal traits and qualities - weaknesses - that we would like to change and strengthen. Let's identify them. Let's challenge ourselves to turn weaknesses into strengths. Let's push ourselves towards new experiences and improvements. During these summer months when freedom and patriotism fill our hearts, let's be forever grateful for the opportunities we have and the 'power to do'. Remember, the difference between 'easy-to' and 'easy-not-to' lies in simple persistence.
It's a great time to persist in doing.
John_A._Anderson
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