Philosophy, everyone should have a little - here’s some of mine.
A. Rank your priorities in life and run your life according to the ranking. For example here’s my ranking:
1. Family
2. Friends
3. Wellbeing of my fellow man
4. Self Respect
5. Spirituality
6. Fun
7. Pursuit of knowledge
8. Comfort
9. Material Things
10. Money
I’ve met a lot of people up close on this trip and the ones that are normally the happiest and have the most fulfilled lives are those that place their family and friends above comfort and material things.
Different people will have different things on their list. You notice that I don’t even have a career on mine right now - that’s because I don’t have one at this time.
When there’s a freezing rain and a driving wind I tend to move things around a little and try to push comfort a little higher on the list - ha ha. The list shouldn’t be rigid, just a general guideline.
B. You get out of this life exactly what you put into it (more or less).
1. If you want to be loved, then love others.
2. If you want to be happy, then make others happy and try laughing at yourself sometime. Don’t take yourself too serious.
3. Most everything is a two way street.
C. Nearly every goal or ambition is achievable.
1. Set the goal and make up a list of steps necessary to achieve it. Don’t be lazy. Work the list through to completion.
2. Before you start, ask yourself, “can I make the sacrifices necessary to achieve the goal (there’s always sacrifices to be made.)
3. When you reach a roadblock, and you will, figure out what it takes to go around or over the roadblock - there’s always a way - be creative.
4. Never voice the negative. If you say to yourself, “I can’t do this because it cost too much money,” then you defeat yourself before you even start. These are just roadblocks, there are ways around.
5. Don’t put off your goals too long. You may get 50 years of good health as an adult - if you don’t take advantage of them, opportunity will slip away. Rather than saying, “maybe one day”, try saying, “today”.
6. When you fall on your butt, dust yourself off and push on. There’s an old saying, “you can’t stop a person that keeps on coming.”
7. Having said all this; it’s good to be spontaneous sometimes. Some of the best things in life happen completely unconsciously.
D. When dealing with other people:
1. Be polite and respectful - there’s no excuse for bad manners.
2. During conversations, try to listen at least ¾ of the time, and talk only ¼ of the time.
3. Remember that everyone has there own dreams, desires, experiences, pain and sorrow. Try to look at things through their shoes and empathize with them.
4. “Do onto others, as you would have them do onto you” - often quoted passage from the bible - there must be a reason for that.
E. Morals - Integrity, Honesty, Keeping Your Word, etc.
1. Without these, you have no self respect - enough said
F. Courage -
1. Often misunderstood word. Courage is not the absence of fear, it is having fear and pressing on to do the right thing in spite of your fear.
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