Yesterday morning, I decided to go for a run to get into a nice, early-morning flow of energy and inspiration.

I took off from my South Boston apartment just before 7 AM to head towards the Harbor where there’s a beach and perfect bike path neighboring a 350-year-old, colony-era fort. The 2-mile loop is awesome for pacing out nice runs on beautiful summer mornings.

I stretched, prepped my iPod, and got my chi energy all nice and primed and ready to go — OK, in truth I was still half asleep — and started running.

Around .6 miles into my jog, like Neo in The Matrix, I suddenly dodged an enormous bumblebee that was headed straight for my face. Close call averted.

And then, about 3 steps later, another bee – an apparent cohort of the bumblebee who previously failed to attack my face — succeeded in dive-bombing directly into my eye.

Thankfully, because of my evasive maneuvering (ie, wildly thrashing my limbs and trying to scraping away from my eye whatever it was that flew into my face), the sucker only stung just below my bottom eye lid, which, still, invited an immediate and curse-laden tirade that would make Kenny Powers blush.

A man walking his dog witnessed this.

A white bulldog.

The dog was far more judging with his eyes than even his human owner.

I’ll be honest. Getting stung by a bee in the face was not an awesome way to start the day.

It threw me for a total loop, and all of the effort I was concentrating into a gradual build-up of motivation for a day ahead full of writing and excellent things was suddenly gone. Escaped. No where to be found.

Face still stinging, left with only a judgmental bulldog and his discriminating looks.

In that moment, I thought I was screwed. I was worried that my day — one that I really wanted to be productive — was already a disaster: I was frustrated, without concentration, had totally lost the flow of the moment and now felt my mind being peppered by aggravation and that crazy, uncontrollable inner dialogue and…

And then, I just… stopped.

I kept on running.

You see, you conquer the circumstances that unfold in your life — even those random, chaotic events that make you feel like a total victim without any semblance of control — by your choice. You laugh at yourself, you simply carry on. You explicitly decide to conquer it with the unapologetic power of your mind and thoughts.

Conquer it, or allow it to conquer you.

Choose to conquer the circumstances, and refuse to choose to allow them to dominate you.

Stop making excuses, whether explicit (“This has ruined my day”) or implicit (“Well, I got off to such a slow start earlier today after…”). They do little but to prolong something you don’t desire and reinforce in others your inability to take responsibility for your life, decisions and actions.

Put your foot down, and that’s it. You just move on.

And you’ve already won.

Yes, you can use "rock star" as an adjective! :)

When I got back home, I decided that I would make my day an absolutely epic and excellent one.

We really needn’t reinvent the wheel, here.

You turn a bad day around by laughing it off and choosing to do something awesome and fun, whether by doing something playfully immature, or by changing an old habit and mixing up your schedule, or by breaking a rule just for the hell of it.

You don’t have to fix “waking up on the wrong side of the bed” by waiting until you go back to sleep and trying all over again come morning. Choose to. No, really choose to. Make the brazen decision without remorse or second-guessing. Laugh. Smile. Push on.

And maybe next time, wear sunglasses… or swim goggles.

[fblike]

Of all such wildly uncertain things that reign forever unknowable through the days and nights of life — those plaguing confusions and confrontations; miscues and missed opportunities — I find myself suddenly well-afforded as my daily attention drifts less to these nagging thoughts and wonders, and more to the fundamental essence of life: an incredible truth, an undeniable reality, a beautiful wonder more poetic than any hymn or rhyme of God Himself.

We are all connected! Bound and boundless!

The fundamental essence of life is that each human being is not separate and alone, but permanently interwoven with and in the universal and eternal presence of God or Spirit — we are the very thread that binds the weave, and each woven from it, ourselves.

Every thread is unconsciously tasked to hold its undeniable and inimitable place among the greater whole. And each frayed strand weakens the entire cloth — a dullness, a tear, a rip that obliges the threads surrounding to strain all the more to hold life together and in place. But every thread — each life, yours! — may within itself strengthen and grow, reaching ever widely, positively touching the lives of others in deep and meaningful ways, thus binding the weave ever-tighter.

We are all connected far beyond our ordinary comprehension, our simple sight and fingers’ touch!

See it in the faces of strangers on the street. Harness it in the passion within your chest and soul. Feel it in the wind that blows, the sway of the grass and the trees, the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tides. As the presence of Spirit is among and around you, so too is it within you.

