2001. Want more for others than you do for
yourself; that is, be compassionate;
2002. Rather than saddling yourself with
self-limiting labels, affirm: I am
capable of accomplishing anything I place my attention upon;
2003. Complaining and explaining are the two huge
allies of excuse making. Generally
speaking, when you resort to complaining you employ an excuse of one kind or
another, placing the responsibility for what’s upsetting you on something or
someone external to yourself.
Complaining about the way somebody has performed (or failed to perform)
is another way of making an excuse for why you’re dissatisfied or unhappy;
2004. By not expecting to be impacted in a negative
or fearful way, you have a much better chance of eliciting the reaction you
want. You have a higher chance of your
family members being supportive when you support your own desires and
intentions. And do be willing to endure
any disapproval you might face by asserting your strong beliefs about your
purpose in life–that disapproval will most assuredly morph into respect,
gratitude, and even awe;
2005. Loving what you have and being in a
continuous state of contentment is the key to having what you want. Also, be willing to contemplate that whatever
assistance you need is on its way, even when you can’t predict where it’s
coming from;
2006. Whenever you’re tempted to use an excuse to
explain some deficiency in your life (or even after you’ve noticed that you
just relied on a long-standing alibi), silently put the excuse to the truth
test. Simply and honestly answer these
two questions: (1) Is it true? and
(2) Can I be 100 percent certain that
it’s true? As you do, you’ll
discover that no excuse pattern holds up to this scrutiny;
2007. Create an explanation that reverses the
excuse you’re using. It should be just
as capable of being either true or untrue as your mental crutch, but the
difference is that this explanation leads you away from self-defeat. Since neither your old excuse nor your new
belief can be 100 percent guaranteed, and you’re free to hold either of these
two visions for yourself, why not select the one that will work for the highest aspirations you hold,
rather than against them?
2008. Once you start understanding, you can stop
rationalizing and justifying. Your past
isn’t another reason to explain your deficiencies;
2009. Everyone
in my life did what they knew how to do, and I chose to buy into it at that
time. But today I’m going to stop this
insidious kind of absurd thinking. I
will no longer entertain thoughts of my being unworthy–I’ve lived with them
long enough, and they’ve never served my highest good;
2010. The excuse It’s not my nature came directly from the list of what you were
taught you couldn’t do or be. You were
formulated and then crafted into the finished product that your family and
culture desired. When you’re told “You can’t
do this; you can only do that” enough times, and you’re willing to become the
product the people around you want you to be, then you believe that your nature
is what you’ve been told. You act on the
pronouncements about yourself that you’ve absorbed. So if you hear that you’re lazy, undeserving,
or uncoordinated often enough, it ultimately leads you to adopt this as your
self-portrait. If you’re told over and
over again that you’re just like your father and he never amounted to anything,
then you’ll ultimately view your nature the way that others viewed your dad;
2011. I chose
to allow the opinions of others to be more important than my fledgling opinions
of who I was and what I intended to become.
Yes, I was small and vulnerable, but it was still my choice;
2012. Academic performance has nothing to do with
your potential for intellectual mastery;
2013. Laws provide against injury from others; but
not from ourselves;
2014. I chose
to use excuses as a child. I didn’t
realize at the time that I had other choices available. I realize I’ve continued to choose those excuses
until now;
2015. Forgive everyone, including yourself. All those individuals who proliferated mind
viruses and conditioning were only doing what they knew how to do given the
circumstances of their lives. Keep in
mind the line from the Prayer of Saint Francis: “It is in pardoning that we are
pardoned.” Eschew blame and free
yourself from anything that’s been plaguing your life and holding you
back. By forgiving everyone, you pardon
them . . . and yourself;
2016. Nothing is in reality either pleasant or
unpleasant by nature; but all things become so by habit;
2017. Many behaviors and thought patterns persist
because of perceived rewards . . . which may not be that good for you. In fact, most of the psychological benefits
you receive from your excuse-making habit are actually quite self-destructive;
2018. Avoidance is a common and easily identifiable
payoff, or the psychological reward that allows you to be somewhat at peace
with yourself when you make self-thwarting decisions. The excuse becomes your ally, even though
it’s an ally that doesn’t have your best interests at heart;
2019. None of us like to feel unsafe, so excuses
become what we use to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Rather than wandering off into uncharted
territory where we might face the risk of low performance, failure, criticism,
exhaustion, the unknown, appearing foolish, getting hurt, and the like, it’s
more convenient to retreat into a haven of familiarity. The problem is that the excuse habit only
brings us a false sense of security, in the same way a “blanky” comforts a
frightened child;
2020. Any excuse at all offers the bountiful reward
of the easy way out. Let’s face it, when you’re confronted with a
choice between doing something requiring effort and something that’s effortless
and easy, you’re apt to pick the latter, even if it’s not the choice that will
actually lead to your objectives;
2021. Your highest self wants you to fulfill your
destiny, which often involves some type of sacrifice, expenditure of time,
mental and physical energy, and material resources. Ego is frequently in conflict with what your
highest self desires–your false self pushes and cajoles you into staying put,
threatened by anything that disrupts its mission of keeping you nice and
comfortable by avoiding difficult choices.
