The Deliberate Life

Staying Grounded

I recently heard an interview on NPR with Morgan Freeman.  The interviewer was asking Mr. Freeman how he approached his work.

Freeman: "I'm offstage now, the moment doesn't live with me. Onstage, switch on; offstage, switch off."

Interviewer: So he never abandons himself to a role?

Freeman:  "I don't think complete abandon works, it's a job. You have to control it; if it controls you, I think you can get lost."

Managing Imbalance

Exceptional achievement is a product of personal vision, focus, commitment, discipline and persistence . . . it's about managing personal imbalance.  This article from "The Change Blog" highlights the critical link between perceived imbalance and exceptional achievement.

The Long Ride

You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
                                                                               - Anonymous

The Long Run

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.  When the sun comes up, you better start running.  An African Proverb

Concentration and Desire (Part V)

Part Five of "How Concentration Can Fulfill Your Desire" from Lesson Sixteen of the "Power of Concentration":

I know a man that started in business with thirteen cents and not a dollar's worth of credit. In ten years he has built up a large and profitable business. He attributes his success to two things--belief that he would succeed and hard work. There were times when it did not look like he could weather the storm. He was being pressed by his creditors who considered him bankrupt. They would have taken fifty cents on the dollar for his notes and considered themselves lucky. But by keeping up a bold front he got an extension of time when needed.

Concentration and Desire (Part IV)

Part Four of "How Concentration Can Fulfill Your Desire" from Lesson Sixteen of the "Power of Concentration":

It may seem that it would be unnecessary to caution you to concentrate only upon achievement that will be good for you and work no harm to another, but there are many who forget others and their rights, in their anxiety to achieve success. All good things are possible for you to have, but only as you bring your forces into harmony with that law that requires that we mete out justice to fellow travelers as we journey along life's road. So first think over the thing wanted and if it would be good for you to have; say, "I want to do this; I am going to work to secure it. The way will be open for me."

Concentration and Desire (Part III)

Part Three of "How Concentration Can Fulfill Your Desire" from Lesson Sixteen of the "Power of Concentration":

Form the habit of thinking of something you wish to accomplish for five minutes each day. Shut every other thought out of consciousness. Be confident that you will succeed; make up your mind that all obstacles that are in your way will be overcome and you can rise above any environment.

You do this by utilizing the natural laws of the thought world which are all powerful.

Concentration and Desire (Part II)

Part Two of "How Concentration Can Fulfill Your Desire" from Lesson Sixteen of the "Power of Concentration":

Man must learn more and more to depend on himself; to seek more for the Infinite within. It is from this source alone that he ever gains the power to solve his practical difficulties. No one should give up when there is always the resources of Infinity. The cause of failure is that men search in the wrong direction for success, because they are not conscious of their real powers that when used are capable of guiding them.

Concentration and Desire (Part I)

Part One of "How Concentration Can Fulfill Your Desire" from Lesson Sixteen of the "Power of Concentration":

"It is a spiritual law that the desire to do necessarily implies the ability to do."

You have all read of "Aladdin's Lamp," which accomplished such wonderful things. This, of course, is only a fairy story, but it illustrates the fact that man has within him the power, if he is able to use it, to gratify his every wish.

If you are unable to satisfy your deepest longings it is time you learned how to use your God-given powers. You will soon be conscious that you have latent powers within capable when once developed of revealing to you priceless knowledge and unlimited possibilities of success.

Concentrate So You Will Not Forget (Part III)

Part Three of "Concentrate So You Will Not Forget" from Lesson Fifteen of the "Power of Concentration":

Nature is a Wonderful Instructor. But there are very few who realize that when we get in touch with nature we discover ourselves. That by listening to her voice, with that curious, inner sense of ours, we learn the oneness of life and wake up to our own latent powers.

Few realize that the simple act of listening and concentrating is our best interior power, for it brings us into close contact with the highest, just as our other senses bring us into touch with the coarser side of human nature. The closer we live to nature the more developed is this sense. "So called" civilization has over developed our other senses at the expense of this one.