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The biggest wall you have to climb is the one you build in your mind: Never let your mind talk you out of your dreams, trick you into giving up. Never let your mind become the greatest obstacle to success. To get your mind on the right track, the rest will follow.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Live the Life of Your Dreams
When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Turn your obstacles into opportunities and your problems into possibilities.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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A bruise is a lesson... and each lesson makes us better.
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George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1))
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Success is determined not by whether or not you face obstacles, but by your reaction to them. And if you look at these obstacles as a containing fence, they become your excuse for failure. If you look at them as a hurdle, each one strengthens you for the next.
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Ben Carson (Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story)
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Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.
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E. Joseph Cossman
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When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.
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Zig Ziglar
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Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
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John Quincy Adams
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Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.
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Christian D. Larson
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Whenever you are going through lifeβs challenges, remember that for iron to be cast into its desired form, it must first go through intense heat.
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Idowu Koyenikan (All You Need Is a Ball: What Soccer Teaches Us about Success in Life and Business)
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Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take you eyes off your goal.
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Henry James
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What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our attitude toward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity.
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J. Sidlow Baxter
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Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it.
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Amit Ray (World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird)
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Well, if it can be thought, it can be done, a problem can be overcome,
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E.A. Bucchianeri (Brushstrokes of a Gadfly (Gadfly Saga, #1))
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A challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to it.
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Ray A. Davis
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If you are faced with a mountain, you have several options.
You can climb it and cross to the other side.
You can go around it.
You can dig under it.
You can fly over it.
You can blow it up.
You can ignore it and pretend itβs not there.
You can turn around and go back the way you came.
Or you can stay on the mountain and make it your home.
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Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)
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Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on.
I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise.
I have full confidence in myself and my abilities.
I can do all things that I commit myself to.
No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me.
I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily.
I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past.
I am moving forward daily.
Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
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If you canβt believe in miracles, then believe in yourself. When you want something bad enough, let that drive push you to make it happen. Sometimes youβll run into brick walls that are put there to test you. Find a way around them and stay focused on your dream. Where thereβs a will, thereβs a way.
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Isabel Lopez (Isabel's Hand-Me-Down Dreams)
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For, after all, every one who wishes to gain true knowledge must climb the Hill Difficulty alone, and since there is no royal road to the summit, I must zigzag it in my own way. I slip back many times, I fall, I stand still, I run against the edge of hidden obstacles, I lose my temper and find it again and keep it better, I trudge on, I gain a little, I feel encouraged, I get more eager and climb higher and begin to see the widening horizon. Every struggle is a victory. One more effort and I reach the luminous cloud, the blue depths of the sky, the uplands of my desire.
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Helen Keller (The Story of My Life)
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People whose eyes shine are happy to be alive.
They see life and itβs glory even when things arenβt easy.
And because they see life, even through all the problems and obstacles, their eyes shine.
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Jelena PantiΔ (Journey to the Center of the Heart)
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Success is not measured by the position one has reached in life, rather by the obstacles one overcomes while trying to succeed
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Booker T. Washington
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I told him I had once lost everything I had, too, and that I think that can be Godβs way of building walls around us to force us to look up at Him.
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Kimberly Novosel (Loved)
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It's not over until you win
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Les Brown (Its Not Over Until You Win: How to Become the Person You Always Wanted to Be No Matter What the Obstacle)
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REMEMBER YOUR GREATNESS
Before you were born,
And were still too tiny for
The human eye to see,
You won the race for life
From among 250 million competitors.
And yet,
How fast you have forgotten
Your strength,
When your very existence
Is proof of your greatness.
You were born a winner,
A warrior,
One who defied the odds
By surviving the most gruesome
Battle of them all.
And now that you are a giant,
Why do you even doubt victory
Against smaller numbers,
And wider margins?
The only walls that exist,
Are those you have placed in your mind.
And whatever obstacles you conceive,
Exist only because you have forgotten
What you have already
Achieved.
Poetry by Suzy Kassem
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Take a limitation and turn it into an opportunity. Take an opportunity and turn it into an adventure by dreaming BIG!
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Jo Franz
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Maryβs childhood was rough. She was frequently beaten and chastised by the nuns who served as her protectors and brutalized by the older girls in the orphanage.
Oh how I wept those first few years of my life. My tears came like tropical storms. Every pore in my body wept. I heaved and shuddered and sighed. Everything around me seemed dark and terrifying.
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Maria Nhambu (Africa's Child (Dancing Soul Trilogy, #1))
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When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress. We cannot take more than one step at a time.
