Editor’s note:  This is a guest post from Carolyn Elliot on how to read poetry to expand your heart.

Carolyn is author of the book  Awesome Your Life: The Artist’s Antidote to Suffering Genius.   She won several awards for playwriting, fiction, and poetry, fresh out of high-school, and later, taught the courses Reading Poetry and Literature and the Contemporary. She is well read, and some of her favorite authors include Dickinson, Emerson, Goethe, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Neruda, Nietzsche, Rilke, and Whitman. Carolyn did her undergraduate work in Creative Writing and English at Carnegie Mellon University, and in her dissertation, she investigated the relationship of literature to the soul as it is imagined in romantic aesthetics.

Given her background and passion, I asked Carolyn if she could tackle the following challenge:
How can anyone, without a poetry background, get started with poetry as a source of inspiration and insight in their day to day?

The result is a powerful recipe below for awakening your senses and dipping your toe into the evocative pool of poetry.  Without further ado, here is Carolyn …

Poetry isn’t just for folks in tweed jackets with leather elbow patches.  The greatest poetry is language infused with the wisdom of a powerful heart.  If we learn how to read that great poetry well, we can let that infusion soak into us and transform our own perception for the better.  Reading poetry sensitively can be a spiritual practice that gradually alters our consciousness so that we see our world with vast insight and love.

The mode of encountering poetry that most facilitates heart-expansion isn’t the kind of technical, critical reading that’s taught in most English classes (“The caesura in line 8 creates a tension that magnifies the alliteration within the ABDDC rhyme scheme, highlighting the hendiadys that follows in line 10….”).  That kind of reading can be interesting if you’re already a balls-to-the-wall poetry buff and you want to “get under the hood” of a poem.  But most of us don’t want to tinker with the engine of a fantastic car.  We just want to drive it.

The way to “drive” a wonderful poem so that it opens you up is through contemplative reading.  In contemplative reading, we meet a poem via our intuition and imagination rather than our analytic brain.

To get a feel for contemplative reading, try this exercise (I’ve used it with my Reading Poetry students at the University of Pittsburgh for years to great effect):

Entering the Aether

Select a poem that you want to meet deeply.  For those just starting out, I suggest the opening pages of “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, “Ode to a Lemon” by Pablo Neruda, and “I Dwell in Possibility” by Emily Dickinson.

For the purpose of this example, we’ll use a magnificent lyric, “The Orchard” by H.D.  Sit comfortably with the poem within easy-reading reach.  Read the poem once, not bothering to “figure it out,” just getting a sense of what’s there.

Now close your eyes.  Settle in by breathing deeply and slowly.  Imagine that you see swirling all around you a very fine, very silvery substance called aether.  Aether is the material of the imagination and spirit, thought to be a basic element by classical and medieval philosophers.  The aether is fluid like silk, and moves around you in spiraling eddies.

The aether is extremely sensitive.  Whatever words or images you bring to it, it will amplify by means of all the senses and emotions available.  In a moment, you’ll bring a line from your poem into the aether, and the aether will respond by creating visions, sounds, scents, touches and feelings.  You might see whole scenes unfold.  You might hear music.  What you experience may or may not directly relate to the words you bring in.  The aether offers its response from a place of deep wisdom beyond the conscious mind.

Bring into the aether the first lines of the poem, “The Orchard”: “I saw the first pear / as it fell.”

Now close your eyes again and observe how the aether responds to just these lines.  What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?  Sit in contemplation for a few moments, allowing the aether to fully unfold its response to these lines.

After observing the response of the aether to your satisfaction, write down what you witnessed in terms of every bodily sense.

Here are responses my students have recorded:

“I caught a scent of lemon mixed with black coffee, and felt overwhelmed.”

“I saw Versailles, with rows of round pear trees and a huge blue sky.”

“I saw Adam and Eve under the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.”

“I saw a giant primeval forest, with a huge pear falling slowly, bursting with juice.  I heard the sound of quick-beating drums.”

“I felt a woman’s cold hand on my shoulder.”

You’ll notice that some of these responses pertain directly to the words of the poem, and some don’t.  That’s perfect.  The point is not to find what the lines “mean” but instead to discover what they do.

Repeat this process of bringing lines from the poem into the aether, observing the aether’s response and writing it down until you complete the poem or until you feel full (like you’ve eaten all you want from a delicious meal).

