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Seven Steps for Glorious Success

P. A. Joseph P. A. Joseph
27 Nov 2023

My whole desire and ambition is to make my life totally successful and glorious. First of all, I must be reasonable in my selection and performance. My judgment must be correct and prudent. This must be tested in various ways. Even my friends will help me to be sure if my steps are reasonable.  Reasons must be crisp, candid, transparent and self-affirmative.

Besides I must develop a sense of habitual moderation and self-control in busy activities. This is for self-reflection as a reason for better efforts. 

Once I discern my steps as correct, I must be courageous to follow it. Face one by one event with courage and enthusiasm.  There is no substitute for courage and stamina. Army people are enthused by a catch word: “Can do, will do”. A soldier is trained to do the hardest thing. Obstacles are not to cow him/her down. Stamina repels fear and enables one for action; if we don’t follow it, it is sheer nonsense.

Sense of integrity is a highly esteemed quality. There is no substitute for integrity and honesty. One has to be totally integral. There is no 50-50, it must be 100.  50% right is equal to 50% wrong. You can’t say you are 50% right; either you are 100 % right or not. Integrity=justice. 

Most powerful quality or virtue is your dedication to the All Powerful God. There is no soft peddling on this.  Here too I can’t say I believe in God to a great extend.  Your belief in the Almighty must be total. This alone will give you all the strength you need.  Once you are in that, be there totally. In all the curing cases in the ministry of Jesus, he would put a question: ‘What do you want?’, and once the client believes totally, she/he is miraculously cured.  And Jesus would say: “Your faith has healed you”. Hence faith in God as a great virtue is to be lived always.

Similar to faith is the twin-companion: Hope. Only one who believes can hope. Be hopeful and optimistic. In all the issues, problems and negative contexts, one must keep and develop hope. Actually, in our life we are always led by hope. In all our hard endeavors and struggles and even moments of apparent despair we are led by hope to go ahead. We don’t give up a thing even if an apparent failure comes. No student stops studies if she/he fails. This is the rule of life. In all the scientific discoveries failure is not taken seriously. Isaac Newton made 10000 steps before he discovered the electric bulb; he does not count the hard steps as failures, but steps to success. For APJ Kalam, FAIL is First Attempt In Life.

The most powerful of all steps is love. Count and analyze various steps in our life; we will find that love is the most important and significant dynamism.  The power and capacity of love is wonderful.  The bond that keeps the families united, the strength that keeps the team in action, the inner power of even the political parties, the real cause that strengthen the social workers in serving the sick leprosy patients, the power that keeps you strengthened to serve the incurably sick patients is love. Love does not keep a leger of negative events, painful moments, agonies, worries, tensions and all the negative moments. Love can accept anything, accommodate with anything, welcome everything and everyone, and that without limit and condition. 
 

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