SQ's Favorite Words PART 2

There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.

Failed in business at age 21.
Was defeated in a legislative race at age 22.
Failed again in business at age 24.
Overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26.
Had a nervous breakdown at age 27.
Lost a congressional race at age 34.
Lost a congressional race at age 36.
Lost a senatorial race at age 45.
Failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47.
Lost a senatorial race at age 49.
Was elected president of the United States at age 52.
The man's name was Abraham Lincoln.
Could he have become president if he had seen these events of his life as failures?
It's not likely.

There's a famous story about Thomas Edison.
After he'd tried 9,999 times to perfect the light bulb and hadn't succeeded,
someone asked him, "Are you going to have ten thousand failures?"
He answered, "I didn't fail. I just discovered another way not to invent
the electric light bulb."
He had discovered how another set of actions had produced a different result.

Dream versus Fantasy

There is a difference between who you really are and the fantasy of who you think
you are.
There is a difference between a dream and a fantasy;
in striving for your dream, you must dive in and do the work to earn that dream.
You need to do your job to hone skills with patience.
In fantasy, you live in your imagination, never achieving anything but a state of
ignorance.
It is said, "Ignorance is bliss." This is living in a fantasy that is self-defeating.
It's like the housewife who sits home and fantasizes about being a movie star
without having any idea of the work involved.
Therefore, understand yourself so that you can be patient.

Happiness versus Pleasure

The highest happiness is when one reaches the stage of Liberation,
at which there is no more suffering. That's genuine, lasting happiness.
True happiness relates more to the mind and heart.
Happiness that depends mainly on physical pleasure is unstable,
one day it's there, the next day it may not be. by Dalai Lama