Don't pray for fewer problems; pray for more skills.

Don't ask for smaller challenges; ask for greater wisdom.

Don't look for an easy way out; look for the best possible outcome.

Steve Goodier

In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway learned something about "bad luck" and
getting kicked by life.


He was struggling to make his mark as an author when disaster struck.
He lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts, many stories he'd
polished to jewel-like perfection which he'd been planning to publish
in a book.

According to Denis Waitley in his book Empires of the Mind (William
Morrow and Company, Inc., 1995), the devastated Hemingway couldn't
conceive of redoing his work. All those months of arduous writing
were simply wasted.


He lamented his predicament to friend and poet Ezra Pound who called
it a stroke of good fortune! Pound assured Hemingway that when he
rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts; only the best
material would reappear. He encouraged the aspiring author to start
over with a sense of optimism and confidence.

Hemingway did rewrite the stories and eventually became a major
figure in American literature.

Don't pray for fewer problems; pray for more skills. Don't ask for
smaller challenges; ask for greater wisdom. Don't look for an easy
way out; look for the best possible outcome. When life gives you a
kick, let it kick you forward.