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Choose Your Hard

    Choose your hard.

    “Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
    Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
    Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
    Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
    Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”

    Unknown

    Beyond the Quote (336/365)

    We’re wired to follow the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t last. In fact, in almost every case, it only makes life harder later. It’s the principle of delayed gratification (more on this below).

    So, while life can be easier from choosing the easier options, the truth is, it’s only a temporary easier. Experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And take heed, hard now and hard later are not created equal.

    Read More »Choose Your Hard

    Vironika Tugaleva Quote on Conflict and How It Can Lead To the Most Profound Personal Growth

      “The most profound personal growth does not happen while reading a book or meditating on a mat. It happens in the throes of conflict—when you are angry, afraid, frustrated. It happens when you are doing the same old thing and you suddenly realize that you have a choice.”

      Vironika Tugaleva

      Beyond the Quote (335/365)

      Whenever you find yourself angry, frustrated, upset, or otherwise losing your cool, it helps to ask yourself: What state of mind is going to help me get through this in the most ideal way? I know, I know. Who is going to seriously ask themselves that question when they’re pissed off? It’s almost comical to think about someone who is about to blow their gasket—pausing—and asking themselves, “What state of mind is going to help me get through this in the most ideal way?” But, as comical as it sounds, within the framework of that question is a profound personal growth opportunity.

      Read More »Vironika Tugaleva Quote on Conflict and How It Can Lead To the Most Profound Personal Growth

      J. Keith Murnighan Quote on Leadership and The Importance of Thinking Before Acting

        “Leadership Law:  Think of the reaction that you want first, then determine the actions you can take to maximize the chances that those reactions will actually happen.”

        J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!

        Beyond the Quote (334/365)

        When working with others, this type of premeditative thinking is foundational for influencing the performance you desire. It’s reverse engineering for leadership. Rather than react the way you feel and hope it influences the behavior change you desire after-the-fact, you flip that thought process on its head and think about how you want the other person to react and engineer the best actions you can take to get them there. It’s thinking then acting rather than acting then thinking—which is almost always a better idea.

        Read More »J. Keith Murnighan Quote on Leadership and The Importance of Thinking Before Acting

        Colin Wright Quote on Possessions and How They Possess Us If We’re Not Careful

          “Our possessions possess us.  All the things I owned kept the back of my mind activated.  I used to sit around and feel weighted down by all the stuff in my life.  I’d worry about everything I had, thinking ‘I’ve got this much, so now I need more – I need to level it out: I have the TV, so I need the DVD player; I have the garage, so I need a nice car to fill it; I have this, so I need that.’  It’s a never-ending cycle, a cold war with yourself.”

          Colin Wright, via Everything That Remains

          Beyond the Quote (333/365)

          You know that feeling you get when you’re too excited to focus on anything else except for the thing that you’re excited about? Yeah, that was me a few days ago as I rushed home to unbox the new phone that had finally been delivered. I knew that I had responsibilities that needed responding to, but I decided to let the excitement sweep me away instead. Or maybe it just swept me away and I like to pretend that I “let” it. None-the-less, right as I was unboxing my new phone and getting everything set up, lo and behold, what happens next? My computer breaks down.

          Read More »Colin Wright Quote on Possessions and How They Possess Us If We’re Not Careful

            “Everything is interconnected. Gratitude improves sleep. Sleep reduces pain. Reduced pain improves your mood. Improved mood reduces anxiety, which improves focus and planning. Focus and planning help with decision making. Decision making further reduces anxiety and improves enjoyment. Enjoyment gives you more to be grateful for, which keeps that loop of the upward spiral going. Enjoyment also makes it more likely you’ll exercise and be social, which, in turn, will make you happier.”

            Daniel J. Siegel, The Upward Spiral

            Osho Quote on Living With Courage and Exploring Both the Inner and Outer World

              “Those who are courageous, they go headlong. They search all opportunities of danger. Their life philosophy is not that of insurance companies. Their life philosophy is that of a mountain climber, a glider, a surfer. And not only in the outside seas they surf; they surf in their innermost seas. And not only on the outside they climb Alps and Himalayas; they seek inner peaks.”

              Osho, Courage (Page 119)

              Beyond the Quote (330/365)

              What’s most interesting to me is how deeply connected both types of adventuring are. It is very similar to the connection between breathing in and breathing out. Adventuring on the outside is the expansion of the lungs—it is the breathing in of all that the world has to offer. Adventuring on the inside is the contraction of the lungs—it is the breathing out of all that you have inhaled and synthesized from your experiences. One leads to the other and the other leads to more of the one.

              Read More »Osho Quote on Living With Courage and Exploring Both the Inner and Outer World

                “So much has been given to you. Do you deserve it? Have you earned it? Existence goes on pouring so much over you that to ask for more is just ugly. That which you have received, you should be grateful for it. And the most beautiful thing is that when you are grateful, more and more existence starts pouring over you. It becomes a circle: the more you get, the more you become grateful; the more you become grateful, the more you get… and there is no need to end it, it is an infinite process.”

                Osho, Courage (Page 190)

                  “Once you have heard a truth it is impossible to forget it. That is one of the qualities of truth, that you don’t need to remember it. The lie has to be remembered continually; you may forget. The person habituated to lies needs a better memory than the person who is habituated to truth, because a true person has no need of memory. If you say only the truth there is no need to remember. But if you are saying a lie, then you have to continually remember because you have said one lie to one person, another lie to another person, something else to somebody else.”

                  Osho, Courage (Page 186)

                    “Boredom simply means that the way you are living is wrong; hence it can become a great event, the understanding that, ‘I am bored and something has to be done, some transformation is needed.'”

                    Osho, Courage (Page 169)

                      “Why does one feel bored? One feels bored because one has been living in dead patterns given to you by others. Renounce those patterns, come out of those patterns! Start living on your own.”

                      Osho, Courage (Page 168)

                        “Meditation should be an inner shelter, an inner shrine. Whenever you feel that the world is too much for you, you can move into your shrine. You can have a bath in your inner being. You can rejuvenate yourself. You can come out resurrected; again alive, fresh, young, renewed… to live, to be. But you should also be capable of loving people and facing problems, because a silence that is impotent and cannot face problems is not much of a silence, is not worth much.”

                        Osho, Courage (Page 160)

                          “It is very easy to think about love. It is very difficult to love. It is very easy to love the whole world. The real difficulty is to love a single human being. It is very easy to love God or humanity. The real problem arises when you come across a real person and you encounter him. To encounter him is to go through a great change and a great challenge. He is not going to be your slave and neither are you going to be a slave to him. That’s where the real problem arises. If you are going to be a slave or if he is going to be a slave, then there is no problem. The problem arises because nobody is here to play a slave—and nobody can be a slave. Everybody is a free agent… the whole being consists of freedom. Man is freedom.”

                          Osho, Courage (Page 157)

                            “It is difficult to love real people because a real person is not going to fulfill your expectations. He is not meant to. He is not here to fulfill anybody else’s expectations; he has to live his own life. And whenever he moves somewhere that goes against you or is not in tune with your feelings, emotions, your being, it becomes difficult.”

                            Osho, Courage (Page 157)