Courage

“Courage starts as a servant and becomes a master”

-Kahlil Gabran-

People write songs about singing in the rain, but in real life, when they get wet, they moan. People love to watch Indiana Jones wading knee-deep through snakes and spiders – but when their office air-conditioning fails, they explode. Perhaps if we had fewer adventures on our video recorders, we would look for more adventures in life.

“Being comfortable” is overrated. I’m not talking about “money” comfortable. I’m talking “situation” comfortable. Much of our stress is created by our addiction to comfort… “planes should always be punctual, the workload should always be easy, the bank overdraft should be comfortable.”

Too much comfort gets boring. Our brains seize up! The less rules you make for how life ought to be and how you ought to feel, the easier it is for you to respond to whatever happens.

If you follow any kind of dream you’ll sometimes be comfortable – you’ll get rejected, criticized, short of cash and exhausted. When adversity comes your way, see it as part of the process. Be fascinated. Be interested. Be amused. See the fun in being behind the eight ball.

Something else about comfort. You’ll notice that, very often, courage is being rewarded that IQ – and this frustrates some people. As a rule, rewards come when we risk our reputation or our money – or both.

Courage is not the absence of fear – courage is acting in spite of fear. People who do nothing with their lives are just as scared as people who take major risks. It’s just that the first group get scared over tiny things. Why not get scared over something significant?

Do I have to love myself?

Yes! People who don’t like themselves are a pain in the neck!

Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of “loving themselves.” At the same time, they expect their partners to love them! Isn’t that a little odd? To have a healthy relationship, we have to like/love ourselves.

We can’t give anyone else something that we don’t have. We can never accept other people as they are until we accept ourselves as we are. When we are mesmerized by our own faults, we look for the same faults in other people in the hope it will make us feel better. And we find them, but we don’t feel better.

While we concentrate on our own faults, the world will keep punishing us, and we will keep punishing ourselves. We do it with ill health, with poverty, with loneliness. As long as we don’t like ourselves, the world won’t like us. And then we blame the world.

Being Spiritual

Whatever your belief system is, the idea that we live only for ourselves is one of the greatest myths in the pursuit of happiness. When we live only for ourselves and satisfy only our wants and needs, we become self-centered and materialistic. We forget that our lives are interconnected with other lives, and that, in order to be truly happy, we must give of ourselves. When we realize that the things that will give us the greatest joy are those that are intangible, we begin to realize that there is another dimension, one that gives us this feeling. This is our spirit, or as others would say, our soul.

And when we understand that there are forces that control our world, our universe and that they give harmony and order to our world, we can see that this couldn’t have come by chance. Just as a house doesn’t come into existence on its own, then the natural, universal laws that regulate our existence must cone from some Higher Source of power. When we attune our souls to this power source, our lives become more meaningful, more profound and thus have more purpose.

This is what spirituality is all about. It’s connecting our soul to another. Soul from which emanates all the positive feelings we desire in life. Think of it as a cell phone that needs to be recharged through a main power source. In order for our lives to function really well, we need to be charged and recharged by the sparks of divinity.

Do you remember?

Why is it what that when somebody does something good, we hardly remember, and yet when somebody makes a mistake, we don’t forget? It’s natural for a person to make mistakes; it’s by making occasional errors that we learn to appreciate and do what’s right. But how come many people only tend to see the negative instead of the positive?

Much of this has to do with our experiences in life. When someone highly regarded gives us an advice and it turns out that he doesn’t take his own advice, our image of him or her gets shattered. We think, “He isn’t so good after all.” Sometimes, too, we compare ourselves with others and conjure a list of his defects so that we’d come out better. But whatever the reason, it simply isn’t a good habit to think negatively of others – even those who may have offended us.

We might harbor hurt, but the challenge is to let it go away naturally. Why should we avoid negative thoughts? Simply because our thoughts are the basis of our actions, which become our lifelong habits. If we think negative thoughts, we develop negative minds. The key is to remember the good and let go of the bad.

Happiness =)

Happy people don’t care about what others do or have. They don’t judge themselves by anyone’s yardstick. They stay focused on their own goals and objectives, not worrying a great deal what anyone else thinks. They avoid comparisons with others recognizing that there will always be people who have more or are better.

Be grateful for who you are and what you have…

This isn’t to say that we should be content with our lot in life and make no initiative to improve, but rather, enjoy and appreciate the good things that come our way and make the most out of it. There are a lot of things in life that you may not have, but there are a lot more things in life that you truly have – and which you just don’t notice!

If you really think about it, we are al blessed with a lot of good things both within and around us. Just consider the following simple facts, which many of us tend to overlook:

If you wake up on Monday morning feeling strong, healthy and alert…then you are luckier than approximately one million others who will not be alive by the end of the week.

If you sit down for breakfast with your parents or other family members…you are one of the shrinking few who eats regularly with their families.

If you have food on the table and clothes to wear to work or school…you are part of only 25% in this world who can afford such things.

If you can read the newspaper on the way out…you are far better off than over two billion people in the world who are classified as illiterate.

If you have money to withdraw from an ATM or change with which to buy some snacks or other luxuries…you belong to the selected 10% of the humanity who have enough money for their daily needs.

If you can bring out your cellphone and text your friends or family while at work…you are one of the lucky few who can afford electronic gadgets; it’s estimated that up to 70% of the world’s population still has no access to the latest telecommunication facilities.

If you are able to hold your loves ones’ hands, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder when you got home…you are lucky because so many people don’t have home of their own.

And on weekends, if you got o a house of worship freely…you are more blessed than three billion people in the world who cannot.

These are just some of the many things that we are privileged and blessed to experience. Appreciating them is all a matter of attitude; it depends on how you see things. Is the glass of water before you half-empty…or half-full? Is the stone right before you a stumbling block…or a stepping stone? Is your life filled with trials and adversities…or is it teeming with challenges than can help you become a better person later on? Happiness is not just a feeling, it’s a condition, a choice, and an attitude that you create.