"The world is a great mirror. It reflects back to you what you are. If you are loving, if you are friendly, if you are helpful, the world will prove loving and friendly and helpful to you. The world is what you are."
Thomas Dreier
If your world is a mirror, what is it reflecting back to you? Are the people around you kind and loving towards you? Are they available to you when you need help or advice? Are strangers freindly towards you? If the answer to any one of these questions is no, it is time to consider how you behave around other people.
Over time, people learn to treat you the way you treat them. You actually teach them how to treat you. You send all kinds of non-verbal communication to them about how you see them. This tells them a lot about how you see yourself, because only a person who loves himself can truly love other people. And only a person who loves himself expects to be treated well by others. If you aren't loving towards others, this means you aren't loving of yourself because you know that people who are treated badly by you will treat you badly in return and you expect this. A person who loves himself would never tolerate that situation.
One of the quickest ways to determine how you come across to other people is to see how they treat you. If most people treat you with disrespect, then you have some work to do on your own self-respect, as well as your respect of others. We are all connected. A person who puts other people down puts himself down. The world around you is a mirror. To improve it, you must improve yourself.
For ideas about true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Blind
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi
People are so easily offended by others. How quickly we fight back whenever we feel the other person threatened us in some way, even if nothing is hurt except our pride. We will defend our rights to the end, even our right to have everything go the way we want and everyone do what we think they should. We wage wars because other people don't see God the way we do. Worse yet, we teach our children to continue our battles, so family feuds can keep going for generations.
We feel like anyone who hurts us should be hurt back. They should get a taste of their own medicine. Murderers should be murdered. But what does that really accomplish? Do two wrongs make a right? Because someone behaved badly towards me, what do I really accomplish by behaving badly towards him? I've just brought myself down to his level. To begin with, this isn't exactly going to help my self-respect. Do you ever feel good about yourself when you've just struck back at someone? You feel lousy, if only because you know deep down that you've shown you have no self-control.
An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. Develop the self-control to avoid fighting back when someone has hurt you. This means you can't do anything with your pain but let it be nothing, and then the other person is forced to see that the only enemy he has is his own pain. It is much more constructive to forgive the other person for acting so irresponsibly than it is to act irresponsibly yourself by striking back at him. That way, at least one person will be able to see.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Mohandas Gandhi
People are so easily offended by others. How quickly we fight back whenever we feel the other person threatened us in some way, even if nothing is hurt except our pride. We will defend our rights to the end, even our right to have everything go the way we want and everyone do what we think they should. We wage wars because other people don't see God the way we do. Worse yet, we teach our children to continue our battles, so family feuds can keep going for generations.
We feel like anyone who hurts us should be hurt back. They should get a taste of their own medicine. Murderers should be murdered. But what does that really accomplish? Do two wrongs make a right? Because someone behaved badly towards me, what do I really accomplish by behaving badly towards him? I've just brought myself down to his level. To begin with, this isn't exactly going to help my self-respect. Do you ever feel good about yourself when you've just struck back at someone? You feel lousy, if only because you know deep down that you've shown you have no self-control.
An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. Develop the self-control to avoid fighting back when someone has hurt you. This means you can't do anything with your pain but let it be nothing, and then the other person is forced to see that the only enemy he has is his own pain. It is much more constructive to forgive the other person for acting so irresponsibly than it is to act irresponsibly yourself by striking back at him. That way, at least one person will be able to see.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Character
"If you think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself"
Woodrow Wilson
Most of us go through life thinking about our own needs before the needs of other people. We think this kind of egocentrism is normal and natural. But that's just our ego talking. To our ego other people are enemies because they get in the way of us getting whatever we want. With some people, this idea is more pronounced than others. We talk of self-centered people with scorn. Yet we can recognize it in ourselves too.
How many times in a day do you stop and think about what you can do for other people? How many times a day do you stop and think about what you can do for other people when it may be uncomfortable or dangerous for you; with no reward in it for you? Altruism is universally admired, probably because we see so little of it. But altruism is the best indication of character there is.
If you think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character really isn't that complicated. It comes from caring about others at least as much as about yourself. It comes from love and kindness towards others; which can only really appear when you show love and kindness towards yourself. A person of good character is universally respected and admired; and that goes a long way towards your success in life.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Woodrow Wilson
Most of us go through life thinking about our own needs before the needs of other people. We think this kind of egocentrism is normal and natural. But that's just our ego talking. To our ego other people are enemies because they get in the way of us getting whatever we want. With some people, this idea is more pronounced than others. We talk of self-centered people with scorn. Yet we can recognize it in ourselves too.
