SELF SHINE
STUDY THE VALUES YOU ADMIRE. YOU LEARN VALUES BY STUDYING THEM CLOSELY. THE LAW OF CONCENTRATION SAYS THAT "WHATEVER YOU DWELL UPON GROWS AND INCREASES IN YOUR LIFE",
WHAT THIS MEANS IS THAT WHEN YOU STUDY AND READ STORIES ABOUT MEN AND WOMEN WHO DEMONSTRATED THE KIND OF VALUES THAT YOU ADMIRE AND RESPECT, AND THEN THINK ABOUT THOSE STORIES AND THAT BEHAVIOR, THOSE VALUES SINK EVER DEEPER INTO YOUR MIND. ONCE THESE VALUES ARE "PROGRAMMED" INTO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS, THEY CREATE A PROPENSITY WITHIN YOU TO BEHAVE CONSISTENTLY WITH THOSE VALUES WHEN THE SITUATION REQUIRES THEM.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN MILITARY TRAINING, SOLDIERS ARE CONTINUALLY TOLD STORIES OF COURAGE, OBEDIENCE, DISCIPLINE, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING THEIR FELLOW SOLDIERS. THE MORE THEY HEAR THESE STORIES,DISCUSS THEM, AND THINK ABOUT THEM, THE MORE LIKELY THEY ARE TO BEHAVE CONSISTENTLY WITH THESE VALUES WHEN THEY ARE UNDER THE PRESSURE OF ACTUAL COMBAT.
THE CORE VIRTUE OF CHARACTER IS TRUTH. WHENEVER YOU TELL THE TRUTH, HOWEVER INCONVENIENT IT MAY BE AT THE TIME, YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOU EARN THE RESPECT OF THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. ONE OF THE HIGHEST ACCOLADES YOU CAN PAY ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SAY THAT "HE OR SHE ALWAYS TELLS THE TRUTH".
EMAULATE THE PEOPLE YOU MOST ADMIRE. MUCH OF YOUR CHARACTER IS DETERMINED BY THE PEOPLE YOU MOST ADMIRE, BOTH LIVING AND DEAD. WHO ARE THEY? LOOKING OVER YOUR LIFE AND HISTORY, MAKE A LIST OF THE PEOPLE WHOM YOU MOST ADMIRE, AND NEXT TO THEIR NAMES, WRITE OUT THE VIRTUES OR VALUES THAT THEY MOST REPRESENT TO YOU.
IF YOU COULD SPEND AN AFTERNOON WITH ANYONE, LIVING OR DEAD, WHAT ONE PERSON WOULD YOU CHOOSE? WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE THAT PERSON? WHAT WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT DURING YOUR AFTERNOON TOGETHER? WHAT QUESTIONS WOULD YOU ASK, OR WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO LEARN?
CONSIDER THIS AS WELL: WHY WOULD THAT PERSON WANT TO SPEND AN AFTERNOON WITH YOU? WHAT ARE THE VIRTUES AND VALUES THAT YOU HAVE DEVELOPED THAT MAKE YOU A VALUABLE AND INTERESTING PERSON? WHAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL?
PRACTICE THE VALUES YOU RESPECT. YOU DEVELOP VALUES BY PRACTICING THEM WHENEVER THEY ARE CALLED FOR. AS THE ROMAN STONIC PHILOSOPHER EPICTETUS SAID, "CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT MAKE THE MAN, THEY MERELY REVEAL HIM TO HIMSELF".
WHEN A PROBLEM OCCURS, PEOPLE TEND TO REACT AUTOMATICALLY BASED ON THE HIGHEST VALUES THAT THEY HAVE DEVELOPED UP TO THAT MOMENT.
WE DEVELOP VALUES BY REPETITION, BY BEHAVING CONSISTENTLY WITH A PARTICULAR VALUE OVER AND OVER AGAIN, UNTIL IT BECOMES A HABIT, AND LOCKS IN SO THAT WE COME TO PRACTICE IT AUTOMATICALLY . MEN AND WOMEN WITH HIGHLY DEVELOPED CHARACTERS BEHAVE IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH THEIR HIGHEST VALUES, AND THEY DO SO WITHOUT THOUGHT OR HESITATION.
THERE IS NO QUESTION IN THEIR MINDS ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE DOING THE RIGHT THING.
DO THE RIGHT THING
IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER THAT IS BASED ON SELF-DISCIPLINE AND WILLPOWER, LONG-TERM THINKING IS ESSENTIAL. THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT THE LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR BEHAVIOR, THE MORE LIKELY IT IS THAT YOU WILL DO THE RIGHT THING IN THE SHORT TERM. SO WHEN YOU HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICES OR DECISION, ALWAYS ASK THE MAGIC QUESTION, "WHAT'S IMPORTANT HERE"?.
PRACTICE THE UNIVERSAL MAXIM OF IMMANUEL KANT. "RESOLVE TO BEHAVE AS THOUGH YOUR EVERY ACT WERE TO BECOME A UNIVERSAL LAW FOR ALL PEOPLE".
ONE OF THE GREATEST QUESTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER IS THIS, "WHAT KIND OF A WORLD WOULD THIS WORLD BE IF EVERYONE IN IT WAS JUST LIKE ME"?
WHENEVER YOU SLIP, WHENEVER YOU DO OR SAY SOMETHING THAT IS INCONSISTENT WITH YOUR HIGHEST VALUES, IMMEDIATELY "GET BACK ON YOUR HORSE". SAY TO YOURSELF, "THIS IS NOT LIKE ME"! AND RESOLVE THAT NEXT TIME YOU WILL DO BETTER.
WHAT YOU DWELL UPON GROWS
IF YOU ARE IN A SITUATION TODAY IN WHICH YOU ARE NOT LIVING UP TO YOUR HIGHEST VALUES, MAKE A DECISION, THIS VERY MINUTE, TO CONFRONT THE SITUATION AND STRAIGHTEN IT OUT. THE MINUTE YOU DO, YOU WILL ONCE AGAIN FEEL HAPPY AND BACK IN CONTROL.
THERE IS AN OLD INDIAN STORY, "ON MY SHOULDERS ARE TWO WOLVES.
ONE IS A BLACK WOLF, EVIL, WHO CONTINUALLY TEMPTS ME TO DO AND
SAY THE WRONG THINGS. ON MY OTHER SHOULDER IS A WHITE WOLF
THAT CONTINUALLY ENCOURAGES ME TO LIVE UP TO MY VERY BEST".
A LISTENER ASKED THE OLD MAN, "WHICH OF THESE WOLVES HAS THE GREATEST POWER OVER YOU"?
THE OLD MAN REPLIED, "THE ONE I FEED".
BY THE LAW OF CONCENTRATION, WHATEVER YOU DWELL ON GROWS AND INCREASES IN YOUR LIFE. WHEN YOU THINK AND TALK ABOUT THE VIRTUES AND VALUES THAT YOU MOST ADMIRE AND RESPECT, YOU THEREFORE PROGRAM THOSE VALUES DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS UNTIL THEY BEGIN TO OPERATE AUTOMATICALLY IN EVERY SITUATION.
WHENEVER YOU EXERCISE YOUR SELF-DISCIPLINE AND WILLPOWER TO LIVE YOUR LIFE CONSISTENTLY WITH THOSE VALUES THAT YOU MOST ASPIRE TO BE KNOWN FOR, YOU BEGIN TO MOVE RAPIDLY ALONG THE PATH TO BECOMING EXCELLENT PERSON.
