Here’s an interesting quote from William Walker Atkinson.
“The late Donald G. Mitchell once wrote: “Resolve is what makes a man manifest; not puny resolve, but crude determination; not errant purpose – but that strong and indefatigable will which treads down difficulties and danger, as a boy treads down the heaving frost-lands of winter; which kindles his eye and brain with a proud pulse-beat toward the unattainable. Will makes men giants.”
Many of us feel that if we would but exert our Will, we might accomplish wonders. But somehow we do not seem to want to take the trouble – at any rate; we do not get to the actual willing point. We put it off from time to time, and talk vaguely of “some day,” but that some day never comes.
We instinctively feel the power of the Will, but we haven’t enough energy to exercise it, and so drift along with the tide, unless perhaps some friendly difficulty arises, some helpful obstacle appears in our path, or some kindly pain stirs us into action, in either of which cases we are compelled to assert our Will and thus begin to accomplish something.
The trouble with us is that we do not want to do the thing enough to make us exert our Will Power. We don’t want to hard enough. We are mentally lazy and of weak Desire. If you do not like the word Desire substitute for it the word “Aspiration.”
(Some people call the lower impulses Desires, and the higher, Aspirations – it’s all a matter of words, take you choice.) That is the trouble. Let a man be in danger of losing his life – let a woman be in danger of losing a great love – and you will witness a startling exhibition of Will Power from an unexpected source. Let a
woman’s child be threatened with danger, and she will manifest a degree of Courage and Will that sweeps all before it. And yet the same woman will quail before a domineering husband, and will lack the Will to perform a simple task. A boy will do all sorts of work if he but considers it play, and yet he can scarcely force himself to cut a little firewood. Strong Will follows strong Desire. If you really want to do a thing very much, you can usually develop the Will Power to accomplish it.
The trouble is that you have not really wanted to do these things, and yet you blame your Will. You say that you do want to do it, but if you stop to think you will see that you really want to do something else more than the thing in question. You are not willing to pay the price of attainment. Stop a moment and analyze this statement and apply it in your own case,
You are mentally lazy – that’s the trouble. Don’t talk to me about not having enough Will. You have a great storehouse of Will awaiting your use, but you are too lazy to use it. Now, if you are really in earnest about this matter, get to work and first find out what you really want to do – then start to work and do it. Never
mind about the Will Power – you’ll find a full supply of that whenever you need it. The thing to do is to get to the point where you will resolve to do. That the real test – the resolving. Think of these things a little, and make up your mind whether or not you really want to be a Willer sufficiently hard to get to work.”
That’s a great truth that Atkinson is sharing here. You will do well to ponder and think it over on your own situation.
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