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Story Archives: Words create your world
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Words create your world
have just finished reading the book "Happiness" for the second time. Dr. Ben-Shahar, a professor at Harvard, is the author.
Shahar began teaching a class in happiness several years ago. The first year he had eight students enroll with two dropping out. The next year he had 380 sign up. The third year the class had 855 students enrolled. It had become the largest class at Harvard.
The following are some lessons that that I took from this class.
1. While levels of material prosperity are on the rise, so are the levels of depression. 2. Leonardo da Vinci pointed out that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." 3. Success feeds on itself, but we must remember that failure does the same. 4. Aristotle wrote that we are what we repeatedly do. 5. One of the objectives toward reaching success is to spend as much time as possible engaged in activities that provide both present and future benefits.
6. A happy person enjoys positive emotions while perceiving her life as purposeful. 7. Meaning comes from having a sense of purpose. 8. Emotions cause motion. 9. The important thing is that we choose our purpose in accordance with our own values and passions rather than conforming to others' expectations. 10. Abraham Maslow maintains that a person "cannot choose wisely for a life unless he dares to listen to himself, his own self, at each moment in life"
11. Make a list of the things that are most meaningful and pleasurable to you that make you the happiest. 12. Most of us want to be wealthy, but we must understand that happiness is the ultimate currency. 13. Financial security can liberate us from work that we do not find meaningful and from having to worry about the next paycheck. Even so, it is not the money per se that is valuable but the fact that it can potentially yield more positive experiences. 14. Long term depression may be seen as a sort of emotional bankruptcy—the duration and intensity of negative experiences (losses) overwhelm the positive ones (income). 15. People who set goals are more likely to succeed than people who do not. Having explicit objectives that are challenging and specific — with clear time and performance criteria — leads to better performance.
16. Setting a goal is about making a commitment in words, and words have the power to create a better future. The power mission that I used when I coached at Claiborne Christian to create a desire to succeed was "First the vision, then the decision, and then the commitment." 17. Ohad Kamin a philosophy teacher at Harvard made this statement. "Life is short. In choosing a path make sure you first identify those things that you can do. Out of those, select the ones that you want to do. Then, reduce your choice further by zooming in on what you really want to do. Finally, select those things that you really, really want to do—and then do them." Pretty simple. Remember it was da Vinci who said that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 18. Words, after all, can create worlds. The Bible states that God spoke the world into existence. 19. Think of the best teacher that you had in school. What did he or she do to draw the love of learning out of you? 20. Without passion, motivation wanes; with passion; motivation increases, and over time, so does ability.
Abraham Maslow once wrote that the most beautiful fate, the most wonderful good fortune that can happen to any human being, is to be paid for doing that which he passionately loves to do. This statement defines life's ultimate currency.
Robert Charles Payne is an inspirational writer who lives in West Monroe. He can be contacted by e-mailing robertcharlespayne@yahoo.com. |
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