Living Life Against All Odds – Ava Eagle Brown’s 7 rules for success

Imagine a young girl, maybe in her early teens. Born in Jamaica as the eldest child of nine siblings.  Since she comes from a very poor family where hunger and poverty are a constant in her home, this little girl helps her parents make money to feed the family by selling mangos to tourists and train travellers.  By doing all of this, she is sacrificing her education. However, the tragedy of our heroine is not so much  due to the difficult living conditions as it is due to the violence and a lack of compassion from those  dearest to her. Physical and sexual abuse are only some of the manifestations of this drama.  Her family fell apart, and in this broken home, her step mother prepares to sell this little girl into prostitution.  To avoid this horrid fate, the little girl is forced to run away from home.  But unfortunately, this is only one of the many hardships, which plagued her teenage years…

How could this story end – full of abuse and suffering? Many in her place would fall prey to addiction  in order to try and erase the memory of such a terrible past. Others would repeat the fate of the parents,  who after all gave her the only example of how to live…but Ava Eagle Brown – after all this is her story  – chose to take her fate into her own hands, and start completely anew. Do things her way.

AVA EAGLE BROWNS 7 RULES FOR SUCCESS

1. Pain and the adversity of fate can be your fuel for driving your success

At every moment of our lives – this is especially true in times of suffering – we stand before making a choice: “Do we continue down the path we are currently on, or do we turn away from this path towards the unknown and create our own way?” Some would of course be completely destroyed by the life experiences described earlier. Others may use those very same experiences to rise above the rest. The latter is what Ava chose to do, and today, she is trying to convince us that the worst pain and unimaginable suffering can be transmuted into the very motivation needed to change things for the better. Her speeches and books are full of advice on how to bounce back if you hit rock bottom and become the author of your own life story. “If I could do it, then so can you” she ensures us, explaining that “even though sometimes life beats us down, we must find the will to get back up and solve our problems, no matter what the situation may be”. Ava lives by a rule; pain is only temporary. If we do not run away from the pain, but instead face it head on, we find in it a real treasure and inner strength to carry on.

2. Be like bamboo, be like a fern.

Beneath this cryptic slogan, we can find some very important indicators as to which qualities we should develop in order to overcome problems. Where did this allegory to ferns and bamboo come from?

It happened in 2008. This year was a hard time for Ava. She struggled with transitionary problems, meanwhile her book writing was not coming along as quickly as she would have liked. During this time, at some point, a friend of Ava’s decided to show her support and sent her a message to “be strong” and not fold under the pressure of her troubles. She reminded her to be like a bamboo stalk, unbreakable even in the face of the harshest winds. Curious of this metaphor, Ava noticed that the bamboo is a plant, which is simultaneously flexible as a reed and rooted in the ground hard like a tree, and is in a way symbolic of life. A hard childhood taught her to adapt to various situations without withdrawing from difficult and sometimes dramatic changes.

Sometime later, Ava concluded that she is in fact slightly similar to a fern, especially with her will to survive. The fern, after all, is one of the oldest plants on this planet, so much so that, throughout time, it has experienced every possible environmental condition and is practically “unbreakable”. Ava came to like this metaphor referring to the bamboo and fern so much that it became more than just a symbol of the traits that are important to her; which she encourages people to develop. With time, it became the title of her most popular book to date: “Bambus i paproć” (Bamboo and Fern in English), which recently even Hollywood took an interest in.

3. Take care in what kind of people you surround yourself with.

„Your success depends greatly on the kind of people you surround yourself with. What I mean by this is the people closest to you, who I call the “roots” of everything in your life.”, Ava emphasizes.

