20/20 vision on a treacherous path...

Landmines litter the path on which we travel.

Every step, a treacherous guess. Every yard, a despicable and fearsome event. Every moment, defining beyond all measure.

Battling isn’t rare, but the norm, as we tick down the hours of existence, minute by minute, towards something special. Everything sits in our grasp, whether we know it or not, waiting for our limitless hands to take hold with all their infinite strength.

It’s too bad many of us fail to realize the strength within.

When you successfully maneuver through life’s greatest battles and tests, the confidence within you grows and the world shrinks in size. With the right kind of eyes, opportunity shines like Jay Gatsby’s vision of the green light, minute and faraway, vividly real to the point where you can almost taste its scent and feel the warm embrace of its far-reaching touch.

This warm embrace eludes us, but not because it’s ambiguity defeats us. It’s because we defeat ourselves. Life tricks our mortal minds into rationalizing the difficulty within each battle, mortifying us into a fear that locks our instincts and freezes our reaction time. Clamming up at the first sign of adversity, dancing around the reality that life allows for outs and every problem is bound to have a solution.

Emotionally charged, physically drained, life continues its barrage while many simply collapse under the pressure that is, if anything, self-created. The realization that strength comes from within, through persistence, is the first step towards fighting the winning fight. Until awareness is attained, we can never press on past the seemingly weighted bonds of life’s tests.

But heavy shackles turn into paper mache once the light turns on within one’s soul. The bonds are snapped like twigs and freedom is closer than captivity. The path is illuminated, showing every snare along the way, as we step freely towards the light. The landmines become obsolete, duds, merely window dressing once we can see clearly our fated path.

Our inner strength carries us, blessed from a Divine Maker, who has provided us with all the tools we need to succeed so long as we fine-tune them with persistence, faith and fearlessness. The blind see, the crippled walk and the fearful are comforted by the warm blanket of reassurance while the green light grows brighter on the horizon as life opens up like a budding flower in a meadow of grace.

The first step? Well, that is the hardest…and it requires a genuine leap of faith bred from the vigor within.