{"id":837,"date":"2013-04-21T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-21T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/?p=837"},"modified":"2013-04-20T14:22:34","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T18:22:34","slug":"perseverance-positive-and-negative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/?p=837","title":{"rendered":"Perseverance-Positive and Negative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It has come to my attention in the recent weeks that my approach to\u00a0persevering at my goals has been\u00a0at times unbalanced.\u00a0 You see, I have come to understand the definition of perseverance to be equated fully with doing something good for yourself\u00a0and achieving what you want against the odds.<\/p>\n

What I didn’t understand is that perseverance can be a detriment to our well being when we are persevering with the wrong intention and energy behind us.<\/p>\n

When I was growing up I witnessed my parents and grandparents pursue their life challenges with rigor and fortitude.\u00a0 They were examples to me of hard work and dedication, what you do in the face of difficulties.\u00a0 They didn’t give up, they worked very hard and persevered against the odds they faced.\u00a0 So my habit started early, and I too worked to make the most of my circumstances and go forward in life as I met my own challenges.<\/p>\n

However recently I have had a chance to review my concept of perseverance and make some changes to my definition. When I look at efforts I have\u00a0made recently in my life to “not give up;”\u00a0 I can see the actions that led me to\u00a0persevere and that these actions\u00a0required some forethought.<\/p>\n

I was aware of how I was feeling before I began the tasks that led me to persevere.\u00a0 Some of the times this forethought was my mind telling me to be\u00a0cautionary and assess before I moved forward.\u00a0\u00a0 When I didn’t listen and take time to assess, my reward for my perseverance was not felt as strongly and as meaningfully as the times\u00a0when I did.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0has led me to shift my perspective on perseverance.\u00a0 I see\u00a0that the\u00a0forethought that we bring to prepare us for action that will led us to persevere can make\u00a0the efforts\u00a0an uphill battle\u00a0the whole way ending up as a negative perseverance experience or\u00a0a patient journey lead to positive\u00a0acknowledgement for perseverance well accomplished.<\/p>\n

To help me become more aware of this I\u00a0am learning to take a look and see if I am approaching my task with\u00a0positive perseverance. \u00a0I\u00a0explore the following to see how I am directing my efforts:<\/p>\n

1. Am I conscious of what I am doing- Am I centered, or scattered in my thoughts and actions.<\/p>\n

2. Does my intended outcome bring me peace- peace of mind, peace within.<\/p>\n

3. Do I see what I am working to accomplish as worthy- does the effort that I am exerting hold value that is meaningful to me.<\/p>\n

4. Am I working at a pace that I can manage- is the hard work consistently draining me or do I have a balance in my efforts.<\/p>\n

5. Am I checking in with myself and altering my tempo along the way- do I push myself to go at the same rate all the time or do I vary it.<\/p>\n

6. Before I begin to set my intentions on an action plan each day, am I feeling positive about myself- am I approaching the daily efforts made towards my goal with a loving approach towards myself.<\/p>\n

This past week I was tired before\u00a0I began my exercise routine for the day.\u00a0 I would wake up feeling ache and want to sleep in, but when the alarm clock hit 8am I got myself up and hit the gym.\u00a0 When I approached the room, I could feel my body wanting to retreat back upstairs, it was tight and I was tense.<\/p>\n

The room seemed darker even\u00a0to me even as it was fully lit.\u00a0 When I began my routine, I didn’t modify anything.\u00a0 I stuck to my weekly plan.\u00a0 By the end of the week, I was so exhausted that I had to spend the whole\u00a0weekend on the couch, completely fatigued and run down I felt upset with myself.\u00a0 Yes I persevered, but was it worth it?\u00a0 NO!<\/p>\n

This\u00a0is an example of negative perseverance.\u00a0 Whereby I knew that I was not prepared to approach my exercise routine with the same energy that I usually would, and yet I continued anyway.\u00a0 My efforts were to prove to myself that I could do it despite how I was feeling,\u00a0and when I pursued with my daily exercise it left me depleted at the end.<\/p>\n

Modifications could have been made to flip my perseverance in a positive direction.\u00a0 I could have taken an extra half hour of sleep, looked\u00a0at my weekly routine and switching around the exercises-perhaps done some yoga first and started the week out light.\u00a0\u00a0I could have taken\u00a0a\u00a0leisure walk\u00a0outside to center my mind and ask myself\u00a0how I was doing at the beginning of my day, just a few minutes would have given me an opportunity to slow down.<\/p>\n

All of these actions would have been\u00a0helpful to center myself on most importantly\u00a0giving myself permission to be tired.<\/p>\n

So when you are decidedly strong in your conviction to perform a task, and you find yourself tensing up to do it and your focus is scattered, stop, and ask yourself how you are pursuing your task- and choose to persevere in a positive direction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has come to my attention in the recent weeks that my approach to\u00a0persevering at my goals has been\u00a0at times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":844,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/safaraf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}