“You may be afraid of flying, spiders, heights, and snakes, but there is one fear that dominates the human experience. We all have it. It’s our greatest fear. It sabotages relationships. It produces existential loneliness.
We’re afraid that if people really knew us, they wouldn’t love us. That’s our greatest fear.
The real tragedy is that by pretending to be the person we think other people want us to be, we destroy our chances at really being loved. Because when someone does come along to say, “I love you” there’s a little voice in our head that says, “No you don’t. You love the person you think I am.”
This is how people end up desperately lonely in a relationship.
Hugh Prather observed, “Some people are going to like me and some won’t. So I might as well be myself, and then at least I’ll know that the people who like me, like me.””
“The alarm clock goes off. It’s time to get out of bed. This is your first decision of the day. Will you get out of bed or hit the snooze button? You press the snooze button and roll over.
What just happened? No big deal, right? Wrong. You just lost the first battle of the day. Resistance just kicked your butt. Resistance has broken your will before you’ve even gotten out of bed. You will most likely be its slave for the rest of the day.
What is resistance? It’s that sluggish feeling of not wanting to do something that you know is good for you, it’s the inclination to do something that you unabashedly know is not good for you, and it’s everything in between. It’s the desire and tendency to delay something you should be doing right now.
Don’t be a slave to resistance. Start by slaying it in that first moment of each day.
And remember, don’t just be yourself, become the best version of yourself!”
“There is something of infinite value hidden inside you. Do you know that? Do you believe that? And if you did, if you did really believe that something of infinite value was hidden inside you, how would you live your life differently?
There are dreams hidden inside you. What are your dreams? Do you know? Have you stopped dreaming? Is there a dream from somewhere in your past that is calling out to you, wanting to be rediscovered? Are you open to new dreams?
There are talents hidden inside you. What are your talents? Do you know? Have you ever really taken an inventory of all your talents? There are talents inside of you that have never been explored yet. Are you ready to explore them? Do you have the courage to explore them?
There is love and goodness hidden inside you. Your capacity to love is astounding. Your capacity for goodness is extraordinary.
There are amazing treasures hidden inside you. It’s time to share them with the world.”
“Someone wrote to me recently about something I wrote in Perfectly Yourself. As I took the book from my bookshelf to look up what she was referring to I was flooded with memories of the time in my life when I write the book. My father had died a few months earlier and I was trying to make sense in new ways, as we all do when we lose someone we love.
That was twenty years ago. The subtitle of the book is Nine Lessons of Enduring Happiness. As it caught my eye, I wondered… have they endured… I will let you decide…
The Nine Lessons of Enduring Happiness The
First Lesson for Enduring Happiness: CELEBRATE YOUR PROGRESS
The Second Lesson for Enduring Happiness: JUST DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING
The Third Lesson for Enduring Happiness: PUT CHARACTER FIRST
The Fourth Lesson for Enduring Happiness: FIND WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT
The Fifth Lesson for Enduring Happiness: LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE
The Sixth Lesson for Enduring Happiness: BE DISCIPLINED
The Seventh Lesson for Enduring Happiness: SIMPLIFY
The Eighth Lesson for Enduring Happiness: FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE HERE TO GIVE
The Ninth Lesson for Enduring Happiness: PATIENTLY SEEK THE GOOD IN EVERYONE
In the coming weeks I am going to present a series of videos base on this book and these nine lessons, so make sure you have notifications turned on and click here if you would like a copy of the book.”
“I was reading some C.S. Lewis again last week and three quotes stood out as particularly insightful… even almost 100 years after they were written.
The first relates to society and the insanity we are witnessing all around us today…
Lewis wrote, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.”
Every day I get emails and letters from people filled with regret and shame about their past. Lewis wrote… “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
And finally, good people are faced with great difficulties in times like our own, and Lewis writes, “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.””
“There are four aspects to the human person: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
Physically, when you exercise regularly, sleep regularly, eat the right sorts of foods, and balance your diet, how do you feel? You feel fantastic. You feel more fully alive. You’re healthier, happier, and you have a richer, more abundant experience of life.
Emotionally, when you give focus and priority to your relationships, what happens? You switch the focus off yourself and onto others. As you do, your ability to love increases… and as your ability to love increases, your ability to be loved increases. You become more aware of yourself, develop a more balanced view of life, and experience a deeper sense of fulfillment. You’re healthier and you’re happier.
Intellectually, when you take ten or fifteen minutes a day to read a good book, what happens? Your vision of yourself expands; your vision of the world expands. You become more focused, more alert, and more vibrant. Clarity replaces confusion. You feel more fully alive, and you are happier.
Finally, spiritually, when you take a few moments each day to step into the classroom of silence and reconnect with yourself and with your God, what happens? The gentle voice within grows stronger, and you develop a deeper sense of peace, purpose, and direction. You’re healthier, you’re happier, and you have a richer experience of life.
Physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, we know the things that infuse our lives with passion and enthusiasm. We know the things that make us happy. We just don’t do them.
It doesn’t make sense, does it?
On the one hand, we all want to be happy. On the other hand, we all know the things that make us happy. But we don’t do those things. Why? Simple. We are too busy. Too busy doing what? Too busy trying to be happy.
This is the paradox of happiness that has bewitched our age.
Perhaps it is time to slow down. Maybe a better future involves less rather than more.”
“Is your life focused on the things you can buy with money or the things you can’t buy with money? Here are 13 things that money can’t buy that are worth more than all the things that money can buy.
1. Meaningful work.
2. Character.
3. Wisdom.
4. Self-esteem.
5. Friendship.
6. Inner-peace.
7. Health.
8. Love.
9. Respect.
10. A clear conscience.
11. Loyalty.
12. Happiness.
13. Another chance at a lost opportunity.
Whether you are earning money, spending money, saving money, investing money, or giving generously with money, it helps to remember, that while we need money to survive in this world, the things that make us thrive cannot be bought with money.”
