“No true fiasco ever began as a quest for mere adequacy. A motto of the British Special Air Force is: ‘Those who risk, win.’ A single green vine shoot is able to grow through cement. The Pacific Northwestern salmon beats itself bloody on it’s quest to travel hundreds of miles upstream against the current, with a single purpose, sex of course, but also… life.” This philosophical (yet comedic) end to the movie “Elizabethtown” is the foundation for my reflection today.
I don’t know if its the gritty storyline following the passing of the lead character’s father, or the fabulous score that weaves the story together, but the offbeat comedy is one of my favorite people movies. The story begins with epic failure, loss and sense of personal defeat, yet somehow (in spite of it all), the emotional journey of Drew Baylor ends in joy. Life, amidst constant challenge. He re-wrote the ending to his life story.
That’s a pretty powerful concept if you ask me. “What if you learn to stop the dramas and started to trust the flow of life and the goodness of Spirit,” Breathnach challenges in Simple Abundance. “Isn’t it possible that you could write new chapters in your life with happy endings?”
I wasn’t always a believer in happy endings. The first two years of my life were filled with challenges to my spirit. It would have been easy to give up. It was much harder to try. To believe. To live. So I did as today’s daily prompt suggests: I applied myself.
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/daily-prompt-apply-yourself/
Describe your last attempt to learn something that did not come easily to you.
I made one of the toughest decisions that ended up changing my life forever. I decided to see the best in all things. It wasn’t easy at first. It was especially challenging when I was adopted by a family I immediately loved wholeheartedly, just to be ignored amidst the household of three other dogs, and ultimately returned to the humane society. As an instinctive lover of people, I will admit their rejection sent me into some pretty dark days. But I refused to write myself into a tragedy.
I hardly think it is a coincidence that a mere two weeks later I met my mom and dad and a week after that they took me to my forever home.
I’ve lived fiasco, but that was not the end to my story. Joy is my victory and my fortune.
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- Isn’t it ironic? A Pause Amidst Life’s Symphony (wileyschmidt.wordpress.com)
Wiley's Wisdom 
For a dog, you have awfully good taste in ‘people movies.’ Referencing that movie is an excellent response to the prompt – learning to live, learning to love, and learning to let other people into a smashed-up heart. All very hard things to do, even for a dog, I would guess.
Exactly. I’ve pieced my smashed up heart back together in hopes I can help some of the people in my life do the same. 🙂
Reblogged this on Wiley's Wisdom and commented:
I think I’ve seen “Elizabethtown” a dozen times by proxy. Because of this I know I’m being honest when I say I agree with its philosophies.