Blog Post

What are the standards you set for your life? What guiding precepts do you look to in order to become the person you wish to be? Maybe it is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do to you? Perhaps the Ten Commandments? Or, possibly Matthew 22: 37-39 or some other nugget of wisdom from the Tao Te Ching, the Annalects of Confucius, the Torah, the Quran, the Bible, or one of the many other books of wisdom available to us? There is a great deal out there to guide us in our journey to be better. 

As a Christian, I have much to fall back upon, or support me in my efforts to better myself. Over the course of the past year I have also been heavily influenced by Stoicism and what I read in this branch of philosophy. Here are three ideas that I am trying to incorporate into my life in order to expedite my journey to becoming a better version of myself. 

Act like you wished you felt. Father Joe Krupp of Holy Family Catholic Church in Grand Blanc, Michigan dropped this one on me one Sunday morning. It resonated from the moment it left his mouth and found my ears. Act like you wished you felt. Rather than let your thoughts - often negative - control your actions, act your way into a better way of thinking. Make your thoughts subordinate to your actions. 

Do not be caught complaining. There are more than enough complainers and problem-bringers in this world; stand out from the crowd and use your words to bring peace and positivity to all you encounter. It is far too easy to fall into the habit of complaining and operating from a deficit mindset. Choose to be different, choose to be better.

Refuse to be offended. This one is hard for me to adopt. I don’t think it is because we operate in an environment where seemingly every single “thing” is now a “thing”, but rather it is my own ego and selfishness that get in the way. I, too often, make things about me when they most likely are not at all about me. Logically I recognize that the vast majority of the people in my world are far too busy living their own lives to spend any time at all worrying about mine. However, emotionally I frequently trip over my willingness to think it is all about me. 

There they are: three little, simple sayings I am trying to incorporate into my daily life. Act like you wished you felt; Do not be caught complaining; and Refuse to be offended. I write these on a whiteboard in my home office at the beginning of each week, but I am still struggling to make them habits of thought and action. I will get there. What standards have you set for your life?