Why Does That Unpleasant Experience Keep Happening In My Life?

A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge,
but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
Proverbs 22:3

This is a simple proverb and yet give us a very powerful principle.

When you see danger, take refuge (or take actions to avoid it).

If you keep going and suffer for it, you'd be a simple (or foolish) person.

Is there something unpleasant in your life that keeps recurring?

Why does it keep recurring in your life?

Have you thought about the causes of your suffering?

Could it be you that is the cause of your own suffering?

What steps have you taken to remove that danger (or obstacle, barrier) to prevent that suffering?

Whether it be money problems, relationship problems, work-related problems, or any other sort of problems, in most cases, there are solutions to these problems.

There are already many books, blogs, and other helpful resources on the problems mentioned above available on the internet.

It's only a few clicks away, or a few searches on Amazon or just a few minutes of googling to find solutions to problems we already have.

Let's get started. Rather than keep going and suffer for it, let us recognise danger and take refuge.

And I'm talking to myself here as well, otherwise I'd be a complete hypocrite.

The Principle Of 80% To Prevent Unnecessary Stress

This is a principle I found quite helpful when applied to any type of task or goal you're trying to achieve.

It has helped me to reduce my perfectionism.

Principle: Try and aim for completing only 80% of your imagined initial task / aim / goal.

For example,

• If you plan to study for a solid 30 minutes, try and study for only 80% of that time i.e. 24 minutes.

• If you plan to run for 30 minutes, try and run for only 80% of that time i.e. 24 minutes.

• If you plan to read 10 pages of a certain book, try and read only 8 pages (80%).

• If you plan to write a blog post, try and write only 80% of the content you initially aimed for.

Deliberately lowering the bar of expectation greatly reduces the stress because it's a lot easier to achieve only 80% of the task / aim / goal imagined.

Otherwise, you'd feel uneasy (especially if you're a perfectionist) because you feel the task hasn't been completed or completed to your satisfaction.

For example, the principle also applies to the quality of the works you produced. Deliberately aim for 80% of the imagined quality of your work.

So after you produce a work / works, you feel satisfied rather than feel uneasy and unsatisfied and increase your stress levels.

I feel that the quality of this blog post is about 80% of what I imagined. So I am quite satisfied. :-)


P.S.
This principle also helps with procrastination as well.

One of the reasons why people procrastinate is because they think that unless they're well prepared and ready or feel just right to begin a task, they won't even start the task they want accomplished.

If you feel only 80% motivated, and think you could only accomplish 80% of the task if you started, you're in the right state to begin the task.

More often than not, actually you accomplish more than you imagined you could because the momentum builds up once you start the task.

Principle: Try and aim for completing only 80% of your imagined initial task / aim / goal.

A Day Job vs A Dream Job

Do you like the job you have?

Or are you daydreaming about your dream job?

I just read, Quitter by Jon Acuff.

It is a book about how to close the gap between your day job & your dream job.

If you have ever felt that you have always wanted to do _____, but are doing _____ instead. This is probably a right book to read to help you do _____ instead of _____.

This book has helpful guidance on how to get to your dream job from your day job.

The basic message of the book is that don't quit your day job just yet, if you have no means to provide for yourself after you quit.

Work on your dream job in your spare time such as before work, after work or on weekends until you can provide for yourself with the income generated from your dream job.

The book also gives you helpful advice on how to fall in like with a job you don't love and why you need to do it, and how to avoid pitfalls of quitting a job prematurely.

You may already be working in your dream job.

Or you may be working in a day job, and daydreaming about your dream job.
There are also helpful questions at the end of the book that help you decide whether you're ready to quit your day job or not, or whether you're already working in your dream job or not.

Jon Acuff shows in this book that it is possible to pursue your dream job while working in a day job.

He has a plenty of personal stories to offer because he's been there, done that, and got the T-shirt.


Related posts:

• The Principle of the Path
• Create Your Future Now!
• Finding Your Purpose In This Life

The Principle of the Path

Direction, Not Intention, Determines Destination

Andy Stanley

Where will you end up in 5 years?

Where did you want to end up 5 years ago?

Are you at where you wanted to be 5 years ago?

I'm going to talk about "the Principle of the Path."

The Principle of the Path states that, regardless of where you want to end up or who you want to become, if the path you're taking today does not lead to where you want to end up, you won't end up there.

