Questions
for me:
How
many convictions, how many habits can a reader remember?
Choices
come out of convictions.
Choices
result in habits, which build our character.
CHOICES:
Your BEST LIFE
NOW
Your
future love and happiness!
Choose
your habits carefully!
Foundations
for a brilliant future
Foreword:
Jesus
answers the big questions Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?
What is the meaning and purpose of life?
How can I determine what has value? How can I determine what is right and
wrong? What is success? What is happiness?
Some
definitions:
Success:
I believe success should be defined as the progress toward a good goal.
Happiness, though universally pursued, is little understood. It is usually seen as a temporary feeling
that things are going my way now. It is usually pursued as though our efforts
can bring it, but experienced as a result of luck and random chance.
I
believe, in most cases, happiness has several aspects.
When I
am happy,…
I feel
that I am important, loved, and valued.
I'm
free enough to make important choices
I have
hope for better days ahead,
I have
some fulfilling work
I have
time for some fun now.
My health is good enough to give me freedom to enjoy life....
THE
PESkY PARADOX
Success
and happiness are wonderful, of course. Success can lead to happiness.
However the road to success is paved with failures, small and large.
And happiness is rarely, perhaps never, achieved by seeking happiness.
Why is
this?
Short-term
success is often achieved by pursuing short-term goals. A test score, a weight loss program. A
successful performance. But, in the long term, happiness is actually achieved by
pursuing other goals.
Have
you ever tried really hard to remember an actor’s name? As long as you try to
remember, it will never come to you, but if you can get your mind off the question,
the name often pops into your head. It
is a silly example but happiness may be seen this way, too. Only when we take our mind off seeking our
happiness do we actually achieve it.
Intro:
What is success?
Steps
to success
Set a
goal, set priorities, be enthusiastic, work, work, work, never give up.
Convictions
are ideas you hold to be true at a deep level in your heart. You may never have put your convictions into
words. You may be surprised what your
true convictions really are. Your actions reveal to all what your TRUE
convictions are. Your convictions
determine your decisions and choices, which develop into habits, the sum of
your habits is your character.
Habits
Chapter
1
Why bother?
Life’s Basic Questions
Your
convictions, choices, and habits are your way of answering these basic
questions of life. Even if you have
never thought deeply about these questions in an explicit way, you are
answering them each day. I invite you
now to begin to choose your best life now by thinking deeply about these
questions.
What is my purpose? Every religion and philosophy attempts to answer this
question. Why are you alive? Are you an
accident? Eat, drink, and have fun? Get
married and have more children who will not know their purpose? Do some work?
Where
did I come from?
By now
you know that you came from your parents. But thinking beyond that and outside
of that, where did you come from?
Where
am I going? I know where my grandparents went.
I can see their tombs. Is that it? Is that all?
Values:
How
can I know:
What is right and wrong? Is there a right and wrong? Who
says? Does ti matter?
What is valuable and
What is
worthless?
My time money and energy will be spent in one way or another. My life will not last forever. How should use, spend or save my time,
energy, money? In the next chapter we will begin to answer this question. It is all about love!
Chapter
2
It is all about love.
Love, the greatest thing in the world
You were born to love and be
loved. This is the best thing
a human can do.
There are of course, many kinds of love:
A mother’s love.
Love
for country
The
love of a lover
LOVE
IS A WAY OF LIFE!
THERE IS NO BETTER WAY to spend our lives than in loving the people around us.
Love is a way of doing, more than a way of feeling. We make choices
about how to treat people and those choices become habits which become our
character. How brilliant it would be if our character were built from
years of making choices and developing strong habits of LOVE!!!
But
choosing to love is choosing the well-being or happiness of another as more
important than our own happiness or well-being.
Another
leg of the pesky paradox is that our greatest success and happiness come when
begin to seek the success and happiness of another.
One conviction: It is not about me.
How great is love?
It is better than being instantly able to speak in a foreign language. It is
better than being able to tell people all about the future, and all about God’s
message. Love is better than the power to tell a mountain to move over to
the other side of the ocean. And amazingly, love is even better than the
pure unselfishness of a monk or saint who gives away everything and even sets
himself on fire!
We already said that love it a way of acting and choosing. What kind of
choices? What kind of doing?
Love
chooses patience and kindness, chooses NOT TO BE JEALOUS!, Love chooses
not to brag or be proud. Love is not rude. Not selfish, Does not
get angry easily. Love does not keep track of things people do
against it. Love does not have fun doing things that are wrong!
Love is happy with speaking and seeking the truth. Love bears up
under suffering, keeps on trusting, stays strong in hope!
Love
treats others like it would like to be treated!
STOP AND THINK!
What traits of love are easier for you? Which are harder? Are there some
you have not even thought of?
Can you choose two or three to think of this week and look for opportunities to
show a specific aspect of love?
Do you think you want to be a person who exhibits the traits of love until they
become habits and the foundation for your character? Why or why not?
Take Action:
Decide
to live a life of love.
This
choice will be the foundation for your life and for the discussion in the rest
of this book.
Spiritual Health
For a healthy heart and spirit, we must think deeply about unseen
realities...your source and your destination. Where did you come from? Where
are you going? Does it really matter?
Japanese
people often say that they do not have any religion, but this is actually a
religious statement. It means, My religion is ME. At a deep level,
I believe I AM GOD. I work and play so hard that I have no time to think
about God or about the after life.
I work hard at keeping harmony in my home, neighborhood, company or
school. However, even these relationships are often based on bullying and
manipulation, and give little true satisfaction as a human relationship.
At important life events,
I do the ceremonies at the temple or shrine, and even on Unlucky Years, I
participate
in the rituals and get the charms or the red presents or clothing. Even
though I am busy, exhausted, and unfulfilled, I can still say I have no
religion. My heart stays empty or broken and when I suffer a shipwreck in
my life, I do not know where to
turn. There is little understanding of of forgiveness and soon I
build up a long list of broken relationships and my life becomes more and more narrow.
3. Your mind-your treasure Build good habits now to last a lifetime.
Just
like your body, your mind needs a balanced diet and regular exercise.
Unlike
your body, which can throw off, out or up, stuff that will damage it, your mind
tends to hold on to that stuff, especially images that are sexually perverted
or too intense, violent images, etc. You can decide now to choose wisely
what kind of input you will allow into your precious mind. Remember that
it will not easily be gotten rid of.
How to
take care of your the amazing gift: your mind.
Your
mental diet:
A
variety of good literature.
Classics.
News
History
Fiction
Nonfiction
Essays
A
minimum of gossip, or light, or silly literature.
No
pornography.
4. Purity: visioning your best marriage now.
Though
marriage is losing popularity in pop culture, and losing its meaning in secular
culture in general, it is still the optimum relationship for humans. To
preserve a culture and a civilization, it is a basic unit of life structure and
forms the foundation for the rearing of children and even the care of older
adults in later life.
your vow
your hopes and dreams
5.
Your physical health.
Food and exercise-you only get one body. foundations for a brilliant
future
6. Time
Youth does not last forever no rewinds!
7. Good humor You can choose your attitude every day and create peace and
kindness in your home, your school, your community, and your world!
