Summary: <p><strong><a title="Best Motivational Podcasts 2016" href="http://podcast.livinghour.org">Motivational Podcast</a> Excerpt</strong>: Listen to episode 115 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance. Adapted from the famous essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson.</p><br> <p><em>Life is now. Power exists not in repose, but in that moment of transition from the past to a new state of being. This is the one fact that the world hates, that the soul becomes; for this knowledge forever degrades the past, turns all riches to poverty, all reputation to shame, and shoves the saint and sinner equally aside. </em></p><br> <p><em>The soul requires self-reliance. Because self-reliance is power. And power is in nature the essential measure of life. We are in desperate need of greater self-reliance throughout our society: in our religions; in our schools and universities; in our work and ways of living; in our governments, and more. Remember to always follow your inner genius and never imitate. </em></p><br> <p><em>Your own unique talents are something that you can offer others at every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation. But if you try to imitate the talents of another, you will only ever succeed by half. That which you can do best, none but your Maker can teach. And no person yet knows what your gifts are, nor can they, until you have shown them.</em></p><br> <p><span style="color: #800000;"><strong>This adapted essay is included in our new hardcover book Evergreen: 50 Inspirational Life Lessons. Learn more at: <a style="color: #800000;" title="Best Books on Life Lessons" href="http://inspirationallifelessons.com">InspirationalLifeLessons.com</a>.</strong></span></p>