It is the very energy that constitutes all matter, all life forms, every element, every potential. Oneness.

Relish in the fundamental essence of life; this incredible truth. Bath in the beauty and wonder that this world is far less a chaotic and victimizing purveyor of things that our minds incessantly ponder and suffer over, and far more a weaver of love and light — that life, and each of us together, make up the weave itself.

[fblike]

Flickr photo credit: LatinaPower2009

Through the power of choice, POWER FROM WITHIN espouses that may each realize our potential, gifts, and purpose in life; unleashing our limitless potential and enabling every soul to truly thrive.

Why did I release it for free on DaveUrsillo.com? Skip below to read why.

UPDATE May 3rd 2011: I’m happy and honored to announce that POWER FROM WITHIN is now available for purchase and instant download on Amazon Kindle for just $0.99! It will remain free for your reading enjoyment always, but if you’d like to download and own your own copy, head over to Amazon and download it now! :)

-

Part One: The Seeds

TOO MANY SOULS shall pass idly through life without blooming into their fullest and most vibrant of colors. The tragedy is not in the shortcoming alone, but that so few realize the extent of their unlimited potential.

For as long as I can remember, I have felt a strong connection to that which I can only describe as something beyond me―a source greater than my individual self.

My name is Dave Ursillo, and I call myself a writer.

I write less by choice than by necessity: each instance that I and others like me put pen to paper, we channel an unremitting drive to express sentiments that originate beyond, as if deeply engrained in a collective consciousness―some universal, human spirit.

To write is to escape; it is an outlet of release. Each strike of ink dispels the pressure like molten rock bursting from beneath Earth’s surface. If only for moments, the burden is lifted.

Me, Dave Ursillo

And as impassioned writers come together to share and improve their craft, on a much greater scale has the entirety of human civilization united over the course of history to collectively advance toward a greater tomorrow. We all are working amongst and on behalf of one another. Each individual contribution is shared by the greater whole―each individual setback is a setback for us all.

Thus, the ideas within the pages of this book feel less like “my own” than an equal possession of every man and woman who ever has and ever shall walk this place called Earth: I am not an inventor, I am not an academic, I am certainly neither a sage nor a clairvoyant; instead, I am an extremely ordinary young man living an ordinary life among millions of others quite like me.

And yet, for all that we as humans share―spanning that collective consciousness; our civilized progression toward an elusive and distant end-goal; and, finally, in our material and physical likeness―each and every individual being is completely exceptional and wholly unique.

No two are truly alike, and within our imperfect completeness, each human being naturally possesses an unlimited wealth of potential for inner growth and self-realization. All of these, when freedoms allow and as nurtured properly, lead to a human life’s greatest and most humble of aspirations: true happiness.

As each human being is unlimited in his or her potential and every soul is entirely and exceptionally one of a kind, I do suppose that this work—having been written by my hand—is in some way unique as well, for it is a piece of me.

Potential, Power & Choice

And it is truly a piece of me: Power from Within is a short manifesto containing a series of deeply-rooted personal beliefs that I strive to live by. These theories are based upon self-discovery, compassion, and selfless giving, among others.

I can only hope that these principles may provide some inspiration or guidance―however major or minor―to readers who so choose to engage them. Of course, what is best for me may not be best for you.

Nevertheless, as of this writing, what I espouse in Power from Within I truly believe with all of my heart and soul. Even if my opinions, beliefs, and living philosophies change as I grow; this book, like all of my writing, will forever carry some part of me with it.

When a human being bears his soul unfettered, he hasn’t so little as a cage of ribs to safeguard his heart. He is vulnerable. Thus, he must be an idealist, or an ideologue, or something in between.

Such is the nature of any dream’s pursuit. There will always exist a caste of onlookers, critics and naysayers who chide a dreamer and say, “What a farce… what an ingrate… what a reject…”. Let them. For, a precious few who might fathom a dreamer’s strife shall stand by his forlorn side and say, “Nay, he is but a leader… a dreamer… a heretic… a renegade…”.

–

Part Two: The Soils

WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE or consent, Seeds of Life are strewn about the Earth: some land in rich soils, others arid wastelands. Although so much is beyond them, all that take root are meant to sprout―each bestowed some chance, however grand or slim, to grow most full.

