Vision is success

I was reading through one of my journals, and found the following words I penned on March 30, 2012 (almost 2 years ago, exactly) to be insightful and motivating: Some people view the world as being made up of winners and losers. I choose to believe we're all gladiators in the arena of life, each with varying degrees of success, skill, and victories under our respective belts. Like gladiators we can choose hate, anger, and negative emotion to drive us in a competitive aggression towards our personal goals. Or we can choose a comradery of brotherhood that propels us individually and collectively to wards victory. And why do we fight? who is the foe? Is it our brother? no. the lion, the tiger, or the bull? No. Perhaps the arena itself or the empire that enables the fight? Still no. They are all mere facilitators for our fight that, if not fought at their venue, would be fought out in myriad conditions, times, and places--either occurring naturally in our respective worlds, facilitated by some other entity at some other venue, or created ourselves through our own choices. No, the foe is not external. The real foe is within. it is us. The fight--while waged outwardly--is not about the superficial circumstances that make up our physical world. The real fight is within. It's the fight to conquer will-- to be disciplined enough to defeat the natural will of self destruction in view of a more glorious victory. And victory is found when, by virtue of our mental ability, strength of will, and personal desire directed towards the personal ends we decide to create, we are in fact able to manage our circumstances in such a manner as to bring our intended purposes to pass. Varying levels of this internal victory are sometimes observable in this great arena of life as we watch the intentions of purpose-driven individuals creating their intended purposes. More often, though, is the case where the observable conditions of a man don't tell us very much about the internal victories of self that occur in every battle. The key to turning internal victories into the very observable successes most of us may long for is vision. To create, believe in, maintain, and focus on a clear vision of the ultimate ends to which all effort is directed is in very deed the root, trunk, limbs, and leaves of victory. In short: to see, have faith in, and enact a clear vision is success.