“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
~ Thomas A. Edison
Failure is good, failure is necessary, failure stimulates a desire for success. When an individual fails, we are instinctively and unconsciously prompted to discover a path to success. Successful people are inspired people; they are unwilling to accept the “status quo.” Inspired individuals are willing to challenge the norm, ask questions, seek solutions, and forge through unbeaten paths. Inspired individuals are unwilling to give up.
THE GOOD OF FAILURE
The importance of failure is that it reminds us that we can do better, be better, and achieve more.
Why are we so concerned about making mistakes? Why are we afraid of failure? As a society, we are taught that failure is a remark of our character, our persona, our very worth. From Hollywood to Bollywood we view movies and television shows that remark upon the negativity of failure.
The Positive Aspect of Failure
If I fail, then I have a guidepost, indicating the areas with which I can improve. Failure has become the barometer of negativity, rather than a potential of opportunity. Without failure, we could not relish in the achievement of our successes. As a good parent or teacher, we should teach our children that failure is an opportunity for improvement and growth, rather than a blockade deterring us from our greatest potential. Failure is no more than a mere challenge begging us to be better.
CHALLENGING YOUR CHILD
Challenging a child may prove an uphill battle for the parent or teacher. Do not forget that children are like rainbows; they come in an array of personalities, levels of resiliency, and a variety of temperaments. Likewise, just as a rainbow reflects the beauty of nature, all children are radiating with an internal desire to beam with beauty and capability. Remember, children emulate what they see, hear, and know; therefore, it is your obligation to foster the best within your child.
ENCOURAGING YOUR CHILD
The importance of encouraging your teenager differs from challenging your teen. For some parents and teachers, the two have become interchangeable. The reality is, challenging is an arousal of one’s thoughts, interest or ideas in a competitive way; whereas, encouragement is offering a spirit of hope, inspiration, and promise.
Encouraging your child should never offer a demeaning or threatening word, act, or deed. Encouraging your child should never cause a loss of dignity or personal self respect. Encouraging should be a shift upward, guiding a child towards a path of hope, inspiration, possibility and probability. It should be words that inspire a child to do his or her best in life.
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF INSPIRATION
Olympians get what it means to be personally inspired. The Olympic Spirit is one that engulfs the “Win-Win” attitude of personal success. The typical Olympian is capable of being introspective; thus, examining and observing their own mental and emotional thought processes. The Why’s of what caused them to loose a competition or fail to meet a qualification. Such an Olympic Spirit is a mindset, which should radiate throughout a person’s being. It is a spirit of hope and I will do attitude, not simply a possible I can do attitude. This sort of spirit exudes the very nature and fiber of the person’s being.
The Fundamental Principle of Inspiring a Child, is having an internal ability of recognizing that our weakness and strengths are mere landmarks in life, not an indicator of our personality or self-worth. Sadly, our society has an abundance of naysayers, squelching the very essence of one’s personal inspiration. Furthermore, you can expect that if a child is be capable of generating an instinctive principle of personal self-worth; that there will assuredly be a host of naysayers opposing that child’s desires and internal drive.
The Fundamental Principle of Inspiration, is having a spirit of unconditional love, trust, respect, dignity, caring, and hope. It is the knowledge that we will fail and succeed, but that our worth is not based on our failures or successes. For who we are, is greater than our level of obtainment or achievement, or of failure or loss. For who we are, is a person deserving of love, forgiveness, respect, dignity, and loyalty. A child that is raised with such principles will intrinsically rely upon these principles in moments of need, desperation, motivation, and for personal inspiration.
“Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.” (IOC, 2012, Online) If we raise a child with such intrinsic concepts, then that child will have a personal reservoir, supplying the whole of their being. Moreover, such individuals not only are inspired, but frequently inspire others to reach for the stars.
Teachers and parents alike, should strive to be the inspiration that they would hope their children to be.
Author: Dr. Asa Don Brown, Ph.D., C.C.C.