Seeds of Life

Before we develop a conscious understanding about our world and the nature of life, we are born into a series of circumstances and living conditions that have been influenced beyond our control.

The very creation of our lives was facilitated by others and dictated by chance―a process begun wholly beyond us.

Born a mere fraction of a greater whole, we grow older knowing little but what is before our eyes: a physical environment, a social core, a series of living conditions. With time, we slowly gain greater cognizance of what is around us.

We gradually understand that people, places and things interact as parts of something much larger.

However, we only go so far as to associate our unique surroundings as a representation of the entire status quo: what we see as life is life, and not just for those within our range of vision, but for all who live.

Whether privileged and comfortable or severely disadvantaged and struggling just to survive, the circumstances that we understand to affect the majority within our scope of vision become what we identify to be the terms under which all people live. We innately deduce that that which affects our lives must equally affect the living experiences of everyone else, as well.

It is naïve. But perspective, as they say, is everything.

–

To the children of suburbanite America, life ebbs and flows between regimented education and limitless imagination: the confines of school and freedom of play. Each material comfort is as natural as the sun that shines. Vibrant, green grass is plentiful and lonesome, serving in wait to be graced time and again by small, swift feet. This is their world.

Birth Was Beyond Our Choice

To the children of the slums of Calcutta, life ebbs and flows between suffering and stagnancy; sickness and death. Rubbish lines cramped dirt streets like heaps of hay; children frolic among them as obstacles in games of hide-and-seek. Puddles of human waste seep into stale channels of water that are used for washing and drinking all the same. This is their world.

Were it the choice of the seeds alone, they would surely be strewn upon lands of richness and fertility; of peace and tranquility.

Alas, the circumstances of our creation―the very decision that we should be born at all―are forever beyond our control. We have no ability to choose how, why, where or by whom we are brought into this worldly existence. To some, the boundaries and limitations that confine each human being’s creation might appear to be a most great injustice.

However, no matter what soils we are obliged to sprout and live, unlike mere seeds themselves we humans grow into maturity possessing a unique gift―a most powerful tool―that serves to equalize every injustice that we are born into.

This gift is possessed by all human beings and holds the capacity to alter anything in our lives and the lives of all those around us: the power of Choice.

–

Part Three: Choosing to Bloom

WE ARE BUT SEEDS! Within the confines of a shell so small lies a wealth of potential for growth and color. To sprout was beyond our will, but to bloom is by our choice alone.

To Bloom: To Flourish from Within

Human beings are exceptionally unique as free-willed creatures.

And though heavy boots of totalitarians and tyrants may march upon our soils, pressing seeds and sprouts and flowers of life into submissive restraint, they can never―and have never―succeeded in wholly conquering the Free Will of the human spirit.

Even amid history’s most horrible instances of mass murder and genocide has the determination and free will of the human spirit persevered to overcome despotism:

• The dark age of slavery gave way to a new nation based upon equal rights and freedoms for all.
• The Jewish Holocaust claimed the lives of millions, and yet failed to shatter the spirits of millions more who chose not to quit but to fight on, to survive, to outlast that tyranny.

Indeed, beyond the litany of differences that characterize the circumstances of our births and the environments we grow into―spanning time, social and political conditions, and physical location―as human beings, the possession of the power of Choice ensures that our potential is always as equal as it is equally unlimited.

Beyond the inequality of the conditions of our lives, the power of Choice is an equalizer―a inherently human force that grants each human being an identical and incredible power.

–

We are but seeds!

And the gift of life entitles us to something greater than what is merely before our eyes. This existence, this physical form, is rich with much that is hidden in plain sight. A wealth of gold greater than ten-billion suns is there for all to see, if we merely obtain new sight and view it.

Our happiness, our inherent longing for fulfillment in life, can be discovered in limitless forms and places―our individual and collective happiness can be embodied and achieved in unlimited ways.

The foundation for happiness and worldly fulfillment is already and always in place; all that is needed is wholly within.

This is our gift, our privilege―humanity’s greatest asset. This is our power from within.

By the power of Choice, the child of suburbanite America can one day reach the slums of Calcutta to tend to the sick and educate the illiterate. By the power of Choice, the child of Calcutta can one day raise his family from the destitute wastelands of poverty to the comfortable soils of prosperity, opportunity and new life.