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Orison Swett Marden
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The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all morality.
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John F. Kennedy
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The tests we face in life's journey are not to reveal our weaknesses but to help us discover our inner strengths. We can only know how strong we are when we strive and thrive beyond the challenges we face.
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Kemi Sogunle
β
No one else knows exactly what the future holds for you, no one else knows what obstacles you've overcome to be where you are, so don't expect others to feel as passionate about your dreams as you do.
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Germany Kent
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Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.
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Les Brown
β
The things you want are always possible; it is just that the way to get them is not always apparent. The only real obstacle in your path to a fulfilling life is you, and that can be a considerable obstacle because you carry the baggage of insecurities and past experience.
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Les Brown
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Courage did not come from the need to survive, or from a brute indifference inherited from someone else, but from a driving need for love which no obstacle in this world or the next world will break.
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Gabriel GarcΓa MΓ‘rquez (Love in the Time of Cholera)
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Vision is the ability to see Godβs presence, to perceive Godβs power, to focus on Godβs plan in spite of the obstacles.
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Charles R. Swindoll
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See obstacles as opportunities, Reinhold. See obstacles as inspirations.
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Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See)
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You were born a winner, a warrior, one who defied the odds by surviving the most gruesome battle of them all - the race to the egg. And now that you are a giant, why do you even doubt victory against smaller numbers and wider margins? The only walls that exist are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, exist only because you have forgotten what you have already achieved.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Sometimes to change a situation you are in requires you to take a giant leap. But, you won't be able to fly unless you are willing to transform.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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When you encounter obstacles, donβt turn your back on them. Face them, confront them and your will see them dissolving in front of your eyes.
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Roopleen (Words to inspire the winner in YOU)
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Success isn't measured by what you achieve, it's measured by the obstacles you overcome.
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Ethan Hawke (Ash Wednesday)
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Never let your obstacles become more important than your goal.
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Dashka Slater (The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives)
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When people try to bury you, remind yourself you are a seed.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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Not to give up under any circumstances should be the motto of our life: we shall try again and again, and we are bound to succeed. There will be obstacles, but we have to defy them. So do not give up, do not give up! Continue, continue! The goal is ahead of you. If you do not give up, you are bound to reach your destined goal.
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Sri Chinmoy (The Jewels of Happiness: Inspiration and Wisdom to Guide Your Life-Journey)
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When you start living the life of your dreams, there will always be obstacles, doubters, mistakes and setbacks along the way. But with hard work, perseverance and self-belief there is no limit to what you can achieve.
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Roy Bennett
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When something poses as obstacle to you,surmount it and use it as a miracle to move on to greater height.
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Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha (Overcoming the Challenges of Life)
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β"Make an obstacle an opportunity, make a negative a positive.
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Lance Armstrong
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No longer will I doubt my abilities...I will give myself a chance.
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Stephanie Lahart (Overcoming Life's Obstacles: Enlighten-Encourage-Empower)
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The difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is how high you raise your foot.
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Benny Lewis (Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World)
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When all seems to be against you, remember, a ship sometimes has to sail against the current, not with it.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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It's nice to consider that God may not count imperfection as an obstacle to working out his will in the world.
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Rae Carson (The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns, #2))
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Always follow your dreams, even if they lead you down a few dark alleys.
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Teresa Mummert
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Each day offers you an opportunity to overcome obstacles and fears in your life. Those victories, however small they appear, are significant and donβt need to be measured against or compared with those of someone else. They stand on their own as important measures of your own personal capabilities.
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Steve Pemberton (The Lighthouse Effect: How Ordinary People Can Have an Extraordinary Impact in the World)
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Overcoming what frightens you the most strengthens you the most.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles and adds significance to all you do.
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Norman Vincent Peale
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Be like seeds; do not see dirt thrown at you as your enemy, but as ground to grow.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
β
When life gets hectic and you feel overwhelmed, take a moment to focus on the people and things you are most grateful for. When you have an attitude of gratitude, frustrating troubles will fall by the wayside.
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Dana Arcuri (Harvest of Hope: Living Victoriously Through Adversity, A 50-Day Devotional)
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History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.
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B.C. Forbes
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Challenges are part of life. Overcoming them makes you a stronger person.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
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Life is like a piano. White keys are happy moments and the black ones are sad moments. Both keys are played together to give us the sweet music called Life.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Are we not all books waiting for someone to pick us up and read the pages that people missed?
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Shannon L. Alder
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I am the one constant obstacle to my own momentum.