References
Olympic Movement (2012) Olympic character Retrieved August 27, 2012 from http://www.olympic.org/Documents/olympic_charter_en.pdf
*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA
A very informative and superb article indeed. There is a great help for people and infact also for me. I’d also read such like that or that’s also co relate with it. Interested people can also check out. Here’s the url
https://www.counsellorshome.com/.
Thank you for your pearls of wisdom.
Dear Leona,
I am appreciative of your time and your very kind feedback
Warm regards
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Thanks for helping us inspire our children a beautiful , inspiring article. i liked it.
regards
dr. preeti
Dear Dr. Preeti,
I am sincerely appreciative of your very kind words.
May you have a truly blessed day.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Dear Dr. Asa Don Brown – thank you for getting back to me and your furthermores and moreover comments lead me to complete on-line research of the topic of olympism which I just completed. This is what I learned:
Accordingly, the Olympic Charter “goal is to place sport at the service of harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the perservation of human dignity.”
Accordingly, the Olympic Project was “formed by Olympian participants of the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece. The Project’s goal is to advance the principles and practice of Olympism worldwide:
– Pursuit of Excellence – Body, Mind & Spirit
– Joy in Effor – Faster, Higher, Braver
– Fair Play – Respect, Sportsmanship, Cooperation
– Service – Sport for All
– Peace – Unity, Friendship, Nonviolence, Ekecheria (I know “eke” is ancient, but not
clear what “cheria” is or the combination meaning – do you?)”
As pursuit of excellence is described as three-fold – body, mind & spirit, hence, spirit is not eliminated, I shall breathe a sigh of relief and return to the timeless wisdom of the words of C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections Ch 12 – “Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.”
For some clients, whom it has been my privilege to serve, did/do not have the body (physical ability), mind (mental capacity) or current ability to exercise free will (PDD, dependent adult status), hence, unable to fully participate in Olympism; I am relieved we can still serve these young and/or mature persons, alike and within the excellence realm of spirit that is stated and not eliminated, embodied in the principles and practice of olympism (Olympic ideology) and also leads the way in some headings found on the www “The Spirit of Olympism.”
So, my conclusion is that spirit is not a problem word for Canadian counsellors and is even found in the excellence statement of olympism – a comtemporary new movement of ancient games and does note a person is a three fold being.
So anyone can be filled spiritually with Olymic fever out of simple love for the ideals of the world games that is resurrected every 4 years and always somewhere new on planet earth. Olympism and several othe “isms” I have studied alsoi has simular great ideals the world can aspire to.
Regards Dr. Linda AK Thompson
Dear Dr. Linda AK Thompson,
Again, thank you for offering your very in depth and thought provoking email. Furthermore, I appreciate your willingness to review your own comments and the concept of Olympism. The Olympic Spirit is a driving force which could be related to our own personal resiliency, our temperament, our willingness to thrive.
Finally, thank you for your thoughtful feedback and your time.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Hi Asa
Indeed… Be The Change. Be the Inspiration. Our niece who just graduated high school with honours gave my husband and I the greatest compliment when she told us that she aspired to ‘be like us’ ~ that we inspired her!! There is no greater gift.
Excellent article. Thank You.
Dear Nicola,
Thank you for taking the time to read and offer feedback on my latest article. It is an awesome gift to be an “inspiration” unto another. You must have offered something truly positive unto your niece. Keep up the good work.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Thank you again Dr Brown for your “inspiring” words.
I love the fact that we are to encourage and inspire our children to aim for success, this includes support for the valiant efforts and failures along the way. Life would be very disappointing if we were only rewarded for the successes, remember all the challenges and small steps that need to be acknowledged along the way. I hope I can inspire even a fraction of the Olympic Spirit in my daughters.