It is as simple as that.

For example, say, if you wanted to go to Singapore, and took a plane headed to Poland, you won't end up in Singapore.

If you wanted to go buy a new laptop, and went to a fruit & vegetables store, you won't be able to buy a laptop.

If you wanted to go to a music school, and went to a business school instead, you won't go to a music school.

If you wanted to do well at school and become a successful businessman, but now if you're spending all your time watching TV and surfing on the internet, checking emails and Facebook, the chances are the path you're taking at the moment does not lead you to your desired destination, but rather to more of TV watching, internet surfing, and email & Facebook checking.

Your intention might be to become a successful writer, but if you're spending all your precious time doing something else, the chances are your path is not leading you to become a successful writer, but becoming something else other than a successful writer.

It is so simple. Yet, we sometimes naively assume and presume that just daydreaming and thinking about our desired destination would lead us to it somehow. 

The truth is that we have to be on the right path and take steps now, no matter how many steps and how long it takes to get us to our destination.

Just as every morning when we get up and get in the car, we have certain directions that we must take to get to work, we must take certain directions in our lives to take us to our desired destination.

Scenario 1:

• Bob lives in Singapore. 
• He wanted to go to New York (Intention).
• He took a plane headed to Australia (Direction).

• Result: He ended up somewhere he didn't want to be (Destination).

Scenario 2:

• Bob lives in Singapore.
• He wanted to go to New York (Intention).
• He took a plane headed to New York (Direction)

• Result: He ended up in New York where he wanted to be (Destination).

Intention was the same in both scenarios, yet Bob ended up in different destinations, depending on the directions each plane took.

Therefore, 

Direction, Not Intention, Determines Destination.

Andy Stanley

Joy and Sorrow by Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Create Your Future Now!

Do you love movies, TV shows, dramas and songs that depict stories, scenes and relationships of your wildest dreams?

People often watch movies, TV shows, and dramas, and listen to songs to feed their desire to live the kind of life depicted in these fantasy lands.

• I want to be like that person!
• I want to live the kind of life that person in the movie is living!
• I want to have the kind of relationship depicted in that drama!
• I want that life/place/relationship I see with my own eyes on TV in my life!

Wishful thinking vs Reality 

• Do you truly want to live the kind of life you have always dreamed of?

• Will you live the kind of life you have always wanted to live?

The questions then is what are you doing today to bring about that change in your life, a transition from wishful thinking to reality in your life?

Or are you content with the way things are?

Would you be satisfied with that wishful thinking in your head to stay as it is only in your mind, or are you taking steps to bring about change in your reality today?


Here's a confrontational question.

• What have you done this year to transform your reality from that of wishful thinking to that of your wildest dreams?

It can be very disturbing if one has lived so far this year with nothing to reflect on in terms of steps taken to bring about that change.

Because if you have lived so far this year just like the way you have lived in the last five years, it is very likely you'd spend another year in the same way you have lived this year.


Create your future NOW!

If it's 5pm 28/11/2012 now, 6pm 28/11/2012 is my future.
6pm 28/11/2012 will become NOW an hour later.

If I make some changes in the direction towards my ideal life  even if they may be miniscule, my life at 6pm 28/11/2012 will be different as a result of the changes made NOW!

Multiply that by 7, i.e., a week later you'd be living a life closer to that of your ideal.

Multiply by 30, i.e., a month later, I'd be living a life even closer to that of my ideal.

Multiply by 365, i.e. a year later, you and I would be living a life much more closer to that of our ideal.

What was once just wishful thinking becomes a reality in our lives once we realise the only way to bring about that change is through changes made right NOW!


My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.
All are of no value unless they are followed by action.
I will act NOW. I will act NOW. I WILL ACT NOW!

Scroll IX, The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino

Problem-solving

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
Albert Einstein


We face problems all the time in our lives.

The question is not if we'll have problems, but it is how we'll deal with our problems when we face them.

And how we'll prevent the same problems from occuring again!

There are basically two general ways to solve a problem.

  1. Attending to symptoms of a problem 
  2. Attending to cause(s) of a problem


For example,

• If someone is sick with cough, (with an underlying bacterial lung infection.)

