Surfing With One Arm Only

In his book "Limitless", Nick Vujicic cited Bethany Hamilton (http://www.soulsurfer.com) as an example of someone who has triumphed over tragedy.

Although Bethany lost her left arm when she was 13 years old due to a shark attack, she pursued her passion and is now living her dream as a professional surfer. 

Bethany Hamilton  (Photo credits: www.soulsurfer.com)

More than that, she is now a source of inspiration to people everywhere that when we pursue our passion, we can achieve our dream even with one arm!

May the following YouTube clip refreshes you to fuel your passion with added zest.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04jACEVTltw

You can create your own magical Disneyland, but it is not going to appear by magic. It takes vision, courage, passion and a lot of hard work to turn it into a reality. 

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." -- Nelson Mandela

"Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway." --John Wayne

P.S. Thank you Nick Vujicic for introducing Bethany Hamilton to Daily Refreshing and its readers.

Michelle Paynes' Dream Came True: Winning Melbourne Cup 2015

Modern fairy-tales do not come by easily. But, when they do pop up once in a while it would be so refreshing as to prop us up from the humdrum of life.

Michelle Payne with Prince Of Penzance (Photo credits: Elleuk.com)

It has been Michelle Payne's dream as an Australian jockey to win the renown Melbourne Cup and, against formidable odds, she became the first female jockey to win it recently in what has been dubbed as a "race that stops a nation".

Her challenges are many such as: losing her mom due to a car accident when six months old; sustaining a series of injuries throughout her career; and dealing with chauvinism in a sports dominated by male jockeys.  

But, Michelle persevered and kept dreaming. Finally, at 30-years old, even when she is on the verge of retiring from the sports with a desire settle down and wind down, she steered Prince Of Penzance to a historical win.

In her post-race interview together with her brother Stevie, who works as her strapper notwithstanding his Down's Syndrome, she said that her father has been supportive of her desire to be a jockey. Apart from hard work and perseverance in pursuit of her dream, I would surmise that her family support has given her an added impetus to succeed.

Also, she is aware of the inner strength of her Prince Of Penzance and know how to tap into its strength. As she puts it, "... it's not all about (human) strength, there is so much more involved, getting the horse into a rhythm, getting the horse to try for you. It's being patient."

And, if you watch the race, you would see that she was patiently working with her Prince up the ranks before making the final dash to outstrip the all-male competition.

Click on the following to watch her post-race interview:

'I just couldn't believe we'd won the Melbourne Cup': Michelle Payne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERaQrLuQTMc

Click on the following to watch the pulsating race:

Melbourne Cup 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a04sTxItM0 

Click on the following for highlights of the race with salient commentaries and watch the jubilation of this group who called themselves "small fry investors" in Prince of Penzance:

Jockey Michelle Payne First female winner of the Melbourne Cup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l-niS0NFqE

Melbourne Cup: Michelle Payne, Prince of Penzance welcomed home in Ballarat

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-06/melbourne-cup-michelle-payne-prince-of-penzance-in-ballarat/6919088

P.L.A.N. for Your Success

A goal without any plan is wishful thinking. There is no such thing as an accidental success. One could, for instance, win the lottery without a plan on how to handle it and lose all the winnings in no time. A talent or an opportunity is not a guarantee for success. Deliberate and determined actions are still required in order for us to head towards our goals.

With time as a constraint, it is a necessity for us to PRIORITIZE what we value the most as our goals or desired outcomes (e.g., health, wealth, relationship and self-actualization). And, within each category of goals, we can further list our priorities (e.g., healthy mind, strong bones, etc.) 

How do we know what are our priorities? There is a simple test for this: Ask ourselves what are the first things and the last things that we think about every day -- the things that make us happy (pinky health and Trojan-sized piggy bank filled with gold bars), the things that trouble us (prime candidates for a solution) or clueless (this problem is in a different class of its own)?

Once we know our priorities and the sub-priorities, we can write them out on paper and pen (if still using conventional stationeries) or e-note then on whatever gizmos that can do the trick. We can then review and visualize them every day and then we will really zoom-in and synchronize our life with our distilled priorities at this time and season of our life, subject to future fluctuations and variations. But, at least for the now-moment, we can really, really focus on our known priorities and lead a productive, passionate and purposeful life and out-manoeuvre the ho-hum and humdrum trap of mere-existence without planning.

While it is not always advisable to follow what others are doing, there is much we can LEARN from the insights and successes of other people. As we learn more, we can then discover and assimilate what would work best for us, as well. But, we have to be realistic here so as not to set a goal that is way off. We can, however, set incremental goals that are achievable so that we can come up surely and steadily. For example, we can learn a new language by studying just one word a day via an App, incrementally.

To really get things moving after we have set our priorities and done some research on how to go about achieving our dream goals, we need to take ACTIONS. This is a crucial stage that will really bring us a step closer to our goal -- no matter how distant it may be. If we could keep at it and keep pace consistently, we will advance with growing confidence.

As we journey towards our dreams, we might face some distractions, obstacles, set-backs and challenges. But, as our goals have stayed true with us and would not stray from our minds after having reviewed, visualized and affirmed them daily, we will have to dig-in and stay in the trench and NEVER GIVE UP. Just picture a bulldog with a made-up mind and never, ever give up!