Handbook for the Soul

To paraphrase something the anthropologist Ashley Montagu once said,
“The way I change my life is to act as if I’m the person I want to be.”
This is, to me, the simplest, wisest advice you can give anyone.
                                              Benjamin Shield Handbook for the Soul

Robyn Benincasa

Commitment starts where the fun stops.

Life is not the way it is supposed to be…

It’s the way it is. The way we cope with it, is what makes the difference.

 

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. – Thomas Edison

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;

The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.

Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

                                           -George Bernard Shaw

Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

“It is not the critic who counts:

Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles

Or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,

Who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again,

Because there is no effort without error or shortcoming,

But who knows the great enthusiasms,

The great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause;

Who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement,

And who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly,

So that his place shall never be

 With those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

 Theodore Roosevelt

                                                            Video on Overcoming

“Life itself is the grand prize, but you must be present to win.” -Royce Herndon

What does it take to be alive? The first requirement is that we are awake. Many people get hypnotized by the constant drone of everyday lives. Others, they get pushed to sleep by the constant barrage of life’s many struggles. They close their eyes to the pain that they see because they aren’t able to do anything about it.

Truly living isn’t easy. It means forcing ourselves to continue to push through the constant whisperings begging us to again return to slumber. We must force ourselves to continually look for life in all that we see. This at first seems both elusive and impossible but as others join the task, it becomes easier.

There are glimpses of what this world will look like. A world where we don’t require leadership in a form that needs to tell us what to do. At the moment, that leadership needs to be those conscious people. Leadership needs to be wielded by man and women who choose to look at the world through open eyes.

Today, I will choose to see the world through open eyes.

Short Clip On Self-Deception

“Life will knock us down. But, we can choose to get back up.” –Jackie Chan taken from The Karate Kid remake

There are people who teach that life can be all rainbows and sunshine. The problem with teaching this philosophy is that it just isn’t true. Life will knock us down. Sometimes, it will appear as though we are unable to get back up. It is in these moments that teachings show their true value.

If life were easy, we would all be successful, but it isn’t. Life will test us to make sure that we are committed to our outcomes. To create anything of real value, we must be willing to step outside our perceived boundaries. We must be willing to become more than what we believe we are.

By choosing to get up, we are refusing to believe the lie that we aren’t enough. When we do this, we stretch ourselves outside what we believe possible. We become more.

Today, I will be committed to my outcome.

Pacing Outcomes Website

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Book on Mindset

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. -John Wooden

Book on Leadership