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Daily Hotline Message

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Take some time to look inside yourself

Here’s a quote from Epictetus. It’s long and i’ll repeat it but it’s important

“Whatever happens to you, remember to look inside yourself and see what capacity you have to enable you to deal with it.

If hard work lies in store for you, you’ll find endurance; if you are insulted, you’ll find patience.

If you get in the habit of responding this way, you won’t get swept away by your impressions of things.  “

Let me say it again:

“Whatever happens to you, remember to look inside yourself and see what capacity you have to enable you to deal with it.

If hard work lies in store for you, you’ll find endurance; if you are insulted, you’ll find patience.

If you get in the habit of responding this way, you won’t get swept away by your impressions of things.  “

i think we spend too much time looking to the outside world to find out what happened and who to blame.

I also feel you’re never going to find it or them. You may think you do but in order to find out what’s going on, you need to look inside yourself.

This is just another variation of control the controllables but this quote is also telling you that you do have many more talents – or capacities – than you think you do. 

As he said, if you have a lot of hard work to do, once you take the time to search within, you will find the endurance,  same with being insulted. Look inside and patience will become apparent.

Don’t get me wrong though, this isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s going to take perseverance to look for these capacities or qualities. They may be covered by many layers of dirt and garbage – all the stuff you’ve picked up since your chilhood. 

Just know that you can find whatever you need to take care of what’s affecting you. Concentrate only on the parts you can do something about.

List some of the circumstances or events happening in your life that you have to deal with right now.

Make a list of the qualities or characteristics you feel you need to deal with those things right now. Think of what virtues would be helpful too 

Search in your past to find examples of when you’ve come up against something similar. 

What was your reaction then? 

Was it useful, not useful?

Could it be more refined?

Or maybe back then you couldn’t dig out the right quality at that time. 

Now ask what has changed inside of you since then?

Maybe there’s been some excavation projections in the interim and it will be easier to find  what you’re looking for. 

Take some time and go deep within if you find yourself having trouble locating, for instance, the endurance. You have at least some endurance and like everything else in life, you have to work to build that muscle.

Keeping yourself focused on what you can control (meaning yourself) will make the process simpler.

Everything you need is within you. Never forget that. 

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Daily Gratitude

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Daily Gratitude: Boy can I attest to this. My life used to be so very narrow. I was afraid of everything that involved interacting with people (outside of work). It was funny how I would become a different person when I walked through the doors of the ER, almost like Clark Kent (for those who know who he is). Not that I would become Superman but that I would strip off my cape and become a different type of person.

It took me over 70 years to shed some of those fears and to develop my courage (again i attribute that to IFS). As more and more courage came through the mucky goo concealing it for so long, my life really did expand. I began to be more comfortable around people. It was and continues to be a process but I am here to tell you that it’s worth every second of it.

One reason I write so much and do my daily call is that I hope I can help others change their lives sooner than 70 years. They deserve to enjoy everything and everyone much much earlier.

Make a commitment to yourself that you will make the journey into your inner self so you can find out where your stumbling blocks, your swamps and quicksand are. And as you come to each, do whatever it takes to clean them off so your courage can rise to the surface.

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Daily Hotline Message

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Message 290

Are you distracted by all the noise around you?

I’ve had hearing aids for almost 2 years now. Or maybe it’s 3 – I don’t even remember. I have needed them for several years though.

However, after this past checkup and update I’ve been unhappy with them. The outside noise overrides what I’m really trying to hear. My shoulder injury kept me from getting it figured out and I have an appointment next week I think.

But this got me thinking. When I’m out walking, I’m always listening to some sort of audiobook. It streams through the hearing aid right into my ear canal and up to my ear drum. You’d think that would be perfect wouldn’t you?

Alas it’s not. Even though the tips of the hearing aid are stuck down into my ear canal and it should block other noise, it doesn’t.

In fact the ambient noise sounds like a tornado and overrides anything I’m listening too.

This is just like life sometimes. Have you ever been trying to concentrate on something that was important and the outside activity- the noise so to speak – was so loud you couldn’t think?

What happens to you then? How do your feel? How much do you miss out on? I know that all that traffic and airplane noise drowns out everything that’s close to my eardrums- all the thoughts and ideas I’m trying to pay attention to because they are vital at that moment.

Life is so busy nowadays that we have to have strategies to keep from being distracted by all that outside interference. It’s easy to let someone’s conversation keep you from having your mind on the task at hand.

Ear plugs would work for people who don’t need hearing aids or use ear pods. But for the others it’s extremely difficult not to be aggravated and annoyed with this bothersome cacophony around us.

If you feel distracted all the time maybe this is why and it might Improve if you just take steps to block out the extraneous noises

Be aware of this phenomenon so that you can figure out your own way to keep your eye on the ball so to speak. Oh and don’t drive by me or fly your airplane over my walking route.