THE SYLVESTER STALLONE ZERO TO HERO STORY.

Not a lot of people know this, but due to complications during labor, the lower left side of Stallone’s face is paralyzed,
including parts of his tongue, lip and chin. This incident at birth is the cause of his trademark snarling look and his
slurred manner of speaking.
For the first five years of his life, Sylvester Stallone lived in an area of New York known as Hell’s Kitchen. He bounced from one foster home to another while his parents fought and squabbled endlessly in a bad marriage.
Although he was eventually reunited with them, his troubled past and his oddly paralyzed face made him an outcast among his classmates. He often received suspensions for his frequent fights, poor grades, and behavior problems.

Below Zero Status
His adult life was just as difficult. Hard times and a lack of income resulted in the actor getting evicted from his apartment. As a result he was forced to live on the streets for close to three weeks.
Eventually he came across a casting call for a soft core pornography film; out of desperation he attended the casting
call. For two days of filming the actor received $200.
According to Stallone “it was either do that movie or rob someone, because I was at the end, the very end of my rope”.
After getting back on his feet he was eventually able to attend college. However, deciding this path was not for him, he
left before graduation and moved to New York to pursue an acting career.
He tried out for nearly each and every casting call he could, and contacted as many casting agents as he could find, with no victory. After numerous failed attempts he made the decision to try his hand at writing various screenplays.
After numerous failed attempts he found himself broke once again. In an act of desperation he waited outside of a local liquor store asking people if they would buy his dog; his closest and best friend. In the end someone bought his dog
for roughly $50. Stallone was extremely devastated that his life had come to that point.
With options few and far between he began to run out of money. By now he was desperate to get a job but he still was not ready to settle on just any job. He wanted to be an actor and that was what he had his mind set on.

The Hero’s Journey to Success
One day as Stallone walked the cold streets of New York City he wandered into the local library to warm up. While he browsed through the many books he discovered some of the best classics by many famous writers which inspired him to work harder on his screenplays and various writings.
In 1975, Stallone saw the Muhammad Ali vs. Chuck Wepner fight. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. He tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. However,
months passed with enormous rejections from many producers, until eventually someone loved it and they agreed to do the movie.
As poor as he was, Stallone turned down the great sums of money he was offered because he insisted that he must play
the lead role in the film. Studios were not willing to cast him in this role because he was a complete unknown, and they wanted a well known star. They told him he was not an actor but a writer.
There is a story that Stallone had been offered more than a hundred thousand dollars for his script as long as someone else could take the lead role, but he refused. He was so sure in his heart that this part was meant for him, and him
alone. He refused to compromise.
Finally the studio agreed to allow Stallone to proceed with the film, provided that it was made on a shoestring budget.
Stallone accepted the deal and used part of his money to go back to the liquor store and get his dog back.
As you all probably know, Rocky became a worldwide commercial success and Oscar winner. The film was nominated for
ten Academy Awards in all, and went on to win the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film
Editing.
The sequel, Rocky II was released a few years later and also became a major success. The film series has grossed more
than $1.25 billion at the worldwide box office.

Last Words
Sylvester Stallone achieved his success because he always believed in himself and his vision. He never gave up and kept trying and trying until he made it.
For me, Sylvester Stallone is one of the best demonstrations of how persistence can overcome all manner of obstacles with impossible odds.
Live Your Dreams!

THE TRUE BEAUTY.

