How Can I Turn Failure into Success?

Whatever your position in life, it is you who put your-self there. Whatever you made yourself, in the near or distant past, is what you are now.

God never punishes or rewards you, for He has given you the power to punish or reward yourself by the use or misuse of your own reason and will. It is you who transgressed the laws of prosperity and wisdom and punished yourself with poverty and ignorance.

One cause of failure is that of not weighing bad habits against the strength of will required to combat them. Most people fail in attaining their material, mental, and spiritual desires because of a lack of definite purpose and sustained effort.

Extraordinary talent is not as necessary to success as unswerving purpose and unfailing application and effort. Do not continue to carry the burden of old mental and moral weaknesses acquired in past years. Burn them in the fires of resolution and become free. Remember that the right method of meditation is the only lasting way to all-around freedom and success. You must consciously contact God; once finding Him, you will have attained dominion over yourself and all limiting conditions.

by Paramhansa Yogananda from How to Spiritualize Your Life