April 27, 2013
Vagabond Journey No. 1,993
Man's greatness lies in the power of his thought.
(Blaise Pascal)
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Hello Beth
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Watch out, now, it's evaluation time, judgement day. It's time to measure yourself against the perfect person you want to be. Are you as pretty as your sister? Are you stronger than the bully in the playground? Are you smarter than the geek in the horn rim glasses at school? When you step on the scale do you like the number that comes up? No, to all of the above? Well, shame on you.
Shame on you? Nonsense. Shakespeare wrote "Comparisons are odorous." I have worked with better actors, heard better musicians, seen better paintings, red better stories and had conversations with very intelligent and knowledgeable people. None of those experiences has robbed me of a single element of my worth. I've learned things from the actors, the painters and the people I've talked with.
There are some positive thinking experts who are vendors of good advice, but they will tell you that if you want to lose weight think "thin" and if you want to have more money think"wealth." If you want to be better looking think"beautiful." And so on and on. But it's the wrong road. It puts you into a contest between who you want to be and who you think you are. Take a U turn. Comparisons, disappointment, self doubt, self criticism and self condemnation are the poisonous fruits of trying to be someone else.. The antidote is self evaluation.
The objective of trying to improve yourself is not to become a better human being but to be a better and happier you. To do that means to identify and hold in your thoughts the special qualities, the benefits and blessing you provide for yourself and the world, to really understand how valuable you are to yourself. Measure yourself on a scale of personal worth. You will be surprised at what happens.
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Dana Bate
Vagabond Journeys
Never give up
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2 comments:
Very sound advice, as always. I suppose it's human nature to want to compare ourselves to others, rather than to look inward and appreciate who we really are.
I love the title you gave to this post.
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