The things you treasure

What are the things you treasure the most? It pays to carefully consider them.

Are the things you treasure things you have taken away from others or gained at their expense? Then those things will soon, in like manner, be taken away from you.

Do you need to be dishonest about who you are in order to have and enjoy the things you treasure? Then those things can surely steal all the joy from your life.

Or are the things you treasure the many ways in which you have given of yourself to the world? Then those good things will come back to you again and again, increasing in value and abundance.

Are the things you treasure things you have worked with passion and purpose to contribute to life? Then those things will grow in power and influence, and will enable you to create even more real goodness.

Look at the things you treasure, and you can see where your life will go. Choose wisely the things you treasure, and they will bring great richness to all you know

The authentic you

Life's most beautiful and fulfilling moments are the most sincere and authentic ones. When you are being yourself, that is when you are at your best.

Why do you so quickly latch on to someone else's idea of success, while at the same time ignoring your own authentic dreams? Why do you so easily dismiss your own instincts and intuitions?

Others may claim to be experts in this field or that. Remember, though, that you are the expert when it comes to your own life.

Listen to the longings of your heart. Pay attention to that little voice inside of you.

For that voice knows you well. It knows what you can accomplish, what brings you joy, and what things you most highly value.

When something feels right, that's a reliable sign that it is. Choose to live each moment as the authentic person you are, and from those moments you will create much real and lasting richness.

set a shining example

The world around you will follow the example that you set. The shortcomings in others that frustrate you the most are able to do so because they resonate with similar shortcomings in your own life.

Make improvements in your own attitude and behavior, and you'll see corresponding improvements in those around you. Focus your own thoughts on the positive possibilities, and others will pick up on and emulate that focus.

Stop searching for blame and start mending what's broken. Stop seeking to judge and start putting your values into positive, productive action.

Your influence is far greater than you now realize. Use that influence wisely, to build, to grow, and to improve everything with which you are connected.

Every achievement, every injustice, every inspiration, every frustration that you notice has something to teach you about yourself. Learn the lessons well, apply them with true commitment, and you'll change your world as well as yourself.

Set a shining example with the way you live each day. For life is watching and busily following along with your every move.

What's your pleasure?

Pleasure is a matter of conditioning. A teenager smoking her first cigarette doesn't enjoy it at all. She's almost certainly doing it to "fit in" and it probably even makes her a little sick. After a while, though, she likes it so much she finds it hard to quit.

"If it feels good, do it" was a popular rallying cry during the sex/drug revolution of the 60s and 70s. But what feels good? It depends. Certain people who consider themselves to have refined taste enjoy eating snails and fish eggs, while others are disgusted by the thought of eating such food.

By nature, we want to do what is pleasurable to us. And so pleasure is a powerful motivator. Add this to the fact that pleasures can be learned, and you have a potent strategy for achieving your success: Choose the pleasures that move you toward your goals.

For example, there is just as much potential for pleasure in jogging 2 miles as there is in eating a bag of potato chips. The person who is trying to get in top physical shape would be well advised to find his pleasure in the jogging rather than the chips.

Rather than finding ways to serve your pleasures, find pleasures that will serve you. Instead of taking pleasure in getting drunk, sitting in front of the TV, and complaining about other people, learn to find pleasure in walking around the neighborhood, discovering new ideas, finding new and better ways to do your job.

Just like everything else in your world, your pleasures are under your control. Use them to your advantage.

Unlock Your Mind

We all get knotted in our own minds and we cant see things clearly. We keep thinking about something and even though we realize we are not getting anywhere, we continue to stress our mind in the same direction, with no possible end.

For times like these Doug King said

“Learn to pause…or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you.”

One of the best ways to remove the lock in your mind is to pause and get away from the problem for sometime. Take a Break like Kitkat says, it may be a few minutes, a few hours or few days. Taking a break and getting involved in some other mental stimulation can actually recharge you and your wiring which definitely allows you to get back to the problem with a much better and alert perspective.

Take a walk in the park, have a good conversation, listen to music, play with your little ones.

The reason why this works is because when we re-approach the problem after a break, we look at it with somewhat different set of assumptions. The human mind is complex remember. This allows you to back off a little bit and look at the big picture again which you might be completely missing since you were so engrossed in the details.

What will it take?

What will it take to get where you really want to go? To have the things you really want to have? To be the person you really want to be?

What will it take?

It will take work. Hard work. Late nights. Frustration. Sacrifice. Discipline. Effort. Disappointment. Discomfort. It will take your total commitment. It will take the best that you have to give.

If you think that sounds tough, consider the alternative. Regret. Wondering what you could have done if only you had given it your best shot. The waste of a life half lived, and you can't go back.

So the choice is up to you: an easy path with a heartbreaking destination, or a challenging path with a destination of fulfillment and joy.

Any way you cut it, life is difficult. But is that really so bad? It is in the challenges that we grow. It is in overcoming the difficulties that we find our greatest accomplishments. Face life head-on, deal with the challenges as they come. Accept that life is difficult, quit wishing or pretending that it is easy, and you will then be free to live with joy and purpose and fulfillment.