Tag: persistence

Striving

 

“This is what it is to be human: to see the essential existential futility of all action, all striving — and to act, to strive. This is what it is to be human: to reach forever beyond your grasp. This is what it is to be human: to live forever or die trying. This is what it is to be human: to perpetually ask the unanswerable questions, in the hope that the asking of them will somehow hasten the day when they will be answered. This is what it is to be human: to strive in the face of the certainty of failure. This is what it is to be human: to persist.”
― Spider Robinson

 

Thrown down to the bottom
again and again
yet still I pull myself up
and start to crawl
to walk to climb to soar
until the crash comes
I persist through it all
and will continue
to do less would mean to
deny my being
I may never find the end of my quest
but that has never mattered
and matters less the further I go
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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WarriorWarrior by G A Rosenberg

 

Frayed NervesFrayed Nerves by G A Rosenberg

 

On Persistence and Having the Space to Fail

 

“To be successful at anything, you need the right to fail, not just occasionally.”
— Stephen Frears

 

At one point or another in our lives, we all our faced with failure. Something that we try to do doesn’t work. Perhaps everything in our life falls apart at once. At those times we need to learn to move onwards and try again. This comes easier for some of us then for others.
Some of us were raised in families with high expectations and failure was taught to be something to be ashamed of. Many people who are over achievers in their life come from this type of background. However when things go wrong for them, they tend to really go wrong. They were never given space for failure and so they don’t deal with it well. Others who come from this background learn to never take risks. They live safe lives but seldom find fulfilment.
Many of us were luckier. Our families taught us the value of persistence and that not everything in life works out magically. We were taught that its ok to fall down seven times as long as you are able to get up for an eighth, ninth or even tenth try. These are the people who tend to find the greatest joy because they are not afraid to take risks and they know that there is always a possibility that things won’t work out so they have a plan B and possibly C, D and E waiting in the wings as well.
It is possible for both the person too fearful to take a risk or the overachiever who has had their lives fall apart to learn to persist tho it may take years. In the long run like so much else, it all depends on who it is that we want to be in our lives and having the courage to be it even if we don’t always get it right.
Blessings, G

 

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Transversing the Dream RoadsTransversing the Dream Roads by G A Rosenberg

 

Distorted CavernDistorted Cavern by G A Rosenberg

 

Chaotic Spiral

 

“Go all the way with it. Do not back off. For once, go all the goddamn way with what matters.”
— Ernest Hemingway

 

Life in a chaotic spiral
expanding every day
with new trials
I seek a thread
of some substance
to pull me through.
What is strong enough
to help me see it through
What can bring me centrewise
and see me to the end.
Is it love? Is it Strength?
Is it a person place or thing?
Is it my questioning nature?
or my wild imagining?
In the end those are what matter
and what will keep me true
— G A Rosenberg

 

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Facing the DawnFacing the Dawn by G A Rosenberg

 

Star ManifestationStar Manifestation by G A Rosenberg

 

Persistance

 

“I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it — keep going, keep going come what may.
But what is your final goal, you may ask. That goal will become clearer, will emerge slowly but surely, much as the rough draught turns into a sketch, and the sketch into a painting through the serious work done on it, through the elaboration of the original vague idea and through the consolidation of the first fleeting and passing thought.”
— Vincent van Gogh

 

Staying the course
tho the skies start to cloud
Keep trudging along
even stuck in the crowd.
Finding my way
tho the path may be blocked
Knowing I’ll open
every door that is locked.

 

It’s never that easy
and it’s never that clear
yet the end will be reached
and my goal I will near

 

Taking each step
tho I don’t know which direction
Moving so slow
yet I’m moving with intention
Giving some space
to the doubts I feel within
yet still satisfied
with persistance I will win

— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Raven GoddessRaven Goddess by G A Rosenberg

 

Light at the CoreLight at the Core by G A Rosenberg

Persistance

 

“I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost. That is how I look at it — keep going, keep going come what may.
But what is your final goal, you may ask. That goal will become clearer, will emerge slowly but surely, much as the rough draught turns into a sketch, and the sketch into a painting through the serious work done on it, through the elaboration of the original vague idea and through the consolidation of the first fleeting and passing thought.”
— Vincent van Gogh

 

Staying the course
tho the skies start to cloud
Keep trudging along
even stuck in the crowd.
Finding my way
tho the path may be blocked
Knowing I’ll open
every door that is locked.

