======================= VOTT IF ... you could get a short, humorous, informative e-mail each week that was insightful and meaningful to your life? ======================= Valuing Ourselves When you really know that something is worth doing, the feeling goes deeper than a whim or a want. It is a true connection from beyond the intellect - a directive from 'out there' so to speak. This is why many people persist at seemingly arduous tasks. Beethoven rewrote practically every bar of his music a dozen times. Gibbon worked 20 years to produce his book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edison describing his repeated efforts to create his invention, the phonograph, wrote "From eighteen to twenty hours a day for the last seven months I have worked on this single word "specia" ... It was enough to drive one mad. But I held firm, and I have succeeded.." Whether you 'succeed' or not, being able to persist is an adventure. You may not achieve the original goal you sought, but you may accomplish far more than you intended. In any case, you can hold your head high, because you have participated in one of the noblest games that life provides. As written in The Magnificent Seven (full text on our site): "The determined spirit cannot be chained, cannot be broken and cannot be conquered. Persistence defies failure at every turn. Persistence wears down demons and causes courage to smile. Persistence is dedication, determination and lots of hard work. Indeed, it was persistence that formed the universe! Time Tippies We've all heard the phrase "a picture's worth a thousand words". What does that really mean though, in practical terms? Pictures can often convey generalities and details more efficiently that the written word. For instance, if you were to try to describe the rainfall on Vancouver Island during the past winter, you could talk about it, or draw a graph showing the amount of rain that fell each day. (Everyone talks about the weather instead of drawing graphs, which is why no one ever does anything about it). When is the last time someone tried to 'give' you directions to get to their house, instead of drawing you a map? Planning out a project invites the use of a flowchart to clearly define the 'big picture' as well as provide the little tasks that need looking after. So when we talk about pictures, we don't have to paint the Mona Lisa. Maps, charts, graphs, sketches and even doodles can go a long way to speeding up the communication process. Inspiration Marie Klodowska was born in Warsaw in 1868, daughter of a chemistry professor. It was in her early years assisting her father that her love for science and research was flamed. As a young woman, she was drawn to Paris in the hopes of finding a position as a student laboratory assistant. After a long struggle with poverty and disappointments, she finally procured work as a poorly paid assistant of Professor Lipman. He quickly recognized her knowledge and research ability to be extraordinary and had her transferred to a position where she could conduct her own research. Shortly after this, she met and married Pierre Currie who wrote to her "What a great thing it would be to unite our lives and work together for the sake of science and humanity." Marie Curie enlisted her husband's interest in pursuing the research which was to lead to their fame. Few believed in their theories and many felt they were chasing a phantom. They toiled on though, through long years of poverty and deferred hopes. Pierre was often discouraged, but was buoyed up by Marie's firm convictions, invincible persistence and tireless patience. Finally, after countless experiments came the discovery of radium. We salute this woman whose penetrating intelligence, tenacity of purpose and keen vision resulted in triumph. Funecdotes Sergei Koussevitzky (1874-1951) was a Russian composer and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Once a clarinetist became very angry with Sergei's musical demands during a rehearsal and glared at him viciously for several moments. Sergei finally said, "Kill me; it will make me more pleasure than listen to you!" ... with you on your journey Towards Freedom mailto:about@towardsfreedom.com (autoresponder) http://www.towardsfreedom.com (website) information, imagination, inspiration - truly a site for soaring I's ======================= If you ever wish to unsubscribe just do so at http://towardsfreedom.com/suvottif.html#subscription_handling =======================