As a yoga teacher, part of my preparation for each class is to come up with a focus or intention for the practice. This is typically offered through some sort of inspirational reading or compelling offering. My inspiration for the intention or focus for my classes is usually around something that I am currently working on in my life.

I figure, how can I ask my students to work on something if I am not working on it myself?

In the past, I tried surfing the net to find things to inspire me and was not having great success. So I started to search for inspirational quotes to use as my muse. This has proven to be very successful in putting together an offering for my yoga classes. The quotes and readings I use to open my yoga or meditation sessions are becoming so effective that students come up to me after class and ask for a copy of my offering. In fact, this happened recently as I facilitated a guided mediation for my fellow co -workers.

The guided meditation was inspired by a quote that I came across by Nick Vujicik, an Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs.

I am honored to share this inspirational tool with you to use when you encounter those times in life when things just aren’t going as planned. If we can learn to reframe the way we think and act when we are struggling in life, perhaps we can turn these struggles into the greatest triumphs of our life!

When great demands and struggles happen in our life, it is through our own self-realization and spiritual growth that we are able to experience the triumph that Nick Vujicik references.

It is the struggle that inspires us to move forward in a positive direction. Our challenge becomes whether or not we able to view the struggle as an opportunity, and not as an obstacle.

Are you willing to acknowledge and accept that the struggle you are experiencing today is the strength you are building for tomorrow? For without it, you would never have discovered this strength. The struggle becomes one of our greatest blessings.

Struggle, it makes us patient, sensitive and open. It teaches us that the world is full of struggle, which means the world is also full of others seeking to overcome the struggle. We are not alone in this.

Beyond the struggle is success, failure turned inside out. It is the silver lining to the cloud of doubt. It is the positive that flows from the negative.

A beginning – A struggle – A victory

So no matter how difficult things may seem, stick to the path, steady as it goes. Hold true to who you are at every turn of the road, and every step of the journey, for you never know how close you are to the triumph, or to the reward.

Every worthwhile accomplishment in our lives – big or small – will certainly possess a fair amount of drudgery and triumph.

The road you choose is less important than not choosing a road at all. How you climb the mountain is more important than reaching the top. How you show up in the world, how you will be remembered is not measured by your accomplishments, yet more importantly by the way you achieved those accomplishments. How you see yourself is what matters the most.

The most amazing people in the world are the ones who have known defeat, survived the struggle or suffered a loss, and when all the dust settles they emerge from the depths, victorious.

Embrace your struggle and triumph!