One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. – Abraham Maslow
I would edit Maslow’s suggestion a bit and suggest that rather than (concerning ourselves with) “overcoming fear,” that we focus on its opposite: love.
Choose growth again and again, and focus on love over and over.
That is how you can move forward towards growth.
I was having a conversation with a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while. As I’m wont to do, I started offering my thoughts on living well, how our lives work and all that. He listened patiently, and might even have gleaned something useful from my blabbering. Something I mentioned, that seemed to pique…
Default. Habitual. Less-than-fully-Conscious. Routine. Comfortable. The Usual. So much of what we do is out of habit. It’s routine. It’s just the way we do it. There’s good reason for how this happens and why. We’re built to create and use routines and habits. It’s efficient. It leaves room to focus on threats and survival. It’s primitive….
We hear a lot about soft skills (emotional intelligence (EI) and the like). I’ve always been a bit bothered by the characterization of such vital skills as “soft.” With the exception of such things as pillows and the like, “soft” is a pejorative – especially for men. I’m here to shift that. From now on, let’s…
Trust is not static. It’s either growing or dying. It’s true for our relationship with our Self or others. I had a realization (it’s what prompted this post… ) that it’s not enough to be kind to those we know and “neutral” to others. Because rationing our kindness – even if its not conscious – creates doubt…
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it. – Rabindranath Tagore Change is constant and inevitable. Difficulties only end when we do (i.e. we die). There will be joy, and pain….
Defeat never comes to any man until he admits it. – Josephus Daniels . . . when you give up. When you stop learning and trying. When you decide that (the illusion of) safety and stagnation is better than intelligent risks and action. Losing is not defeat. “Failure” is not defeat. Not-getting-what-you-want is not defeat….