Learning to Fly

Have you ever witnessed the majestic eagle in flight? It is one of nature's most amazing spectacles. They appear to fly flawlessly as

if they themselves were taming the winds with their wings. But in all its magnificent glory, the mighty bald eagle must first learn to fly on its own before it can learn to feed itself. Even these great birds often fall to the ground with their first attempts. But eventually -- though battered and bruised -- they do learn. It is a matter of survival. If they do not, they will surely perish. Learning to fly on your own like the National Bird means having the courage to fall down but to rise again, even when you have been battered and bruised. Life is movement.

There are many occasions when you must take calculated risks to achieve the things you want in life. At times, you may hold back out of fear of failure. That fear of falling can be traced back to your historical past when you first learned to crawl before you could stand on your own two feet to walk. Even then, there was no guarantee that someone would be there to catch you every time you fell. As you mature into adulthood, you have no safety net other than your own instincts. But instinctively you know, life is movement.

So when you think of movement, you automatically have this image of a forward motion. Progress. You know that in order for you to attain your goals and to achieve your dreams in life, you must move forward to get there. Obviously you cannot arrive at your destination, until you put yourself in motion. For some of you, getting up and getting going is the most difficult part. How do you motivate yourself to get up when you have fallen so many times before? Why bother trying to soar, when you cannot even fly? If you truly want to become prosperous in your life, you must take that calculated risk to do so.

How willing are you to realize your dreams? If you put your mind to the task, anything is possible. I want you think about the lessons you have garnered from past failures. If you have fallen before, surely you have gained an ounce of wisdom from each of those failed attempts. If you do not know what those elements are, you can write down all the efforts you have made. Besides those efforts, write down what worked to some degree and what did not work at all. When you have it written out in front of you, you can build upon the workable insights you have learned so you can create the success you want.  In the bigger scheme of life, you know it takes a great deal of planning, hard work and dedication to realize prosperity. It also means you must keep dusting yourself off, picking yourself up and starting again. But with a  strong mental foundation of what you need to succeed and strong determination, eventually you will reach your goals.

Remember this… a Japanese proverb says, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight." Even the greatest warriors fall, but they get back up and keep on going. You must fight to survive and to thrive. I bet the eagle knows how critical it is to keep on going, and you should, too.

Joan Marie Ambrose -- Author, Creative Writer, Motivational Speaker

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