–

Begin Your Journey

Of course, Choice alone does not ensure success. The battle is hardly an easy task, and embarking upon a dream’s pursuit does not guarantee the journey will ever be made complete.

Nevertheless, Human Will ensures the equal ability of all human beings to harness the power of Choice and pursue any dream or goal. No dream is ever made real without first the choice to pursue it.

Regardless of what hindrances and injustices hamper our happiness in life, the power Choice always remains an equalizing force that can change our lives for the better―so long as we choose to let it. As Lao Tsu wrote ages ago, “The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.”

No matter how distant the vision or dream, nothing but choice can begin the pursuit itself. As human beings, the power of Choice is already and always within us. Any amount of power that we think we might require to pursue happiness and achieve fulfillment can come wholly from within.

We did not choose to be brought into this life, but we can choose how to live it. A litany of circumstances brought us here, influenced by the choices of others and further dictated by chance. Beyond our decision and control, others have obliged us to sprout and to grow.

Nevertheless, from this moment forward―regardless of who we are, what we do or where we live―the choice to grow, to thrive, to truly flourish in life may only be made real by our decision alone.

We must choose to bloom.

–

Part Four: Branch Out

WE DO NOT BLOOM for the sake of bearing our colors alone. To choose to bloom is to take up a new and most great purpose in life: beyond the self, on behalf of others. To bloom into new, brilliant color can reverberate with an unbelievable and limitless effect throughout history, for all time. Choose to bloom only if you dare to forever better the world.

Branch Out: Extend Out to Others

A flower blooms to nurture life and continue the existence of its species. As human beings, the survival and perpetuation of our species is analogous, but our purpose in life is hardly so confined.

Modern science has only just begun to confirm what our species has long suspected: the emotion of happiness radically benefits a human being’s quality and length of life. One person’s happiness can go so far as to infinitely improve the quality and length of the lives of others around him or her, as well.

All human emotions, behaviors, attitudes, and lifestyles are literally contagious―they both subtly and overtly influence and affect the lives of the men and women who live among and around us in our social circles.

–

As the implications of our attitudes and behaviors can radically alter and affect the lives of those we live among, to strive to better our inner selves means to strive to benefit the lives of everyone around us.

To intently practice to be a better and happier person―to bring out the very best of our unique personalities, talents, gifts, and passions―is not selfish, self-serving, self-centered, or egotistic. To harness power from within is to strive to radically change our world:

• to influence goodness in the lives of those around us by our example;
• to invite the very best in others to emerge and flow forth;
• to live a giving, humble, and compassionate life among our neighbors and in our world as selfless, quiet leaders.

The nature of humans before civilization was simply to survive. The nature of human beings in civilization is to go beyond survival—it is to thrive. To bloom is to harness an amazing power nestled deep within your human core. Call it your Spirit, call it your Soul, call it whatever you will.

Within the heart of each human being, there lies a seed of Hope. Within that seed endures a wealth of potential for happiness and fulfillment―and not just for yourself, alone; but for each and every person whose life you touch.

What we do individually, in this life, and collectively as a human species will pass on to generations after us and reverberate throughout history. What we do individually, within ourselves, can profoundly transform the world.

–

Part Five: Bear Your Colors

TO BLOOM IS NOT to bear our colors for ourselves alone. To bloom is to nurture a pollen of love, of compassion; to cultivate the nectar of our talents, gifts and passions. To bloom is to foster the colors of our individuality and our uniqueness from deep within. We choose to bloom so that others whom we encounter―even the strangers who pass us by―might carry with them what we offer, and they to others, infinitely throughout time.

Our Love is Carried On by Others

We choose to bloom not because it is easy, but because the benefits are indisputably real.

That “living” would be forced upon us beyond our choice would appear to be a great injustice. Who is to decide that we should live but ourselves?

And that so many Seeds of Life should be strewn into lands of poverty and pain and suffering, and entirely against their choosing, would seem to be a most harsh and undeserved punishment! But in this world, few things are so overly simplistic.

Life is a precious gift. It is rare, it is fleeting; each instance of life is special, every human soul is unique.

Having been born into this world without any say or opinion is no burden; it is a great miracle, rife with so much opportunity and chance should we muster the courage to embrace it all.

