懒懒的孩子开始想看看自己到底能做什么。然而，仅仅经过很短的练习，他便发现自己非常熟练起来，很快他就做出了最好的鞋钉。
老史密斯先生去世了，而他的儿子则因为战争的缘故失去了所有的财产。他不得不离开家园，在另外一个国家住了下来。巧的是，这个国家的这个地区，急需大量军鞋，所以这个村子里有很多鞋匠，他们总是花费很多钱购买鞋钉。有时，即使付了很高的价钱，也买不到他们想要的鞋钉。
在这食不果腹的困难时刻，年轻的史密斯记起自己曾学过制鞋钉这门手艺，便突发奇想，想和这些鞋匠们做一个交易。他对他们说，如果他们可以帮助他成立一个店铺，他就可以做鞋钉。鞋匠们对他的这一提议欣喜若狂。很快，史密斯发现他做的鞋钉是村里面最好的。
“这真是有趣，”他常常会说，“即便是做鞋钉也会带来财富。与我以前所有的财富相比，我现在做的事情对于我来说更有用。”
One Life, Three Paths and Two Choices一种人生，三条路，两种选择
A brief look at how the choices we make change who we become.
We all have just one shot at this life. What we do with it is up to us. But besides what we do with our life, there is a vital understanding that we must come to in order to fully appreciate the value of the opportunity that is placed before us every day that we wake. I’m not sure who said it or where I read it, but I remember hearing one time the quote, “Life is not a dress rehearsal, it’s the real thing.” That is exactly how we should treat life.
This is not the practice round. There is no second chance for us. If there is something that you truly want to do or to become, if there is a core desire at the heart of your soul that you want to realize, if want the fulfillment in life that you truly desire, then you had better get out there and get it. What can you do today to bring you closer to where you want to be? Why wait? What is holding you back? Is that something that binds you and keeps you from achieving you dream worth more than your dream? How many more chances will you have? Can you afford to let the ones that come to you pass you by? What would it be like to truly live with passion, for passion, and because of passion? You see, it is the pursuit of passion that drives us to success. We must identify our passion, that something that moves us at our very core and reach for it with every ounce of our strength. You can’t afford to let the distractions of life stand in your way. Are you pursuing your passion now? Why not? Remember we only have one shot at this life. We don’t get to go around twice. If you want it, you have got pull out all of the stops, quit messing around and go for your dream.
Our choices direct our lives and determine where we will arrive when we reach our final destination. Out of all of the choices that life presents us with, I have narrowed the effects of such down to three different paths in life. The first path is the path of advancement and positive growth. The second path is the path of degeneration, decline, or negative growth. The third and final path is the path of stagnation or absence of growth. Which path are you on?
The first path, the path of advancement and positive growth, is the path that most people would rather be on. It is here on this path that people can see continual progress towards the realization of their dreams and aspirations. The travelers on this path are making incremental steps towards their ultimate successes. Most of them are closely in tune with the desires of their heart, and they feel that they are part of a larger whole. A few of them have even come to realize that their success builds into a larger framework of universal success and victory. In this light, they take this life much less personally, and are less hindered by an overpowering ego, as they see not just a plan that is theirs in motion, but rather an infinite progression of advancement in which they are included. But nevertheless, whatever their place on the chain of enlightenment, those traveling the path of advancement and positive growth have all decided to make a positive alignment with their environment and to take positive action in that blink of time that they call their lives.
The second path, the path of degeneration or negative growth, is the path that people begin to travel when life overwhelms the soul and the force of distraction sets in. While only a minute portion of its travelers are there intentionally, the path of negative growth, is full of people who have all arrived there due to specific choices that they have made, whether consciously or not. This path contains people who are losing ground. They are the ones taking one step forward and two steps back. They have become estranged from their passion in life. They don’t know what their dream is anymore. They can’t see themselves as part of a larger whole. They feel lost in a sea of confusion, doubt, worry, and trouble. For some of them the pressure is too much, and they begin to travel the path of degeneration at a blinding pace, rapidly descending through the ranks of enlightenment. For me, it is a sadness beyond compare to witness this destruction of the connection that one of our brother or sister humans has with his or her soul. I have witnessed this heart wrenching spectacle before, as it occured both below the surface and for some in plain view for all to see. I have seen confusion overwhelm individuals so greatly as they lost their connection, all the while they seemed to stand on the sidelines helplessly watching themselves plummet towards destruction. “I can’t, I just can’t,” I once heard a broken heart say. While others heard nothing more than ramblings of one emotionally unstable, I heard a heart crying out. The confusion had become too much. The passion in life had been completely lost in the fog of distraction. Hope was dying. This is the second path.