For treatment,

  1. They can have cough medicine to stop the coughing 
      (attending to a symptom).

  2. They can be treated with antibiotics to kill bacteria in the 
       lungs (attending to a cause).


If we only stop the coughing, bacteria may still multiply further and cause greater harm to one's health,
Whereas treatment with antibiotics will not only kill the bacteria, but will also take care of the coughing as well.

One can take steps even further and maintain healthy lifestyle to prevent lung infection from developing in the first place, letting the one's own immune system to deal with all the invading organisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Some of the ways to keep one's body healthy include balanced diet (abundant in fruit and vegetables), exercise (e.g. walking more than 30mins a day), and management of stress (e.g. regular practice of relaxation techniques, and reading inspirational books).

By doing these things (improved diet, exercise and management of stress), one prevents illnesses from occuring at all by boosting one's own immune system and minimising the chance of ill health which may arise from poor dietary habits, lack of exercise and increased stress.

As an example, we can see how many problems arise from a relatively few causes:

       Poor diet
       → Decreased immunity
       → Opportunistic lung infections
       → Coughing, fever, laboured breathing
       → Increased time off work
       → Decreased work productivity
       → Delayed delivery of services and goods
       → Customer complaints + Increased stress of workers in
            many different industries and service sectors
       → Working overtime to meet the demand
       → Workers spend less time spent with family as a result
       → Complaints within family in regards to decreased quality
            time spent with family
       → Marital problems + Strained relationship between parents
            and children
       → Stressed workers turn to smoking (worsening ill health) and
            alcohol (alcoholism + worsening marital relationship; family
            relationship); e.g. Children turn to drugs(for temporary
            pleasure), gang (to seek the sense of identity) and
            sex industry (for comfort and attention) + crime
            (to get drugs, participate in gang activities, and promote
            sex industry)
       → Huge amounts of money are spent in these activities which
            do not result in any productive assets but liabilities
       → And, of course, any of these things can potentially contribute
            to one's poor diet, and poor lifestyle.
            And the vicious cycle continues.

This does not mean poor diet is the cause of all the problems in the world because poor diet itself can be caused by many other things,

• e.g. busy lifestyle, lack of healthy food choices around the area one's living in, and lack of education.

Now, one can intervene in any part of this chain and attempt to solve a problem or problems. However, unless the cause of a problem is attended to, the vicious cycle will continue.

• So, my question to readers is "what caused that problem that you have?"

• The follow-up question is "what caused that cause of the problem that you have?"

• And "what is the cause of the cause which caused the problem that you have?" and so on.

This is the domino effect.

• For example, if a CEO of a certain company decided to let its workers to finish at 5pm instead of 7pm, for example, the overall benefit may outweigh the risks involved in decreased work time. 

• Additional 2 hours offered to workers may provide them with more opportunities to attend to their own needs in regards to quality time with one's spouse, more time spent with children, more time to relax and rest to store up energy for the next day at work.

This is hypothetical but I believe it's not a far-fetched idea either.

• At least, I know of the Ford company's case where the CEO, Henry Ford granting more money to the workers at Ford than the baseline wages prevalent in other companies at the time resulted in greater productivity and overall boosted morale of the workers.

Eisteinstein may be right in saying that "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."


Will the cough medicine stop the coughing? Yes.
Will one be ok in the long term with just the cough medicine when the real culprit is the bacteria in the lungs? No.

How To Eliminate Negative Emotions: Guilt

I don't believe in guilt, I believe in living on impulse as long as you never intentionally hurt another person, and don't judge people in your life. I think you should live completely free. 
Angelina Jolie

No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now. 
Alan Watts

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
St John, the disciple of Jesus


What is the definition of guilt?

• A feeling of being ashamed and sorry because you have done something wrong (Macmillan Dictionary)

• Remorse or self-reproach caused by feeling that one is responsible for a wrong or offence (The Free Dictionary)

What causes guilt?

Guilt is a feeling that one gets when one feels remorse that one has done something wrong.

First of all, it is important to recognise the source of guilt. For someone to feel guilty, they have to have a set of beliefs where one believes somethings are right to do while believing other things are wrong to do.


For example,

One may believe it is wrong to write a personal name in red. (Names in red signify death and bad luck in some East Asian cultures.)

The feeling of guilt arises when the person believing the above statement write someone's name in red.

For someone who believes it is ok to write a personal name in red, he/she wouldn't have a guilty feeling whenever he/she writes anyone's name in red.

