Team Alpha 375

THE 7 TIMELESS VIRTUES OF ENLIGHTENED LIVING

The fable shines light on these “7 Timeless Virtues of Enlightened Living”:

1.      Master Your Mind

2.      Follow Your Purpose

3.      Practice Kaizen (constant and never-ending improvement)

4.      Live with Discipline

5.      Respect Your Time

6.      Selflessly Serve Others

7.      Embrace the Present

INVEST IN YOURSELF

“Six hundred and seventy-two hours of inner work to profoundly improve every waking moment of the rest of your life is quite a bargain, don’t you think? Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.”

Brilliant.

Invest one month to truly LIVE the ideals you’re studying. Six hundred and seventy-two hours to affect the REST of your life and EVERYONE in it. Seems like a great investment to me. You?

So...To what do YOU need to commit a month? Is it getting up early? Making time for your kids? Making time for your self in the morning? A meditation practice? Working out? (All of the above? :)

You might say: “Ah, shucks. I’m just way too busy to invest time in this stuff.”

Where will I find the 15-30 minutes for meditation? The 30-60 minutes for exercise? The time for journaling? For scheduling my priorities into my days?

Robin likes to say that suggesting you’re too busy to slow down and invest in yourself is like saying you’re too busy driving to stop for gas. It makes no sense.

Your car needs to be re-filled with gas. YOU need to re-fill your soul with mojo.

So: Commit to living your ideals. One month. Rock it.

BLUEPRINTING

“All I’m saying is that to liberate the potential of your mind, body and soul, you must first expand your imagination. You see, things are always created twice: first in the workshop of the mind and then, and only then, in reality. I call this process ‘blueprinting’ because anything you create in your outer world began as a simple blueprint in your inner world.”

Blueprinting. Love that. Reminds me of Stephen Covey’s Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind.

As Sharma says, EVERYTHING is created twice: FIRST in your mind, then in your reality. Think about it: that place you live in? Check.

The computer you downloaded this on? The glass you drink your water from and the chair you’re sitting in? Check. Check. Check.

The challenge is that too often we spend all of our energy thinking about things we DON’T want and then we spend all the spare time thinking about and blueprinting our vacation so we can escape the stress!

Imagine gaining control of your mind, developing your imagination and ability to envision your ideal life, and blueprinting THAT into your consciousness then into your journal and then into your life.

And then DO IT! (For at least a month, please.)

THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS

We’ll get right to the point here: What do you truly love? And what % of your energy are you putting towards it?

I truly love

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I dedicate ____ % of my energy to doing what I truly love. How’s it looking? Do you know what you love?

If you do know what you love, how much of your energy are you investing in it? Do you need to take more risks and give yourself more fully to the world? What can you start doing NOW to invest more energy where it needs to go?

Remember Goethe who advised us: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” (See my Notes on The 80/20 Principle for full chat.)

And Maslow who said: “What you CAN be, you MUST be.” AND: “If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.”

If you don’t know what you love, DISCOVERING it is your primary job. Figure it out. Passionately and joyfully seek to discover your Highest Calling. Read, journal, meditate, contemplate, discuss ideas, take a sabbatical. Whatever you need to do.

KNOW THYSELF. Know who you are, what you love, what you’re here to do.

And... DO IT!

So, what will happen when you put all your energy into that which you love?

Per Robin: “You will wake up every morning with a limitless reservoir of energy and enthusiasm. All your thoughts will be focused on your definite objective. You won’t have time to waste time. Valuable mental power will, therefore, not be wasted on trifling thoughts. You will automatically erase the worry habit and become far more effective and productive. Interestingly, you will also have a deep sense of inner harmony, as if you are somehow being guided to realize your mission. It is a wonderful feeling.”

So, get on that. (Pretty, please.)