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Pete Vellucci Jr.
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Life seems to be fashioned and formed best out of the obstacles that seem unbearable.
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John Paul Warren
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You have to prepare physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually to conquer any mountain.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
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If you want to catch your dreams, you have to drop your fears.
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Anton Rubaclini
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The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore... Unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible... It is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors... to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.
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Ferdinand Magellan
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I'm thinking about three things this morning. The obstacle is the path. Today is a good day. And what comes is a gift.
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Satya Robyn
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Most ideas are born and lost in isolation.
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Scott Belsky (Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality)
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If you are positive, you'll see opportunities instead of obstacles.
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Widad Akreyi
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If obstacles are large, jump higher.
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Steve Backley (The Champion in all of Us: 12 Rules for Success)
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If beautiful lilies bloom in ugly waters, you too can blossom in ugly situations.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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Stars do not hide from darkness. Roses do not hide from thorns. Diamonds do not hide from pressure.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
β
So many people along the way,whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done. But it all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there no limits,
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Michael Phelps
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No obstacle is so big that one person with determination can't make a difference.
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Jay Samit (Disrupt You!: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation)
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Only when your love of roses is greater than your fear of thorns can you grow a beautiful garden.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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When the world told the caterpillar its life was over, the butterfly objected, βMy life has just begun.
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Matshona Dhliwayo
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Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them...they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.
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Orison Swett Marden
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Moving in the right direction is better than arriving at wrong destination. Obstacles are good because they either take our time or change our direction so that we reach the right destination at right time.
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Shunya
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The true test of a warrior is how your 'stance' holds up after any 'circumstance'. Meaning, even after the stormiest weather, a true warrior will still reflect the brilliant rays of the magnificent sun through both his or her eyes. You may get hit by sudden lightning or take severe beatings from the cruel wind, but you will always get back up and stand strong on your feet again, soak in the sunlight, and be prepared to get hit by even the most merciless hail - time and time again.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Once there are no more obstacles to overcome,
no sudden closeness to achieve,
the eyes open the windows to deception and lies,
when two intimate hearts become strangers again,
thatβs how the love dies.
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Tatjana Ostojic (Cacophony of My Soul: When Love Becomes Poetry)
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On the road to success there is absolutely no room for criticism of self or others. Insecurity and fear masquerade as jealousy and judgment. Finding faults in others wastes time as we attempt to remove the bricks from other peopleβs foundations β time that could be better spent building our own. And worrying about what other people think about us also wastes the time that could be better spent expanding upon what we have built.
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Alaric Hutchinson (Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life)
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Key to his success was the mindset he championed. An optimist, Muhammad constantly sought new solutions to surmount obstacles and promote yusr (flow). He also insisted that people make the most of their limited time on earth, observing that βthe beginning of time is serenity (ridhwan), the middle of time is optimism for a better future (rahmah), and the end of time is accountability (βafw).
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Mohamad Jebara (Muhammad, the World-Changer: An Intimate Portrait)
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Whenever we doubt our own ability to achieve, it is worthwile pondering the obstacles that others have overcome. To name a few...
*Napoleon overcame his considerable handicap, his tiny stature, to lead his conquering armies across Europe.
*Abraham Lincon failed in business aged 31, lost a legislative race and 32, again failed in business at 34, had his sweetheart die when he was 35, had a nervous breakdown at 36, lost congressional races aged 43, 46 and 48, lost a senatorial race at 55, failed in his efforts to become vice president of the U.S.A aged 56 and lost a further senatorial contest at 58. At 60 years of age he was elected president of the U.S.A and is now remembered as one of the great leaders in world history.
*Winston Churchill was a poor student with a speech impediment. Not only did he win a Nobel Prize at 24, but he became one of the most inspiring speakers of recent times.
It is not where you start that counts, but where you choose to finish.
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Andrew Matthews (Being Happy!)
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When you keep hitting walls of resistance in life, the universe is trying to tell you that you are going the wrong way. It's like driving a bumper car at an amusement park. Each time you slam into another car or the edge of the track, you are forced to change direction.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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So many people along the way,whatever it is you aspire to do,will tell you it can't be done.But all it takes is imagination.You dream.You plan.You reach. There will be obstacles.There will be doubters.There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you,there are no limits.
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Michael Phelps with Alan Abrahamson (No Limits the Will to Succeed)
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The Lord gives us a spirit of hope and a feeling of comfort and confidence that we can overcome the obstacles we face. He has shown the way to gain strength during our struggles. With His assistance, we have the ability to succeed. Listen to His words of counsel and comfort: 'Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world and none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.