The wonder of this mode of reading is that it requires no background knowledge, no technical terms, no “expertise” at poetry.  And yet again and again, I find that when my students partake of it, they intuitively and immediately discover all the rich mythological and historical resonances that a poem has to offer, often finding more depth than the most highly-trained critics offer in their essays on the same poem.

Reading contemplatively by entering the aether with a poem gives you a way to create a meeting space between the wisdom of poetry and the wisdom of your own imagination.  Over time, this practice of reading feeds your deep self and renders you capable of seeing from your calm heart rather than your frantic mind.  It accomplishes what the great poet John Keats called the work of “soul-making,” a process of being able to discern the profound truth beneath disturbing appearances, so that bliss rather than worry becomes your default experience.

Love!

Carolyn

“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I read an article on Stepcase Lifehack on Why You Should Start Your New Year in February.  The main idea is to use January to recover from the holidays and make February your focus for getting down to business.

So, if you didn’t get the start you wanted in January, then don’t sweat it.  Instead, get ready to make things happen in February.   Use January as your time to plan things out, decompress from the holidays, and get clear on what you want out of the year.

I like this idea on multiple levels.   For one thing, it’s a forward-looking mental model.  Instead of trying to play catch up or worry about how you missed your great start in January, plan your great start for February. Rather than feel behind on things, you can feel on top of things.  It’s along the lines of, “If you miss the train, catch the next one.”, or, “I’m not late for today, I’m early for tomorrow.”

It’s this forward looking view on life that helps you rise above the noise, and take advantage of windows of opportunity.

To make the most of my months, I use 30 Day Improvement Sprints, a practice from Agile Results.  I pick a theme for the month, and I do a little something each day towards the goal.  It’s a simple way to keep taking action, a day at a time, and achieve big things.   I’ve used 30 Day Improvement Sprints to change habits, tackle tough challenges at work, work on personal projects, explore new interests, and learn new things.

If you’re looking for a way to make this year different, consider 30 Days of Getting Results.   It’s a timeless collection of little lessons you can use to get a fresh start and bring out your best.

Photo by Jack Bachelor.

You’ve probably come across several quotes attributed to Buddha over the years. I’ve always enjoyed the precision, profoundness, and pragmatism of his quotes.

His words of wisdom have stood the test of time on a number of broad topics.   For this collection of Buddha quotes, I’ve arranged them by key themes including: Action, Anger, Fear, Health, Life, Love, Mind, Personal Development, Self-Reliance, Speech, and Truth.

As you read through the quotes, see if his words, inspire new insight or echo your experience, or challenge your beliefs in some new way.

Top 10 Buddha Quotes

1. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
2. “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”
3. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.”
4. “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
5. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.”
6. “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
7. “There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.”
8. “Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
9. “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”
10. “What we think, we become.“

Action

• “A jug fills drop by drop.”
• “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”
• “Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.”
• “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
• “However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”
• “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.”
• “I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.”
• “To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.”

Anger, Forgiveness, and Compassion

• “Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”
• “Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.”
• “In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.”
• “Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”
• “To understand everything is to forgive everything.”
• “You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”

Fear

• “Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.”
• “The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”
• “When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear.”

Health

• “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”
• “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.”
• “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
• “To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”
• “To keep the body in good health is a duty … otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”
• “Without health life is not life; it is only a state of languor and suffering an image of death.”

Life and Living

• “He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.”
• “Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”
• “Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.”
• “Life is suffering.”
• “On life’s journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.”
• “The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.”
• “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.”
• “To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.”
• “When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
• “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.”
• “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

Love, Connection, and Unity

• “All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.”
• “Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.”
• “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”
• “Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.”
• “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
• “You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

Mind, Thought, and Thinking

• “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”
• “An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”
• “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
• “He is able who thinks he is able.”
• “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
• “The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
• “Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.”
• “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

Personal Development

• “Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.”
• “The virtues, like the Muses, are always seen in groups. A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.”
• “To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.”
• “Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good.”
• “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

Self-Reliance

• “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
• “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”

Speech

• “A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.”
• “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”
• “The tongue like a sharp knife … Kills without drawing blood.”
• “The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.”
• “Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.”

Truth

• “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”
• “There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”
• “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Photo by UggBoy / UggGirl.

In the article,“Making it in America”, in the Atlantic, Adam Davidson writes about how to create and keep a job in our globalizing, mechanizing, economy.  It’s a deep look at the impact of the shift to globalization and how “the rewards for being skilled grow, while the opportunities for unskilled Americans diminish.”

