17-07-06

Here's the real secret of success: Regardless of our mortal limitations, our potential for greatness is unlimited when we have the power of the Almighty behind us.
All God asks is that we try. Don't keep Him waiting

God made the physical world for us to enjoy.
Sleep and comfort is painless. But that is not the goal of living!
In reality, pain is the price you pay for pleasure. If you want to graduate college and get a good job, you have to study hard. If you want to become an Olympic gold-medal champion, you have to experience the pain of sore muscles.
Equating comfort with pleasure is counterfeit. Real pleasure comes only as a result of effort.
· There is no exchange rate between the various levels of pleasure.
· Watch out for counterfeit pleasures.
· For every pleasure, the price tag is effort.
The key is awareness. When you are aware, you won't lose control and allow your appetites to rule over you.
Infatuation is not love, it's just physical attraction, the counterfeit. Real love is forever. Real love takes work. You have to be willing to make the effort.
Western society has another version of counterfeit pleasure: financial success. You can be a good husband, a good friend, a loyal human being, a thinker, and an intellectual -- but if you haven't made a lot of money, you are a failure.
Don't fall for "looking" good. True goodness comes from doing the right thing.
Imagine someone who has mastered the pleasure. She enjoys enormous wealth and material pleasures, a beautiful loving family, meaning in life, power used to create good in the world. Yet there's still something missing.
An encounter with God.
No human being is totally satisfied unless she's in touch with the transcendent dimension. When all is said and done, what we each seek is to reach out of this finite world and connect with the infinite. To become one with God.

By upgrading your self-image, you can upgrade your way of speaking and acting. This improves character traits, emotional states, and your ability to make and reach worthwhile goals.
Building your self-image is a lifetime process. Every positive act that you do builds your character. Every positive goal that you set -- and reach -- raises your identity.

"My choices create me. I will wisely choose my thoughts, words, and actions."
"My immense value is a Divine gift. I have had immense value from my first moment of life and it stays with me my entire life."
"Nothing anyone says to me can take away my immense value."
"I will consistently speak to others in ways that are self-respecting and respectful."
"All needless limitations are just from my imagination. In my imagination I will see myself going way beyond these imaginary limitations."
"My thoughts are the key to my self-image and my emotions. I will focus on joyful and empowering thoughts."
"I am a person who grows from each and every challenge."
"I am building and developing my character each and every day."
"I will see the positive in other people and I will say and do what I can to help build their self-image."
"I am becoming more and more self-confident all the time.""Each and every day I will choose to speak and act in ways that keep developing my self-image."