*Everything* Contributes to Your Advancement

ByMatthew

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. – Emerson

On the heels of yesterday’s post, let me ask:

What are you rejecting?

What do you wish hadn’t happened?

Or, what situation or circumstance do you wish were different?

Because, as Emerson so eloquently describes, everything that happens contributes to your advancement.

***

(What are you resisting, that is persisting?)

***

But wait!

You protest: “Emerson said ‘every good thing that comes to you,’ not everything.”

Actually, read closer (as I needed to initially… ) the first half of the second sentence clears it all up:

“And because all things have contributed to your advancement . . . ” [my emphasis]

Being grateful for everything that has happened doesn’t mean you want “bad” things to happen again, or regularly, only that by rejecting certain parts of your experience, you reject parts of who you are (i.e. the stuff that has helped “make” you).

Be grateful for it all – and learn from it all – but seek to repeat and strengthen the best stuff.

Similar Posts

  • The Vital Importance of Learning

    ByMatthew

    “Always desire to learn something useful.” – Sophocles Learning is vitally important these days. The willingness, and ability, to learn means we understand that the nature of things is change. That we cannot stand still if we want to useful, productive and happy. Learning though doesn’t need to be all about skills and competencies, it…

  • Look Back, or Forward?

    ByMatthew

    Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw The only thing you’ll “find” when you look for yourself is who you were. That kind of thinking puts you, and points towards, the past. Nothing can be done, or made, or created, in the past.* Look to create yourself. That happens in…

  • The Power of Division

    ByMatthew

    Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it. – Rene Descartes Anthony Robbins would call the above “chunking.” He would say we should chunk everything down to whatever size necessary to take action on something and complete it. There’s a lot to what he, and Descartes, say. *…

  • What About Your Legacy?

    ByMatthew

    Please think about your legacy, because you’re writing it every day. – Gary Vaynerchuk So many people think “legacy” is just something to worry about when you’re “old.” This is unfortunate on two counts: 1) Worrying is just a misuse of one’s imagination. The best thing to do is decide what you want to create…