“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle - Greek philosopher (384 BC - 322 BC)
I got this quote from Aristotle and I started to think about it because it has been repeated over and over again in many books that I’ve been reading. It was said more than 2,380 year ago and it still alive because we really are what we do, what we eat, what we think, what we drink….
In the same way that we have to create a habit to eat health food, we need to create a habit to be positive, to be optimistic, to see thing not as problems, but as the Chinese’s say, as an opportunity, to create or feel something good even if it looks bad or sad. I might say that it is not so easy, try to stay 5 minutes without a bad thought and tell me how hard it is, but it can be trained and it can become a habit. So, next time that you have a bad or a sad thought, switch right way for something that make you feel good or reenergized. Keep doing that and I’m sure that a new way of life will appear in front of you.
My thoughts, now is your time. What do you think?
I completely agree with what you said about choosing your thoughts carefully because they reproduce your future. I am speaking from the point of view of someone who has just been through a traumatic experience. In the aftermath of what happened to me, I was suicidal and completely debilitated. But slowly in time, I came around.
ReplyDeleteAnd every day one of the hardest things I had to deal with was controlling my thoughts. I think this is what they call PTSD. To get back on my feet again I had to stop that slide into self pity.
One of the ways I have been able to do that was being grateful for what I had rather than mourning what I had lost. Not in the feel good Pollyanna, 'I feel I need to be grateful to be happy sort of way'. But being genuinely grateful for what I still have. If crisis is opportunity, then this crisis gave me the opportunity to learn about myself in a way I have never been able to before. I learnt that I can be genuinely happy with very little. Something I never would have learnt any other way.
And every day, I have the choice to be a victim again or take back, reclaim my life and refocus on things that made my life special and worthwhile.
And I agree with the statement that Excellence is a habit not an act. By controlling your thinking and your actions consistently over time, you can make tremendous changes in your personal life over a long enough time line. It is the process that makes you successful not any one single act.
You won't get to where you want to go overnight. But with time, consistent effort, and a different perspective, you can move your personal mountains.
I am a big believer in the fact that a man is what he thinks. Your thoughts reproduce themselves in your reality.
Thank you very much for share it !!!
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