One of the passages really stood out for me:

“Productivity, in and of itself, is a remarkably good thing.  Only through productivity growth can the average quality of human life improve.   Because of higher agricultural productivity, we don’t all have to work in the fields to make enough food to eat.  Because of higher industrial productivity, few of us need to work in factories to make the products we use.  In theory, productivity growth should help nearly everyone in society.   When one person can grow as much food or make as many car parts as 100 used to, prices should fall, which gives everyone in that society more purchasing power; we all become a littler richer.  In the economic models, the benefits of productivity growth should not go just to the rich owners of capital.  As workers become more productive, they should be able to demand higher salaries.”

It reminded me that the way forward, is not to go backward.   It’s to embrace change and empower yourself with skill.   Personal productivity is a powerful tool for surviving and thriving in a world where better, faster, cheaper is the name of the game.

In my experience, the key to productivity is to apply it to meaningful problems and to flow value along the way.  To keep my own productivity in check, I use a guiding question:  “Am I working on the right things, at the right time, with the right energy, the right way?” While the question itself doesn’t hold all the answers, it does hold the keys that help finding them.

When it comes to “making it,”  I think productivity is one more lesson we learn from business that applies to life.   It’s an area we can invest in for the rest of our life, for the best of our life.  It never goes out of style.

Photo by Jane Rahman.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” — Charles Darwin

As more people ask me about Agile Results, the system inside Getting Results the Agile Way, I realize I need a simple summary page.  Here it is.

What is It

In a nutshell, Agile Results is a simple system for meaningful results.  It’s a personal results system for making the most of work and life.   It’s a way to be the author of your life and write your story forward.

I created Agile Results as a way to help you do great things and to think, feel, and be your best in any situation.   It’s a synthesis of best practices for time management, goals, focus, motivation, and more, as one simple system, to help you make the most of what you’ve got.

Why Agile Results

Getting results in today’s landscape is tough.  Our world is changing faster than we can keep up.  Worse, we don’t always have the best practices for focus, managing our time, managing our energy, or even basic productivity.  I created Agile Results as a way to put it all together and help you write your story forward:

Problems Addressed by Agile Results

Agile Results is more than just “how to manage your time.”  Here are some of the key challenges that Agile Results helps you deal with:

1. How to be the author of your life and write your story forward
2. How to make the most of your your moments, days, weeks, months, and years
3. How to use a simple system to achieve meaningful results
4. How to achieve work-life balance
5. How to focus and direct your attention with skill
6. How to spend more time on the things that really matter to you
7. How to play to your strengths and spend less time in weaknesses
8. How to motivate yourself with skill and find your drive
9. How to change a habit and make it stick
10. How to improve your personal productivity and personal effectiveness

Three Keys to the Agile Results System

There are three keys to the Agile Results system.  Here is a mental model of the three keys:

The three keys are:

1. The Rule of Three - Think in three’s.   The Rule of 3 helps us deal with information overload.  It’s a simple way to set limits and chunk things down.  It’s easy for us to remember things in three’s.
2. Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection – is a simple pattern for your weekly workflow.   It’s a weekly system for getting results that helps you get a fresh start each day, and a fresh start each week. Each week and each day is a new chance at bat.
3. Hot Spots – Hot Spots are simply areas of focus.  They might represent a lot of pain, or they might represent a lot of opportunity.  Either way, it’s a quick visual way to map out what’s important for you.

Weekly Workflow

The weekly workflow is effectively the Monday Vision, Daily Wins, Friday Reflection pattern.   Here is a way to visualize the pattern:

The workflow is very simple to follow if you remember The Rule of Three.   On Mondays, think of three wins for the week.   This is Monday Vision.   Each day, think of three wins for that day.   This is Daily Wins.  On Friday, think of three things going well and three things to improve.   This is Friday Reflection.

A Story-Driven Week, One Day at a Time

Another way to think of your weekly results pattern is in terms of stories.   Here is a way to visualize the model:

What this means is that each week, you may have a lot of things to do, but the “art” part is about choosing what to do and achieving your wins and your meaningful results.   Rather than “call a customer back” you “win a raving fan.”   This little shift helps you connect to your work, and thrive against your challenges, and makes your results more meaningful.   Best of all, you are the author, and it’s you that writes your story forward.  It’s the ultimate path of personal empowerment.

Getting Started with Agile Results

Getting Started with Agile Results is easy.   Here are some key ways to get started with Agile Results:

1. Buy Getting Results the Agile Way on Amazon.
2. Check out the case studies and video on http://Getting Results.com..
3. Explore the Getting Results Knowledge Base.
4. Try out Getting Started with Getting Results.
5. Read How To – Adopt Agile Results.
6. Team up with a  friend and pair up on a challenge.
7. Share your success story by writing to GettingResultsTeam at gmail dot com.