Let me tell you a story about my friend from a long time ago.
There was a girl, back in my secondary school days. I wouldn't use her real name because she would easily connect the dots and know who I am, that's if she gets to reads this. So let me
say that her name was Clara. You see Clara wasn't the most beautiful girl in school, if there was to be a beauty contest she wouldn't be selected to participate because she wasn't what we all refer to as "beautiful". But there was something special about this girl, she had soul. She was older than most of us in the class and it was clear that she wasn't meant to be our mate for any reason. For some reason she accepted the class and when people thought or suggested that she was meant to be ashamed of where she was at her age, she simply accepted things the way the were and instead struggled to change the things she could and live with the rest. Very simple girl, loving, caring and friendly. Never looked for trouble...much. Lol
She didn't have a boyfriend like every other person at the beginning. No one really looked at her much and although I knew it bothered her to an extent because she was only human, she never took the anger out on anybody or beat herself up for it. She loved all of us like her siblings and would lend a helping hand or a listening ear to anyone who needed it. Through the years in school, relationships were formed and broken, friendships and many more were dissolved because
of what they were built on. I noticed that through those years, for some reason, we began to see the pretty girls in our classes as not so beautiful anymore, not because their beauty faded, not at
all, but because their character affected the way we perceived and saw them. I also noticed that through the years, we all got more used to Clara and a girl that wasn't so loved by us all was
eventually one of the few that we got very comfortable with and grew to love.
Now things did not change because she got more beautiful over the years, her face remained the same. Instead we eventually and without knowing started seeing through the physical beauty
that we used to judge her with in the beginning. What caused this? Her inner beauty of cos.You see it is true that physical beauty is attractive and well good because I wouldn't put it down
but Inner beauty is more important. Everybody girl or at least most girls want to look like either
Kim K, beyonce, Amber Rose, Victoria Kimani and other smoking hot ladies out there. And most guys want to be hunky like Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Will smith, hugh jackman and others. But the
things is that these physical features fade fast.
If you do have the opportunity to transform your body into what you would want to look like without harming yourself then fine, its all good. But if the things bothering you are things you
cannot change, then you would really have to learn to accept what you are given. Accepting yourself the way you are first of all is the only way you would gain the patience to change that
thing about you that you don't like. And once you can accept you for who you are, it would be easier to live with those things that you cannot change.
But then why not start with what you can change which is the way you see yourself. Your inner beauty is the most important because it would last more than any physical beauty. You could put in a lot of time an energy wishing you were someone else, but the sooner you are able to love yourself more, the more beautiful and confident you would become. If your friend who has that perfect face you have always wanted, gets involved in a fire accident that leaves her face permanently scarred and she never had a good character on the inside. If she was only loved for that her face, then what do you think would happen to her admirers with time? So think about that when you envy the next person, if there is any beauty to be envied, it is the one on the
inside.
Start with your inner beauty and it would radiate on the outside. Change what you can and leave the things you can't. Make sure you are loved for who you truly are and not what you look like.
Life would be easier and better for you that way. Most importantly you should learn to Love your own self. The thing about this topic of self love is that people expect it to have some magical effect. Well like every other topic that is meant to inspire, you have to learn to wake up and stay committed to working on it. If this topic has to help you, then read it everyday until it is embedded in your brain, until you begin to love yourself the way my friend Clara does for herself.
So I say this to you, if your inner self is beautiful, then you are beautiful to me.
Right now Clara is married with either 2 or 3 children last time we saw each other. She has a wonderful man and as usual she is still very satisfied with what ever she has and always wearing
her wide smile. I feel happy for those kids because they won a wonderful woman as their mother and that man snatched a truly beautiful wife.

IT CAN ONLY BE GOD.

A young man had experienced pain so much that people advised him to go for deliverance. Everywhere he turned, there seemed to be an issue. His slogan became, "it will get worse" because somehow problems he never thought about kept coming up. To crown it all, he was born again, devoted, committed and loved God wholeheartedly. This young man needed help, but the more he prayed the worse it got. He had goals to achieve but the year was almost over, and nothing seemed to happen for him.

One of the greatest lies anyone can be told is that, being born again insulates you from trouble. As a matter of fact, becoming born again attracts troubles: pressed down, shaken together and running over into your life. Sorry to burst your bubble. But one truth is, you become qualified for victory.

Everybody that God wants to use has got to come out of a situation where it's got to be proven that it's God that's doing it. And the longer you wait for something, the longer your resources are dried up. The reason is because God's purpose for His children is shrouded in time. Until your appointed time for blessing, lifting and breakthrough comes, troubles will overshadow you.

You're so banged up, buffeted and beaten now so that when you finally, get there, you'll look up to heaven and say, "it had to be God." As you start a brand new year. You're wondering did I make a mistake serving God? No sir, He makes all things beautiful in His time. Don't get it twisted. Remember Naaman? Your story is

about to hit the front cover of magazines. God' s got to take the glory. Just hang in there.

A RABBIT OR A Dog?

"The best thing to do when you find yourself in a hurting or vulnerable place is to surround yourself with the strongest, finest, most positive people you know." - Kristin Armstrong

A farmer once set a competition between his dog and his rabbit. He made a hole in one of his biggest fields, and hid a carrot and a
bone in it. He wanted to see which animal would find them first. The rabbit was very cheerful and optimistic, and he threw himself into looking for the carrot, digging everywhere, totally convinced that he would find it. The dog on the other hand, wasn't as excited.
After sniffing around for a bit, he lay down and began to complain how difficult it was to find one bone in such a big field. The rabbit dug for hours, and with every new hole the dog complained even more about how difficult this was, even for the rabbit.
Meanwhile, For the rabbit, he thought that each hole dug was one less hole to dig. When there was no place in the whole field left to
dig, the rabbit dug a tunnel to right under where the dog had been lying all that time. There he found the carrot and the bone.
As the year ends, many people lose their zeal to still pursue their dreams for many reasons. Some lose steam, either because they
achieved a lot so far while some others lose interest because they'd failed many times earlier in the year, and so they think nothing
good can happen in the last month if it didn't happen in earlier eleven months.
Beloved, the sugar in the crumb is the same sugar in the loaf. I mean, the last couple of days in 2014 is as much 2014 as the
earlier eleven months gone by. If your instincts nudge you, obey it and work as enthusiastically as you can, and be as expectant in
these last days, as you were in January. This is how the dog lost the bone he was already sitting on, due to his pessimism. Because,
thanks to his great instinct, he had already found the right place at the very beginning. Be like the rabbit this morning, dig until
you find. If you're like the dog already, just get some positive energy from the rabbit. Has God promised? He'll do it. It's not yet
over.