Stepping Stones

Napoleon Hill personified overcoming failure.

Martin Luther King, Jr. pushed through it.

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a constant reminder that transcending ideas of success and failure is also available to us. 

No one aims to fail. Except, there are some who knowingly craft their visions leveraging each setback as fuel. From this vantage point, any given outcome is achievable. What’s more interesting is that when you become acquainted with the stories and backgrounds of people who have achieved something of significance, all of them understood how to use it to their advantage, until time, balance, or some other thing takes precedence. Knowing your next step will be better because of the previous is a great starting point, but arriving at this state is arguably the most important element in the process–without which you might be endlessly spinning your wheels.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit
— Napoleon Hill

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”
― Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you are seeing this life as only as a stepping stone to a larger possibility, then whatever the situation, it is beautiful and very useful. So various situations in your life. Either you can use it, to make yourself stronger and better, or your can sit and cry.
—Sadhguru

People like Napoleon Hill, Martin Luther King Jr., Sadhguru, Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson, and many others, have been driving home these ideas for some time. Each time I really look into my own failures and successes I realize how important all of their messages really are, and at a minimum reinforce that there is always a larger context I’m a part of.

So no matter the weather, everyday, in fact, every moment can be a stepping stone if you but allow it to be. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., take some time to reflect on what kind of gems lay hidden in some of your most recent setbacks and see if you can transform them into opportunities for your growth.