THIS IS US

"I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another."

Mahatma Gandhi, late 19th/early 20th century leader of Indian independence.

You can think of yourself as not being political, religious, business oriented; in short, anyway you believe others define themselves you don't want defining you.

You could but you would be wrong doing so.

The "compartments" Gandhi refers to are not only not watertight, they don't exist.

We are all, all of this and more and you ignore the impact of what that is on your own life to your own detriment.

ALWAYS NEW AND IMPROVED

"Our ideals are our better selves."

Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888) American educator.

Probably.

However, keep in mind, "better" is only that; it isn't necessarily as good as you can be.

Strive to improve and when you have, look to become even better.

FOR FAR TOO MANY, THE NEVER-BEGINNING TASK

"The never-ending task of self improvement."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer.

None of us are anything close to perfect, a goal we will never achieve.

However that doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't work to become so.

Create your self improvement plan and get on with it.

HOW COULD YOU NOT BE?

"I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) President of the United States.

How could you not be?

Don't do anything today to improve what you'll be tomorrow.

Nothing grows without effort including you.

KNOW THYSELF

"What fugitive from his country can also escape from himself."

Horace (BC 65-8) Latin lyric poet

No one.

You are at the core of all your future successes and failures so know yourself well.

Change what you don't like, that which will prevent you from living to your greatest potential.

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT ME

"I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist/poet/philosopher

It's not the talking so much as it is not really knowing, more so when the subject is you.

DELUSIONAL REALITY

"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities."

Christian Nevell Bovee (1820-1904) American author/lawyer

Ok, but make sure you know which are delusions, which realities.

I DON'T KNOW BUT I'LL FIND OUT

"It's not only the most difficult thing to know one's self, but the most inconvenient."

Josh Billings (1815-1885) American humorist/lecturer

True, but as difficult and inconvenient as it may be, how can you expect others to know you until you know yourself?

THE SCOURGE OF SELF-DECEPTION

"Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?"

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher

Makes sense for a couple of reasons.

One, how often do we encounter people who have motive to deceive us?

And two, who thinks about us more than we do ourselves?

WHO DO YOU TRUST?

"Self-trust is the essence of heroism."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) U.S. poet/essayist/lecturer

Because most of us know our true limitations and add to that list many more we assume to be true.

Simply trusting ourselves as much as we willingly trust others, would elevate us in the eyes of the one person whose opinion of us matters the most.

Ourselves.

v2.0 YOU

"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."

Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) British economist

And not just when it comes to innovation leading to new things.

This applies equally well to personal innovation, and lack thereof.

When was the last time you did something to improve you?

WE CAN ALL IMPROVE

"To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright."

Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) German philosopher

That is the goal.

You might not like what you first find, but you can change.

Go ahead; what you are isn't what you have to be.

WHO AM I?

"Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself."

Honore de Balzac

19th century French novelist

And it can be much more difficult to understand yourself than it can be to understand others.

But who better to start with than you?

WHAT YOU MAKE IS NOT WHO YOU ARE

"No man's fortune can be an end worthy of his being."

Francis Bacon

16th century British statesman/philosopher

It is a form of self imposed slavery to equate your self-worth to how much money you, or the company you work for, makes.

SEEING WITHIN

"The knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity."

Miguel de Cervantes 

17th century Spanish novelist, dramatist, poet

But first you must honestly know you.

Do you?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." 

Henry Ford 

Late 19th/early 20th century American industrialist

Very few of you reading this will disagree with Mr. Ford.

But do you practice what he preaches?

If you refuse to continually reexamine your beliefs, occasionally changing your mind as a result of what you discover, you don't.

YOU MAYBE, NOT ME

"Deny yourself! You must deny yourself! That is the song that never ends."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

18th century German poet, novelist and dramatist

Do you understand the supreme irony of you not believing this applies to you?

WHAT IF YOU'RE WRONG?

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."

Arthur Schopenhauer

19th century German philosopher

Not sure that everyone does this or that those who do always do.

But even occasionally is too often.

Start by assuming what you believe to be true may not be.

OUR INNER 2ND OPINION

"Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself."

Plato

4th century BC Greek philosopher

And we don't always think before we act.

I wonder what our souls think about that.

MY GREATEST TRIUMPHS ARE OFTEN MY MISTAKES

"A man's errors are his portals of discovery."

James Joyce

Late 19th/early 20th century Irish author

Only if we learn from them.

Celebrate your successes but value your failures as much for what they teach you.