Standards & Beliefs
To have the courage to have/create and live according to your standards and beliefs.
Create the kind of self you will be happy to live with all your life.
- Foster C. McClellan
When I read this quote, I stopped short. How much courage one would need to do this....
And then, strangely, on the same day, I came across another quote -
Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. - Carol Burnett
The two seemed to segue into each other. All of a sudden all kinds of thoughts started popping up from all over my mind. In the turmoil that ensued, I realized that for every positive thought, there was one conflicting thought. Naturally, this internal debate led to introspection and certain notions started slowly emerging. What came first as an eye-opener was that it is necessary to first have a kind of a checklist to see what already exists, a kind of a reality-check. What do I really think about, how do I really feel, what do I really believe in, what do I set store by, what do I like, what do I like to do, what makes me happy, what makes me sad, and what makes me angry, what do I feel responsible for and about?
The next step is the realization that I want some things in me to change. Here's where the catch is - there is only you, with what you have inherited and what the various environment you've been in since childhood have given you. While you may have family and friends who love you and will always support you, in order to change the things in you that you believe need to be changed, you have only yourself to look to. You honestly believe that some traits have to be tweaked, some corrected and renewed, and some completely overhauled. So what do you measure all this by - this is where standards and beliefs come in. Where does one get these from? Look around you - be aware of all who you meet, and read..read...read....there are so many interesting people in the world, present and past. When you read, you come across so many people.
There are those who will interest you - find out all you can about them - how they lived, how they dressed, what their interests were - every possible thing about them. Some things you read you will discard and those things which interest you, you will try and incorporate into your mind and your body of thought till it becomes a part of you. Reading about people of interest, will open your mind to endless possibilities. From their lives you will learn invaluable lessons on living. Also, reading about people, leads you to different avenues - avenues you would never have known existed.
Your mind grows and expands to encompass new ways, new thoughts, new ideas, and new modes of living. Though it is a temptation to leave things as they are, and quite painful to be courageous in the pursuit of better and higher things, at the end of the day it is worth it. The very quality of your life will change and you will revel in it. Shallow, unformed and wishy-washy beliefs would be exchanged for vibrant and deep beliefs. You would have formed and well-thought-out opinions of all that concerns you or affects you.
Every day will, then, be a new day, an exciting day, and a day to look forward to with all its ups and downs and highs and lows, and not a repetition of yesterday, which was the same as the day before and which was the same as all the days before. You will not be afraid of life, but will want to go out and meet it head on with shoulders squared. Then you will become a person who you can look in the mirror and love who you see reflected there. You would see a person you could be happy and comfortable with all of your life. And-----you would have done it yourself....
- Foster C. McClellan
When I read this quote, I stopped short. How much courage one would need to do this....
And then, strangely, on the same day, I came across another quote -
Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. - Carol Burnett
The two seemed to segue into each other. All of a sudden all kinds of thoughts started popping up from all over my mind. In the turmoil that ensued, I realized that for every positive thought, there was one conflicting thought. Naturally, this internal debate led to introspection and certain notions started slowly emerging. What came first as an eye-opener was that it is necessary to first have a kind of a checklist to see what already exists, a kind of a reality-check. What do I really think about, how do I really feel, what do I really believe in, what do I set store by, what do I like, what do I like to do, what makes me happy, what makes me sad, and what makes me angry, what do I feel responsible for and about?
The next step is the realization that I want some things in me to change. Here's where the catch is - there is only you, with what you have inherited and what the various environment you've been in since childhood have given you. While you may have family and friends who love you and will always support you, in order to change the things in you that you believe need to be changed, you have only yourself to look to. You honestly believe that some traits have to be tweaked, some corrected and renewed, and some completely overhauled. So what do you measure all this by - this is where standards and beliefs come in. Where does one get these from? Look around you - be aware of all who you meet, and read..read...read....there are so many interesting people in the world, present and past. When you read, you come across so many people.
There are those who will interest you - find out all you can about them - how they lived, how they dressed, what their interests were - every possible thing about them. Some things you read you will discard and those things which interest you, you will try and incorporate into your mind and your body of thought till it becomes a part of you. Reading about people of interest, will open your mind to endless possibilities. From their lives you will learn invaluable lessons on living. Also, reading about people, leads you to different avenues - avenues you would never have known existed.
Your mind grows and expands to encompass new ways, new thoughts, new ideas, and new modes of living. Though it is a temptation to leave things as they are, and quite painful to be courageous in the pursuit of better and higher things, at the end of the day it is worth it. The very quality of your life will change and you will revel in it. Shallow, unformed and wishy-washy beliefs would be exchanged for vibrant and deep beliefs. You would have formed and well-thought-out opinions of all that concerns you or affects you.
Every day will, then, be a new day, an exciting day, and a day to look forward to with all its ups and downs and highs and lows, and not a repetition of yesterday, which was the same as the day before and which was the same as all the days before. You will not be afraid of life, but will want to go out and meet it head on with shoulders squared. Then you will become a person who you can look in the mirror and love who you see reflected there. You would see a person you could be happy and comfortable with all of your life. And-----you would have done it yourself....
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