In 1922, in his notes on ‘the path to freedom’, General Michael Collins wrote, “Our object in building up the country economically must not be lost sight of. The object is not to be able to boast of enormous wealth or of a great volume of trade for their own sake. It is not to see our country covered with smoking chimneys and factories or to show a great national balance sheet. The real riches of the Irish nation will be the men and women of the Irish nation, the extent to which they are rich in body, mind, and character.”
As Irish citizens, our history is scarred with oppression and human sacrifice, and in time has healed with the triumph of freedom for our people. Our ancestors fought for centuries for our freedom, why? They had a dream. They believed we were worthy of a humane existence and they held high standards for our livelihood. Like the fighters of 1916, we too are warriors, and thankfully through their efforts we are free to determine our own actions. I’m here today to help you discover the warrior that is deep within you. You, are going to march out of here, dreaming like a leader, feeling like a champion and acting like a warrior, in the fight for a life you desire and deserve.
I challenge you to dream like a leader.
Do you respect the life you were given? Right now, are you living your dream life? What would your ideal day look like? There are 24 hours in a day, do you take any time, to sit in peace and think about what it is you really want, or, what you might be doing that’s holding you back from your dreams. If your life is ‘fine’ or you regularly hear yourself saying ‘someday’ I’ll go there or do that, then you are nowhere near your destiny. ‘Fine’ and ‘someday’ are a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Take those two words out of your vocabulary now, destroy them and start dreaming. Dreaming is the key to unlocking your true potential, your superpower, the path to your greatest achievements.
A way to start out on this path is by simply raising your standards. You will only start living a better life when you refuse to accept low standards for yourself. Some people feel they don’t deserve the greater things in life and don’t even allow themselves to dream. Or if they do dream it feels so far beyond their reach they don’t even try. If I ever get the opportunity, I’d love to confront the person who decided to separate heaven from earth. Our purpose here isn’t to struggle through life in the hopes that one day we’ll reach heaven. You need find your passions, form your vision, and start building your life in such a way that every day is heaven for you. Once you have your vision and know exactly where you are going, anything is possible, and the only limitation is you.
I challenge you to think and feel like a champion.
What are your current thoughts about your life and how you’ve gotten to where you are right now? How do you feel about yourself? We are what we think about. Whether you feel you’ve failed or succeeded. Simply, your thoughts have brought you here. We face only one true enemy in life. It’s the only enemy that that needs to be obliterated off the face of this earth, and it is our negative self. Procrastination, self-doubt, low self-esteem, and fear. Believing these are who we are is detrimental and in this war you can’t be neutral. You act as guard over your belief system, how loyal are you to your true self? The deadly negative patterns of belief that consume people are a part of your subconscious. You were born a winner, these patterns have only become stronger over time because you’ve let them seep deeper into your subconscious and dominate you.
We all have the power to stop negative thoughts at will by using our conscious mind. You need to become a master guard of your subconscious. Guard your subconscious, like you are guarding your family from an attack. For example, on the break I could overhear someone saying, ‘oh Sarah let herself down with that speech delivery’. After hearing the comment, consciously, I can decide whether to let the comment affect me or not. I could confirm what they’ve said is true, adding fire to a bunch of past negative thoughts, or I could say ‘isn’t that strange, they mustn’t have enjoyed it as much as me!’. Do not allow past beliefs or external forces to dictate how you feel about yourself now. Guard yourself from a self-defeating belief system. You have the ability to conquer your mind!
I challenge you to act like a warrior.
If life isn’t what you think it should be by now, big or small, what steps have you taken today to move you in the direction of your dreams? Do you realise that we are mortal beings, and we are going to die one day? Who knows, it could be sooner rather than later. Your first step could be, asking yourself, what truly matters to you? Only do what truly matters! You don’t have time for anything else. Your time here is precious, don’t waste it on bad habits, or worse, giving your finite time to someone else to help fulfil their dreams and not yours!
Any action stems from a decision to act. If you make exceptional decisions for yourself this means you will lead an exceptional life. Make exceptional decisions. Fight by deciding what steps will get you on the path to your true bliss. You may need to crawl before you can walk and then sprint, but every step is progress and every step is significant. What do we need to start acting? Courage. The most important of all the virtues is courage and it will get you to where you want to be. People think they only see courage in our leaders but there is courage and a warrior in all of us. You don’t have to be outspoken, oozing with confidence, or the fittest person you know to be a warrior of your life. You just need to decide what you want and have the courage to follow through with an action. Courage doesn’t always roar, sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that say’s I’ll try again tomorrow. You are significant. There is urgency in doing your best, the world is less without your greatest efforts.
Life is a challenge and for some it seems like a war, when we surrender to forces outside of ourselves. My vision for you and every person I encounter in life, is that your dreams, your thoughts and your actions be united. Awaken the warrior that lies deep within you and reclaim your sovereignty.
And so, today I ask you not to lose sight of your dreams.
Today I ask you to not lose sight of the power of your mind.
Today I ask you to not lose sight of your ability to act.
And when you dream your dreams, I wish you the courage, to act like our heroes of 1916.