Beauty is not skin deep. Beauty goes all the way down to the core.
A new coat of paint can be put on anything to make it look good but under that surface is a deteriorating hunk of junk.
Just like in Indiana Jones, the Holy Grail is not the most extravagant cup. Indiana Jones had to find the beauty in the core and not on the surface.
There are many thing you do that are not helping you get what you want. Common excuses:
“I don’t have the time.”
“I can’t afford that.”
“I am not good enough.”
These excuses are because you do not want to change or adjust your lifestyle to get to the next level. There will never be more than 24 hrs in a day. What are you willing to give up doing to get what you want. You will never make more money if you keep doing and buying what you are now. What you willing to stop buying or start doing to get more money. You will never get better unless you put in the work. What are you willing to give up doing in order to get better?
There are many forms of please. Physical, Emotional, Short Term, Long Term.
Drugs and Alcohol can give a huge rush of short term pleasure but as soon as the high is over reality comes rushing back. Nothing has changed and your life is still the same.
Working out hard can also give you a rush of short term pleasure. Not while your doing it but immediately after your body rewards you with hits of dopamine.
Buying the $8 coffee every morning is a good idea now and will taste great. Doing this 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year is spending $2,000. Saving or investing this will set you up for a huge long term pleasure.
Understand and find a balance between Short Term and Long Term, pain and pleasure.
There is often a gap between where I want my life to go and where it actually goes. I often wonder if I am control or if there is so much going on that it is too much to control. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. I can control certain things and something I can’t. Knowing this is stressful because there are certain things in life you just have to accept. Everything will not go exactly as planned. We share this world with 8 billion other people who do not think or act the same. There could be a lot more chaos than there actually is. Be present and remind yourself of the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
Reinhold Niebuhr
Everyone has a story of who they are and where they are going. This story is either conscious for them or it is unconscious.
I recommend using https://www.selfauthoring.com/ . This will help you understand you past, define your present and create an ideal future.
Do not hold back. Nothing is right or wrong just be honest.
What is causing you the most pain? Is it you health? Is it your financials? Is it you relationships? Is it your happiness?
This pain can be used as the greatest gift as motivation to help you change. Instead of ignoring the pain, use the pain as motivation to get what you want. When the pain is so great we will go to great lengths to make it stop. Think of the joy and relief of the pain being gone will bring you. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.
A roller coaster that only went up would be boring.
A song that played the same note over and over would get old.
A friend that says the same thing all the time gets tuned out.
When there is no contrast, no highs and lows, no melodies and harmonies, no color then life falls apart. There is no good times without bad ones. That is why it is best to embrace them all! Feel the bad and know it’s bad. Also know that the bad will not last. Then feel the good and enjoy it because you know it will not last.
The best way to learn something new is to related it to something you already know. Use a metaphor so “This = That”. In becoming an electrical engineer one of the thing my teachers always said is to imaging electricity as water. “Electricity = Water” Now imagine a huge water tank with a tap at the bottom of it. The tap is hold back the water pressure in electricity this is called “voltage”. The tap is a “resistor” this limits the flow based on how open or closed it is. The flow of the water is the “current”. The basic understanding of the water tower metaphor will teach someone electricity because everyone has seen a water tower.
When you do not know something use what you know to help you understand what it’s like.
Opening yourself up to receive. Receive compliments. Do not brush them off as a pleasantry. Let a compliment sink in and feel the gratitude.
Open up to receive a gift. Understand what that person went through to get that for you. The work they do to make they money to pay for the gift. The time they took to go through the store or search online. The skill to wrap it and write your name on it.
Know you are worthy of everything that is coming your way and accept the gift that life has to offer.
Change your life by changing something. You never know what is going to happen even from changing the smallest thing. Change something small in your life. Change the time you wake up by 1 minute. Change the greeting you give to people. Change the look on your face. Change the way you drive home from work. Change something in your life and see what happens.
