A Quote to Share

There is a quote on a small white piece of paper on my writing desk. It reads, "There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within. No real insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose!"

This statement inspires me because it awakens the part of me that never gives up, no matter what the odds or the situation. However, as I sit here writing this, I am in one of those "head spaces' where everything around me is depressing and I really have a hard time getting through the day. It is usually at these times of depression that I think of all of the bad I have done in my life, and I start telling myself that I am no good, a fake, or a phony.

I call it my "self-sabotaging cycle," and it is a real screwed up, "hard to get out of" place in my mind. It seems like it would be really easy to give up at this point. I mean why not? After all I have wasted my life and scared so many people; what is the point?

The point is (at least for me) that I would be giving up, and it would mean that I failed, that I was no longer trying, that the insurmountable barrier I had reached was my own weakness.

by Thubten Chodron