Day Four: Slaying the Phone Dragon Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive — the risk to be alive and express what we really are. – Don Miguel Ruiz The phone rings. The phone rings again. The phone rings yet again. If it rings …
Continue reading “Defending My Life- Day Four of Facing My Fears”
DAY THREE – Thwarted by Timing, Saved by Asking For Help You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt Facing my fears has proven just as difficult as I …
Continue reading “Defending My Life – Day Three of Facing My Fears”
DAY TWO – Getting a Name and Assigning a Penalty I have an amazingly difficult time initiating conversation, even with people I know. In group situations I tend to sit back, observe the flow of the conversation and then if I feel I can add something or have a question to ask, I contribute. Unless …
Continue reading “Defending My Life – Day Two of Facing My Fears”
Are you familiar with the 90s movie by Albert Brooks, Defending Your Life? The basic premise is a man dies, goes to a purgatory where his life is analyzed to determine if he has conquered fear. If has hasn’t conquered fear he goes back to Earth for another go around. If he has, he gets …
Many of Gracian’s maxims cause conflict in me and this one seems aimed at the core of my being. Passion, I believe, is what drives people to personal success. When you care about something to such an extent that it goes beyond a goal but is an emotion, the steps you need to take to …
I won’t lie and say that I don’t struggle trying to interpret the seventh maxim. This maxim is the second one that feels manipulative and less than ethical in the modern sense of the word. I am not a person who is willing to sell myself short in order to gain advancement in life. I …