StuntWomanInAPencilSkirt
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01:07:23 pm on January 14, 2010 |
Endurance. It comes from the word endure. To endure is to last, to keep going, and to carry on to the end – wherever that may be. An old Buddhist quote suggests that ‘endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.’
Endurance requires setting and resetting micro mini goals. In order to endure, one must be committed to reaching the next step, not the top of the ladder. This step-by-step approach eliminates the possibility of becoming overwhelmed by the task ahead of you – and the distance of the goal you are trying to reach.
Some goals seem really out of reach. Many are obtainable however. You just need to change your approach and understand how endurance works.
An old friend of mine, who never exercised, wanted to start jogging with me. We started by running for five minutes non-stop, then walked for five. The next time we increased our time to seven minutes. Then ten, fifteen, twenty, and finally up to one hour. In the end that friend, who was once a couch potato, ran a half-marathon.
This morning, I can’t help but to think of all the people in Haiti, who spent last night buried beneath rubble from the devastating earthquake. Many people are probably still alive. Sadly, many will not survive. Some will endure however…and will miraculously find the will to survive long enough to be found by aid workers.
Through their endurance, they will conquer fate and will prove that it is “not in achievement, but in endurance of the human soul, that it shows its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.”
(Edwin Hubble Chapin)
