Usually when I’m thirsting for knowledge I just pick up a good book and start reading. Lately, I have been doing something a little different. I pick my ‘famous/inspirational-person-of-the-week’ and I look up quotes from them. Today, I’d like to look at Confucius and his words of wisdom.
1) It does not matter how slowly you go so long you do not stop.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.This to me is a very inspirational quote since I just finished running my first Half-Marathon. When I began to feel discouragement, I would repeat this quote in my head and feel a better and keep on going. He really takes the load off especially if you’re a perfectionist like myself. Being a perfectionist, I always felt I needed to do everything right the first time and if I didn’t I would chastise myself. As I’ve been getting older, I’ve realized that trying your best and enjoying what you do beats the trophy at the end everytime.This quote tells me to keep on going and keep on trying no matter what is happening behind me. No matter how scared or unprepared you feel, venture into that unknown territory. Each time you do, you grow in strength and you begin to grow out of those old insecurities and fears holding you back.
2) What the superior man seeks is in himself, what the small man seeks is in others. I really love this quote because it helps me refocus myself whenever I feel unhappy or depressed. The biggest personal breakthroughs I’ve experienced are the ones where I have solved an inner resistance or insecurity. It is always easier to find temporary security and self-fulfillment through the external environment, but self-fulfillment through your inner environment is where the real riches can be found.
The external environment is temporary, while your internal is ever-lasting. Making peace with your innards are much more satisfying than any goal you accomplish in the outside world. I have always felt a much bigger sense-of-accomplishment from looking inwards than outwards.
Having a stable and grounded inner-self really allows you to enjoy your external environment as well. For once you can enjoy life instead of always looking for something to quench your thirst.
3) When we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.
When I began to really give this quote some thought, I realized it was true. Whenever I found myself getting frustrated, impatient, or angry at the actions of others, I decided to step back and examine myself for a bit. Doing this allowwed me to see some of my darker, or as I see it as, bad thoughts, actions and characteristics that I realized I was exhibiting in myself. Since I labeled these as ‘bad,’ when I noticed myself do something I felt was bad or see someone else do something I felt was bad, I would get very angry and recoil myself. I try to separate myself from those things, but the more I try to separate, the more I seem to do ‘bad’ things.I have found it is just an unwillingness to accept. Once I began to learn to accept things, actions, etc. of myself and others, I began to not criticize and judge. I began to literally not see those contrary attributes and just enjoyed the person or moment the best I could.Whenever I notice myself point a contrary attribute, now I know that that is something I need to fix within myself and it really becomes a kind of guidance system. It lets me now what I need to be working on next and what I need to keep an eye on.
4) Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
Going with all your heart, I have found, really adds enjoyment to your experiences. When you go with your heart, you give yourself drive to do something and makes you more passionate. Once you feel this drive and passion for whatever you’re doing, that’s when you find the joy in the journey. The end result means so much more when you put your whole heart into it. No matter what the results, you realize that you really put your all into it and found a happiness much greater than the satisfaction you feel when you accomplish your goals.
Initially I was scared to do this because I would think, ‘what if I become disappointed? I will become depressed, etc.’ I relate this to the leap of faith concept. I mean, that’s why they call it a leap in the first place. Once I crossed the bridge, I realized I didn’t put myself in harms way because it wasn’t really a bridge I crossed, but rather a meadow. I just couldn’t see the meadow from where I was.
5) [The superior man] acts before he speaks and afterwards speaks according to his actions.
Actions always speak louder than words. In my nutrition class, my professor discussed the best way to teach kids healthy eating habits. He said that the best way to do this is to practice healthy eaitng habits yourself. Monkey see, monkey do. If you don’t like something that’s going on, don’t just talk about it, do it.This reminds me of a commercial I saw a few months ago. It took place in a big metropolitan area. There were people walking down a sidewalk and they came upon a wod of paper on the ground in front of a trash can. Someone points it out and then another person stops to see. Before you know there’s a crowd of people ranting about this piece of paper that never made it to the trash. Before you know it though, someone walks right up to the trash, picks it up and tosses it and goes on their way. The crowd looks at each other bewildered and then go on their way.
Turns out Confucius wasn’t all that bad. He was a very wise man and I have personally learned much from him. I hope that you may have felt a spark or epiphany from reading a few of his quotes that I’ve provided.
Take it easy!
-YoYo
Image by Spotfrog from DeviantArt.com
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