Traumatic Brain Injury — THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FAILURE! Part 2 of 2
Posted by secondchancetolive on May 25, 2009
Please read Part 1 , Part 3 for context. Thank you.
When I reached my high red belt I had a spiritual awakening that forever changed my life. I have applied this principle to every area of my life. The destination is not as important as what I learn on the way to the destination.
The destination of the belt is the sum of what I learn on the way to earning the belt. Therefore the color of the belt only signifies what I have learned. With my spiritual awakening I began to realize that my ability to effectively execute punches, kicks, knees, elbows and grappling skills was of far more importance than the color of the belt that I wore in class. Success took on new mearning. Success became part of the process. The destination became secondary.
With out the ability to execute punches, kicks, knees, elbows and grappling skill — regardless of the belt color that I wore in class — I would be unable to combine them when sparing or on the street. With my understanding I changed my focus. I started to celebrate and trust the process.
Apart from the lesson that I learned through my discouragement and disappointment I would still be frustrated — chasing after destinations. The lesson taught me to trust the process rather than emotionally investing myself in the outcomes — which may never be reached. Case in point. I was scheduled to test for my black belt this coming October. Earlier this year — in February — I damaged my right knee which resulted in the decision to bow out of the 10 month long black belt test preparation process.
Because of the injury to my knee and after getting several orthopedic opinions I decided to bow out of the 10 month long black belt cycle. Consequently, I had to let go of my dream of obtaining my black belt in mixed martial arts. Please read my 2 part series, Traumatic Brain Injury — Learning to Let go of a Dream. Because I had learned the lesson — that the process is more important than the destination — I have been able to let go of the dream.
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us”. Helen Keller
Please read Part 3 for context. Thank you. Craig
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This entry was posted on May 25, 2009 at 3:42 am and is filed under 12 Step Recovery, Acquired Brain Injury, Adult Children of Alcoholics, Awareness Acceptance Action, Being Healed, Bob Woodruff, Brain Injury, Caregivers, Children of Trauma, Closed Head Injury, Codependency, Department of Defence, Department of Veteran Affairs, Desert Storm Veterans, Empowerment Speaker, Empowerment and Inspirational Speaker, Friends, Gulf War Veterans, Healthy Self-Care, Identified Patient, Invisible Disability, Iraq War Veterans, Iraq veterans, Learning, Life, Limitations, Living with a Disability, Living with an Invisible Disability, Major Media Outlooks, Major News Networks, Meaning and Purpose, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Motivaional Speaker, Motivational / Inspirational Speaker, Natasha Richardson, No Longer a Victim, Ophra Winfrey, PTSD, Parents of children with Acquired brain injuries, Personal, Personal empowerment, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Progress, Revealing your Destiny, Romance and Relationships, Self-Respect, Serving humanity, Subdural Hematoma, The Grieving Process, Traumatic / Acquired Brain Injury and Anger, Traumatic Brain Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury Support Groups / Meetings, Traumatic Brain Injury Thrivor, Traumatic Brain Injury and You, Traumatic Brain Injury in children, Traumatic Brain and Comfort, Veterans of the Iraq War, Vietnam Veterans, Virginia Tech Shootings, abuse and neglect, abuse and trauma, awareness, brain injured soldiers, celebrities with brain injuries, cerebral vascular accident, characteristics of traumatic brain injury, empowerment, family, fear of failure, finding your bliss, flash explosion leading to brain Injury, goal setting, head injury, learning disabilities, life challenging experiences, living life on life's terms, living my destiny, living with a traumatic / acquired brain injury, living with meaning and purpose, messages of hope, messages of hope and inspiration, motivation, relationships, self-esteem, self-improvement, shame, spinal cord injury, stroke, toxic shame, traumatic / acquired brain injury, traumatic brain injury Iraq, traumatic brain injury and frustration, traumatic brain injury in schools, traumatic brain injury treatment, visual impairment. Tagged: mixed martial arts, The Journey is more Important than any desination, Falling down instead can merely remind me to get back up again, not what happens to me but how I use what happens to me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
