Chapter V
The "Seeds of Success" were hastily scribbled on the back of some old flight plans and have been drifting around on my desk for a number of years now. They were recorded in the cockpit of a US Air Force C5 Galaxy while conducting a delivery mission to El Salvador. The pilot, a reservist, shared them with me from a small book he always carried with him. He related to me that its source was from a old World War II story he had once read. He didn't recall the author or book name. He was quite a "Closet Philosopher" and assured me that his daily reading of the below words resulted in his successful development and ownership of a very well known large US Corporation. As I sit here now, many years later, I wonder on what the impact a daily reading of the "Seeds of Success" might have had on my life. An interesting discovery I made when running it through my spell checker on the word-processor, the entire work is exactly 1000 words long. SLD
God,
I thank you for this day. I know I have not accomplished as yet all you expect
of me, and if that is your reason for bathing me in the fresh dew of another
dawn, I am most grateful.
I am
prepared at last, to make you proud of me.
I will
forget yesterday, with all its trials and tribulations, aggravations and
setbacks, angers and frustrations. The past is already a dream from which
I can neither retrieve a single word nor erase any foolish deeds.
I will
resolve, however, that if I have injured anyone yesterday through my
thoughtlessness, I will not let this day's sun set before I make amends,
and nothing I do today will be of greater importance.
I will
not fret the future. My success and happiness does not depend on straining
to see what lurks dimly on the horizon but to do, this day, what lies clearly
at hand.
I will
treasure this day, for it is all I have. I know that its rushing hours cannot
be accumulated or stored, like precious grain, for future use.
I will
live as all good actors do when they are onstage - only in the moment. I
cannot perform at my best today by regretting my previous act's mistakes
or worrying about the scene to come.
I will
embrace today's difficult tasks, take off my coat, and make dust in the world.
I will remember the busier I am, the less harm I am apt to suffer, the tastier
will be my food, the sweeter my sleep, and the better satisfied I will be
with my place in the world.
I will
free myself today from slavery to the clock and calendar. Although I will
plan this day in order to conserve my steps and energy, I will begin to measure
my life in the deeds not years, in thoughts, not seasons; in feelings, not
figures on a dial.
I will
remain aware of how little it takes to make this a happy day. Never will
I pursue happiness, because it is not a goal, just a by-product, and there
is no happiness in having or getting, only in giving.
I will
run from no danger I might encounter today, because I am certain that nothing
will happen that I am not equipped to handle with your help. Just as any
gem is polished by friction, I am certain to become more valuable through
these day's adversities, an if you close one door, you always open another
for me.
I will
live this day as if it were Christmas. I will be a giver of gifts and deliver
to my enemies the gift of forgiveness; my opponents, tolerance; my friends,
a smile; my children, a good example, and every gift will be wrapped with
unconditional love.
I sow
I will harvest, because every action, good or bad, is always followed by
a equal reaction. I will plant only good seeds this day.
I will
treat today as a priceless violin. One may draw harmony from it and another,
discord. Yet no one will blame the instrument. Life is the same, and I will
play it correctly, it will give forth beauty, but if I play it ignorantly,
it will produce ugliness.
I will
condition myself to look on every problem I encounter today as no more then
a pebble in my shoe. I remember the pain, so harsh I could hardly walk, and
recall my surprise when I removed my shoe and found only a grain of sand.
I will
work convinced that nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. To
do anything today that is truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering
and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble
through as well as I can.
I will
face the world with goals set for this day, but they will be attainable ones,
not the vague, impossible variety declared by those who make a career of
failure. I realize that you always try me with a little first, to see what
I would do with a lot.
I will
never hide my talents. If I am silent, I am forgotten, if I do not advance
I will fall back. If I walk away from any challenge today, my self-esteem
will forever be scarred, and if I cease to grow, even a little, I will become
smaller. I reject the stationary position because it is always the beginning
of the end.
I will
keep a smile on my face and in my heart even when it hurts today. I know
that the world is a looking glass and gives back to me the reflection of
my own soul. Now I understand that the secret of correcting the attitude
of others and that is to correct my own.
I will
turn away from any temptation today that might cause me to break my word
or lose my self-respect. I am positive that the only thing I possess more
valuable than my life is my honor.
I will
work this day with all my strength, content in the knowledge that life does
not consist of wallowing in the past or peering anxiously at the future.
It is appalling to contemplate the great number of painful steps by which
arrives a truth so old, so obvious, and so frequently expressed. Whatever
it offers, little or much, my life is now.
I will
pause whenever I am feeling sorry for myself today, and remember that this
is the only day I have and I must play it to the fullest. What my part may
signify in the great whole, I may not recognize, but I am here to play it
and now is the time.
I will
count this day a separate life.
I will
remember that those who have fewest regrets are those who take each moment
as it comes for all that it is worth.
The Seeds of Success
("1000 Words" - Source Unknown)
End of Chapter V