Name: Jay Kristine Bernadette M.

Padayao Section: 12 Magsaysay

Jonathan Livingston
A story

My Reflection

A high Persistence To persist, believe in yourself. Your persistence is the measure of how much
you believe in yourself. And for a seagull like Jonathan, he never quit trying so hard, believing to
his own ability to know more about life. Let failure not deter you. Keep posistive thoughts
around you and learn from your mistakes and from others. When you set a goal, you are
moving towards something new, different, unknown and challenging. It is most natural to falter
and make mistakes. You can’t live long enough to make all the things for yourself. Jonathan
Livingston shows this in the story. He had set a goal to invent and discover tricks on flight. after
spending lots of time performing experiments, he succeded. He did not quit until he reached
the place called ‘Heaven’. If we get behind greatest success stories, the biographies of
achievers, and influential persons in this world, we will find they are the ones who never quit,
because failure occurs when one stops trying, they simply never stopped trying like Jonathan.
As Jonathan, made more attempts, spent longer hours, worked harder on the goal he had set.
He gave the average law a chance to work for his favor. Jonathan did not gave up. But, why do
we sometimes give up? Like the other seagulls who had never gain interest in flight. To fly
higher than they could ever imagine. Think of a goal that you have quit. The biggest roadblocks
to our persistence are the failures, setbacks and obstacles we encounter in the process of
working towards our goals. They make us lose our will, our belief in ourselves, our motivation
and we give up. Let failure not deter you. Jonathan Livingston once said to his flock, ”
Irresponsibility? My brothers!” he cried. “Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and
follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish
heads, but now we have a reason to live- to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance,
let me show you what I’ve found!” Every great ambition bears testimony to this fact that no
one should quit and lose hope. Jonathan didn’t. So when you fail on some attempt because of
some hindrances on your way, just give yourself a pat on your back to be on the same pathway
as them and go back to what you are doing, to persisting. When you tread to the unknown you
will tumble here and there. But why give up? Fly like Jonathan! Fly without limits. Do not set
limitations by looking from tip to tip of your wings! You can fail many times, but you are not a
failure until you gave up! Remember Jonathan who did not gave up? He made it! For Jonathan,
he had never failed. He had only found thousands of ways that won’t work. He was not
discouraged. Because every wrong attempt discarded is just one more step forward. . . . There
are no rules, just trying to accomplish something. Keep positive thoughts around you. If the
people around you won’t believe in your ability and opinions, don’t think negative things. If
they are discouraging you to make a new discovery, don’t blame yourself that you want it.
Believe in yourself. Think of what you are doing is awesome! When the sky looks the darkest,
they will turn your environment lighter with their sunny part and faith in you. Oversome self-
sabotage by separating yourself from quitters. Jonathan Seagull is not a genius. He is not more
gifted than the average seagull. If he know something, he would know this is so- what hard
times he had studied and the fact that he did not have a memory like the some other seagulls
do. No, that is not the answer. Jonathan is just more inquisitive than the average seagull and he
doesn’t give up on a problem until he have found the proper solution. Maybe Jonathan is a bit
more patient in continuing with his problems than the other on the flock. Now if you
understand this, you will see that it is not a matter of being more gifted but a matter of being
more curious and maybe patient until you find out the right way. Free your mind, do not think
of your goals in terms of your current situation. Do not hold yourself back or worry about how
outrageous they may be. Do not first ask yourself weather you think you can achieve it. Do not
think what others will think. I asked myself, “Have I ever feel lack of faith in myself?”. I
answered, “Yes, at times I did doubt weather I am good enough or weather I will ever be good
enough. But those doubts were very natural. Everyone is bound to have them. They are a part
of learning and doing. In fact they will make your work harder and strive higher. Just look at
them in a right view.!”