Good Morning,
One of my recent reads was T. D. Jakes "Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits" (www.tdjakes.com/repositionyourself). This book is a complete look over how to move from wherever you are in life to a life without limits. I am oversimplifying the process, but this book takes a hard look at people in all different situations and gives some very solid advice.
A chapter which really appealed to me was one talking about having a plan for our lives. T. D. Jakes used the metaphor of a airplane flight for the plan for our lives and achieving our goals. There are three, and sometimes four stages to this plan.
1. Take off. Just like an airplane, we need extra energy and focus to get ourselves up to speed to get off the ground and flying. This is a great metaphor for those who expect to do a little work and get great wonderful rewards. Usually it does not happen that way. We often have to put in a lot of time and effort, sometimes years, into our projects to get them going. When we do, we can do like an airplane and take off.
Layovers sometimes happen where our plans are not so much thwarted but slowed up or put on hold for a while. It happens and it sometimes often, but we must remember that if we give up, we will never take off.
2. In Flight, Success. Here we are soaring along, but where are we going? Like all flights, a flight plan is a good thing. If we take all of our effort to get ourselves propelled into the air and flying along toward our goals, it probably would do us good to have a plan of where we would like to go. As the Cheshire Cat says: "When you don't know where you are going, than any road will take you there".
3. Landing. All planes generally have to land at some time or another. Knowing where and how we are going to land prior to take off is also a key piece of the puzzle. Nothing lasts forever, so it pays to have an exit strategy already planned out ahead of time. I am not trying to be a downer, but very few successes continue indefinitely. As such, if we are going to come down from our soaring heights, then shouldn't be on our terms. Anyway, after a safe landing, we can always make another plan and take off again.
In every step of this process there is also the chance of a change of plans, the changes in our lives. I remember living this back in 1995 while in the emergency room after having a roof collapse on me and breaking both of my legs. I laid on the table and through to myself that my life had changed forever. I could not go back to where I was before. This change, like a mid-flight course change. I was going to land, but not where or how I intended. My flight had ended and I came in for a landing. After some time, I was able to take off again on another flight, and start the process over again. That is comforting to know we can do this. Repeatedly if necessary.
This was my first T. D. Jakes book and I look forward to reading more.
Enjoy!
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