Starving to Live

"You gotta be hungry!" - Les Brown

Call it desire, passion, zeal, a want to, or being hungry, but there has got to be a fire in us that burns us forward. Not just a fire, but a burden to achieve, accomplish, and obtain our deepest desires. There is a certain inner hunger that should be propelling us forward toward a goal. No mountain is too high, no valley is too low, and no obstacle can get in our way. Take a look at someone by the name of Theodore Roosevelt. Many do not know his life story, but he overcame many odds as a young man. Teddy Roosevelt had a myriad of health problems and always lagged behind in his education. Obviously, all us know what he ultimately achieved in life. Read, no wait, LISTEN to what Teddy had to say about life! “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Wow! This sounds like a man who has been in the arena of life and understands the necessity of having a passion to accomplish his goals!

A Chinese Proverb says, 'Pearls lie not on the seashore. If thou desirest one thou must dive for it.' If we want to see our vision come to pass, then we must step out of our comfort zones of mere talking and dreaming with a continued passion of pursuit! You see, some people develop a wish bone where their back bone should be. Wishing is great only if it is backed with an insatiable hunger to see it come to fruition! "Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve." (Wilfred A. Peterson) Everything you want to be is rooted in your will to become the best that you can become! "You can have anything you want if you want, it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose." (Abraham Lincoln)

You may be saying right now, 'How or where do I start?' Obviously, you must first find out what YOU are passionate about. What is it that moves you or captures your heartstrings? "There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to possess it." (Napoleon Hill) This is the first principle of success - knowing what you want. Desire then, is the planting of your seed. If your purpose is righteous then you know in the end the results will be right. Willam Hazlitt said it this way, "A strong passion... will insure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means."

If there is one characteristic about a hungry person, is their hunger burns in them and they will do most anything to feed that hunger. We may look out at the hungry and say within ourselves, "I would not do that or stoop to being that low to get food!" But when you are hungry, truly hungry, your inner passion will fuel your actions. WE cannot be timid in our pursuit! We can't go into something to test the waters, we must go into things to make waves. "The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." (Napoleon Hill)

It seems like we are always getting ready to live but we are never really living. So today it is time once again tap into your hunger for life! If you feel low or have lost the zeal you once had, YOU can have it again! Somerset Maugham said, "It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." Remember, it is only you and you alone who has given permission for your dreams to be squelched. "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." (Helen Keller) Image creates desire. Desire creates the power. You will pursue what you imagine. Pick yourself up by your boot straps, and rekindle the fires of your dreams!