It Starts With You: The 3 Great Thoughts That Can Change Your Life
This post is about you, exactly as you are right now. It’s not going to suggest for you to become someone, or tell you that you have to get somewhere or gain anything material. It’s not going to suggest any of these things, because the greatest gifts are already inside you, waiting to be uncovered. And once they are, everything in your life will flow naturally, because when you start with yourself, the world around you will change. If you wish for unconditional love, love yourself unconditionally. If you wish to be accepted as you are, have the courage to accept yourself as you are. If you wish to live a life with value, value your life. And it is with this spirit that this post is written. I offer three simple wisdoms that will help you uncover your greatness, by digging for the treasures that are already within. It Starts With You: The 3 Great Thoughts That Can Change Your Life Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden and the butterflies will come. - Mario Quintana Your greatest love affair is you There is one person you will have with you your entire life. One whom, if you love, will always reciprocate. One that needs your love more than anyone else. And that person is you. The greatest love affair you will ever have is with yourself, and you need to treat it like a great relationship. Too many of us give our love so freely to others, but do not give ourselves the same love. So many of us are willing to stand up to anyone that criticizes a person we fancy, yet do not stand up to that little voice in our head that puts ourselves down. It is time to love yourself, and to build this relationship. To reward that voice in your head every time it compliments you, to show yourself appreciation, and to allow and help yourself to find the enjoyment in life which you desire. When you love yourself, you will find it easier to love others and the world around you. And they in turn will find it easier to love you. When you let your self shine, the world realigns It's important to let your true self shine, and to share your true gifts with the world. The beauty that dwells in your mind and that comes from your unique perspective on life needs to be heard. You will suffer criticism. But their opinions don't matter, because you have to be you. By being you, you will attract the right people into your life and repel the wrong people, so that soon you will be predominantly surrounded by those who love you for who you are. For a life of value, value your life Western society has sold us the idea that material possessions define you. But the truth is that little defines you but you, and that these “things” do not lead to long-term contentment, but often to the opposite. The majority of us, through our work, trade our time for money, which we then use to purchase things. It can feel like you're just spending paper bills or numbers on a bank statement, but the truth is that whenever you buy things, you are literally spending your time. You may not realize this, but when you buy things, you are valuing these purchases as much or more than the time it took you to make this money. Time which could possibly have been better spent with your loved ones, enjoying life, helping others, and doing what is important to you. And once you realize this, that money is your time, you start to view money differently. You might realize that buying an expensive car isn’t worth the precious time you have to sacrifice in order to get it. You might realize that maybe you don’t admire a person’s post on Instagram displaying their new purchases from Gucci. Instead, you think of all of the more meaningful and exciting ways they could have spent their time. You start to value your time more than unnecessary, superficial purchases which depreciate in value. You realize that these “things” do not define people, and that your time is worth more than them. But this isn’t just about buying things that you don’t need. Your life, in its essence, is purely a collection of moments in time. Where you spend your time, you spend your life. So you have to have a laser-like focus on what is most important to you. One way or another you are going to spend your time. But it is how you spend your time that will make the difference between a good life and a mediocre one. So spend your time wisely. Spend your time on what is most important to you. Spend it in a way that will ensure a good life. And naturally, you will have one.
Seek and You Will Find: See the Beauty That Surrounds You
Earlier this year, I had a girl ask me how much I would rate her out of ten in physical appearance. I didn’t want to give her a number. I knew that if you were to put one hundred guys and one hundred girls all on the beach together and ask them to rate each other physically, they would come up with all sorts of different numbers. Some people like tattoos, some don’t. Some like brunettes, some like blondes. It is very subjective. And by being asked this question, I realized something. If rating appearance is subjective, and we can choose any number we wish, then why don’t we simply choose to rate ourselves a ten out of ten? Since we are the one giving the rating, there is no reason why we can’t choose this. So I suggested that she rate herself a 10/10 rather than seek others' opinions. And because this made complete sense to me, I decided to follow my own advice. I decided to try rating myself a 10/10 too. I looked in the mirror. I wasn’t blind, I saw the wrinkles. I saw what I thought were imperfections. But I chose to rate myself a 10 anyway. I persisted. I kept trying to see a 10. It finally clicked. Seek and You Will Find: See the Beauty That Surrounds You My wrinkles weren’t wrinkles anymore, they were smile lines, collections of experiences. I started to not only see the physical elements but also the energy that was inside. I saw myself in a new light. I saw me. It is hard to explain. But there was nothing egotistical to it. Try it for yourself. When you get there you will know it. It feels more like gratitude. You are simply happy to be you. It is pure acceptance, not just of your physical looks, but of all that you are. And I have to admit, it felt great. This feeling stayed with me throughout the day. And as it did, I knew that it didn’t matter whether everyone else thought the same way about me. I took comfort in knowing that statistically there would have to be people out there, in this world of billions, who would agree with me. And that to find these people I am looking for, all I really had to do was be myself. My experiment gave me such contentment that I decided to rate everything about myself a 10/10. My entire life. And suddenly I was instantly happy with these parts too. Weeks passed and I wasn’t able to shake my high. I was no longer trying to be someone, I simply was. I was no longer trying to get somewhere, I was already there. Weeks passed and I wasn’t able to shake my high. I was no longer trying to be someone, I simply was. I was no longer trying to get somewhere, I was already there. I know a lot of people will think, "But if I rate myself and my life so highly, then I won’t have any desire to get better." And it might be true that you will no longer desire to "get better" in the sense that you have to desperately fill some void in your life. Instead, you will achieve great things and put effort into them simply because you value and appreciate them. You won’t try to "get better," but instead will grow naturally. Let me explain. Have you noticed that when you feel and look physically great, it is easier to find the motivation to go the gym? When you are in this state, the last thing you feel like doing is something that will tarnish it. You want to continue on your positive trajectory. When you feel great and look great, you behave in a way that reflects this belief. Likewise, if your partner tells you that you are a perfect lover, doesn’t this make you want to put even more effort into this area? To please them even more? To see what other greatness can be uncovered with them? When you love your life and it feels on track, you want to keep heading in the right direction. Because you are enjoying the process and are excited to see what else it will bring. So you don’t need to focus on becoming “better.” Instead, you will simply do things because you value them, because you love the process and enjoy seeing what new greatness can be uncovered in all of its many forms. I am spreading a simple message here: You are already perfect. There is no destination, you are already there. There is simply a journey to be enjoyed. Just as a seed is as perfect as the tree it becomes, you can be happy with yourself and your life at all stages of your development. Just as a seed is as perfect as the tree it becomes, you can be happy with yourself and your life at all stages of your development. That is what I discovered. But then I found something really surprising.... I discovered that after a while I actually stopped rating things. I stopped rating myself, as I already knew that my own positive regard was unconditional. I stopped rating my life too, as I no longer had to. My life was more than just a number. I also stopped rating the world around me and getting annoyed whenever it didn’t live up to my expectations. In fact, while I remained open to receiving things that I desired, in a certain sense I stopped having expectations. Expectations place conditions on the world, on myself, on my life. Instead, I simply loved everything unconditionally. And then I discovered one of the greatest insights of all: that when you are open to the world and no longer try to cage it in by expecting it to fulfill your narrow view of perfection, its true beauty is revealed. And that life is about uncovering the greatness which already exists.