One of the simplest ways to get started is to simply write down three wins you want for today on a piece of paper.   Just by writing down your three wins, you focused on what you want to accomplish, you identified what’s meaningful to you, and you shifted from writing down a laundry list of tasks, to a short list of wins and achievements.

My Related Posts

• 30 Days of Getting Results
• Now Available: Getting Results the Agile Way on Kindle
• Getting Results the Agile Way is Now Available in Print

Photo by Tigr.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by best selling author, Lisa McCourt.  Lisa is here on Sources of Insight to share with you insightful and actionable steps to be comfortable in your own skin.

If you don’t know Lisa, you’re in for a treat.  Lisa specializes on the topic of self-love and her books on unconditional love have sold more than five and a half million copies.  Lisa’s latest book, Juicy Joy –  Seven Simple Steps to Your Glorious Gutsy Self is all about leading a life that is rich, real, and powerfully satisfying, while embracing your biggest, gutsiest, and most authentic self.  It’s you, at YOUR best.

I asked Lisa to write a guest post to share her best lessons learned on how to be comfortable in your own skin because of her personal experience.   I’m a fan of people sharing what they have learned the hard way or what they have had to work at.  It’s always deeper and more meaningful.   Most of all, it’s keeping it real.

Whether or not you are already comfortable in your own skin, I think you’ll really enjoy this post.  I’m impressed with Lisa’s ability to distill and share such pragmatic wisdom on the fine art of loving yourself, flaws and all.  This is more than a beautiful piece of prose.  It’s life wisdom that you can use to live a little better every day.

Without further ado, here’s Lisa with her top ten lessons learned on how to be comfortable in your own skin …

Imagine being blissfully comfortable in your own skin, knowing with the utmost clarity exactly who you are and feeling eager to lovingly, proudly share that authentic you with the world. Imagine being perpetually sustained by an inner source of joy—not the smiley, fluffy kind of happiness we sometimes associate with the word “joy,” but the rich, meaty, substantial flavor of joy that comes with extraordinary self-knowledge and self-appreciation. That’s the vantage point I want for you. From that vantage point, in the words of Franz Kafka, “the world will offer itself freely to you. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

In uber-consolidated nutshell fashion, here are the top 10 ways to be comfortable in your own skin:

1. Get real.

Do the work to get clear about who you are—not just who you routinely consider yourself to be, the person you habitually show the world—but who you are in the deepest recesses of your authentic heart and soul.

The word “authenticity” is misunderstood sometimes. People think of it as a virtue, like honesty . . . like you owe the world your authenticity and you should feel bad if you’re not authentic. That’s not the case. I’m not suggesting you should become more authentic because it will make you a better person—you already are a phenomenal person. I’m telling you that becoming more authentic is your golden ticket—to joy, to success, to vibrant health and energy, to easily manifesting the life of your dreams. It’s every bit that transformative. You’re not doing this to better serve the world; you’re doing it to better serve you. But—happy bonus!—it happens to be the best way to serve your loved ones and the world as well.

2. Adore YOU.

If you’ve been on a personal development path for a while, I’m probably not the first to suggest that you need to love yourself. But I’m surprised to discover how often my students don’t really seem to know why I’m so insistent on that point. Are you tired of hearing about how you need to love yourself more? Does the thought of it feel kind of like of a burden—one more thing to check off your To-Do list? Does the whole concept feel a bit worn-out and cliché? Maybe you just need to understand what’s in it for you.

Self-love is the fastest route to literally anything you want right now. Money, love, health, romance . . . it all hinges on your level of self-love. The circumstances of your life are always providing you a crystal-clear, precisely accurate measure of how much you love yourself and what you believe you deserve. All you can ever create is what you believe you’re worthy of experiencing. It’s an immutable energetic law. That’s why elevating self-love is the not-so-secret path to elevating everything else.

3. Trust your wants.

Stop trying to justify and rationalize your most heartfelt desires. Your desires are the clearest indicator of who you are. Denying them is denying you. No one needs to understand why you want what you want. You don’t even need to understand it yourself. Just trust it, and trust yourself to manifest it. The reason you don’t already have everything you want is crazy-simple. You don’t love yourself enough yet to deeply believe that you deserve everything you want. My students argue that sometimes, but they always discover it’s true. You might even believe, on a conscious level, that you do deserve a certain thing, but I promise you that if you were fully, wholly believing you deserved it—even in the cobwebby corners of your unconscious belief system—it would already be in your life.