How many times in a day do you stop and think about what you can do for other people? How many times a day do you stop and think about what you can do for other people when it may be uncomfortable or dangerous for you; with no reward in it for you? Altruism is universally admired, probably because we see so little of it. But altruism is the best indication of character there is.
If you think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character really isn't that complicated. It comes from caring about others at least as much as about yourself. It comes from love and kindness towards others; which can only really appear when you show love and kindness towards yourself. A person of good character is universally respected and admired; and that goes a long way towards your success in life.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Step
"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao Tzu
Often when we stop to really think about what we want to acheive in life, we find an overwhelming number of things that seem so far away from where we are now. Some of us might want to change everything in our lives. Where does one start? We are often so puzzled by this that we end up not starting anything at all.
The first thing we need to do is to prioritize. We can't do everything at once. We need to decide what is the most important thing; the one that once acheived will impact those other goals the most. But once we've identified a single goal to start with, it might still seem so very large and so very far away.
So the next thing we need to do is to divide it into objectives. For example, instead of having the goal of cleaning up the whole house, we start with the objective of just cleaning up the living room to start with. If necessary, we might have to divide up cleaning the living room into smaller goals, such as organizing where things need to go. We do this until we find an objective that we can manage right now.
And finally we get started on that one objective. We can go as far as we want if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other, just doing one objective, one small part of our final goal at a time, and never giving up and quitting. This is how we will finally succeed.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Lao Tzu
Often when we stop to really think about what we want to acheive in life, we find an overwhelming number of things that seem so far away from where we are now. Some of us might want to change everything in our lives. Where does one start? We are often so puzzled by this that we end up not starting anything at all.
The first thing we need to do is to prioritize. We can't do everything at once. We need to decide what is the most important thing; the one that once acheived will impact those other goals the most. But once we've identified a single goal to start with, it might still seem so very large and so very far away.
So the next thing we need to do is to divide it into objectives. For example, instead of having the goal of cleaning up the whole house, we start with the objective of just cleaning up the living room to start with. If necessary, we might have to divide up cleaning the living room into smaller goals, such as organizing where things need to go. We do this until we find an objective that we can manage right now.
And finally we get started on that one objective. We can go as far as we want if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other, just doing one objective, one small part of our final goal at a time, and never giving up and quitting. This is how we will finally succeed.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Monday, July 27, 2009
Casting
"Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish."
Ovid
Taking action is so important. Many of us procrastinate until the window of opportunity has almost closed; and some of us are so afraid of failure, or even success, that we never get started at all. Very occasionally, you can get what you want if you just constantly focus on it and visualize it, but it's not wise to plan on that. People who are successful are generally those who consistently take action until they get what they want.
In general, the more action you take, the more successful you are. It is only when you are out there taking action, that the Universe knows that you are serious about getting what you want so it is more inclined to bring you the resources and opportunities you need in order to be successful. It is also true that the more you take action the more you will make mistakes; and that is a good thing because the more mistakes you make the more you will learn about what doesn't work and that narrows down the possibilities of what will work.
One important thing though, is that you can't just take action. You need to take action in a variety of different ways, experimenting with different things. Diversity of action is essential, and not just because it will help you make more mistakes so you learn more about what doesn't work and narrow down the possibilities of what does work. When you're "fishing" for a certain result, and you cast your hook into many different ponds, you're more likely to find what you're looking for than you would if you only cast your hook into one pond. As the saying goes "Never put all your eggs into one basket". Even when an action seems unlikely to produce the result you want, you'll never know for sure until you try it. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Ovid
Taking action is so important. Many of us procrastinate until the window of opportunity has almost closed; and some of us are so afraid of failure, or even success, that we never get started at all. Very occasionally, you can get what you want if you just constantly focus on it and visualize it, but it's not wise to plan on that. People who are successful are generally those who consistently take action until they get what they want.
In general, the more action you take, the more successful you are. It is only when you are out there taking action, that the Universe knows that you are serious about getting what you want so it is more inclined to bring you the resources and opportunities you need in order to be successful. It is also true that the more you take action the more you will make mistakes; and that is a good thing because the more mistakes you make the more you will learn about what doesn't work and that narrows down the possibilities of what will work.
One important thing though, is that you can't just take action. You need to take action in a variety of different ways, experimenting with different things. Diversity of action is essential, and not just because it will help you make more mistakes so you learn more about what doesn't work and narrow down the possibilities of what does work. When you're "fishing" for a certain result, and you cast your hook into many different ponds, you're more likely to find what you're looking for than you would if you only cast your hook into one pond. As the saying goes "Never put all your eggs into one basket". Even when an action seems unlikely to produce the result you want, you'll never know for sure until you try it. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Choose
"It matters not what a person is born, but whom they choose to be."