You Can Help The World By Becoming Wealthy
We enjoy having goals. That’s why we subscribe to Goalcast. We want to become better. And for many of us, one of our goals is to become wealthy. As a contradiction to this goal, some of us have limiting beliefs when it comes to making money; Money isn’t everything. When people say this, they are correct. Having money simply for the sake of having money is pointless. Money is a tool. It is how money is used that gives it meaning. And there are ways you can use the money to help your life and the world around you. Money is bad. A lot of people think this way. And they have good reason to. They know that in order for a person to make money, someone else has to lose it. For you to have $10, someone else has to give you $10. This is the rule of money. And this is why many people feel it is unethical to become rich. And yes, sometimes IT IS unethical to become rich. But not always. I will give you the distinctions on how you can become wealthy ethically. And whilst money may not be everything, through becoming wealthy, you can help the world by putting this money towards the people and things you feel ARE "everything". You Can Help The World By Becoming Wealthy Firstly, how do you become wealthy? Well the majority of people that earn money (they don’t inherit or win it) do so by one or both of the following: They become wealthy through property They become wealthy through business Now business can include owning stocks, as stocks are basically an ownership part in whatever business you are investing in. Business can also be owning and operating a product or service business. Whichever method you choose to become wealthy, in order to do so ethically, there is one main concept that I wish to introduce to you – value. Value As said before, to make $10 someone else has to give you that $10. However, to make $10 ethically, in return, you must give this person at least $10 worth of value in exchange for their $10. This value could be in the form of monetary value, entertainment value, time saved value or any other form of value that the payer desires. As long as the payer wishes this value and receives it, you are helping them, and it is a fair exchange. And you are making money ethically. Win/Win. Value is actually about giving. And this giving is what a lot of people do not think about when they envision how they will become rich. All they think about is how they will take money from others. They imagine the money rolling in. But giving is a vital ingredient. Make no mistake, if you wish to make $10 million ethically, you have to give at least $10 million worth of value. Secondly, giving value is not just to clients. It is also to the world. How much value are you giving to the world vs how much you are taking? If through the process of your business or investments, you are responsible for $50,000 worth of environmental damage that future generations will have to clean up, then you are ethically in debt to both the environment and the future generations. We all leave a footprint in our modern society. We are all using the Earth’s resources and leaving some mess. And sometimes it is hard to quantify this in monetary terms. Which is why it is extremely important to reduce your footprint as much as possible. But further to reducing your footprint, how are you offering the world value? How are you giving it back as much or more than what it is giving you? Now and in the future? There are many ways, the next topic is just one way…. How Being Wealthy Can Help The World The wealthy are not only powerful through the methods in which they get rich, but also through the power they have once they are prosperous. Let’s use an analogy. A government collects taxes from taxpayers and then put this money to where they see fit. This could be towards healthcare, education, the environment, etc. They have the choice. When you are rich, you also have such power. Because you can decide where your money goes. Firstly start by paying yourself. Work out what your number is: without being greedy, what income per annum will you be happy with? How much money do you need to have as much pleasure as you wish, and to pay for all of the necessities? Let’s say it is $300,000 per annum after tax. If your income is $1,000,000 a year after tax then all of a sudden you have $700,000 per annum to put wherever you choose. You can give this money to family members, you can donate it to the charities or whatever causes you see fit. And this is where the power of being rich truly plays out. You can have your greatest causes realized. You have the financial might similar to what a government does. And you can give back to the world which has given you so much. Work Out Your Purpose Now & Start Giving You have to figure out as soon as you can why you wish to become wealthy. What your purpose is for this wealth. This will be your driver, your motivation to become wealthy. Remember, money isn’t the end goal. It is simply a tool. You are making money because of what you will do with it. And as you go on your way to becoming rich, I want you to keep in mind – how much value are you giving? How can you increase your value? This will make you wealthier and also help others. Even If You Are Not Wealthy, You Can Still Help The World You have the choice of where your resources go. Your money, your emotions, your energy, your focus. Where you put these resources changes the world, whether you are actively meaning to or not. So be conscious and put them to where you truly wish them to be.