4. Stop trying to vanquish the “bad stuff.”

And stop whining about it, too. Celebrate our unwanted circumstances because there’s so much valuable information for us in them. Get clear on why your unwanted circumstances are here and why you created them. Then use them as a springboard. Once you can start genuinely thanking “the bad stuff”, it’s pretty easy to move past it.

5. Take responsibility.

Own every last drop of everything you’ve ever created. We’re so conditioned to blame our unwanted circumstances on other people, or on the “system” or the world . . . What if it’s really all within your control? Taking full responsibility for the life you’ve created for yourself and the life you’re in the process of creating is hugely empowering. But it requires first getting uber-honest to a degree that’s terrifying for most people. Don’t be “most people.” Understanding that you alone are holding the reins on your life is the first critical step toward learning how to operate them.

6. Stop tolerating.

Tolerating is slow emotional suicide. It sucks the life out of you, drains your energy, numbs you, depletes you, and keeps you immobilized. There’s no reason for you to ever tolerate anything. We sometimes confuse tolerating with accepting—we all know it’s good to accept the things we can’t change, right? If we make very clear distinctions between what can be changed and what can’t, then it’s astounding the kinds of life-altering adjustments people are able to easily, joyfully make when they understand the underlying reasons they’ve been tolerating things.

7. Get out of the spin cycle.

Where in your life are you on autopilot, creating the same situation for yourself (in essence) over and over again? Maybe you keep dating the same romantic partner. Maybe the current model is better looking, or more successful, or slightly more open than the one before, but in essence you’re with a lover who triggers your tried-and-true insecurities, defense mechanisms, and familiar unhealthy spirals. Or maybe you find yourself in the same employment dynamic over and over again—even if you change careers completely. Maybe you’ve attracted a series of supervisors, or a series of friends, who stir up the not-good-enough feelings a parent invoked for you as a child. Escape the spin cycle by learning how to look closely at how these patterns develop and how to benefit from the opportunities they offer.

8. Permanently shift your beliefs.

Focus on the deliberate rewiring of your belief system because your beliefs are determining everything you experience as your reality. That’s not New-Age speak anymore; it’s common knowledge. It’s why researchers always have to use placebo control groups whenever they test any drug. If they don’t have a group taking a sugar pill, their findings won’t be considered valid by the agencies that govern pharmaceuticals. In pain-control experiments, when a new pain pill is tested, fully half of the sufferers who are given a placebo will report having less pain. The mind is that powerful and the scientific community knows it. Changing your mind will change your life.

Many of your limiting beliefs are not unique to you; our culture suffers from a long-standing epidemic of crappy shared beliefs. Most of us, at some level, harbor the same fears, the same tragic self-doubts, and the same profound longings to be liberated from our self-made prisons. In our outer circumstances, we may vary greatly, but at deeper levels, this is seldom the case. If you aren’t living the precisely blissful, richly textured life you crave, take the steps to discover which of your beliefs are keeping you from it and what you can do about that.

9. Dream loudly.

Stop limiting yourself according to what seems practical. Practical goals do not inspire enough passion to propel you toward their certain fruition. As John F. Kennedy wisely surmised, “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.” Be those men (and women.).

10. Live passionately.

Once you’ve done the self-examination work to uncover your most delicious desires, don’t pussyfoot toward them. Hurl yourself recklessly in their direction! Trust that the Universe wildly adores you and is always orchestrating on your behalf. It’s been waiting for you to get pumped and grow a pair so that it could swoop in with divine assistance that will leave you breathless.

The author Natalie Goldberg has a cake analogy I love. When you bake a cake, you have ingredients, right? You have eggs, butter, milk, sugar, flour. The ingredients are the different parts of your life. You mix them all together in a bowl but this doesn’t make a cake. It makes goop. To turn it into a cake, you have to add the energy of intense heat. To turn your life into a life worth living, you have to add the heat and energy of your whole heart and soul. Otherwise it’s just goop.

Being comfortable in your skin and living with authenticity is knowing precisely who you are and passionately adoring who you are—with all the countless accoutrements and benefits that come along with that practice. You are spectacular. Not the elaborate representation of You that you routinely show the world, but the raw, uncensored, vulnerable You underneath all of that. Find that You and learn how to deeply love and honor that You. That’s feeling blissfully comfortable in your own skin, and it’s the secret to everything you’re longing for.

