Invictus is the key to greatness

13 Jun, 2021 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Milton Kamwendo
Hunt for Greatness

There is something in you that is so strong that you cannot be defeated unless you choose. You cannot be stopped unless you lose your vision. Invictus in Latin means “invincible, unconquerable, or undefeated”.

This quality is the nature of the human spirit and the inspiration of all those reaching for greatness. You are invincible. There is greatness in you. Challenge will come your way. Obstacles will stand in your path. Discouragement will plague you. Stand your ground, keep moving and claim the spirit of Invictus.

In 1875, Mr. William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) succumbed to complications arising from tuberculosis. The condition was so bad that he was advised that he required the amputation of both his leg. Immediately after the amputation, he was told that sadly his other leg would require a similar procedure to be done.

What was he to do? He stood to lose both legs. He looked for a different opinion and refused to settle on just one opinion. He took a wise and radical choice. He dug deep into the deep and abundant resources of faith within him. Mr. Henley chose instead to enlist the services of the distinguished English surgeon Joseph Lister, who was able to save Hen-ley’s remaining leg after multiple surgeries.

While he was recovering in hospital, he had time to think and reflect on his life. He was moved to write the verses of the poem that was to be called “Invictus”.

The year was 1875 when he first wrote the poem. Initially it was without a title. Words had just bumbled out of his spirit as he reflected on this period of his life, coupled with recollections of an impoverished childhood. Nothing can kills a living spirit. In your adversity there is abundance of inspiration for greatness. Do not let your passion or focus die. Do not let your energy leak.

In 1888, William Ernest Henley’s poem: “Invictus” was published. The poem depicts fortitude and fidelity in the face of adversity. The past is a small matter, the present is a little matter and it’s the future that is big matter and so pregnant with inexhaustible possibilities. The poem reads:

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

 

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.”

 

Let whatever comes your way find you unafraid, but ready to dance. Greatness is moving from obstacle to obstacle without losing home. Greatness is moving from setback to setback without losing your vision. Rest assured the easy path to greatness does not exist.

Mindset

Your thoughts drive your life and actions. You become what you think about, focus on and work on. Be aggressive in maintaining your mental garden. Take swift action on the weeds of negativity. Uproot every root of bitterness because it keeps you humstrung, sick and cynical. If you allow your mind to dwell on shortage, scarcity, lack, or deprivation you will just create more of it. Regrettably whatever you complain about persists.

Everything that happens to you is sent for a good reason and a full season.

Everything starts in the mind, with the way you think and what you choose to dwell on. When you are obsessed with scarcity you stop seeing the opportunities that are within arms reach. Negativity and scarcity thinking are dangerous invasive weeds that colonise thinking, shrinking the space for solution thinking and strategic imagination.

Focus is power. Whatever you focus on will determine what you see, what inspires and moves you. Inspired by abundant thinking you will think bigger and see greater opportunities. While right focus will not solve every problem, it will move you progressively towards the solutions you need. Your limitations are just an opinion, it is the freedom within you that matters most. So long as you have a negativity, suspicion, scarcity and shortage mindset you are bound to remain where you are until you take steps towards change. No amount of complaining will change your mental conditioning. Change you talking as you shift your thinking and many things will start shifting.

Opportunity

There is abundant opportunity and more opportunity that you can use up in seventy times seven lifetimes. Spot opportunity wherever you go. Do not be afraid to look at that which seems not to be working, dead or dreadful. You are not a prisoner of your past or your conditions. Let your mind dwell on space, opportunity and not shortage. This moment is your moment of abundant greatness. There are opportunities that you are stepping on now that will never come again. Embrace them. Start seeing them and your life will never be the same again. Opportunities multiply as you start noticing them. Start journaling them and see how things start changing. If you are not looking for opportunity you may never find it. If you have concluded in your mind that the opportunities are finished, you risk being mentally finished.

Your loss and current situation contains your best opportunities if you are willing to embrace the opportunity. Your worst nightmare could be your best opportunity. What other people are calling your loss is a blessing in disguise. Do not be frighted by dis-guises and shadows. If you do not know the value of the opportunities you have you will always operate at a discount and below your potential. Look around, and you will gradually start to see a pattern – there is greatness everywhere and your own place is there too and has been waiting for you for a long time. Never let the current situations discourage you from seeing your wide opportunity canvas.

Potential

You have abundant potential that is wrapped up in your being and the way you are fashioned. The motivational guru, Zig Ziglar who started his career selling pots and pans was right when he said: “You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.” That is worth repeating until it is blazoned in your soul. You were designed for great accomplishments and creating worthy stories. You can make a difference and bring your own difference in the places you stand in.

There is no one like you and there will never be anyone like you. You are not a wasted night – never; but pure potential crying for radical and unbridled expression. You were engineered for success beyond your wildest dreams. The seeds are there. Stop living below your potential and calling in life. You are called to amazing greatness and opportunity. Start thinking in terms of your potential not your shortage, limitations, conditions and scarcity. You are only limited if you accept limitation as your mindset.

In you are seeds of greatness. Water them often and feed them. When you look at a seed it looks so small and tiny. It may even look dead but never be deceived. Seeds are living things with potential. In every seed there is a promise of a forest. You can count the number of seeds in a fruit, but you cannot count the number of fruits in a seed. So it is with your potential. You have unlimited potential and this reality should scare you out of slumber. You are worth more than you care to know. You have potential that would scare you if you knew. Your current circumstances are not a sentence to oblivion. You have great potential. Start thinking this way and your life and behaviour will start changing.

 

Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cut-ting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com.

 

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