J. K. Rowling
Who do you choose to be? Chances are you think that you are the person you are and that's the way it is. We think that our genetics combined with the environment we are in, especially during childhood, determines who we are but science is suggesting that that's just not the case. It seems that our genetics are more flexible than we used to think. It is also the case that every cell in our body has died and been replaced within a year or two, so every couple of years we have a whole new body. The reason our body doesn't change much over the years is because we don't expect it to.
If you could be anyone you want, who would you choose to be? Some of us have heroes; people that we want to be just like. Some of us just admire one characteristic of one person, and another characteristic of another person, and would like to be a combination of the best characteristics of everyone they like.
Some of us would just like to get rid of what we see as our faults and then we'd be perfectly happy with ourselves. All of these are good ideas.
It doesn't matter what a person is born because they can always change. And they can choose what they want to change into. Our souls are always striving for improvement. Ultimately we want to be as much like God as possible. It turns out that the more you take on the characteristics of God (or whatever you want to call the higher power), which are love, beauty, creativity, kindness, receptivity, expansion, and abundance, the happier you will be. And that's what all of us really want.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
J. K. Rowling
Who do you choose to be? Chances are you think that you are the person you are and that's the way it is. We think that our genetics combined with the environment we are in, especially during childhood, determines who we are but science is suggesting that that's just not the case. It seems that our genetics are more flexible than we used to think. It is also the case that every cell in our body has died and been replaced within a year or two, so every couple of years we have a whole new body. The reason our body doesn't change much over the years is because we don't expect it to.
If you could be anyone you want, who would you choose to be? Some of us have heroes; people that we want to be just like. Some of us just admire one characteristic of one person, and another characteristic of another person, and would like to be a combination of the best characteristics of everyone they like.
Some of us would just like to get rid of what we see as our faults and then we'd be perfectly happy with ourselves. All of these are good ideas.
It doesn't matter what a person is born because they can always change. And they can choose what they want to change into. Our souls are always striving for improvement. Ultimately we want to be as much like God as possible. It turns out that the more you take on the characteristics of God (or whatever you want to call the higher power), which are love, beauty, creativity, kindness, receptivity, expansion, and abundance, the happier you will be. And that's what all of us really want.
For ideas about how to acheive true success, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Turn Back
"No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back"
Turkish proverb
It is often very difficult for us to admit that we have changed our minds. Perhaps we have committed ourselves to something and then realized that it isn't going to work out. We are reluctant to stop it because we are afraid of hurting or upsetting other people who are relying on us to do what we said we would. We feel guilty about backing out of a commitment. But what is the point of knowingly making yourself miserable for a long time in the future. It's better to quit while you still can.
Perhaps we have spent a great deal of time, money, and/or energy on something and it hasn't got us where we want to be. We are feeling dissatisfied with it. We are reluctant to get rid of it because that would mean that all those resources we spent on it would have been wasted. But what is the point of wasting even more resources on it in the future?
Successful people know when it's time to get rid of something. They don't wait around and hope that things will get better. They don't allow negative things to take up space in their lives. They have no tolerance for nagging unresolved pains. They don't allow anything to spoil their dreams. No matter how far they have gone down the wrong road, they turn back as soon as they realize that they are on the wrong road.
For ideas about how to be truly successful, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
Turkish proverb
It is often very difficult for us to admit that we have changed our minds. Perhaps we have committed ourselves to something and then realized that it isn't going to work out. We are reluctant to stop it because we are afraid of hurting or upsetting other people who are relying on us to do what we said we would. We feel guilty about backing out of a commitment. But what is the point of knowingly making yourself miserable for a long time in the future. It's better to quit while you still can.
Perhaps we have spent a great deal of time, money, and/or energy on something and it hasn't got us where we want to be. We are feeling dissatisfied with it. We are reluctant to get rid of it because that would mean that all those resources we spent on it would have been wasted. But what is the point of wasting even more resources on it in the future?
Successful people know when it's time to get rid of something. They don't wait around and hope that things will get better. They don't allow negative things to take up space in their lives. They have no tolerance for nagging unresolved pains. They don't allow anything to spoil their dreams. No matter how far they have gone down the wrong road, they turn back as soon as they realize that they are on the wrong road.
For ideas about how to be truly successful, visit http://www.reachingmypotential.com
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