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L. Lionel Kendrick
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As long as there is happiness, there will be sadness. As long as there is fortune, there will be misfortune.
ββ¦Whatβs real is something that not even the strength of the Goddess can change. The only one who can change it is me. If I donβt change my destiny, if I donβt cut through the obstacles in my path, then no matter where I go, Iβll always be standing in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again, for the rest of my life.
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Miyuki Miyabe (Brave Story)
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Never be afraid to offer a smile; sure the risk is that a few foolish people may misinterpret your kindness as weakness, but the sweet reward is that as you make new friends and encourage others, the foolish have ignored the fact that you have already shown them your teeth.
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Johnnie Dent Jr.
β
Hope? Hope is not the absence of tragedy, my friend. It is the conviction that tragedy can be endured. Hope is the spark in you that is not subdued in the face of the vast and callous indifference of the universe. Hope is that which is not shattered by hardship. Hope is the urge to fight what is wrong even when you know it will destroy you. Hope is the decision to love and need someone knowing that they will one day die. For me to promise that there are no obstacles would be the cruelest lie I could possibly tell. That lie is not hope. Hope is the will which needs no lies.
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Travis Beacham
β
If we, as women, embrace each other we will be unstoppable. We must stand together and be counted as one.
As one we are strong.
As one we are tough.
As one we can challenge what the future holds.
As one we are survivors.
As one we have unbelievable courage.
As one we can face any obstacle.
As one we are centered and balanced.
As one we will transform the world.
As one we are pioneers and trailblazers.
As one our opportunities are endless.
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Charlena E. Jackson (A Woman's Love Is Never Good Enough)
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It's a bad job," he said, when I had done; "but the sun sets every day, and people die every minute, and we mustn't be scared by the common lot. If we failed to hold our own, because that equal foot at all men's doors was heard knocking somewhere, every object in this world would slip from us. No! Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, and win the race!
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Charles Dickens (David Copperfield)
β
When the flames of life are gnawing away at your butt, run faster, quicker, and harder than you've ever run before, because I guarantee it that life will condition you, harder than any trainer ever will.
When you state to yourself with the utter most believe, βI will achieve this,β than you are on the path, and this is when life throws obstacles left, right, straight on and which other way, but keep going. Because you will make it
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Mark Donnelly
β
No matter what challenges or obstacles we experience, we must make a CHOICE to become better or bitter because of it. Will and pray your way through it. In my opinion, the difference between those who are considered strong and those who are seen as weak are what they DECIDE to focus on. But, having down moments don't make someone weak, it makes them human. We wouldn't be human if we don't "feel", but at some point we MUCH force ourselves to get up!
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Yvonne Pierre (The Day My Soul Cried: A Memoir)
β
Men,you say you want a strong, intelligent, truly independent woman who wants you rather than needs you, who inspires you, who pushes you towards being yourself, who can stick by you through the hardest times, and who can be your rock through life's obstacles.
But you need to know that a truly strong, independent woman does not walk through life with her heart wide open. She has had to put up walls to block toxicity to obtain her strength. She is skeptical and always on alert from a lifetime of defense against predators. She is going to be a bit jaded, a little cynical, and a little scary because those qualities come with the struggle of obtaining that strength that gravitates you. She is going to doubt and question your good intentions because it has become her adaptability instincts that have allowed her to thrive.
She is not a ball of sunshine. She has flaws. She has a past. She has her demons. She knows better than to just let down her barriers for you simply because you voice a desire to enter. You have to prove your right of entrance. She will assume the worst of you because the worst has happened. If you want her to see otherwise, prove her wrong.
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Maggie Georgiana Young
β
Guess what? βSomedayβ almost never comes around. It gets lost somewhere between the shouda, woulda, couldas of your life. Let go of whatever is holding you back and dare to live β boldly, bravely, and courageously - now. Remember, none of these elements mean you have to be fearless. Itβs absolutely okay to be afraid! Acknowledge that part of yourself and then push beyond that fear, whatever it may be. Iβm not brave. . . . Iβm just taking every opportunity to LIVE.
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Kendra Thomas
β
It is important to keep one foot in front of the other. As a woman, you have to fake it until you make it. There will be a lot of twists and turns. There will mountains that are steep and seem to be too high to climb. However, where thereβs a will, thereβs a way. Giving up isnβt an option.