 

It’s never that easy
and it’s never that clear
yet the end will be reached
and my goal I will near

 

Taking each step
tho I don’t know which direction
Moving so slow
yet I’m moving with intention
Giving some space
to the doubts I feel within
yet still satisfied
with persistance I will win

— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

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Raven GoddessRaven Goddess by G A Rosenberg

 

Light at the CoreLight at the Core by G A Rosenberg

Persistance Through Adversity — Doggerel for a Summer’s Evening

 

“It’s only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.”
― Joseph Conrad

 

Missteps in life
Missteps in art
sometimes the balance
just falls apart

 

Seems I’ve tried
and I know I’ve failed
behind many others
I seemed destined to trail

 

Better to try
something I’ve never done
then stay at home
with all songs unsung

 

I’ll aim for a mile
if I only get half
than that’s eight eighty yards
I might as well laugh

 

It’s half mile more
than those who never left
so yeah I’m making distance
it’s them who’s bereft

 

If I find I’ve run
in the wrong direction
I just shake my head
and make a correction

 

For things set in motion
tend to stay that way
If I stay at rest
than I’ve wasted a day

 

or why not waste two
why should I go on?
Making mistakes
never game one

 

With each failure I learn
a new way to try
Even if I lose
I’m beginning to fly
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G
 

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The Phoenix ShieldThe Phoenix Shield by G A Rosenberg

 

Of Myths and RitualRitual Forces by G A Rosenberg

 

Persisting Through Time….

 

“It’s a funny word, persistence. It means not giving up, but it also means just passing on through time.”
― Questlove, Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove

 

There are times when I feel down. Oh I’m good at rationalizing things and normally I can keep it upbeat but some days just suck and I find new ways in which I fall short of my own ideals. I fantasize about throwing in the towel, throwing out the baby with the bath water and escaping tho I know the fallacy there. Each moment is a chance to start again but all unfinished business comes back until it is handled. Call it my own variation on Heinlein’s law that “There Ain’t No Such Thing as A Free Lunch.”
Luckily all fantasizing about escaping aside, I know that I can find words and stories about what ails me that will help bring perspective. To some extent, this is how my quotes of the day started. Therefore tonight I started looking up quotes about persistence. I found some good ones and then went on Facebook. I was overwhelmed to see how many stories and statuses tonight shared by random Facebook friends had to do with precisely that topic. Of Persisting. Of falling down, laughing about it and getting up again, about failing and still continuing… about passing on continuing in time. It was nice after a rather difficult day to feel that I am not alone and that others get it too. It makes laughing and getting up again that much easier.
Blessings, G

 

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Shared PerspectiveShared Perspective by G A Rosenberg

 

Spun offSpun Off by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – January 29 2013

“This is what it is to be human: to see the essential existential futility of all action, all striving—and to act, to strive. This is what it is to be human: to reach forever beyond your grasp. This is what it is to be human: to live forever or die trying. This is what it is to be human: to perpetually ask the unanswerable questions, in the hope that the asking of them will somehow hasten the day when they will be answered. This is what it is to be human: to strive in the face of the certainty of failure.
This is what it is to be human: to persist.”
“For this is what it means to be human: to laugh at what another would call tragedy.”
— Spider and Jeanne Robinson, Stardance

 

I embrace my humanity and that of others. We’re the damnedest / blessedest creatures. We persist in perversity and we persist in glimmers of hope at the lowest moments. We persist sometimes when there seems to be no hope at all. Such beautiful ugliness in our shadow and sun.  We learn through tragedy as well and persist even then. We have so far to go to reach our potential but with such persistence we actually have a hope of getting there.
Blessings, G

 

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EnCompass
Encompass by G A Rosenberg
Diamond Star Tango Mandala
Diamond Star Dance by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – February 9 2012

““This is what it is to be human: to see the essential existential futility of all action, all striving — and to act, to strive. This is what it is to be human: to reach forever beyond your grasp. This is what it is to be human: to live forever or die trying. This is what it is to be human: to perpetually ask the unanswerable questions, in the hope that the asking of them will somehow hasten the day when they will be answered. This is what it is to be human: to strive in the face of the certainty of failure. This is what it is to be human: to persist.”
–Spider Robinson

Part of the persistence Spider talks about is how we can pick ourselves up when we’ve fallen. Repeatedly. Over and Over. My mother deified this ability. She called it her Molly after Molly Brown, the character Debbie Reynolds played in the movie “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”. When she told me this (it was a dark time in my life and she told me I could borrow her Molly if I needed to) she referred to the song”Pick myself up , Dust myself off and start all over again”. It took me years to find out that that song actually came from another movie. Still the idea is sound. Thanks Mom. 🙂 . Namaste, G

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Eyesis Veiled by G A Rosenberg

Radiant by G A Rosenberg