This is a collection of Confucius quotes to put his wisdom at your finger tips. Confucius was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher with a knack for nailing some big ideas for life.

Confucius tackled topics like anger, character, failure, happiness, intelligence, truth, virtue, and more. The beauty of Confucius’s quotes is how elegantly they express ideas and get you thinking. For example, Confucius said, “No matter where you go – there you are.” This reminds us that we always bring ourselves to any situation, baggage, beliefs, and all. It helped me realize early on in life, that you need to be your own best friend, or, life will be a rough ride.

Another thing I like about Confucius’s quotes is how they are sticky in the mind.   I’ve come across a lot of Confucius’s quotes throughout life and they stuck with me.  Partly it’s because of how they ring true, and partly it’s because of how they are expressed.  Great quotes echo in the mind.

Enjoy these quotes by Confucius and may they serve you well in the journey of life.

Top 10 Confucius Quotes

1. “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
2. “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
3. “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
4. “If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.”
5. “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
6. “Men’s natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart.”
7. “No matter where you go – there you are”
8. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.”
9. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
10. “Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.”

Ability

• “Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.”
• “The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”

Alertness

• “The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come.”
• “When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.”

Anger and Blame

• “If a man be under the influence of anger his conduct will not be correct.”
• “It was by music that the ancient kings gave elegant expression to their joy. By their armies and axes they gave the same to their anger.”
• “To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.”
• “When anger rises, think of the consequences.”

Character

• “Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.”
• “Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage.”
• “Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.”
• “Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be  dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.”
• “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Then no friends would not be like yourself.”
• “I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me;I will be concerned at my own  want of ability.”
• “In archery we have something like the way of the superior man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself.”
• “It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.”
• “Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!”
• “Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.”
• “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”
• “Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
• “Sincerity is that whereby self-completion is effected, and its way is that by which man must direct himself.”
• “The man who in view of gain thinks of righteousness; who in the view of danger is prepared to give up his life; and who does not forget an old agreement however far back it extends – such a man may be reckoned a complete man.”
• “The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.”
• “The superior man cannot be known in little matters, but he may be entrusted with great concerns. The small man may not be entrusted with great concerns, but he may be known in little matters.”
• “The superior man has nothing to compete for. But if he must compete, he does it in  an archery match, wherein he ascends to his position, bowing in deference.   Descending, he drinks the ritual cup.”
• “The superior man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.”
• “The superior man is aware of Righteousness, the inferior man is aware of advantage.”
• “There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than  what is minute.” Therefore the superior man is watchful over himself, when he is alone.”
• “What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others.”
• “Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.”
• “Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.”
• “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”

Failure, Mistakes, and Flaws

• “A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake.”
• “Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.”
• “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”
• “If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it.”
• “In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure.”
• “The cautious seldom err.”
• “The faults of a superior man are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.”
• “Things that are done, it is needless to speak about … things that are past, it is needless to blame.”
• “When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”

Friends and Friendship

• “I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile, who weeps when I weep, for my shadow in the pool can do better than that.”
• “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.”
• “Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.”
• “Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”

Goals

• “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

Habits

• “To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.”

Happiness

• “If a man has no humaneness what can his propriety be like? If a man has no humaneness what can his happiness be like?”
• “If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.”
• “The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress.”
• “The wise find pleasure in water; the virtuous find pleasure in hills. The wise are active; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are joyful; the virtuous are long-lived.”
• “They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”
• “We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.”
• “With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow – I have still joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud.”

Heart and Love

• “Can there be a love which does not make demands on its object?”
• “If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?”
• “Recompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with kindness.”
• “The superior man examines his heart, that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause for dissatisfaction with himself. That wherein the superior man cannot be equaled is simply this — his work which other men cannot see.”