Thus, there’s a big payoff for using excuses that allow you to take the
easy road;
2022. Excuses are simply explanations you make to
yourself that have no necessary bearing on the truth–yet even though they’re
lies, they do bring you some sort of reward.
So while your only evidence may be a habitual thought, if you convince
yourself that you’re right, you get to retreat into the illusion of
winning. In this case, the excuse is a
deception that props up your low self-esteem.
You’ve substituted an excuse in place of authentic self-worth, and the
payoff is that your reasoning helps you live with yourself without
acknowledging your self-deceit;
2023. When you resort to using an excuse, the
ultimate payoff is that you remove responsibility for your own shortcomings and
place responsibility for them on the shoulders of someone else;
2024. Make the decision that you’ll no longer use
excuses to keep you from what you know is in your best interest. Today, act on something you’ve always avoided
and explained away with a convenient excuse;
2025. Remind yourself that no one can ever make you
feel anything without your consent.
Therefore, there’s no one to blame for whatever is taking place in your
life;
2026. When you feel dejected or out of sorts, ask
yourself: Do I wish to use the present
moment–the precious currency of my life–in this manner? This will help you to become conscious of the
importance of being here now–not just in your body, but in your thinking as
well;
2027. Become conscious of just how valuable the
present is, and obliterate that old tendency to use excuses for the purpose of
escaping the moment;
2028. Eliminating lifelong thinking habits cannot
and will not happen if it doesn’t strike you as a sensible thing to do. It doesn’t really matter that everyone you
know tells you how important it is to change–if it doesn’t make sense to you,
then you’ll retreat to your old ways and continue to explain them away with
your convenient laundry list of excuses.
If the answer to Do I really want
to bring about this change? is yes, then that’s all you need in order to
proceed and succeed. But if you have any
doubts whatsoever, your old excuse making will surface, and you’ll revert back
to your long-held habits;
2029. If you want to shed old habits and excuses,
take some time to visit that private place within you. Close your eyes and visualize yourself as
being completely free of these limitations . . . how does your body react? If you feel good, that’s all the evidence you
need to prove to yourself that you have a rational reason to change;
2030. If you’re hanging on to a whole bunch of
habits that have been reinforced by excuses, note that these will make you feel
bad. Your old mental crutches only serve
to keep you from having an experience within your body that registers as
“good,” so you may even be accustomed to being emotionally bankrupt;
2031. Pain, anxiety, fear, anger, and the like make
themselves known in your body as rashes, eczema, heart palpitations, arthritis,
backaches, headaches, stomachaches, diarrhea, eyestrain, cramps, and many more
ailments too numerous to mention. The
point is that these emotional reactions that show up in the body can become
your way of life, to the point that they define your reality. And when you’re questioning why that is,
that’s when the excuse I’ve always been
this way tends to rear its ugly head;
2032. Reheated, bottled pasta sauce makes a pretty
good dipping sauce;
2033. If the lifelong thinking pattern you’d like
to change doesn’t make sense to you but everyone around you is telling you that
it’s the right thing to do, erase it from your mind;
2034. By being brutally honest with yourself,
determine if, given the conditions of your life and how well you know yourself,
this lifelong thinking pattern you’d like to change is truly doable. You may not know how to do it, but you can still assess if it is in fact something
that’s possible for you. If it isn’t
then discard it;
2035. Picture yourself as being free of your
habituated way of being, totally disconnected from the habit. If that idea doesn’t make you feel good–and I
mean really good–then it’s not for
you;
2036. Fourth line, left wingers can’t dance/skate
Gangnam style, but second line, right wingers can (specifically Matt Hendricks
and Troy Brouwer of the Washington Capitals);
2037. A woman’s nipple can protrude out 3/8th
of an inch;
2038. How do you make a “dancer” jump? The answer is: By pinching her (protruding) nipple;
2039. “Dancers” can have very strong thighs;
2040. Some people actually name their daughters
Bambi;
2041. You don’t attract what you desire; you
attract what you are;
2042. You can’t just wish for a change, or simply
think about what you want, and expect it to appear. To see the old habits fall away and access
Divine guidance in making your life work at the highest levels of happiness,
success, and health, you must forget
about what’s in it for you. Start
practicing higher awareness by serving and wanting even more for others than
you want for yourself. Otherwise, you’ll
never experience the subtle joy of a blissful, fulfilled life;
2043. You can’t demand guidance; it will come when
you align as your Source is aligned;
2044. It’s a flat rate of $33.00 to take a taxi
from Miami (International) Airport to South Beach;
2045. You know it’s a dive bar when Happy Hour goes
from 8:00 AM until 7:00 PM (i.e., Mac’s Club Deuce);
2046. Watch out for places in South Beach that lure
you in with lunch (and drink) specials and when they seat you, you actually
have to ask for the specials menu (specifically 530 Ocean’s Grill);
2047. You know the food is bad when the (lemon
honey) salmon is overcooked, chewy and tastes like bacon drippings;
2048. Be wary of places in South Beach that lure
you in with drink specials and their drink menus don’t actually have any prices
on them (specifically the Kitchen Restaurant) . . . and when they try to upsell
you the seafood sampler, just say no;
2049. Most places on Ocean Drive (in South Beach)
will give you a to go cup for your drink;
2050. “Friction dancing” is just another way of
saying dry humping;
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