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Stephen Cope Quote on Being Yourself and How You Can’t Be Anyone You Want To Be

    “You cannot be anyone you want to be.  Your one and only shot at a fulfilled life is being yourself—whoever that is.  Furthermore, at a certain age it finally dawns on us that, shockingly, no one really cares what we’re doing with our life.  This is a most unsettling discovery to those of us who have lived someone else’s dream and eschewed our own: No one really cares except us.  When you scratch the surface, you finally discover that it doesn’t really matter a whit who else you disappoint if you’re disappointing yourself.  The only question that makes sense to ask is: Is your life working for you?”

    Stephen Cope, The Great Work Of Your Life

    Beyond the Quote (Day 4)

    If your life isn’t working for you, then who is it working for?  Are you working to please yourself or someone else? Are you fulfilling dreams that are uniquely your own or dreams that were bestowed upon you by your parents? Do you feel a sense of growth and contribution when you work or do you feel a sense of dread and purposelessness?

    Read More »Stephen Cope Quote on Being Yourself and How You Can’t Be Anyone You Want To Be

      “Your life’s journey has an outer purpose and an inner purpose.  The outer purpose is to arrive at your goal or destination, to accomplish what you set out to do, to achieve this or that, which, of course, implies future.  But if your destination, or the steps you are going to take in the future, take up so much of your attention that they become more important to you than the step you are taking now, then you completely miss the journey’s inner purpose, which has nothing to do with where you are going or what you are doing, but everything to do with how.  It has nothing to do with future but everything to do with the quality of your consciousness at this moment.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 88)

        “The challenge, then, is to find a purpose in life that will sustain you through the latter years.  Kickboxing might not be a great choice, but painting, political activity, time with family, or passing along your skills to the next generation can be a reason for living at any age.  Practice law, feed the hungry, teach piano, harass your congressman, tell your story.  It’s your purpose in life: make it a passion, not a hobby.” ~ John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 206)

          “Everyone needs a concrete, specific goal—an ambition, and a purpose—to limit chaos and make intelligible sense of his or her life.  But all such concrete goals can and should be subordinated to what might be considered a meta-goal, which is a way of approaching and formulating goals themselves.  The meta-goal could be ‘live in truth.’  This means, ‘Act diligently towards some well-articulated, defined and temporary end.  Make your criteria for failure and success timely and clear, at least for yourself (and even better if others can understand what you are doing and evaluate it with you).  While doing so, however, allow the world and your spirit to unfold as they will, while you act out and articulate the truth.’  This is both pragmatic ambition and the most courageous of faiths.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 227)

            “You have a nature.  You can play the tyrant to it, but you will certainly rebel.  How hard can you force yourself to work and sustain your desire to work?  How much can you sacrifice to your partner before generosity turns to resentment?  What is it that you actually love?  What is it that you genuinely want?  Before you can articulate your own standards of value, you must see yourself as a stranger—and then you must get to know yourself.  What do you find valuable or pleasurable?  How much leisure, enjoyment, and reward do you require, so that you feel like more than a beast of burden?  How must you treat yourself, so you won’t kick over the traces and smash up your corral?  You could force yourself through your daily grind and kick your dog in frustration when you come home.  You could watch the precious days tick by.  Or you could learn how to entice yourself into sustainable, productive activity.  Do you ask yourself what you want?  Do you negotiate fairly with yourself?  Or are you a tyrant, with yourself as slave?” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 90)

              “You need to consider the future and think, ‘What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly?  What career would challenge me and render me productive and helpful, so that I could shoulder my share of the load, and enjoy the consequences?  What should I be doing, when I have some freedom, to improve my health, expand my knowledge, and strengthen my body?’  You need to know where you are, so you can start to chart your course.  You need to know who you are, so that you understand your armament and bolster yourself in respect to your limitations.  You need to know where you are going, so that you can limit the extent of chaos in your life, restructure order, and bring the divine force of Hope to bear on the world.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Pages 62-63)

              12 Rules for Life [Book]

                12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson

                By: Jordan B. Peterson

                From this Book: 72 Quotes

                Book Overview:  What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson’s answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.  Humorous, surprising and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street. Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure and responsibility, distilling the world’s wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith and human nature, while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.

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                Post(s) Inspired by this Book:

                  “The perpetual winds of pleasure blow you in one direction.  The gusts of pain push you in another.  The problem is this keeps you from living your ideal life.  You’re simply bouncing around.  By defining your stand and purpose, you will be able to use them as an internal GPS.  When the winds of pain and pleasure blow, you won’t change course.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal

                    “What do you focus on most often?  What’s your life’s obsession?  Finding love?  Making a difference?  Learning?  Earning?  Pleasing everyone?  Avoiding pain?  Changing the world?  Are you aware of what you focus on most; your primary question in life?  Whatever it is, it will shape, mold, and direct your life.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game

                      “It used to be that the goal was to get rich and retire by the age of 40.  Now the goal is to get rich and work until you’re 90.  Nearly half of all individuals who earn $750,000 per year or more say they will never retire, or if they do, the earliest they would consider it is age 70.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game

                        “The real joy in life comes from finding your true purpose and aligning it with what you do every single day.” ~ Tony Robbins, Money: Master the Game

                          “You should never do anything because of duty.  Either you do something because of love or you do not do it.  Make it a point that your life has to be a life of love, and if out of love, you respond, that I call responsibility.  Break the word into two—response-ability—don’t make it one.  Joining these two words has created so much confusion in the world.  It is not responsibility; it is response-ability.  And love is able to respond.  There is no other force in the world that is so able to respond.  If you love, you are bound to respond; there is no burden.  Duty is a burden.” ~ Osho, Fame, Fortune, and Ambition

                            “Your true self does not speak in words or banal phrases.  Its voice comes from deep within you, from the substrata of your psyche, from something embedded physically within you.  It emanates from your uniqueness, and it communicates through sensations and powerful desires that seem to transcend you.  You cannot ultimately understand why you are drawn to certain activities or forms of knowledge.   This cannot really be verbalized or explained.  It is simply a fact of nature.  In following this voice you realize your own potential, and satisfy your deepest longings to create and express your uniqueness.   It exists for a purpose, and it is your Life’s Task to bring it to fruition.” ~ Robert Greene, Mastery