Wisdom to Discernment

As you have learned, I am a continuous learner, and I read or listen to 30 to 35 new books a year. Right now, I am listening to Steve Magness' book, "Do Hard Things." He is the performance expert and coauthor of?Peak Performance. In Hard Things, Steve presents a radical rethinking of how we perceive toughness and what it means to achieve our high ambitions in the face of hard things.

As a serial entrepreneur (sometimes winning and sometimes losing) I have found that I have enough energy to do all of the tasks we need to do throughout the day with enough enthusiasm to do these tasks with love (tough at times) and great passion. When I lose the love and passion for what I am doing, everything goes to pot. I have found that the following fundamental virtues will define how successful you are in your life journey, but you have to be diligent in your mindfulness of them.

Wisdom

Wisdom refers to the quality of having good judgment and making sound decisions that are beneficial for us and for others too. Wisdom enables us to discern things correctly. When we face challenging situations, wisdom helps us decide when and how to react. Manly P. Hall says,

“Wisdom lies not in seeing things, but seeing through things.”

Justice

Justice entails respecting the rights of every individual in society regardless of their caste, religion, and financial status. Justice also includes self-respect and true regard for your own dignity. If someone humiliates us or anyone else in our surroundings, it is our duty to speak up against it. Justice also involves freedom of speech and respecting others’ opinions even if you don’t agree with them. They have that right until they get physical or belligerent and infringe on other people's rights to do the same.

Fortitude

Fortitude refers to courage and resilience. It enables us to make the right decision in the face of difficulty. With the ever-changing technological environment, people are moving towards a sedentary lifestyle. It leads to not only physical health problems but also creates severe depression and anxiety issues. Therefore, we easily give up when we encounter adversities. In the journey of life, we often have to make tough decisions. However, most of the time, we are unprepared to deal with life’s inevitable disappointments. Fortitude enables us to stay firm and determined, no matter how hard the situation is.

Self-control

Self-control is the ability to control your emotions. Our desires often tempt us to choose a path that is not favorable for us. Self-control enables us to suppress our temptations. It enlightens us to focus on the logic rather than fantasies. People who have self-control can make efficient and reasoned decisions.

Love

Love is the most essential and fundamental virtue. Love incorporates empathy, compassion, kindness, generosity, loyalty, and forgiveness. When our heart is filled with love and compassion for people in our surroundings, we automatically adapt to other fundamental virtues. Love involves loving and taking care of your own self too.

Positive Attitude

A positive attitude plays a vital role in forming your entire personality. When you are optimistic, you have a broader outlook on your life. Failures, rejections, and challenges don’t distress you (much); you can pick positive lessons from all your hardships and trials. You are open to suggestions and believe there is always room for improvement. In addition, you enjoy everything you do and forget about results.

Integrity

Integrity is the practice of being honest and adhering to strong moral principles. It involves being truthful to not only others but also to yourself. Integrity helps you in winning people’s trust. They believe in your words. Being trusted is the biggest success one can ever achieve.

Gratitude

Gratitude refers to being content with what you have. With the ever-growing social media trends, people have forgotten the value of gratefulness. We compare our lives with that of others and then become upset and disappointed. Lack of gratitude instills negativity within us. We develop a whining attitude, which reduces our self-esteem and self-confidence. God has blessed every individual with different qualities and abilities. When we are grateful for our existing blessings, it creates a positive emotion inside us. We feel energetic and motivated to strive for a better life. We get this life only once. Whining about the things we don’t have will only lead to disappointment and sadness. Our life is like an empty canvas. We are in charge of making it either colorful and bright or dull and monotonous.

As we discussed in the previous articles, according to the law of attraction, life is how we perceive it. If you stay positive and enjoy the present moments, life will bring you even more joy and delight.

“Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to. We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step-by-step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.”—Joseph B. Wirthlin

If you ever want to speak with me directly, just reach out via?LinkedIn?or through our mobile community app,?Createyourself.com

Have a great week, Gordon

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