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Failure is an opportunity.
If you blame someone else,
there is no end to the blame.
Therefore the Master
fulfills her own obligations
and corrects her own mistakes.
She does what she needs to do
and demands nothing of others.
79
Tao Te Ching, a New English Version, copyright ©️ 1988 by Stephen Mitchell, published by HarperCollins. All rights reserved.
There is a story Nadal’s coach often tells from his early years. Nadal was losing a sopposedly easy match; he just couldn’t seem to get the ball inside the court. He kept losing point after point regardless of his focus and presumed superiority. At the end of the match, his coach frustratedly pointed out that his racket was broken. To which Nadal responded (and i’m paraphrasing): “Damn… I’m so used to thinking mistakes are my own fault I didn’t even consider the racket could be defective!”
The point of the story is not that sometimes life gives us a defective racket, but that he is one of the best tennis players in the world; and that is how the best in the world think.
Thinking that you need others to pitch in and give you what you want is mistaking the long road for the short one. The short road is to keep asking why you want it untill you end up pointing back at yourself.
Quote of the Week
“The true artist has no pride. He…has a vague awareness of how far he is from reaching his goal; and while others may perhaps admire him, he laments the fact that he has not yet reached the point whither his better genius only lights the way for him like a distant sun” - Beethoven
― Jan Swafford, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph
Song Picks of the Week (Official TTT Playlist here)
The Daisy - Ross from Friends (Electronic)
If you don’t have the 2 hours and 29 minutes to listen to the whole thing (which is highly recommended), at least take 5m to enjoy the grandest scène finale ever. There is nothing else like it.
Thank you for reading!
Until next Tuesday,
Daniel
This is such a powerful thought. There's something very similar with the concept of Karma in Hinduism. Here's an excerpt from one of Swami Vivekananda's speeches: http://www.dailygood.org/pdf/ij.php?tid=186 .
The idea that one can blame themselves for every outcome is extremely empowering.