Thank you again
Tracy
Dear Tracy,
I am sincerely appreciative of your time and feedback. You are so correct that “Life would be very disappointing (and discouraging) if we were only rewarded for the successes…” We should be rewarded for our efforts. Whether we win or loose, succeed or fail, life is about living and a part of life is failure. For without failure, we would have no measure of our successes.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Hello, Don. I enjoyed your article. I’ve recently published a children’s book. It’s theme is patience and persistence. Hope you’ll take a look and let me know what you think. http://angelassignmentstm.tripod.com/cherubs4children/amazing-matilda-a-monarch-s-tale-by-author-bette-a-stevens.html Thanks, Bette A. Stevens
Dear Bette A. Stevens,
Thank you for taking the time to read and offer comments on my latest article. I will take a look at your children’s book. I appreciate the information regarding your book.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Dr. Asa, I could not agree with you more. The theme of the Kelly Bear Behavior Book for 3 to 9 year old children is that everyone makes mistakes and what is important is to keep on trying.
What you stated about encouraging your child is exactly right. You might be interested in the following list, “Encouraging Thoughts,”
at http://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip19.html There is also a reproducible parenting handout, “Adult Guide to Increasing Self-Worth in Children,” that may be of interest. To view it see: http://www.kellybear.com/Parent_Activity-Child_Self-Worth.pdf
Dear Leah Davies,
I appreciate your willingness to take time to read and offer comments on my latest article. I will take a look at your children’s book. I appreciate the information regarding your book.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Very good, and it must begin at the beginning, when the child and the parent are very new and must develop a relationship based on these principles.
Dear Will Blechman,
I am sincerely appreciative of your time and recent review of my latest article. I agree that such principles should be implemented by new parents, as well as parents who have parented for a while. It is never too late to be a positively inspired parent.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown
Hi Dr. Asa Don Brown – I enjoyed your article and wanted to ask you about the 2012 Olympic Movement quote: body, will and mind referenced in your articel. I know we live in/at a time of a secular society, when any reference to suspect religious doctrine or faith words are simply not toleated, used, avoided and elinimated.
However, as someone who completed a minor in theology, specificically the roots of ideas – ideology (words put together to create ideas ‘isms’, I have concerns for not that long ago, our human dimensions were categorized, we were known as 3 dimensional beings of mind, body + spirit, plus it was OK to witnessed Terry Fox run in the ‘spirit’ of raising money towards cures for cancers (altristic act) and yes, he did this using will power for as long as he had the breathe to do so.
I do not mean to ramble, but words are very important to me. So, when I see Olympism name new age dimensions of our being as body (that’s OK they put the physical first for athletics is about physical endurance, then, they put ‘wil’ followed by ‘mind,’ I get confused for my understanding is that ‘will’ is a mental function that fits in the mind domain, but spirit (essence connected with breath) does not.
One could ask why I am even bothering to even address this subtle play with words with you in your article and my answer is that I have now witnessed two whole generations of children who have grown up with spirit/faith – avoided, elinimated in secular culture to extinction in present day, important messages to our youth, such as the Olymic one.
As a depth, content analysis, gist of the narrative and affective kind of therapsist, words are very important concerning the levels of conversation we reach with each other, so like you, I am currently writing articles and I am stepping up to the plate, using my courageous will to responding back to authors who take precious time from their personal lives to benefit/enhance the field of counselling in Canada.
I want to remain cognizant and respectful of my primitive being right now and simply say I choose (will) to use my words carefully for the very essence of my being, my spirit is a supernatural power connection with my breath – my existence which simply put, is the only difference between a living and dead body.
So are we going to accept the void of spirit in our time and culture and does this mean we are 100% within new age, cosmic counsciousness?
Regards Linda
Dear Linda Thompson,
I am sincerely appreciative of your valuable time, review, and comments. It is important to recognize that not everyone believes in a spiritual life. Furthermore, as a national organization, the CCPA does not endorse any particular system of faith or spirituality. Moreover, while I am a believer in the spiritual, it is important to recognize that my own spiritual journey may differ from your own. Furthermore, to answer your question regarding the Olympism. The Olympic spirit is not a replacement of spirituality, rather it is based on personal resiliency in life.
I am sincerely appreciative of your review and comments.
Warm Regards,
Dr. Asa Don Brown