Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass.....

Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain.....

How relevant is this statement! Time and again, we have just stood still when a storm came into our lives and we did nothing but wait for it to pass. In my own life, I have waited for many of such storms to pass and years were wasted away in such periods of waiting.

LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN

Mired in failure and self-pity
How many of us have wallowed in self-pity hoping for things to change? Failure is a terrible word and it grips us so tightly that we often never pry loose its grip on us. That's why many of us are still bound by experiences that happened years ago. Such fears debilitate us and cause us to never step out of our secure zones.

Gripped in the bondage of constrains
If we continue to be mired in such negative zones, we will always be constrained in our lives - constrained to wait out the showers that come so often in our lives. We will never watch the splendour of the rainbows after a storm and see the wild flower in bloom. We will always miss the highlights that add so much to enrich our lives.

We can learn to dance in the rain
Yes, my friends, we can learn to dance in the rain and to see the spectrum of a thousand colours light up our lives. If you examine your own life, you will see that what really matters are really only the highlights that take place in your life. It is the mountain top experiences that stand out.

We must first seek to apply it to ourselves
We all have to live our lives for a clear purpose and it is more than just carving out a career and raising a family that matters. We all owe it to ourselves to bring out the vibrant colours in our own lives before we can even talk of helping others bring out theirs.

We must learn to get wet in the rain and like it.....
Dancing in the rain requires you to let down your hair and not care about the wetness that washes all over you. It is learning to stare at life in the face and say, "I will not be dampened by you." Not only will I not be dampened; I will also surmount you and use you to bring out the rainbows in my life......

The right way to live - a life of liberty
What a way to live!! I have been dancing in the rain almost all my life. The more people tell me something cannot be done, the more I go out and do it.

COME DANCE IN THE RAIN WITH ME.....

So often, people come up to me and say, "I wish I could be more like you and live my life to the fullest!" My response to that is "Why are you even talking "funny" like this? Can't you see that it has nothing to do with your abilities or even your limitations. All it need is a change of attitude!"

Governed by opinions.....
Comments like the following are very common - "O, my husband thinks I should not do this" or "My friends say I am not made out for adventure" or "My Parents are freakish in their safety concerns" or "I think I am too old for this kind of strenous activities." And so, the list goes on.

You make your own choices - a story of a feisty spirit
You make your own choices, my friends. Recently, I met this wonderful lady who had so much wanted to climb Mount Kinabalu. I could see the glitter in her eye each time she talked of climbing. It was obvious to me that she was tired of her routines in life and now with the children grown up, she was raring to have some adventure in her life. Each time, she talked of climbing, her husband would discourage her and talked of all the negatives......

I will make it my mission.....
I like her spirit. The more the discouragement would flow, the more determined she would get. She knows that she has to live her life the way she wants to live it if she is to find real meaning. I have no doubts she will reach the mountain top and as she feels the wind in her face, she will know what it is to live life fully.

The true spirit of Adventure - the indomitable spirit of man
I love this kind of spirit of adventure. I have taken almost 2,000 people to climb Mount Kinabalu in 52 climbs. Time and again I have seen the indomitable spirit of men (perhaps even more in women) take hold of their limitations and drive them to surpass their own limitations. I spoke to 120 young Leaders three weeks ago at a RYLA camp organised by the Rotary in Johore at a rustic place called Sedili. There, I challenged them to soar like Eagles and never to let the shackles of mediocre thoughts bring them low. I could see the glitter in their yes as they made fresh resolutions to do things differently. What wonderful feelings as I came away seeing their spirits rise!

More stories of such courage
Lim Yong Keat wa 68 years old when he climbed Mount Kinabalu with me earlier this year. Many told him he was crazy to attempt such a climb at his age. Did he even stop to ponder such negative thoughts. No! Right from the start, I could see the tremendous determination in his eyes. He was going to make it irrespective of what it was going to take. With such a spirit, how could he not succeed. He made the top earlier than other younger climbers. Yong Keat knows what it is to pay the price to be a winner.

The call of a true champion
This is the call of a champion - to surpass and exceed every limitation that life has to offer and to take responsibility for what happens to you. The true champion don't go around blaming people and things for what happens to them. They stand strong amidst the force of the lashing rain and they never get dominated by the seemingly insurmountable winds & problems that come into their lives.

Yes, my friends, even as I write this blog in the early hours of the morning (started at 4 am), I feel so refreshed simply taking stock of what it really means to be a champion in my life. All I know is that God did not make me to lose in life!

Think of a baby who starts to walk at the age of say, 11 months.

The baby will stand up for short tottering moments and then he will fall down again. He will probably stand up, walk a few tentaive steps and fall again and again. He will probably fall thousands of times in the course of learning to walk. Sometimes the fall may be so painful he may cry for long moments. BUT WILL THE BABY SIMPLY SIT DOWN AND REFUSE TO WALK AGAIN. NO!!!

The baby will rise up again after each fall and he will walk again. He will rise up and walk again and again and again until he can walk consistently and well. He doesn't give up until he finally succeeds. That is how God has made us and that is what God plants in our lives - the mind of a winner and the chanracter of a Champion. We are all champions.

You can do it!!!
Don't let a small disappointment or a setback hold you down. I want to speak into your life right now and say - You can do it!! You can rise again after each disappointment and press on, knowing that success is much nearer than you think.