–

Out of hundreds of billions of genetic possibilities—a conceivably limitless combination of factors, combinations, influences, causes and effects that could have birthed anyone else… it was you who was born.

Against the greatest odds, you have been bestowed this privilege. Along with that gift, there comes some responsibility―though many are not afforded the liberty to embrace it, and others who may instead choose to neglect it. Although our individual perspectives are confined within the walls of our own minds, we don’t live and die within the confines of our own individual worlds.

The effect of our individual lives reverberates through everyone around us: our families, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, and the strangers living among us.

What both benefits and hurts us necessarily benefits and hurts all those whom we encounter. And not just those souls with whom we personally interact, but others who they interact with that very day, and tomorrow, and forever–throughout time. As our lives impact and effect everyone around us, the gift of life also requires us to uphold an important responsibility to live this life most fully, and upon our own terms:

• to follow our hearts;
• to do in life what our spirits call us to pursue;
• to both believe in and live for the betterment of others;
• to go beyond our mere survival… to truly thrive from within.

We may choose to live this life immersed in our world and among all its people, or die having lived in spite of them. The latter is perhaps the greatest regret of all; the former promises a wealth of richness and joy that can–and shall–forever flourish.

[fblike]

Copyright © 2011 David Ursillo Jr. POWER FROM WITHIN is now available for purchase and instant download on Amazon Kindle for just $0.99. It will remain free for your reading enjoyment always, but if you’d like to download and own your own copy, head over to Amazon and download it now!

The grief and pain of loss are so powerful because, in death, we assume no conclusion can ever be reached.

In our minds, we rationalize that Death has concluded a chapter in our lives that can’t ever be revisited, revised or truly made better.

Because the person we cared for and loved so much is gone, we reason that we’ll thus be unable to ever rectify the issues that once persisted between us — however big or small they might have seemed. When we understand the loss of a loved one to be so final, so conclusive, so forever and thus so unchangeable, we can naturally understand how the grief and pain that result from losing someone can persist for many, many years.

These are the thoughts that came to mind when a reader, whom we’ll call Mathias, asked how he can handle the grief in his heart that has persisted for more than a dozen long years:

“How to handle grief. Grief that has persisted for 13 years… Thanks. If you can even help me at all. It was the loss of my Father…”

How can we come to unburden ourselves from such longstanding pain that has resulted from loss? What steps do we take? Is it even possible for such suffering to subside or completely disappear if the person who we loved is gone forever?

Unburdening the Grief and Pain of Loss

“Grief” is defined as an intense sorrow that has resulted from an especially traumatic event, like death. And within that broad definition are layers and layers of possible underlying and contributing causes:

• Feeling guilty about what happened (“What could I have done differently? Why didn’t I?”).
• Refusing or struggling to accept the past; an inability to live in the present; a desire to somehow go back in time and get a chance to it all over again.
• Subconsciously holding onto grief as sort of a desperate bridge to “what once was” — a reminder of the relationship with a loved one we have lost and so dearly miss.

Whatever underlying factors have fed this longstanding grief, a two-pronged effort strikes me as a strong starting point that, in due time, can unburden us from the past; liberate us to the future; and remedy old wounds that have yet to heal.

This one’s for you, Mathias.

1. FORGIVE (Forgive Him/Her, Forgive Yourself)

The burden of severe, longstanding grief must first be treated with a heavy and prolonged dose of forgiveness. Forgiveness is key in so many aspects of life — it is paramount to living healthily, happily and balanced. The burden of severe sorrow prevents us from living fully in the present moment and hinders us from moving forward toward a better tomorrow: forgiveness liberates us from the past.

• Our minds work in quiet ways we seldom notice because of their clandestine method of operating: “behind the scenes,” deeply in our subconscious.
• Being able to forgive the one we have lost — and, especially, being able to forgive ourselves — bubbles the subconscious to the forefront of our minds and allows us to confront it.
• Forgiveness relieves the tension, unburdens the sorrow, and begins to release the heavy pressure we have placed upon ourselves for so long.

Forgive any wrongdoing that has been done unto you by the one that you’ve lost. Forgive any wrongdoing that you did, yourself. Forgive yourself of what you think you could have or should have done differently. The past cannot be changed, but wrongdoings of the past should not burden your present or future.

