“Do or not do. There is no try.”

Perhaps wrong is too harsh a word.  Yoda’s counsel is only partially true.  Before any of us has the conviction, belief and single-mindedness needed to accomplish the goal we are aiming for, we first learn there is no victory without the try.  Take the gymnast, the ice skater, the exhausted young mother, the addict, the aspiring artist or accomplished master – all must summon the courage in the midst failure to try again because the seed of victory can only germinate in the try.  It is a sad condition when we stop trying because we no longer believe we can succeed.  Of course we can’t succeed! The not-succeeding is what informs the next try.  It takes immense courage to continue to try.  Without courage we will never discover where our true beauty dwells; in the place where humility triumphs over humiliation.  That place where bravery is haunted by failure, haunted by criticism, haunted by rejection and yet stands up again, with no guarantee that this will be the time, the moment of victory.  Before the victory comes the try, and after this our goal becomes clearer, it becomes closer, the fuzziness fades away and clarity crystallizes… Then… Then, Yoda’s words ring true, in that moment, that one surreal moment, we realize there is no more try, because it is done.