A fire broke out in Reinhardt’s trailer home. A candle had been tipped over and it fell into some celluloid flowers which ignited in an instant. Reinhardt Django’s left hand and right side from the knee to waist were badly burned as a result of this fire. It took him 18 months to recover.

Even then his recovery was not 100%. The fourth and fifth fingers of his left hand were permanently curled towards the palm of his hand. This was caused by the tendons shrinking in the heat of the fire. How could he ever play jazz guitar again?

Reinhardt could use these two damaged fingers but with great limitations. He could not extend them beyond the first two strings of his guitar. But Reinhardt was not stopped by this limitation. In fact because of his determination to achieve his dream he turned this obstacle into an opportunity.

With great determination he created a completely new fingering system. This new technique contributed to his fame. As a result of his expertise, he was invited to become a member of the famous Hot Club of France.

Because of his relentless focus on the fulfillment of his dream despite the handicap that was thrown his way, he created a new fingering technique that left his audiences in awe and made him famous.

What an inspiration!
It does not matter what obstruction you may meet with in life. What matters is what you do with it!

What can you and I learn from Reinhardt’s example?
Any obstacle can be turned into an opportunity. It simply takes:

Desire.
Do you REALLY want to achieve your goal? Is it something you are passionate about?

Determination.
The adversity that comes your way is a test of the reality of your desire to reach your objective. It can be an opportunity in disguise, or it can be an excuse to quit. It’s your choice. The option you decide on will reveal just how strongly you want to succeed.

Discipline.
It may take a lot of extra work and practice to overcome the obstacle that has presented itself. However, if you have passed the test of desire and determination, applying discipline will be easy.

You too CAN overcome any obstacle and turn it into an opportunity! It CAN be done. Notice Reinhardt’s fingers in the video below.

Don’t forget:

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. – Denis Diderot

I am sure that you have a deep desire to do something great. We were all born with this desire. It may not necessarily be something that would compare with Winston Churchill or Abraham Lincoln, but nevertheless it would be something that would give us a sense of achievement beyond the “normal”.

The problem is that many people have allowed the conformity virus to contaminate their lives, and have thus resigned themselves to a lie that tells them they may never achieve their dreams.

I know that sounds ludicrous, but the tragedy is that there are thousands, if not millions of people on this planet who have the above mentality. Some of them fit into the mentality category: “my only hope of achieving success is to win the lottery”.

Let’s come back to reality!

1. No one needs the lottery to succeed in life.
2. We all have a deep desire to do something great. The only problem is that some have that desire buried in all kinds of emotional and mental rubble.
3. We all have the ability to achieve the deepest desire of our hearts.
4. We simply need to be willing to make the effort and take the risks to achieve it.

Now, you may think that all of these are bold statements, and they are. Boldness is one of the characteristics of those who have achieved greatness in life.

The dictionary defines passion as a strong feeling or emotion, a heart warmth, an object of warm feeling or devotion, Passion involves the heart.

I was recently challenged about this when attending our local Jazz Festival where Dave Brubeck and his group were playing.

Now Dave is 88 years old and he is still playing in Jazz Festivals with the same enthusiasm as he did years ago.

Dave Brubeck is certainly an example of someone who has lived and continues to live his passion. He is still doing what he loves to do at 88 years old and this passion is keeping him alive in all senses of the word.

We can do many things just because we may have the ability or skill to do them, but not everything we are able to do is something that we can get excited about.

Is your life filled with doing things that involve your passions or are you working at things you really can’t put your heart into and longing for the day when you can be free to do the things you really want to do?

So, let’s take a moment to reflect. Do you know what your passion is?

Here’s an exercise that will help you find your passion:
Ok – so find a place alone for at least 30 minutes, take a piece of paper and write down your answers to the questions (in italics above). Be honest with yourself.

Now write down all the things you think you would like to do while on this planet. Everything that comes to mind should be noted down until you find yourself jotting down something with tears welling up in your eyes. NOW you have found your true main purpose in life (your passion).

Now you have found your passion it will take BOLDNESS to make the decision to DO it.

In future articles we will certainly look closer at what it takes to follow our passion in life.

Today’s challenge:

• Do I know what my passion is?
• Can I really define my passion? Is it written down?
• What would it take to follow my passion? (Write down a 3-5 step simple draft plan to get you started thinking about reaching that goal).
• Do I have the courage or boldness to follow my passion?

58 successful entrepreneurs were given 30 days to start again from scratch and recover their wealth, Could they do it? They had already reached success once.

Now with everything taken away from them could they recover in just 30 days? Did they really have a passion for success? Read their stories here.

Let’s go out and do GREAT THINGS.