December 2nd, 2010
Total Distance for today: 0 miles
Total Distance for Tour: approx. 553 miles
LOCATION: Raleigh, NC
STATUS: Closing on some speaking engagements in the area!
Eyes that Won’t Bow
Have you ever noticed that holding your head high and gazing forward with confidence and intention is hardest on the days when you doubt yourself? Have you noticed that at times, the natural tendency is to look down as you walk?
Days of “down-gazing” should be a reminder to you that it is easy to adapt a fearful attitude of submission when life is hard. I say submission in the broadest sense of the word: submission to pain, fear, doubt, forces outside your control, and to life itself. It is against this temptation to give in, to admit defeat, to admit ultimate weakness, and to accept powerlessness that you must adapt a warlike disposition within your chest.
As one who would be strong, it is your duty to accept all of your struggles as your greatest teachers, but they should teach you how not to submit to them. You possess the most important power: the power to become. The heaviest weight becomes light to the trained muscle, and so should your will become, if you would be great.
In time, you will see that though you can never become invincible in body, your will can be inexhaustable in tenacity. It is not the proud, large, or haughty will that continues on; it is the adaptable and agile will that prevails. The agile will bends, leaps, stretches, and grows with every punch. In its grace and flexibility, it shows its power. It is most powerful, when it laughs through its struggles.
If today came to you as one of “down-gazing,” then call today a liar! It is strength and courage that compel you to lift your head as one who defies a tyrant, but this tyrant is yourself. If today you feel afraid, powerless, or lost, then defy today and defy yourself! Defy the thousandfold enemies that seem to encompass you, with eyes that will not bow.
