Don't Give Up Now, Your Reward Is Close! A Lesson in Perseverance

Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.-Robert Schuller

One morning I was in my car at the park, getting ready to start running, when suddenly a beautiful tiny blue bird tapped on the car window. The bird tapped with its beak three or more times and then sat on the side view mirror for a while. It repeated the same action 13 times. I counted them! Then, it started to do the same to the right side, on my side! The bird looked at me, but it didn't stop until I opened the door to get out of the car. The bird went back to the other side of my car and continued to do the same.

I was very impressed with that. It made me think about what the bird was trying to do, get inside the car? I'm not sure, but I am sure what the bird was trying to teach me: perseverance. A quality I've not developed well, partly because I have not paid much attention to it. Until now, I'd done what I wanted to do, but I hadn't gotten what I REALLY wanted. I think it was because I hadn't found my real purpose in life, until one year ago. Now that I know my purpose very clearly, it is time to learn and apply perseverance.

Perseverance is the commitment you make to yourself every day to do whatever is necessary to accomplish your dream (goal).Perseverance gives you the courage to not give up, no matter the circumstances or what others think about you. I like when some writers say that perseverance is a mental state and can be learned.

I have found that perseverance doesn't come naturally if we don't know what we REALLY want. It is very easy to do this and that, and continue to try new things every day without a real purpose. When we know what we really want and we have an intense desire to get it we are ready to start to develop perseverance in our lives. It is easy to persevere when we are trying to get something that we really desire.

Self-confidence and willpower can improve your perseverance.Believing in yourself and knowing that you are capable of achieving whatever you want can help you stay the course when the bad times come. Every time you resist the temptation to quit you are improving your perseverance. You are focused only on getting what you want no matter how many times you have to start again. Sometimes the fear of criticism is much stronger than the desire to succeed. We need to turn a deaf ear to all the comments that we can distract us from actualizing our purpose in life. The world is full of losers or unhappy people and they won't waste the opportunity to add one more to their ranks.

Overcome every problem with faith.Having faith is knowing and feeling that you already have everything you want. Every problem has a solution, you just need to find it. When you focus your mind on the solution, it will manifest it easily. Every time you solve a problem you gain experience and you are closer to achieving your goal. Don't forget to do your best in everything. When you do your best you won't have any regrets and you will feel good regardless of the result.

I'm learning perseverance every day. I won't give up my dreams again. I know what I really want and I'm working toward that goal every day. I'm happy every day of my life and I'm sure I'm going in the right direction. I really enjoy what I do. That little bird taught me a very important lesson -one that I was open to learning. Opportunities appear in front of you every day, but if you are not open or ready to see them, they pass by without notice. Your opportunity is waiting for you, do not let it go!

Patricia Anaya, creator of http://brainywoman.com, has a passion for creating projects that help people, especially women and children. "brainywoman.com opens up a lot of possibilities to touch women's lives and help them to improve self-esteem." She's also passionate about offering the very best in content and commentary, humor and high-quality merchandise that supports brainywoman.com's signature motto, Love Yourself! Tell the World, I'm Pretty, Sexy and Smart!