Therefore, it's important to recognise the reason/belief underneath the feeling of guilt. Whenever you feel guilty, try and uncover beliefs underneath those feelings of guilt.

E.g.

• If you feel guilty, whenever you eat too much,
• The underlying belief might be "it is wrong to eat too much."

• If you feel guilty, whenever you eat meat,
• The underlying belief might be "it is wrong to eat an animal"

Different cultures have different beliefs. For some cultures, it is wrong to eat beef while for another culture, it is wrong to have pork. Therefore, these beliefs are subjective, and can be culturally dependent.


Types of guilt

Additionally, you can generate guilt by doing something wrong to yourself, and/or others.

For example,

  1. If you feel guilty when you consume too much food, it may only
      affect you emotionally, and not others.

  2. However, if you hurt someone, you may feel guilty as well as
      negatively affecting the hurt person physically and emotionally.


There are two practical solutions to remove guilt from your emotinal life.

  I. Change your beliefs
  II. Forgive yourself and/or ask for forgiveness from others whom 
       you have wronged against


However, the solution I can be a double-edged sword. For example, if you no longer feel any guilt eating too much, you may end up gaining considerable weight and suffer the consequences of ill-health. Whereas, no longer believing that the consumption of pork is wrong and start eating pork may result in no negative consequences at all, well, at least nutritionally so to speak.

It requires discernment. Your beliefs pave the path of your emotional life and your future. Depending on what kind of beliefs you have, you may change the course of your emotinal life and your future. (I may write more articles about "beliefs and their impact on our lives" in the future.)


The solution II is essential to remove the feeling of guilt from your emotional life. If you feel you have done something wrong to someone, ask for their forgiveness. This needs courage. Regardless of whether they choose to forgive you or not, it is important that you take that first step of courage to ask for their forgiveness, humbling yourself before them.


If they chose to forgive you, receive their forgiveness, and forgive yourself as well.

If they chose not to forgive you, you are left with two options. You can carry that feeling of guilt in your emotional life until they forgive you (if ever), or you can let go of that guilt and get on with your life (and do not make the same fault again!).

The former nibbles away your emotional resilience, while the latter restores your emotional health. The former pulls your soul down to a dark abyss, while the latter pulls you out of that dark abyss into a brilliant light of day.


Prevention

If you are to prevent that guilt from taking root in your heart again, it is imperative that you do not make the same fault again. It is also relevant to note that you may have had beliefs that do not have any negative consequences to you or others both physically and mentally (e.g. a belief that it's wrong to sing and dance in front of a crowd. (Given that hopefully, one's singing and dancing are not distressing to the crowd!))

Some of us may have made some very grievous faults in the past and hurt others physically and/or emotionally that we deeply regret. Being forgiven doesn't mean you no longer feel any guilt making the same fault. It means you recognise your fault truly, and resolve to not make the same fault again, through discernment and wisdom, hopefully ever! (But if you do make the same fault again, it is important at that point to carefully think over what caused me/you to make that fault again, and seek solutions to that problem and dissolve it with the acid of discernment and wisdom so that the same problem never get a foothold in my/your life.)


Last but not least, have you forgiven others who have hurt you? Are they forgiven?

It is important that you have forgiven others yourself before you ask for their forgiveness, otherwise you're a hypocrite!

Forgiveness needs courage as well. It means cancelling out the debt incurred by others towards you physically and/or emotionally. It means letting of grudge, hatred, and vengeful feelings against others from your emotional life.


Let me tell you an important truth, God chose to forgive me/you because he is love. Receiving that gift of forgiveness, we receive the power and courage to forgive others as well!


He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. 
Thomas Fuller

Forgiveness is the final form of love. 
Reinhold Niebuhr

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
St Paul, the disciple of Jesus

Becoming Like A Tree

I like this article by Bob Lotich at ChristianPF.

http://christianpf.com/becoming-a-tree/

Patience is such a rare virtue.

Yet its fruit can be abundant once patience takes root deep in the soil of perseverance, and is given enough time to grow.

Finding Your Purpose In This Life

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. 
John F. Kennedy

All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose. 
Brian Tracy

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11


Dictionary Definitions:

• The aim that someone wants to achieve, or that something is intended to achieve (Macmillan Dictionary)

• The object toward which one strives or for which something exists. (The Free Dictionary)

What is your purpose in life?

What were you born to do and be?

What drives you?
What is your burning passion?