Who knows? Perhaps if a close friend never sent Ava the message with this famous allegory, it is very possible the book „Bamboo and Fern” would never have become such a bestseller. Or perhaps it would have never even been written at all? Ava unceasingly emphasizes the importance of relationships, especially with those closest to us. Can we count on their support, or will they be trying to cut our knees out from under us? How much do their opinions influence us? It’s good to sometimes ask ourselves these questions. Today, Ava admits that she is not afraid of cutting contact with the wrong people, as well as removing such people from her immediate circle of friends, if for some reason they no longer deserve to be considered as such.

4. No more excuses.

“Constantly coming up with new excuses just to avoid making a difficult decision is incredibly easy. How do I know? Because I mastered this art at one point in my life”.

At a certain moment in life, Ava realized that she can no longer hide behind her painful childhood memories and constantly blame others for her failures. Though it took her a very long time to learn what it means to forgive. To forgive truly, from the heart, not on a purely intellectual level. As long as a person remains in the role of the victim, that person’s life stands still and lacks the space for any sort of positive change. Solace only comes when we move on with our lives beyond the “enduring” pain, come to terms with the path we have been on thus far, and allow these things to simply become part of our past. Only then are we truly free and can finally create our future according to our own rules.

5. Be an inspiration to others

Surely, all of us have at one point in time experienced such a conversation…Possibly completely coincidental and meaningless, but in effect turning our whole world upside down…

Ava often reminds us that „in each of us, there is an inspirational story”, which is worth telling to the world. There is no knowing how much we can touch someone else’s life and become their inspiration. Anyways, there is probably no greater reward in life than knowing that you helped someone. This is exactly what Ava does on an everyday basis, and what she tries to convince others to do as well. We all are in one way or another connected and have a certain amount of influence over one another. When we feel that this influence is of a positive nature, life makes more sense and has a better feel to it.

Ava Eagle Brown not only encourages others to be more open and courageous to tell others of our own experiences. She even created a coaching program for aspiring authors who would like to transcribe their experiences to paper and publish their own book.

6. Education is one of the greatest “stepping stones to success”.

Education is a wonderful ticket from the world of poverty into the world of successful living, so take advantage of it. Education is like your second passport. With only one difference, this passport doesn’t come with an expiration date.

Similarly to Eric Thomas, a well-known motivational speaker who will also be appearing on October 1st in Cracow, Ava Brown also values education above all else. “School was the place where I found my peace. It was a completely different atmosphere for the one, which could be experienced in my home. It was at school where I finally met people who I wished to emulate.” During interviews, Ava to this day recalls the words of one of her teachers who played a huge role in her life, Mrs. Taylor, as if they were a mantra; “Never limit yourself, because each of us has great potential.” At the beginning, Ava couldn’t even imagine that, one day, she could lead a better life than her parents…But because she believed every word of what her favorite teacher said, this seed of self-confidence, which was planted several dozen years earlier, finally reared an unbelievable blossom.

7. Take action!

Here, we have one of the most important pieces of advice that can be heard today from Ava Brown. As it happens, even the greatest words of wisdom, which are passed onto us by others, remain only words until we act on them. Barely a fortnight ago, during a mini-lecture on Facebook, Ava stated that victorious people are those who continue to proceed forward, regardless of what obstacles life throws at them. Of course, we can agree with her, nod our heads, and then return to our old habits.

Ava differs from the many life coaches and motivational speakers in the world in the fact that she not only inspires and speaks about what should be done to achieve success in life, but also explains how to go about doing it; especially at the time when it is the hardest and the initial enthusiasm starts to fade.

If you truly are ready to complete a total metamorphosis in a chosen aspect of your lives, then October 1^st 2016 is your one and only chance. Ava Eagle Brown will appear in Cracow, alongside Nick Vujcic and Eric Thomas, in the largest motivational convention of this type in Poland.

„The only road to personal growth is by way of action”, inspiration and motivation, which usually last a few days, is not enough to see real effects. True change can only happen when we take action to bring such change about. Are you one of the few who are willing to do what it takes to bring about such changes in your life? Don’t overlook this occasion, come hear Ava Eagle Brown live in Cracow, this October!