Regrets in life are merely mistakes from our pasts that we have yet to learn from — when we learn from our mistakes, the regret ceases to exist.

2. REVEAL (Share Your Pain; We All Suffer)

Containing our suffering — keeping our sorrow and pain and grief to ourselves — only manifests greater suffering by quietly reinforcing the false belief that we are alone and unique victims to our suffering. In reality, all human beings share suffering. No person is devoid of sadness, and no one has ever lived without experiencing suffering in some form. In essence, it’s as if we all share “one” suffering:

“We are each unique, but if more people shared their personal stories of suffering, we would realize truly how similar we all are.”

As the Turkish proverb above suggests, concealing our grief does little to make it subside. Privately holding our suffering within our heads and hearts burdens us and causes us to suffer for years on end. We keep our suffering to ourselves because we think that no one else wants to hear it, or deal with it, or help us with it, or be burdened by it themselves. Open up, be honest, be fearless, and understand that we all share the same suffering.

For Every End, a New Beginning

Remember how we started this exploration of grief: our understanding that grief and pain that come from loss are so powerful because, in death, we assume no decisive conclusion can ever be reached. Death impedes us from ever having closure.

Or does it? What if death isn’t the end — the final chapter and verse we all live to avoid and that haunts our cautious steps?

None of us can really say for sure. However, I have come to believe that Death is not the opposite of life. Death is the opposite of birth: an action, an occurrence, the alteration of life as we know it. Death is the exit from this world, and, perhaps, the entrance to a place beyond. From this action, our energy leaves our bodies in their physical forms and is taken up, resorbed in other forms and in greater ways. Our spirits carry on. Perhaps there is no definitive “end” — merely a new beginning.

And, if we could say for sure — or even if we only choose to imagine — that Death was not the “end” but a new beginning, Reason would no longer dictate that our relationship with our deceased loved one could never change. Then, our Belief, instead, would open our minds to new possibilities, and new opportunities, and new beginnings.

“Amidst the rush of worldly comings and goings, I observe how all endings become beginnings.” ~Lao Tsu

[fblike]

Flickr photo credit: maryno503

If the greatness of your day was dictated by your choice alone, would you choose to make each day an incredible one?

Well, obviously.

What is it that prevents us from making each day a great one? Firstly, it’s irrational — somehow, naturally counter-logical — to believe that choice alone could dictate each day to be a great one. Secondly, we all recognize — through experience — that circumstances arise that negatively impact our happiness each day with our work, our relationships with others, and our lives in general.

Remember that the question that began this piece was, “IF the greatness of your day was dictated by your choice alone…”.

If it was true, wouldn’t you?

If it was remotely possible — regardless of logic, regardless of what we rationalize — wouldn’t you? In other words, whether or not the concept is factually accurate or unequivocally and scientifically proven, does it really matter?

-

Greatness: a Beginning Point, Not an End-Goal

Striving to make each day a great one is just that — an effort, a goal, an objective, a dream.

Dictating the greatness of your day is a beginning; a starting point. The effort — a concentrated, deliberate action — is what intends to make each day a great one. And if you strive to live your days boldly, fully, and in fulfilling and purposeful ways, does the outcome really matter?

We live life not to race to the finish line — we take many measures to delay that final, inevitable demise. Naturally, with death as the only possible finish line in life, there are a litany of other meanings in life worthy of our care, concern and effort.

Life is not about the finish line, but the journey.

No different, choosing to dictate the greatness of our days is less about our heads hitting the pillow at night and saying, “This day was a completely successful, and here is why…”, and more about recognizing,

“This day I gave it my best; I truly gave myself to others; I dreamed of what could be; I believed in myself and those around me; and, no matter what ultimately came of my efforts, I feel just and fulfilled and true and good in my heart.”

Dictate the Greatness of Your Day

Don’t stop setting goals, and don’t stop striving to achieve. But never forget that life is not a race to the finish — that success comes not from rushing blindly to the end, but in seeking and realizing slow, purposeful intent in every single day.

Concentrate alone in your thoughts for several minutes each morning.

Dictate the greatness of your day — not as an envisioned end-goal, but by recognizing that your best effort is greatness in itself. Embody selflessness, embody giving, embody love, embody happiness, embody positivity. With this goodness as your motivation, there is no such thing as failure.

[fblike]

Flickr photo credit: Bill Sodeman