What are your wildest dreams?
What makes you cry?
What do you yearn for?
Who are you?
Who am I?
Who are we?

These are the questions I'd like to ask everyone who's reading this article.
These are the fundamental questions that can potentially turn my/your life upside down.
These are the questions that can shape our lives and us as individuals for better or worse.


What Is Purpose?

• Purpose is the target you're aiming your arrows at.

• Purpose is the soil in which all kinds of fruit, vegetables and trees of dreams grow.

• Purpose is what makes you feel alive truly both emotionally and spiritually.

• Purpose is what makes you get up in the morning early and energises you for the day.

• Purpose is the medicine that heals the most severe form of depression and fear.

• Purpose kisses you in the cheek and smiles at you at all times.

The Truth Is..

• Purpose is already in you. 

• He/she's been waiting patiently for you to take a break from the busy life you're leading, and glance at him/her for who he/she is. 

• He/she's ready to embark on a journey with you. 

• He/she's ready. 

• But are you ready? 

• And are you ready to accept him/her for who he/she is?

• If you find him/her and accept him/her, you'll find yourself.

• But if you reject him/her, you'll lose the most precious friendship you can ever possibly have in this life because it is him/her who knows you more than you can ever possibly know by yourself.

Have you found him/her yet? Or have you been found by him/her?
If you have, live NOW!

How To Eliminate Negative Emotions: Anger

Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. 
- Proverbs 17:14

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret. 
- Ambrose Bierce

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind. 
- Ralph Waldo Emerson 


What is anger?

Dictionary definitions:

• The strong feeling you get when you think someone has treated you badly or unfairly, that makes you want to hurt them or shout at them. (Macmillan Dictionary)

• A strong emotion or feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance (The Free Dictionary)

My definition of anger is that it's an emotion that one feels when one's real or supposed rights have been violated.

There are different types of anger:

1. Righteous anger
2. Unrighteous anger
3. Grey area

Righteous anger is an appropriate emotion triggered in response to injustice, crime and/or violence.

Unrighteous anger is an exaggerated emotion triggered in response to "supposed" injustice, crime and/or violence.


The triggering of anger depends on situations.

e.g.

1. Righteous anger - When someone is bullied, one may become angry at the bullies. (It is wrong to bully!)


2. Unrighteous anger - When one finds oneself in a heavy traffic, one may become angry at the person in front of him/her for not moving fast enough. (Stuck in the traffic together, even if one wants to go fast, they can't)


3. Grey area - When someone is late for the meeting, and one has to wait for that person and become impatient and angry at the person who is running late. (Is this justifiable anger?)


Harmful effects of unrighteous anger:

• Physically, the strong emotion of anger causes blood pressure to rise in the body, and releasing stress hormones that could potentially decrease one's immunity, becoming more susceptible to opportunistic infections. 

• Emotionally and socially, angry person can provoke people around them to become angry as well, spreading the virus of anger around them.

Notice, one only becomes angry when one finds oneself in these situations or imagine being in these situations.

• In situation 1, when the bullies stop bullying, one's anger dissipates.

• In situation 2, when there's no heavy traffic, one's anger dissipates as well. However, what if you have to go through that heavy traffic every morning and night?

• In situation 3, when you don't meet up with that person who's habitually late, your anger dissipates but what if he/she's your friend, or family member? And you meet up with that person regularly?

My defintion of anger is the strong emotion that is triggered in response to the true (or supposed) violation of one's rights.

• In situation 1, one's right of "not to be bullied" was violated and the anger was triggered in response to the injustice of "bullying."

• In situation 2, one's "supposed" right of "not to be stuck in the traffic and be late for school or work" was violated, and the anger was triggered in response to the "supposed" injustice of "heavy traffic."

• In situation 3, one's "supposed" right of "not having to wait for someone" was violated, and the anger was triggered in response to the "supposed" injustice of "running late."

Now, regardless of the types of anger, the cure for anger is the same.

• Preventing that recurring situation all together, or understanding the reason(s) behind the true or "supposed" injustice can also help with the anger as well!

Here's what I mean,

For situation 1, when bullies are removed (e.g. reprimand, suspension or expelled), there's no anger to be triggered, but it also helps to know why they are bullies in the first place. Statistically speaking, it is highly likely that the bullies were raised in some kind of dysfunctional families, and lived in violent/abusive neighbourhoods. Although the fact that the bullies were raised in these harsh environments does not justify their bullying, it helps people to understand where they're coming from, and how to solve the cause of the problems rather than just bluntly reprimand them for their bad behaviour.

