-Every day is a gift; every breath is a gift. We can take nothing for granted in this life. The experience of feeling grateful—generally, generically, and specifically—seems to clear away much of the petty, day-to-day crankiness so many of us experience—the feelings of annoyance, impatience, resentment, anger, indignation. There’s something very uplifting about filling yourself with a sense of gratitude, when you first open your eyes every day, as you go to sleep, and often in between. Gratitude for all you’ve received, and gratitude for all that has not befallen you.
2. The Principle of Humility.
-Humility may be one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated aspects of human experience. It doesn’t mean putting yourself below others, letting people “walk all over you,” or acting like you’re inferior or unworthy in any way. It just means being neutral—letting go of the need to place yourself above others. Far too much human energy gets squandered in the mindless striving for importance, getting “one-up,” trying to prove we’re richer, better, smarter, wiser, more clever, more capable, or more worthy than others. You don’t have to get drawn into ego-competition and status games with anyone. Humility is amazingly liberating: you reclaim your creative energy and make it more available for your own growth.
3. The Principle of Optimism.
-I’ll spare you the customary clichés about glasses that are half-full and half-empty. I think of optimism, not as just a childish hope or belief that something good will happen, but as a proactive state of mind. For me, it’s a bias toward acting in such a way as to cause good things to happen. A better platitude would be, “Things turn out for the best if you make the best of the way things turn out.” It’s a belief that many of the outcomes we seek are indeed in our own hands. We can’t control all contingencies, but we humans are strategically minded creatures—we adapt our actions to reality as it unfolds to us.
4. The Principle of Generosity.
-One of the best antidotes for the crankiness, bitterness, resentment, loss of purpose, and self-pity that afflict so many people in their later years is to get them outside their narcissistic ego-bubbles and doing kind things for others. Hans Selye, the pioneer researcher in the field of stress, advised, “If you want to be happy and feel fulfilled, live in such a way as to earn the gratitude of your fellow human beings.” That old feeling of being the martyr, the victim, the one who always gets cheated, causes a person to feel diminished, defensive and reactive. We grow when we give.
5. The Principle of Forgiveness.
-Forgiving is also a very misunderstood and unappreciated aspect of living, probably even more than humility. “How can I forgive them, after what they did to me? What am I supposed to do, ‘turn the other cheek’ and let them do it again?” Forgiving is not about approving or condoning what someone has done—it’s about letting go of it. When we get caught up in vengeance, we attach ourselves to the source of our misery. We allow the tormentor to victimize us again. When we divert our precious life energy into anger, resentment, revenge, and retaliation, we give away parts of ourselves.
Answers & Comments
1. The Principle of Gratitude.
-Every day is a gift; every breath is a gift. We can take nothing for granted in this life. The experience of feeling grateful—generally, generically, and specifically—seems to clear away much of the petty, day-to-day crankiness so many of us experience—the feelings of annoyance, impatience, resentment, anger, indignation. There’s something very uplifting about filling yourself with a sense of gratitude, when you first open your eyes every day, as you go to sleep, and often in between. Gratitude for all you’ve received, and gratitude for all that has not befallen you.
2. The Principle of Humility.
-Humility may be one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated aspects of human experience. It doesn’t mean putting yourself below others, letting people “walk all over you,” or acting like you’re inferior or unworthy in any way. It just means being neutral—letting go of the need to place yourself above others. Far too much human energy gets squandered in the mindless striving for importance, getting “one-up,” trying to prove we’re richer, better, smarter, wiser, more clever, more capable, or more worthy than others. You don’t have to get drawn into ego-competition and status games with anyone. Humility is amazingly liberating: you reclaim your creative energy and make it more available for your own growth.
3. The Principle of Optimism.
-I’ll spare you the customary clichés about glasses that are half-full and half-empty. I think of optimism, not as just a childish hope or belief that something good will happen, but as a proactive state of mind. For me, it’s a bias toward acting in such a way as to cause good things to happen. A better platitude would be, “Things turn out for the best if you make the best of the way things turn out.” It’s a belief that many of the outcomes we seek are indeed in our own hands. We can’t control all contingencies, but we humans are strategically minded creatures—we adapt our actions to reality as it unfolds to us.
4. The Principle of Generosity.
-One of the best antidotes for the crankiness, bitterness, resentment, loss of purpose, and self-pity that afflict so many people in their later years is to get them outside their narcissistic ego-bubbles and doing kind things for others. Hans Selye, the pioneer researcher in the field of stress, advised, “If you want to be happy and feel fulfilled, live in such a way as to earn the gratitude of your fellow human beings.” That old feeling of being the martyr, the victim, the one who always gets cheated, causes a person to feel diminished, defensive and reactive. We grow when we give.
5. The Principle of Forgiveness.
-Forgiving is also a very misunderstood and unappreciated aspect of living, probably even more than humility. “How can I forgive them, after what they did to me? What am I supposed to do, ‘turn the other cheek’ and let them do it again?” Forgiving is not about approving or condoning what someone has done—it’s about letting go of it. When we get caught up in vengeance, we attach ourselves to the source of our misery. We allow the tormentor to victimize us again. When we divert our precious life energy into anger, resentment, revenge, and retaliation, we give away parts of ourselves.
----------
kindly mark me as brain|iest, thank you!
#CarryOnLearning