There is not much in common. It is not talent. It is not ethnicity. Not personality. Not schooling. Not religious affiliation.
The one common characteristic I have found is books. People who become worth a damn are readers.
Even more importantly than being a reader: the most important commonality is when they started to read.
I just read in Wikipedia about Howard Zinn:
Both parents were factory workers with limited education when they met and married, and there were no books or magazines in the series of apartments where they raised their children. Zinn’s parents introduced him to literature by sending ten cents plus a coupon to the New York Post for each of the 20 volumes of Charles Dickens’ collect
I just had a “conversation” with a student, where I suggested that she uses ego to support her growth.
From her answers it has become clear that “using ego” is not a commonplace conversation, and that it needs instruction.
So let’s see what ego is, and what it isn’t.
Ego is a lot like a kitchen knife: you can use it for good, for useful, or for harm… kill with it. You can also use it to clean it under your nails… somewhat useful, but not the right tool…
You can also call it bad, and ban it from your house. ((It is also a lot like a nail. It concentrates the energy so it can go through thick planks
The quality of your life depends on your overall intelligence… intellect, body intelligence, emotional intelligence, social intelligence, the ability to lie a full life, with a range of emotions, and to conquer difficulties, adversities successfully.
You are born with certain DNA defined potentials. No doubt about that. Your ancestry and its habits lead to your DNA being allowing and restrictive, and yet, all human capacities are encoded in your DNA… but what is not needed, what was not needed by your ancestors is dimmed out… “not needed”, Nature decided…
If you found out that all the wrong turns, mistakes you made in your life… probably thousands, you made them because you didn’t see what there was to see.
A number of years ago, one leader in Landmark Education said: Most people either don’t sign up or quit as soon as they see it.
See what? You ask…
See that the solution to the issues of their lives, the decisions that would have taken them to success were there, but they didn’t see them.
I didn’t see them, and you didn’t see them.
Moreover… no matter how many times I notice that I didn’t see something, the fact doesn’t change: I don’t see what is there… I see something else.
I started to read the book by Edward Deci, “Why we do what we do. Understanding self-motivation”.
This is the first book, that I know, that defines self the way, or similarly the way I do…
To become a person, to have autonomy, self-determination, self-expression, integrity, self-motivation, the most important job is to find the self, by distinguishing what is the driver of all your actions, whether it is inner or outer.
And if it is inner… is it the self, or is it the “not-self”?
Greed, narcissism, hate… area inner motivators, but they are all the not-self. So are all the “negative” emotions, like frustration, haste, the desir
The psychologist, Paul Ekman. who discovered the micro expressions slowed down the film to see the emotion that gave the suicidal woman’s despair away.
Slowing down your reactions will show you your real emotions… so you know, so you know what you are running away from.
Slowing down you may be able to find your strait and narrow… your path to your own happiness and fulfillment.
Fast isn’t going to cut it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ojT2k6Cwss
The fence that is built fast will fall down fast… and it is true for everything.
I clipped this from Monday Morning Memo… because it is so fabulous… A fast way to enlightenment.
Because you get your wisdom where you find it!
First things first: If you can’t imagine yourself tearing up the streets in this whip without feeling embarrassed, then get out. Your ancestral bloodline is anemic, and you are dismissed. The Spectra does not tolerate weakness.
As for the rest of you — put your helmets on, because I’ve got a metaphysical bomb to drop.
The inner view and the outer view of who you are are vastly different. Your chances for success, love, happiness depend on the accuracy of your self-image. ((self-im·age
noun
noun: self-image; plural noun: self-images
the idea one has of one’s abilities, appearance, and personality.
“sickness is an affront to one’s self-image and dignity”))
Do you know that people see you differently than you see yourself? And both you and other people see you differently than you actually are.
You may see yourself worse or better or just plain different than you really are… and so do others.
Your life would work better if the two views were closer. You’d h
Let us not confuse ourselves by failing to recognize that there are two kinds of self-confidence — one: a trait of personality and another: that comes from knowledge of a subject. It is no particular credit to the educator to … Continue reading → Related Posts: Found a good video… if you are in 67 […]
There is not much in common. It is not talent. It is not ethnicity. Not personality. Not schooling. Not religious affiliation.
I am reading the book “The Upside Of Your Dark Side”.