For situation 2, one can leave home early when there's less traffic, or move into areas where it's closer to school or work, or write a letter to the city council for requesting the improvement of the traffic system. Of course, at this point, it helps to know why one becomes angry in the heavy traffic in the first place because not everyone in that heavy traffic become angry.

One possible cause of the anger may be just due to one's own personal issues at home or work, and it's just a way of venting one's anger at "supposed injustice." If one can solve the underlying issues, there might be no need for venting fruitless/needless anger in the first place in the heavy traffic.

In the situation 3, one may choose not to meet up at all with the person who's perennially late, or one could turn up late as well, at the expected time when the person who's usually running late turns up. Or if it's appropriate, one may bring up the issue of one's anger/annoyance at the other person running late, and find out what the causes of running late are, then it might help one to bear the other's person's lateness better. For example, I know at least one person who always turns up a bit late deliberately, just to make the waiting person anxious for his/her arrival. It was his/her way to feel needed by the waiting person, a sign of insecurity. Of course, not everyone is late for this reason, some are terrible at organising time, and some just leave late, and arrive late. Duh.

However, honest conversations about these issues can at least begin the process of resolving them eventually (whether resolved or not).

Anger, frustration and annoyance can be eliminated with appropriate actions that prevent the certain situations from occuring, and understanding of the causes of anger could also reduce the amount of anger one feels significantly as one gains more insight into how anger is triggered and begin the process of healing.

Paderewski & Queen Victoria

Paderewski & Queen Victoria

"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. --2 Peter 1:10-11

When Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski played before Queen Victoria in 1891, he won her approval. She exclaimed, "Mr. Paderewski, you are a genius."

To which Paderewski replied, "Perhaps, Your Majesty, but before that I was a drudge."

In the beginning, Paderewski was discouraged by his teachers from becoming a pianist. But through discipline and hours of practice each day, Paderewski launched his artistic career in 1885 and became known worldwide for his dynamic talents, abilities and infectious personality."


Reference:

Crosswalk.com. Devotionals. (accessed on 24/08/2012)
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/seniors/senior-living-march-25-11532276.html

The Reward for Work is Work

The Reward for Work is Work

The secret of the true love of work is the hope of success in that work, not for the money reward, not for the time spent or for the skill exercised, but for the pride and satisfaction in the accomplishment of the work itself.

A sufficient reward for a thing well done is to have done it.

Reference:
The Greatest Salesman in the World
Part II: The End of the Story
By Og Mandino

Repetition

Repetition is the key to mastery of any skill or formation of any habit.

The Magic of Thinking Big

Success is determined not so much by the size of one's brain as it is by the size of one's thinking.

- p.2, The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.


WHEN YOU BELIEVE, YOUR MIND FINDS WAYS TO DO.

- p.102, The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.

My Subconscious Mind

Wealth, Success, Muscular, Masculine, Generosity

Godliness, Boldness, Confidence, Faith, Humility

Truth, Hope, Perseverance, Holiness, Grace

Mercy, Kindness, Gentleness, Self-control, Love

Wealth & Generosity

You can't be generous financially without money.

You cannot feed the hungry, clothe and house the poor and take the sick to the doctor without money.

Wealth & Success! In My Subconscious Mind

Shall Produce the Fruits of Generosity!

I'm the kind of person who never speaks ill of the dead

A sister you were quite content to see only two or three times a year at holidays and never missed or thought of much in between is now a confidante you'll miss talking to everyday.

I'm the kind of person who never speaks ill of the dead.

- p. 278, 279, The New Psycho-Cybernetics, Dr Maxwell Maltz

How to Deal with a Crisis

"I always think about what I am going to do, and what I want to happen, instead of what the batter is going to do or what may happen to me."

- p252, Hugh Casey, The New Psycho-cybernetcis by Dr Maxwell Maltz

Love & Acceptance

Love & Acceptance

I love and accept the part/trait of him/her that I don't like.
I understand and accept that it's his/her coping mechanism.

I understand that there are reasons/causes for his/her behaviour, words and deeds, just as there are reasons/causes for my behaviour, words and deeds.