Many of us feel like we are now in the midst of an economic war. In some cases our assets have been obliterated. In others our firepower has been reduced. For many our supply lines have been interrupted. With that in mind the mission for many of us, at or near retirement age, is that we must un-retire our thinking and forge ahead with a conviction to overcome the devastating effects of the bombardment on our finances, our property, our jobs, our incomes, and our psyche. At this time I am reminded of the famous quote from Winston Churchill delivered on October 29, 1941 as he sought to encourage the free world to fight against the tyranny of Nazi Germany.
Speaking at Harrow school Churchill spoke passionately with these words; "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy".
With Winston Churchill's inspirational words as a backdrop I encourage you to not let financial or other setbacks dissuade you from your mission to achieve your personal and professional goals. Now is the time to reassess your situation, make your plan and act boldly to move forward and with urgency. Now is the time to discover and leverage the unique strengths within yourself and explore those opportunities that you may not have considered before this time.
Speaking at Harrow school Churchill spoke passionately with these words; "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy".
With Winston Churchill's inspirational words as a backdrop I encourage you to not let financial or other setbacks dissuade you from your mission to achieve your personal and professional goals. Now is the time to reassess your situation, make your plan and act boldly to move forward and with urgency. Now is the time to discover and leverage the unique strengths within yourself and explore those opportunities that you may not have considered before this time.
1 comment:
I acknowledge the premise that "never giving up" sounds like a seductive idea and I've embraced it a few times myself, actually. Meritorious as this concept is, its benefits could be balanced with the judicious use of its opposite - letting go. As grounding as it must feel to hold to our convictions, focus on our mission, attain our goals through perseverance, it also might be worth considering the exhilaration that letting go could offer. Using the imagery in yoga of eagle pose, the body limbs are wrapped, contorted and melded in a forward bend, finally releasing itself to the atmosphere much like a bird in flight in a graceful upward arc. Embracing this concept through this blog, inspiration fills me from somewhere, ideas are commited to words and then by some inner compulsion, released to the cyber world, leaving me in rapturous contentment.
Bizarrely the personification of this concept of letting go, the person who has perfected this better than anyone I know, is my ex, Nerou, and I can't get him out of my mind as I write this essay. So instead of repeating "out damn spot" until he disappears from my memory, here's a few of the good qualities I remember of my ex:
1) He ran 27 NYC Marathons
2) There is artistry in how he cuts mango and pineapple.
3) With his beautifully manicured hands, he should have been a surgeon, not an accountant.
4) He is a kick ass poker player.
5) ?
Nerou's poker skills are formidable and I tried valiantly during my divorce to impart to my attorney the danger this held for me. Possessing a reserve behind which he dissembles his true feelings, his cool detachment often serves him well. To give you a more concrete illustration of his nonchalance, being plagued as I was with migraines, he added insult to injury by bragging that he never got headaches, he just gave them. (Thanks, sweetie - I love you too! ) Little surprise that he used his poker skills with his adversarial adroitness at negotiating, playing his hand with perfect timing and most importantly, knowing when to fold. This last quality was ultimately the most instructive to me as I learned by experience when to let go. Life has a way of making this lesson resurface more often than we might like.
Letting go might be easy with the things that aren't working for us but try to apply this principle to that which we cling, cleave and covet. I was recently at a Fordham Law film event at which Peter Bogdanovich was a guest speaker, providing insightful observations of the very fine Otto Preminger movie "Anatomy of a Murder" which we viewed. He regaled the group with stories of the movie business telling us that he was once advised by Otto Preminger that after his films were done to "let them go!" Peter shared this very dramatically and majestically in full Preminger accent, having lost none of his actor training from the past.
So perhaps the great Preminger was a visionary with this sage advice to let things go once they are complete, once we have taken our allotted fill, allowing us to move on to the next experience. Avoiding over-attachment to material and immaterial possessions, we could create a simpler existence, one that is lighter, freer, in a word - less encumbered. Perhaps it just might be the thing to do - to give up, give in and let go to be able to move forward.
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