Never ask an encyclopedia salesman if you need an encyclopedia.

Are there conflicts of interest all over the place that we don’t consider?

Often on the most important issues of our lives we easily take the advice of highly educated, highly paid, highly esteemed professionals.

That’s not always a good idea.

Think. Read. Ask more questions.  Research.  Look at the obvious.  Talk to more people.  Consider alternate opinions.

Then decide.

Most of your thoughts are the same ones you had yesterday.

But are they working?  Are they serving you well?  What are the results of the actions those thoughts lead to?

You made the thoughts.  They determine how your life and the different parts of it turn out.

Whatever thoughts are not getting you great results have to be let go or updated.

If something is not working, you wouldn’t just keep doing that to yourself, would you?

Stillness and quiet

We have a lot of noise going on.  We create a lot of mental chatter.  We take in visual and auditory inputs (the eyes and ears are where most information comes in) for our brains to process, and then we create even more mental chatter about what came in.

We can become addicted to the noise.  We can lose our ability to think (and be) as we were designed.  

We can feel overwhelm and depression.

There are so many folders open on our mental desk…

Stillness and quiet are strong remedies. 

Shut down anymore inputs. 

Go out in nature.

Let your brain process those folders and start putting them away.

In stillness we can think.  

We can understand and decide.

We can feel who we genuinely are.

This is really important for you – and me.

“A man is not hurt so much by what happens as by his opinion of what happens.” – Michel de Montaigne

What story do you keep telling yourself about what happened to you?

Living your making will make your living

Not everyone is the same.  Thank goodness.  

With great wisdom, we are all made a little or a lot different.

We don’t all get good grades on a standardized test – but a standardized test omits so many talents and skills that are useful to one making a living and contributing in a meaningful way.

Find what you are good at.  Develop your talents. 

Find two or three things you can do with ease and combine them  – and find the place where those talents/skills are valuable.

You are you for a reason.  Keep improving what you have.

Be you to serve others best.

We need that.

Are you being programmed?

“We don’t have to open ourselves to be programmed.  We are inherently programmable.”

We send kids to school to soak in what the teacher says, accept it, and not argue if it is true or not.  Our brains accept information, and our beliefs and operating system changes based on what we see and hear.

This never stops.  

You are being programmed.  Advertising, “news”, ideas, experiences, information, good and bad, likes and dislikes….

The first step to take control is to know it is happening and has happened.  That the ideas you have in your head came from somewhere.  You are a product of your environment and what went on in it, good or bad, true or false, useful or not useful.

Then take control of what you see, hear, and experience for most of the time from now on.  Make it things that are useful – programming that will help you be who you want to be and accomplish what you want to accomplish. 

You are inherently programmable – use that fact to your advantage. 

Be the programmer and the programmed.

Who do you want to be a hero to?

When you focus on being a hero to someone, you don’t worry about what you are going to get out of the relationship.

You focus on what you are going to do for the other person – what results you want to help them get.

If you help people get results they want, you will build deep, meaningful relationships.

And if you get nothing else – that is priceless.  

“Health lies in action”

“Health lies in action, and so it graces youth.

To be busy is the secret of grace, and half the secret of content.  

Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do;

Happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them.” – Will Durant

This sentiment is echoed by many – being useful and busy is most of being happy.

Are you useful and busy?

Noble Purpose

We started talking about living for something beyond yourself yesterday.  

Here’s an idea that I think is important.  You don’t find your real purpose by sitting around thinking about it.  You don’t even find it by someone else telling you what it should be.

You discover it by doing things, exploring, and engaging with the world.  You go try things and see what feels right – and follow it further. You see what gives you fulfillment and satisfaction – what feels good and right to you.

A noble life it’s found, it’s forged on purpose.

The author of Noble Purpose tells us that virtue and purpose are linked.  Living nobly – guided by integrity, service, and courage – naturally points you toward a meaningful life.

What are you living for?

In his book Noble Purpose, William Donovan reminds us that living for something beyond yourself is the key to real fulfillment and strength.  

He says that self-centered living leads to emptiness.  Chasing only personal success or pleasure leaves people restless and unsatisfied.

Purpose fuels resilience.  When things get tough, a higher purpose keeps you grounded and moving forward.

I have found this to be true. When there is a cause you believe in, you keep “fighting” and moving forward even when it is tough.

When you commit to a purpose, it can transform your life.  Dedicating yourself to a cause, community, or mission provides deep meaning and energy to your days.

We will talk more about purpose tomorrow.  But tell me in the comments – what purpose, cause or goal beyond your own pleasure have you dedicated yourself to – if any (yet)?