Service

The best way to get over feeling sorry for yourself is to serve others.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Obligations

When you fulfill your obligations to others you ultimately fulfill an obligation to yourself.


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Judging right and wrong

The easiest way to judge between right and wrong is to assess the potential consequences of our choices and behavior. We should also examine whether our values, standards, and beliefs are causing the consequences we want in our lives.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

A Clean Conscience

Our conscience is like a mirror in which our soul reflects upon itself and weighs what it sees against the highest standard of reality we perceive. And, much like any mirror, this reflection will become more realistic and clearer when we clean it. When we eliminate the blemishes caused by our past atrocities (along with their excuses and justifications) we enable ourselves to recognize reality and see things more clearly. Not only do we increase our ability to realistically judge between wrong and right, but we also augment our human capacity to be emotionally guided by this judgment.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Our Conscience

I believe that as human beings we are innately moral creatures. Most of us have the internal ability to judge between right and wrong, good and bad. And, we have the capacity to be emotionally guided by this judgment. We have a conscience. However, listening to our conscience requires effort and sacrifice. It requires choosing to pay attention.

Reaching Goals

We should always focus on the little steps that are necessary to achieve our goals and struggle to build a successful life like we would a house - one brick at a time.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Using today to create our future

Our life is transitory. Eventually, the day will come when it is no longer full of possibilities and potential, but only memories. Thus, we must learn to view the present, the here and now, as the time to make the most of our opportunities, strive towards our potential, and build a meaningful life. Today is the day that we create our memories and shape the legacy we will eventually leave behind. The legacy which, for good or bad, will be our eternal mark on posterity and will determine how we will be remembered, and how we will spend the rest of eternity.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

True Virtue vs. Transient Sentimentality

Although transient sentimentality and true virtue may have considerable external resemblance, they are easily distinguishable. Transient sentimentality is a selfish hypocrisy and does not endure, except as long as it fulfills its selfish purpose. However, true virtue is a selfless part of who we are. It wants nothing in return and thus it abides firm and constant.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Personal Growth

The best opportunities for emotional growth and development come when we are emotionally charged. Although we can work to prepare ourselves, it is difficult to practice overcoming our anger, boredom or depression until we are confronted with these emotions. Furthermore, I believe that the more intense these emotions are the more we can grow by overcoming them. For example, the best time for us to work on developing self-denial is when we are confronted with doing something we would really like to do, but that isn’t in line with our responsible goals and purpose. And the more we would like to do it (or the harder it is not to do it) the greater our opportunity is for growth. Similarly, the best opportunity to improve our self-discipline comes when we are confronted with obligations that need to be fulfilled, but we really don’t feel like taking the initiative to do them. And again, the more we don’t want to do them, the greater the opportunity we have for personal growth by overcoming our feelings and taking the initiative required to fulfill the obligations.  This principle is the same for any type of personal growth.

Responsible Relationships - Being Assertive

Being assertive in a relationship doesn’t mean being pushy, it means living with honesty and an open integrity in order to be fair to ourselves and others. It means actively seeking to understand things from another’s perspective, and then to communicate in ways in which we are fully understood. It means openly exchanging ideas, feelings, and concepts with others and then struggling to take their thoughts and perspectives into consideration. It means saying “yes” when it is in the responsible best interest of the relationship and not being afraid to say “no” when we are asked to do things against our better judgment. It means learning to form a balance between ourselves and others – one that is founded on empathy and understanding, and directed by our purpose and responsible objectives.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Responsible Relationships

As with all aspects of our lives, the only way we can improve our relationships is by working on ourselves. No matter how hard we try, we simply cannot change others directly. But I have discovered that much of the time we can change the way other people relate to us by changing the way we relate to them.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Responsible Relationships

In order to be handled responsibly, every relationship, no matter how intimate or casual it may be, requires the ability to see things from another’s point of view.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

The mode of communications for our emotions is non-verbal

When learning to have empathy for others, it is important to realize that while the mode of communications for the rational mind is verbal, the mode of communications for our emotions is non-verbal.

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

The key to making good decisions

When we judge others, we should pretend that we are the ones who are being judged. Only then will we be able to judge fairly. When we buy we should imagine that we are the seller, and when we sell we should perceive ourselves as the buyer. Then we can buy and sell with integrity. When we are offended, we should imagine that we are the offender and when we hurt someone, we should envision ourselves as the ones being hurt. Only then can we show true mercy and sincere sorrow.


http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Empathy

Empathy for others builds off of self-awareness. We must first be attuned to our own feelings before we can become skilled at reading feelings in others.


http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Personal Success

We simply cannot say YES to happiness and success unless we first say NO to all the things which could cause us to be unhappy and unsuccessful.


http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Delaying Gratification

In order to be successful you must learn to delay gratification, control your impulses, and deny yourself things for your own benefit or for the common good. It is important to remember that no matter what we choose, we are always saying “no” to something. If we don’t say “no” to drugs, then we say “no” to the higher level of consciousness that is required to be successful in a responsible way of life. If we don’t say “no” to irresponsible behavior, then not only do we say “no” to the inner sense of integrity, peace, goodness, self-worth and self-esteem that is the consequence of living righteously, we also say “no” to reaching our full potential. 

http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Emotional Self Direction

An important aspect of learning to manage and control our emotions is developing the ability to direct our emotions in the service of some goal or objective. Self-motivation, self-discipline, self-denial, delaying gratification, and stifling impulsiveness are all emotional related qualities that we must actively seek to develop in order to live responsibly. As with all other types of emotional self-control, we can develop these abilities through practice.


 http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Avoiding Anger

Each time we allow ourselves to become angry, we produce a mental state in which we are vulnerable to unrealistic thoughts and perceptions, and more likely to behave irresponsibly and return to a criminal way of life.  Contrary to popular belief, anger is not a naturally inherent part of life.  Anger as an emotion is actually unnecessary and can only impede performance.  Nothing positive comes from being angry.  And any objective that can be accomplished through anger can be accomplished much easier, and better, through other means.


http://www.choosetodoright.com/

Anger

Anger and its core emotions (such as hate, resentment, frustration, irritability, annoyance, etc.) are dangerous because they are powerful enough to momentarily override rational thought and eliminate the deterrents to behaving irresponsibly.