If you haven’t yet seen the movie, watch “Invictus.” It will inspire you, as will this poem.

A Poem written by the English poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Have you ever met a person who worries about everything? No matter where they are or what they’re doing, they’re always worried, concerned, stressed or mad about something. Yet, there are also people who are just the opposite…people who never worry, get concerned, stress and rarely get mad no matter what the situation is. What is it about the people that stress that causes them to stress so often and so much? How can one person, surrounded by chaos, stay calm, content and optimistic while the another lose all control?

Do you all remember the last time you watched Zorro? The Zorro I am speaking of is “The Mask of Zorro” that came out in 1998 with Antonio Banderas, Antony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones. As the movie starts out, Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) is an out of control, drunken convict who is consumed by his hatred towards his brothers killer, Captain Harrison Love. As the current Zorro (Anthony Hopkins) observes Alejandro, he shows him how obsessed and reckless he truly is. Even though his passion for revenge fueled him, he had not learned control and would never succeed unless he learned how to control his anger and his surroundings.

He was later introduced to the “Training Circle.” In the words of Anthony Hopkins, “This is called a training circle, a master’s wheel. This circle will be your world, your whole life. Until I tell you otherwise, there is nothing outside of it.” Alejandros progress depended directly on how well he could learn to master only the things within his circle. At first, it was a large circle with obstacles, ropes and at times, Zorro in it. “As your skill with the sword improves, you will progress to a smaller circle. With each new circle, your world contracts, bringing you ………..that much closer to retribution.”

As Alejandro improved in his skills, that circle began to shrink and one might begin to think, shouldn’t the circle get bigger as his skill increased. The more skill the more he would be able to handle, right? Wrong! If you are thinking that way, you are missing the entire point. The more skill, the smaller the circle. The more you learn to control only that which is in the circle, the more control you truly have. The less you have in your circle, the better, because you know you have absolute control of whatever enters your circle. The larger the circle, the less control you have as you have more in it.

So you wonder why so many people walk around stressed out, angry and constantly worried?! It’s because they try too much to control things that are outside their circle of control. All we can do is control our little training circle. For some, that circle is still very large because of lack of skill. As their skill increases, they will learn to stick to their circle of control, and thus, increase in control overall.

Can I control how you react to this article? Can I control whether or not you send me spam comments, talk bad about my site or give me complete praise? No. But what I can control is all that is within my circle. I can control if that spam comment is approved and whether it will upset me or not. I can control how I receive things and whether or not I will allow it to enter into my circle. If I allow it, my circle increases in size and as a result, I loose a bit of control.

As we increase in skill, in mindset, we stop worrying about all the things you have no control over. And as we do, we start dominating the things we do have control over and get really good at maintaining the Godly trait of temperance.

Pick your own battles…better yet, pick the ones you know you can control and win. And the ones you can win are the ones within your own Zorros circle. This is the entire secret to self-mastery. Can you control everything within a foot of your being. And yes, this includes the space in between your own ears. If you’re looking to lose weight, can you resist that doughnut or soda and can you discipline, instead of just motivate yourself to take that jog? When it all comes down to it, you allow that doughnut to enter or not enter your circle of control. You allow those thoughts of laziness to enter or not enter your mind, which is the center of the circle.

Self mastery! We are all very good about disallowing annoying or stinky people from entering our so called “bubble.” Yet we allow so much more to enter that is even more damaging and more harmful to our progress and happiness. As we learn to control what we know we can control, we master our circle, and in doing so will find the secret to a long, happy and fulfilling life!

Alright everyone, if you have noticed in the right hand sidebar of this blog, I have a way for you all to subscribe to a daily dose of empowerment delivered to your inbox. These quotes are all hand selected by yours truly. They come from various locations around the web and all have provided an added level of inspiration to my life. Thus, I am sharing them with all of you.

If you are a quotes junkie, like me, here are a few more places in addition to mine….let me reemphasize, in addition to mine! I’ll give you two of my favorite sites to visit and subscribe to. One is a site based on true values and can be found at Values.com. The other is a site devoted to personal growth and is found at MorningCoach.com.

To subscribe to Daily Empowering Quotes, you can either fill out the form in the right hand sidebar or click on “Daily Empowering Quotes.

More quotes lists coming in the future. One of which will be Inspirational Movie Quotes!

We have all heard of the common phrase “think outside the box!” At times, it is used WAY too much. While in Puerto Rico, Yossi Ghinsberg gave a description of the meaning of this so called, “box,” and how it effects our lives. At this very moment in time, as you read this post, you are using a box. It’s all about leaving the normal grind and getting in touch with nature. Enjoy the video!

Over the past few years this website has been found for people looking for a movie about a potato farmer. The term they are all searching for is “Potato Farmer Movie.” So I decided to look for this movie today. I stumbled across this YouTube video that definitely has a potato farmer in it and was fairly inspiring, so I thought I would do a blog post on it.

The one thing I found to be the most inspiring was the fact that this guy is 61 years old, wins this huge race in Australia, gets a check for $10,000 and gives the entire thing away to his competitors! So first off, age for some is only a mental state. Don’t ever think you are too old to follow your dreams and passions. It’s NEVER too late. I personally know people in their early 50′s that seem to think that this is their year to die. Secondly, he is thinking of others over himself. Everyone completed the race, not just him.

Enjoy the video!