“Why can’t I succeed Mario?” Luigi asked.

“Because you don’t believe you can succeed,” Mario answered.

“Oh, no, no, no, no! You just don’t understand Mario, it may be easy for you, but for me it’s so difficult, I have problems.”

“Excuses… me too.”

“No, Mario, you don’t deal with my type of problems, I have real problems!”

“Excuses…”

“No way! You don’t live in my house, with my parents, in my school, with my teachers.”

“So you have now decided you are a victim Luigi.”

“If you could live in my shoes for a moment you would be able to comprehend the problems I deal with and understand how difficult it is for me.”

“I know it’s not easy my friend, but, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to wait for your circumstances to change or are you going to come up with more excuses?

Mario paused for a few seconds and continued.

“It seems to me that you’re expecting others to feel pity on you, that doesn’t work. We all have our own problems, so you better wake up and deal with your issues and take action! With no action, you can’t expect success. No shortcuts!”

“You dont get it Mario, even if I take action, nothing will ever happen!”

“So? There’s your answer Luigi, you just answered your question!”

Luigi stopped with disbelief, “What do you mean?”

“You started this conversation asking me why cant you succeed, remember? That’s the reason you don’t ever succeed and NEVER will.”

“Why?”

“It’s NOT because of your circumstances, it’s your disbelief what’s stopping your actions, even BEFORE you even try, before even fighting. You are currently defeated in your mind!”

Mario paused and got a small notebook out of his backpack and said, “This is my life book of wisdom Luigi, this is what it reads on the FIRST page.”

He turned to the first page and read: “Faith is the foundation of living a life in victory.” He closed the notebook.

“What was that?” Luigi asked.

Mario explained, “Emotions control our actions, if we live our life guided by our emotions we will NEVER succeed in life. Faith control our emotions. Faith is acting in spite of our emotions. Faith is an act, that results from a strong belief.”

“Seems like I need more faith to take action,” said Luigi.

“Actions are fueled by faith. We overcome life’s difficulties with faith. We act upon our dreams with faith. A life without faith leads to a life full of regrets. Don’t let life’s situation control your destiny.”