BEGINNINGS—OH, THOSE WONDERFUL BEGINNINGS!

By Edwin Cooney

I don’t know what gets you going, but I’m a real sucker for beginnings, as distinct from opportunities.

On the surface, a “beginning” as a concept appears shallow. The power of a beginning, however, is that it ultimately comes from within you and me. The popular observation that “tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life,” is a compelling or, as I prefer, an energizing observation that one may use for creating a beginning.

Most of us have things in our lives that we would like to change or accomplish. Inevitably, there are obstructions in the way of achieving those potential changes or accomplishments. Some of these obstructions to our ability to change things for the better can be personal, emotional, physical, economic, spiritual, or even a lack of energy. Other barriers to change are situational based on other people’s perceptions of who we are and whether we are an asset or liability to their own well-being.

Beginnings can, of course, be deceptive. A prime example is the New Year’s resolution. What too often happens is that people use the clean slate of a new year as their motivation to lose weight, quit smoking, or improve their love life. However, time is only one of the factors necessary for achievement.

I like to use “firsts” such as New Years, the first day of a month, a Monday (the first business day of the week), the day after Labor Day (the first day culturally of the Fall season), and so on, as possible times for beginning projects – but, really, they only make a “beginning” nice and even.

Not long ago, I sat across a lunch table from a friend of mine and announced that I planned to begin a diet and exercise program after the first of the year. “Why not tomorrow?” my friend cheerfully chided me. The surface problem for me was that “tomorrow” was Thanksgiving and the next week I was anticipating a chocolate mint ice cream birthday cake. Then there was Christmas as well as New Years with their accompanying parties which I planned to celebrate with good food and drink.

The real barrier was my lack of both enthusiasm or will to change my lifestyle to accommodate the demands it would take to lose the weight. Even more, I wasn’t sufficiently unhappy with the way I was conducting my life to make that change. In the absence of that will, it was impossible to muster either the energy or resources that would make a difference.

Successful or solid beginnings require a clear dissatisfaction with the status quo and a determination to change or create. Identifying available resources, summoning energy and the will to sustain yourself throughout your journey of change or achievement are exceedingly essential for success. In short, a successful beginning must contain all your resources of will, focus and energy and this, in turn, will allow you to meet your goal.

How about this beginning! The only way to start a successful moon flight is to possess a sufficiently powerful rocket. The answer for our 1960’s space program was the Saturn V rocket.

The Saturn V’s maiden test voyage took place from the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, November 9th, 1967. It stood 363 feet in height (as tall as a thirty-six story building), was 33 feet in diameter, and weighed approximately six million pounds. Its mass was so great that the barn or hanger it was stored in had to be furnished with air conditioning equipment because without such equipment it would create its own weather and it could have rained within the storage structure. Its payload capacity was 260,000 pounds. One observer said after its launch that it was as if we had yanked a Navy destroyer out of the water and thrust it to the moon. It caused the innards of anyone or anything standing within three and-a-half miles of its launch site to tremble. It made more noise than 25,000 stereo sets blasting at once. Now, if you ask me, a ride at the business end of that rocket has got to be one hell of a beginning.

“Very well,” you may observe, “but when does a beginning end and what happens afterward?”

The answer to that one depends on two things. It depends on the situation or circumstance but, ultimately, it depends on you and me. If you’re losing weight, the end of the beginning may be when you lose your first pound or five pounds. If you are quitting smoking, the end of the beginning may be the first time you didn’t miss having a cigarette. If you’re a partner in love, the end of the beginning perhaps is when together you acknowledge the existence of your love and grant one another permission to dare to discover. If you’re seeking spiritual sustenance, the end of the beginning may occur with the very realization as to how much you need God in your life.

Once the end of the beginning occurs, your assessment of your unsatisfactory past, your application of the activities and resources you’ve marshaled for your undertaking, and the possibilities the future holds will sustain you.

Yes, indeed, I love those beginnings. They’re essential and they can be powerful. They may figuratively or literally enable you to soar into the azure.

Whether you remain aloft, however, ultimately depends on you.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY