Success and Failure

                                                                                                                              Toral Pradhan.

            Before Abraham Lincoln became the President of America, he stood for the Senator’s elections and failed twice. People and Politicians began to make satirical statements about him as the “unluckiest person with maximum failures”. When he failed for the third time, he left the office with a heavy heart. It was a dark night, raining heavily, the roads were slippery and full of mud. His mind was lamenting over his failures, at that moment his leg slipped and he was on the ground. Immediately he lifted himself and was steady again. He told himself, “It’s a slip and not a fall.”  The idea was that he was not ready to accept failure. He had not allowed the series of failures to affect his Determination to win.

            Those who accept failure whole heartedly can never be defeated in life. A lively person only takes failure as on more step forward.  When a creeper  comes  across obstacles it ties itself or winds itself around the object and  moves further, upwards When  flowing water finds obstacles in its way it diverts its flow but does not stop flowing.

            Success and failure are the two sides of the same coin.

            In human life the importance of failure is more than success. As Thomas Huxle  has said,

“The failures met in the initial stages of life have many social advantages. Those who  are not willing to accept failure, do not learn the important lessons of life.”

            To lead a successful life not only intelligence but the craving for knowledge, to learn new things, to meet new challenges, to keep pace with the times are also necessary. And above all the courage to face failures is required.

A well known Psychologist, Dr. Robert Macmurie has made a research in this field of human behaviour. He says that though some people are very smart and intelligent than the others they are always restless and cannot be steady in life. These type of people are never ready to accept their failure, they justify their failures by finding faults with others. They are not ready to change themselves with the time.

“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out.”                         -Dee Hock.

             Only failures can pave ways for success. Failure makes one realize his drawbacks, his weaknesses. When a person realizes these, he does not get carried away by false flatter and criticism. Failure helps to recognize the self. A person  with determined self does not live upon false praise, but on his own powerful mental stability. Such  people are artists, authors, politicians. They are not affected by the circumstances around them.

Socrates did not leave the path of truth even though a bowl of poison was placed before him and his death was sure.

Such determination and self respect can only emerge from knowledge, and from knowledge comes faith. Faith in one’s  own self which makes a person more strong after every failure. Successful people teach their children how to be successful in life, but they do not teach them to take failures in their stride. Thus, man is always in search of  success. One who does not know to face failures  does not know anything in life. It is well said,

“There is something in human spirit, which is strengthened by disaster.”

               Success only brings false pride and egoism making a person weaker, whereas failure brings strength and confidence which takes  the person to ultimate heights of success where there is no place for pride. Unsuccessful people often build a protective wall around them. They are the noisy chaotic type of people. Though they are a Mr. Nobody they try to show that they are a Mr. V.I.P., but such people often  lose their identity  and  chaos simultaneously like the waves on the shores with motion and sound which subsides together living no trace of  it existence. Such people develop jealousy and bitterness in their lives. A successful person  develops qualities like humbleness, patience  and perseverance, that practical failures teach them. Therefore, it is said,

“Grace must come before Greatness.” Those who have paved their paths with failures  develop Grace naturally.

               The difference between success and failure is found in one’s attitudes towards setbacks, handicaps, discouragements and disappointing situations.

Some guidepoints to help turn defeat into victory are:

·        Study setbacks to pave your way to success. When you lose, learn  and then go to win the next time, the way  Abraham Lincoln did.

·        Have the courage to be your own constructive critic. Seek out your faults and weaknesses and then correct them. This will make you a professional in whatever field you work.

·        Stop blaming luck Luck is only a mindset. Find out what went wrong and why. Remember, blaming luck never takes anyone where he wants to go.

·        Blend persistence and experimentation. Stay with your goal, trying new approaches. Do not be a  rigid stone. Experiment and change yourself with the world.

·        There is good side to everything, in every situation. Find it. Make use of the good and discard the bad.

·        A Spiritual Law of Success is the Law of  Intention and Desire. Your body is not  separate from the body of the universe, because at quantum mechanical levels there are no well-defined  edges. It is your quality of  Willing and Intending, which will enable you to orchestrate an infinity of space-time events to bring about SUCCESS.