Little Deep Thoughts

As the subject is somewhat complex, I will have to explain it to you. The first point is that there is not very much difference in the intelligence of people after all. The great man is not so great as folks think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not aware that he has any show-window or any goods. "The soul knows all things, and knowledge is only a remembering," says  Emerson. This seems a very broad statement; and yet the fact remains that the vast majority of men know a thousand times as much as they are aware of. Far down in the silent depths of subconsciousness lie myriads of truths, each awaiting a time when its owner shall call it forth. To utilise these stored-up thoughts, you must express them to others; and to be able to express them well your soul has to soar into this subconscious realm where ...

Become a performer. Be an actor and a singer. Act like you already feel like you want to feel. Don't wait until the feeling motivates you. It could be a long wait. Most of us believe that an emotion, such as happiness, comes first. Then we do whatever we do, in reaction to that particular emotion. Not so. The emotion arises simultaneously with the doing of the act. So if you want to be enthusiastic, you can get there by acting as if you were already enthusiastic. Sometimes it takes a minute. Sometimes it skips a beat. But it always works if you stay with it, no matter how ridiculous you feel doing it. Feel ridiculous. If you want to be happy, find the happiest song you know and sing it. It works. Not always in the first few moments, but if you keep at it, it works. Just fake it until you make it. Soon your happy singing will show you how much control you do have over your own emotions. When people do a laughing meditation in which they all gather in a circle and get ready to ...

Sometimes we don't do things because we're not sure we can do them well. We feel that we're not in the mood or at the right energy level to do the task we have to do, so we put it off, or wait for inspiration to arrive. The most commonly known example of this phenomenon is what writers call "writer's block." A mental barrier seems to set in that prevents a writer from writing. Sometimes it gets so severe that writers go to psychotherapists to get help for it. The "block" (or lack of self-motivation) occurs not because the writer can't write, but because the writer thinks he can't write  well . In other words, the writer thinks he doesn't have the proper energy or inspiration to write something, right now, that's good enough to submit. So the pessimistic voice inside the writer says, "You can't think of anything to write, can you?" This happens to many of us, even with something as small as a postcard to send, or an ov...

To basketball coach John Wooden, making each day your masterpiece was not just about selfish personal achievement. In his autobiography, They Call Me Coach , he mentions an element vital to creating each day. "You cannot live a perfect day," he said, "without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." I agree with that. But there's a way to make sure you can't be repaid-and that's doing something for someone who won't even know who did it. This gets into a theory I've had all my life, that you can create luck in your life. Not from the idea that luck is needed for success, because it isn't. But from the idea that luck can be a welcome addition to your life. You can create luck for yourself by creating it for someone else. If you know about someone who is hurting financially, you arrange for a few hundred dollars to arrive at their home, and they don't even know who you are, then you've made them lucky. By m...

Sunlight and laughter. That's what cures most fears and worries. Terrifying problems are better solved in the light than in the dark. And there are many ways to bring them into the light. Pick a frightening problem. Then do the following: talk about it with someone, draw an illustrated map of it on a huge piece of paper, make "Top 10" lists about the problem, tell yourself some jokes about the problem, sing about the problem, and, finally, dance a dance that expresses the problem. If you do all these things, I promise you that your problem will seem a lot funnier, and less frightening, than it once did. It is impossible to laugh deeply and be frightened at the same time. Humor is the highest form of creativity. It's the hardest to produce and the most enjoyable to receive. Humor, like all other creativity, is a matter of making unusual combinations. The more surprising the combination, the funnier the humor. Your own motivational level will always be lifted by ...

I have certain messages, quotations, sayings that I read in the morning. There is one that I always read no matter what, and I will never move this one out of the line-up: "He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Our usual system is to not only avoid what we fear, but also to avoid knowing that we are avoiding things. We don't know why we have this vague feeling of danger and insecurity. We just know it's there. Every day I practice this avoidance, I become weaker and more cowardly. I get scared more easily, sometimes by the smallest things-the phone ringing, an e-mail from a creditor. Courage and strength do not remain in place. The same is true with my soul and spirit. Each day I skip Emerson's advice to face a small or large fear, it's like my arm not lifting a small or large weight. Weakness creeps in. Therefore I use the quote as a message across time from Emerson to me. I see it in the ...

This fear is almost as universal as the fear of poverty, and its effects are just as fatal to personal achievement, mainly because this fear destroys initiative, and discourages the use of imagination. The major symptoms of the fear are: Self-consciousness - Generally expressed through nervousness, timidity in conversation and in meeting strangers, awkward movement of the hands and limbs, shifting of the eyes. Lack of poise - Expressed through lack of voice control, nervousness in the presence of others, poor posture of body, poor memory. Personality - Lacking in firmness of decision, personal charm, and ability to express opinions definitely. The habit of side-stepping issues instead of meeting them squarely. Agreeing with others without careful examination of other opinions. Inferiority complex - The habit of expressing self approval by word of mouth and by actions, as means of covering up a feeling of inferiority. Using "big words" to impress others, (often wi...