Mandela

You may have read the blog post about Nelson Mandela and the movie Invictus a few weeks back.

That man was and is amazing.  Twenty-seven years in a prison cell and ready to change the world through peace, communication, trust and respect when he gets out.

I found some direct Mandela quotes that I think are awesome.  Check this out.

• It always seems impossible until it’s done.
• I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
• There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

(via http://www.brainyquote.com/)

There are many parts of this journey that seem somewhat impossible.  How can we make it ‘done’?  The million dollar question.  One thing that just keeps coming back again and again is the continued decision to make decisions.  The continued choice to make choices and move forward.

Ever seen or read documentaries on reaching Mt. Everest?  Those pre-summit steps are agonizingly slow in a high-altitude, sub-zero netherworld.  The only way that mountain is conquered is one step at a time.  I think the difference for us, is there is no real summit.  There will be no point of saying..GREAT..made it, we can now move on to the next challenge as it were.  Mandela talks about courage being the triumph over fear.  We are learning to not fear the future.  I agree completely; that is what courage is all about and we’ve got a ways to go.  He made it 27 years in a prison cell.  I don’t think you get that far thinking about 5 or 10 or 15 years into the future.  The only thing he controlled in that prison was his own reactions and decisions each minute, hour and day.

As he stated from the poem Invictus, ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.’