Never-ending obstacles pile up one after another. The process seems to repeat itself over and over again without a solution. Youβve been here before. Where does it end? When does it end? Things seem to stay the same or they become worse than before. How many times do you have to compromise? You cannot continue to carry everyoneβs burdens and their side effects as if everything is just fine
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Charlena E. Jackson (A Woman's Love Is Never Good Enough)
β
I donβt understand hospital chaplains that try to rob my patients of their anger. Sometimes anger is a key motivator that gets people to take action. Anger can push a cancer patient to jump out of his hospital bed, walk down to the nurses station and scream, βI am getting the hell out of here!β. There is a misconception that God is simply sweet and passive. Actually, God can be quite cunning, manipulative and relentless with his children. What we consider as negative traits are actually helpful in molding us. He will use a negative emotion if needed to push people to do things that will change them for the better. He will allow people or situations to derail us if there is a chance that those interactions will push us forward. Personally, I donβt want a God that is going to send some church member to my deathbed with a plate of cookies and tell me to have faith. Actually, I rather have a God that screams, βGet the hell off your ass, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Walk down the hall with that Physical Therapist so you can get on with your life!" A little anger in a person can push them to do amazing things.
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Shannon L. Alder
β
A PRAYER Β The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, powerful, or βgood,β but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffectedβready to say βI do not know,β if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equalityβto face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. I wish others to live their lives, tooβup to their highest, fullest and best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not needed. If I can help people, Iβll do it by giving them a chance to help themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation.
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β
Elbert Hubbard (A Message to Garcia: And Other Essential Writings on Success)
β
I am the interpretation of the prophet
I am the artist in the coffin
I am the brave flag stained with blood
I am the wounds overcome
I am the dream refusing to sleep
I am the bare-breasted voice of liberty
I am the comic the insult and the laugh
I am the right the middle and the left
I am the poached eggs in the sky
I am the Parisian streets at night
I am the dance that swings till dawn
I am the grass on the greener lawn
I am the respectful neighbour and the graceful man
I am the encouraging smile and the helping hand
I am the straight back and the lifted chin
I am the tender heart and the will to win
I am the rainbow in rain
I am the human who wonβt die in vain
I am Athena of Greek mythology
I am the religion that praises equality
I am the woman of stealth and affection
I am the man of value and compassion
I am the wild horse ploughing through
I am the shoulder to lean onto
I am the Muslim the Jew and the Christian
I am the Dane the French and the Palestinian
I am the straight the square and the round
I am the white the black and the brown
I am the free speech and the free press
I am the freedom to express
I will die for my right to be all the above here mentioned
And should threat encounter Iβll pull my pencil
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Mie Hansson (Where Pain Thrives)
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And I am proud, but mostly, Iβm angry. Iβm angry, because when I look around, Iβm still alone. Iβm still the only black woman in the room. And when I look at what Iβve fought so hard to accomplish next to those who will never know that struggle I wonder, βHow many were left behind?β I think about my first-grade class and wonder how many black and brown kids werenβt identified as βtalentedβ because their parents were too busy trying to pay bills to pester the school the way my mom did. Surely there were more than two, me and the brown boy who sat next to me in the hall each day. I think about my brother and wonder how many black boys were similarly labeled as βtroubleβ and were unable to claw out of the dark abyss that my brother had spent so many years in. I think about the boys and girls playing at recess who were dragged to the principalβs office because their dark skin made their play look like fight. I think about my friend who became disillusioned with a budding teaching career, when she worked at the alternative school and found that it was almost entirely populated with black and brown kids who had been sent away from the general school population for minor infractions. From there would only be expulsions or juvenile detention. I think about every black and brown person, every queer person, every disabled person, who could be in the room with me, but isnβt, and Iβm not proud. Iβm heartbroken. We should not have a society where the value of marginalized people is determined by how well they can scale often impossible obstacles that others will never know. I have been exceptional, and I shouldnβt have to be exceptional to be just barely getting by. But we live in a society where if you are a person of color, a disabled person, a single mother, or an LGBT person you have to be exceptional. And if you are exceptional by the standards put forth by white supremacist patriarchy, and you are lucky, you will most likely just barely get by. Thereβs nothing inspirational about that.
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Ijeoma Oluo (So You Want to Talk About Race)
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Making these choices [to attend school instead of skipping], as it turned out, wasn't about willpower. I always admired people who βwilledβ themselves to do something, because I have never felt I was one of them. If sheer will were enough by itself, it would have been enough a long time ago, back on University Avenue, I figured. It wasn't, not for me anyway. Instead, I needed something to motivate me. I needed a few things that I could think about in my moments of weakness that would cause me to throw off the blanket and walk through the front door. More than will, I needed something to inspire me.
