Each one of us has our fair share of “potential” destiny, just as every seed has the potential of a tree. Unlike the seed, which is at the mercy of its environment to grow, we are blessed with the gift of choice, which gives us power over our environment and we can create our own circumstances. Life is a perspective. When you change your perspective, you change the way you think. When you change the way you think, you change how you feel. When you feel better, you perform better. And when you perform better on a daily basis, you see magical results. Your destiny, therefore, is your perspective showing up as reality. A lot of people feel that the past shapes the future. If you look carefully, today is a result of your past. Today will be the past for tomorrow. So in a more intense perspective, it is today that will eventually be equal to your future. Don’t use your past mistakes and mishaps as the foundation of an unfortunate future. You fail tomorrow if you fail today. You don’t fail tomorrow because you failed yesterday.
You can have a shot at success everyday. A lot of people quit on their lives because they feel that their past has been too messed up. Success eludes them because they continue to live their life everyday in the same mindset of helplessness. At some point or the other, we have all made mistakes, we all have been beaten, we all have been cheated, we all have fallen short of our own expectations. At some point or the other, we have wronged ourselves and wronged others. But the only point where destiny is shaped is the point where you stand now. It is now where you choose what you will do about all that has happened to you and all that you can make happen for yourself. It is in your choice today that you will set a whole series of events and intentions in action for the future. Today is a chance for you to set your past right. Learning from your past is a smart thing to do, but only the ignorant live their past everyday.
I use the firewalk as an analogy to make this point. I often tell people that just because they got burnt in the past does not mean that they will burn today on the firewalk. Burns like accidents happen when one is not paying attention, when one acts out of ignorance and when one lacks intention. When people do walk on fire, they do so with full attention, awareness and intention. Is it then magic that they did not get burnt? Certainly, it is magic. There is magic in paying attention, there is magic in awareness and there is magic when actions are done intentionally. So what role does a past burn have to play in the decisions you make today? Every burn, every loss, every hurt teaches you one lesson: “responsibility”. If you learn to take responsibility of what happens to you, then you become a powerful person. Destiny is not about what happens to you; destiny is shaped in what you do about it from now on. History has shown that people who rose to greatness more often than not had pasts they were not proud of. They have also had their share of misfortunes. They became great because no matter what happened to them, they made choices of greatness on a daily basis. Whether it is Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Mahatma Gandhi, your next-door neighbour, or you?all have some parts of their past that could potentially destroy them. And all have equal opportunity to create a better life. That opportunity knocks your door daily in every choice and in every decision you make. You, too, can create your own destiny, and you can start today. As long as you are alive, you have your shot at creating your world the way you want it. Your destiny is giving you a chance daily. Grab it.
?The writer is a motivational speaker and a corporate trainer. She has just authored I Am Another YOU ? A Journey to Powerful Breakthroughs