How to Live

• “Although your father and mother are dead, if you propose to yourself any good work, only reflect how it will make their names illustrious, and your purpose will be fixed.”
• “At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the mandate of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart’s desire without transgressing the norm.”
• “Being in humaneness is good. If we select other goodness and thus are far apart from humaneness, how can we be the wise?”
• “”Consideration for others is the basic of a good life, a good society.”
• “Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.”
• “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.”
• “He who will not economize will have to agonize.”
• “How great is the path proper to the Sage! Like overflowing water, it sends forth  and nourishes all things, and rises up to the height of heaven. All-complete is its  greatness! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of demeanor. It waits for the proper man, and then it is trodden. Hence it is  said, ‘Only by perfect virtue can the perfect path, in all its courses, be made a fact.’”
• “I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.”
• “If we don’t know life, how can we know death?”
• “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
• “Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.”
• “Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.”
• “Study the past, if you would define the future.”
• “The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.”
• “The Path is not far from man. When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the common indications of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path.”
• “The superior man does what is proper to the station in which he is; he does not desire to go beyond this. In a position of wealth and honor, he does what is proper to a position of wealth and honor. In a poor and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and low position.”
• “The superior man honors his virtuous nature, and maintains constant inquiry and study, seeking to carry it out to its breadth and greatness, so as to omit none of the more exquisite and minute points which it embraces, and to raise it to its greatest height and brilliancy.”
• “The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.”
• “There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth … lust.   When he is strong … quarrelsomeness.   When he is old … covetousness.”
• “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
• “When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far from the path.”
• “When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, ‘he loves learning.’”
• “When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.”

Humility

• “A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
• “He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.”
• “The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.”

Influence

• “All things are nourished together without their injuring one another. The courses  of the seasons, and of the sun and moon, are pursued without any collision among  them. The smaller energies are like river currents; the greater energies are seen  in mighty transformations. It is this which makes heaven and earth so great.”
• “Among the appliances to transform the people, sound and appearances are but trivial  influences.”
• “Sincerity becomes apparent. From being apparent, it becomes manifest. From being manifest, it becomes brilliant. Brilliant, it affects others. Affecting others, they are changed by it. Changed by it, they are transformed. It is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can transform.”

Intelligence

• “When we have intelligence resulting from sincerity, this condition is to be ascribed to nature; when we have sincerity resulting from intelligence, this condition is to be ascribed to instruction. But given the sincerity, and there shall be the intelligence; given the intelligence, and there shall be the sincerity.”

Knowledge and Learning

• “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
• “He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”
• “I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.”
• “If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.”
• “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star.”
• “Learn as though you would never be able to master it; Hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.”
• “Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”
• “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
• “Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.”
• “The scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.”
• “Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning.”
• “To be fond of learning is to be near to knowledge. To practice with vigor is to be near to magnanimity. To possess the feeling of shame is to be near to energy.”
• “To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.”
• “When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.”
• “You cannot open a book without learning something.”

Personal Development

• “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”
• “When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.”
• “When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.”

Revenge

• “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Truth

• “The object of the superior man is truth.”
• “The superior man does not set his mind either for anything, or against anything; what is right he will follow.”
• “The superior man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of reverence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of truthfulness.”
• “They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it.”

Uniqueness

• “The way of Heaven and Earth may be completely declared in one sentence: They are without any doubleness, and so they produce things in a manner that is unfathomable.”

Virtue

• “Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.”
• “Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.”
• “I have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one who hated what was not virtuous.  He who loved virtue would esteem nothing above it.”
• “Is virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and lo! Virtue is at hand.”
• “The determined scholar and the man of virtue will not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete.”
• “The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”
• “The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.”
• “The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.”
• “The virtuous man is driven by responsibility, the non-virtuous man is driven by profit.”
• “Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue.”
• “Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.”
• “Virtuous people often revenge themselves for the constraints to which they submit by the boredom which they inspire.”
• “What the great learning teaches, is to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence.”
• “When a man’s knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.”

Photo by Ivan Walsh.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Paul Enfield on how you have to take risks, to get the rewards. I’ve worked with Paul for many years at Microsoft, and he was one of my early mentors. I’ve learned a lot of life wisdom from him, and I thought this particular nugget was especially useful. It’s about taking a leap of faith.

The big idea is that for so many things in life, there is no way to be 100% certain before we act. We have to take risks. We can spend all our time trying to make things certain, know the unknowables, and wait for the perfect conditions, or we can dive in a little more.  We can do more big things and act on more windows of opportunity.  This is the heart of bold action.

Without further ado, here’s Paul on the leap of faith …

Some life decisions we face can seem colossal. Some seem so large that we can get stuck attempting to reach our decision and fail to ever act. I found myself in one of these situations when I came upon a revelation that empowered me make my decision.

Quite a while back, I was faced with a decision on whether or not to propose to my wife. While pondering the decision, I realized that no matter how much I thought about it, I would never be 100% sure that I was making the right choice. It was at that time that I also realized this correlated to a concept I had learned in college Statistics class called “degree of certainty.”

In a simplistic form, degree of certainty indicates how likely it is that the decision is the correct one. You can be fairly sure of your choice, and therefore have a high degree of certainty.

