Growth is challenging for anyone.  It takes a lot of bumps and falls to get anywhere.  Reaching a dream is a high stakes process where everything will be put on the line.

All we need do is watch a child learning to walk to realize this.  They see it, they know it can be done and they want it.  They will take many falls in their journey to walking, they will bump their heads and their bodies; and every time they go down they will get up again.  And they will be successful.

That first success may be the most important in a person’s life.  It will be the proof of perseverance.  It will be the foundation on which every other success story is written.  In a normal healthy life that first victory will be the protocol and only a series of profound setbacks will steal the victory, for it has been the drive within every normal life.

Almost always there is only one setback repeated that will steal success from a human heart and that is a denial of love; parental love, the love of a friend, a spouse, a colleague or employer.  The denial of love whether we term it friendship, appreciation, support or any other word is the only action that can take victory from the human soul. 

It is in each one of us to create, to give and to appreciate; and only the withdrawal of love can take our deepest desire from us.  Likewise only the gift of love can re-inspire us.  It takes a supportive environment to take real risks which is why we are told that “behind every successful person there is a loving spouse.”  This is the power of Napoleon Hill’s mastermind process.   True success needs belief, it needs faith and it needs love; when this is given we find ourselves willing to reach out and take risks.  And if we fall we naturally get up and try again.

So what happens when we are denied love?  We start to doubt ourselves.  We start to quit, to give up, to become losers.  We start to fear failure more than we desire beauty, and in the human soul every success is a beautiful thing.  As a society starts withholding love the results inevitably show up on her streets, they show up in her armies, they show up in corruption and greed.  And the only solution is the gift of love unconditionally given.  In every moment the balance is in our hands.  In every moment how we show up as individuals is how our world reflects back to us.  It is never up to someone else to fix a problem.  It is always up to the witness to bring love into the situation.

This same demand is for each of us as it is for those we see.  If I feel loss or fear, if I feel I have been maligned or abused it is up to me to love and appreciate myself; it is up to me to find the faith within myself.  I must rise to the occasion before me and take the risks necessary to move myself into a place of greater success.  In all that I receive from others I must always give myself all of myself, all of my faith and willingness.

Because no one in this world has received more than enough love the process of growth seems to become more and more difficult for most people.  They get old in their struggle to succeed in a world that does not know how to give support.