One thing that helped was a picture I kept in mind, this image that I used over and over whenever I was faced with these daily choices. I pictured a runner running on a racetrack. The image was set in the summertime and the racetrack was a reddish orange, divided in white racing stripes to flag the runnersβ columns. Only, the runner in my mental image did not run alongside others; she ran solo, with no one watching her. And she did not run a free and clear track, she ran one that required her to jump numerous hurdles, which made her break into a heavy sweat under the sun. I used this image every time I thought of things that frustrated me: the heavy books, my crazy sleep schedule, the question of where I would sleep and what I would eat. To overcome these issues I pictured my runner bolting down the track, jumping hurdles toward the finish line.
Hunger, hurdle. Finding sleep, hurdle, schoolwork, hurdle. If I closed my eyes I could see the runnerβs back, the movement of her sinewy muscles, glistening with sweat, bounding over the hurdles, one by one. On mornings when I did not want to get out of bed, I saw another hurdle to leap over. This way, obstacles became a natural part of the course, an indication that I was right where I needed to be, running the track, which was entirely different from letting obstacles make me believe I was off it. On a racing track, why wouldn't there be hurdles? With this picture in mindβusing the hurdles to leap forward toward my diplomaβI shrugged the blanket off, went through the door, and got myself to school.
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Liz Murray (Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard)
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As Christians we face two tasks in our evangelism: saving the soul and saving the mind, that is to say, not only converting people spiritually, but converting them intellectually as well. And the Church is lagging dangerously behind with regard to this second task.
If the church loses the intellectual battle in one generation, then evangelism will become immeasurably more difficult in the next. The war is not yet lost, and it is one which we must not lose: souls of men and women hang in the balance.
For the sake of greater effectiveness in witnessing to Jesus Christ Himself, as well as for their own sakes, evangelicals cannot afford to keep on living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence.
Thinking about your faith is indeed a virtue, for it helps you to better understand and defend your faith. But thinking about your faith is not equivalent to doubting your faith.
Doubt is never a purely intellectual problem. There is a spiritual dimension to the problem that must be recognized. Never lose sight of the fact that you are involved in spiritual warfare and there is an enemy of your soul who hates you intensely, whose goal is your destruction, and who will stop at nothing to destroy you.
Reason can be used to defend our faith by formulating arguments for the existence of God or by refuting objections. But though the arguments so developed serve to confirm the truth of our faith, they are not properly the basis of our faith, for that is supplied by the witness of the Holy Spirit Himself. Even if there were no arguments in defense of the faith, our faith would still have its firm foundation.
The more I learn, the more desperately ignorant I feel. Further study only serves to open up to one's consciousness all the endless vistas of knowledge, even in one's own field, about which one knows absolutely nothing.
Don't let your doubts just sit there: pursue them and keep after them until you drive them into the ground.
We should be cautious, indeed, about thinking that we have come upon the decisive disproof of our faith. It is pretty unlikely that we have found the irrefutable objection. The history of philosophy is littered with the wrecks of such objections. Given the confidence that the Holy Spirit inspires, we should esteem lightly the arguments and objections that generate our doubts.
These, then, are some of the obstacles to answered prayer: sin in our lives, wrong motives, lack of faith, lack of earnestness, lack of perseverance, lack of accordance with Godβs will. If any of those obstacles hinders our prayers, then we cannot claim with confidence Jesusβ promise, βWhatever you ask in my name, I will do itβ.
And so I was led to what was for me a radical new insight into the will of God, namely, that Godβs will for our lives can include failure. In other words, Godβs will may be that you fail, and He may lead you into failure! For there are things that God has to teach you through failure that He could never teach you through success.
So many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is and always will be the true priority for every human being β that is, learning to know God in Christ.
My greatest fear is that I should some day stand before the Lord and see all my works go up in smoke like so much βwood, hay, and stubbleβ.
The chief purpose of life is not happiness, but knowledge of God.
People tend naturally to assume that if God exists, then His purpose for human life is happiness in this life. Godβs role is to provide a comfortable environment for His human pets. But on the Christian view, this is false. We are not Godβs pets, and the goal of human life is not happiness per se, but the knowledge of Godβwhich in the end will bring true and everlasting human fulfilment. Many evils occur in life which may be utterly pointless with respect to the goal of producing human happiness; but they may not be pointless with respect to producing a deeper knowledge of God.
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William Lane Craig (Hard Questions, Real Answers)