I also realized that different people will need to achieve different degrees of certainty before they will act upon their decisions. However, the commonality would always be that you can never achieve 100% certainty on your decision. Therefore we are always faced with a “gap” we must jump to reach 100% certainty. I chose to name this gap the “leap of faith.”

I was 90% sure I should make this decision to propose, but was forced to realize that I must make this leap of faith if I were ever to make my decision.

Being armed with this truth is empowering. Once you realize you must be willing to take a chance no matter what your decision, you can move forward and evaluate other factors.  Other factors might include what is the opportunity cost for not making the choice. IOTW, what will I lose if I fail to act?  Also, what is the benefit I can obtain by making the choice?

Empower yourself to make tough decisions. Recognize your personal needs to support your decision and when you reach your threshold, jump. Make your decision and take your leap of faith.

Photo by Hunterrrr.

One of the big ideas that stuck with me in my Change Leadership training is — “The value is in the change.”  It’s such a simple concept, but it got me thinking.

If there’s no change, then it’s like treading water.  It’s like the hamster on the wheel.  It’s like below the line vs. above the line.  The value is in the change, and the change is about raising the bar and rising above your status quo.  It’s about changing your game.  If you invest time and energy, then you expect some sort of return.  The return is supposed to come from the change.  Some of the changes might be:

• Can I do this a little better?
• Can I do this a little faster?
• Can I do this a little cheaper?

Sometimes the change is doing what you already do, but better.  Other times the change is doing something new entirely … out with the old, in with the new.  When it comes to personal change, that means changing your thinking, feeling, and doing.   The easiest thing to notice here is a clear change in behavior.

You can use “the value is in the change” as your lens, to help remind you where the value is.  Whether it’s adopting a New Year’s Resolution, or buying a personal development program, or reading a new book, remind yourself that the value is not in the thing itself.  The value is in the change.  Knowing and doing are two different things.

The more that you actually apply the new insights, strategies, and tactics that you learn, the more value you can realize from your efforts.

With that in mind, what will you do differently, to realize more value from the time and energy you already spend?

Photo by Ian Sane.

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss

This is just a quick note to wish you a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Happy Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year.  I hope you can make the most of the holiday, your way, in whatever scenario you may happen to be.

I know a lot of folks in some unfortunate scenarios, and I hope a few miracles come their way.

As you look back over this last year, remember the good stuff and carry it forward.  Let the rest go.  As you look to the future, dream big.  Make it bright.  Make it 3-D.   Maybe it means blowing the dust off an old dream and using a little spit and polish to spruce things up.   As you look to the present, savor your moments, and make your moments count.  Most importantly, remember that whatever you focus on expands, and that your attitude of gratitude will serve you well.  It’s how you recharge and renew and it’s where a great source of your personal power comes from.   It’s one of the best ways to get your groove on and find your mojo.

To make the most of the holidays, and to keep it simple, I’m focusing on three wins.  Or, to put it another way, I’m focusing on three experiences that I want to be able to look back on.  I’m sure I’ll adjust them as the story unfolds, but they give me a place to start, and a way to find my way forward, as the holiday season moves into full swing.

One thing to keep in mind is that whatever plans you may have for the holidays … life happens.  You have to roll with the punches, or make like a duck, and let it roll off your back.  It’s not what happens to you, but how you respond.  Sometimes your best response is sarcasm or a funny face, and that’s O.K.

As I gear up for the New Year, I’m keeping things simple.  I’m going to figure out three wins that I want for 2012, and I’m going to use 30 Day Improvement Sprints as my secret weapon to help pull them off.  Both of these are practices from my book, Getting Results the Agile Way.   I’ll also be giving out my book along my travels during the holidays to people that I hope to give a lift up or an extra edge in life.

I’m actually looking forward to January as a fresh start, and a new year.  I’m thinking of a theme for month.  I’ve got a lot of ideas, but one that keeps coming to mind is to do a 30 Day Improvement Sprint on self-awareness.  What better way to start off the new year right, and set the stage for success than mastering self-awareness.  I know a lot of tools and techniques here, and if I do this, I’ll be sure to share them with you.

If you haven’t already, be sure to grab my 30 Days of Getting Results free eBook, and be sure to read Getting Results the Agile Way (you can read it for free online.)  Be sure to share them with as many friends and family as possible.  It’s the best way I know to help you be the author of your life and write your story forward. And remember, it’s not about being THE best.  It’s about being YOUR best.  That’s all you can ask for, and that’s plenty in this lifetime.  It’s how you flourish.

Happy holidays and see you in the New Year!