Tag Archives: cooperation

22

What You STAND For

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What do you stand for? That is a simple question I read last week that has been on my mind, along with another issue that I will address later. As for what I stand for, I want specific, stable things that I am striving to represent every day of my life. So I made a shortlist explaining the sort of person I want to be identified as today. This list is with the apparent exception that I may have failed to live up to these things in the past, but in that process, I have realized the extreme value each possesses and why it is so important to know what you want to stand for. It defines who you are and the experience you have in life. More importantly, how my choices and behavior will positively affect others.

Choose to be Kind

Kindness- In all things, I would like service to be the first thing I practice. All people live their own lives and have their own experiences, and their actions and behavior are theirs. I can only control myself, and I would like kindness to be the first word someone thinks of when they think of me. In my experience, a lack of compassion arises when you put your needs ahead of everyone else, leading to fear and worry. Letting this go is easier than you might think. Through a practice of kindness, you will meet all of your needs, and you will make the world a little better place. Do you stand for kindness? I hope I do.

Honesty is the Best Policy

Honesty- A friend once told me that it is human to be dishonest. That may be so because we all seem to lie an awful lot. Small lies, big lies, manipulative lies are all a part of the package. I know that I have lived in my past, mostly out of fear that I might look wrong or, more often, to avoid hurting someone else’s feelings. But it has been a while since I have consciously told a lie because I don’t care what others think of me and what I do, and I care enough about everyone I know to say the cold hard truth. I want all people I deal with to know that what I tell them will be the truth to the best of my knowledge. I don’t think I can do better than that. All things seem to flow perfectly when the truth is told. Do you stand for honesty?

What You Do When Nobody is Watching

Integrity- Along with honesty is integrity. I will do what right all the time is. Not just when it is convenient or when others are around. I will do what is right because I am there, and even if nobody else knew of my transgression, I would know, and the energy from that failure would permeate the rest of my life and cause problems. I would instead behave with integrity and do what right and decent all of the time is. I want my conscious energy to be focused on being and doing the right thing. I will know it is the right thing because it will be in my heart. I am continually seeking guidance for proper guidance. Do you stand for integrity?

Smart is Best

Intelligence– I want to be represented by the idea that all things I do will at least have a general knowledge behind them. I can’t promise to be the most intelligent person in the world, but I can be as bright as I am capable of being. This idea means I am never satisfied that I know it all. There are new things to learn and new ways to grow until the ultimate end waiting for us all occurs. I endeavor to continually learn new things, expand my horizons, and become better today than I was yesterday, just a little bit. Do you stand for intelligence?

Be Positive or Go Home

Positive Attitude-In all things, you have a choice, to be positive or negative. To complain and give away all of your power or address all situations by feeling great about them. We all feel bad sometimes, but that doesn’t mean we need to accept that part of our attitude. It is a simple choice that determines the difference in your path. You look at the flaws of the things you perceive to be missing, or you are grateful for what you do have. We always have the choice to embrace the joy in a moment. I wish all days were perfect and full of easy things to be happy about, but they will not. Life will bring challenges for you to grow. It is up to you to accept the challenge and become better or shrink from it and become its negative, scared, fearful victim. I am hoping I always seek the lesson, am grateful for it, and approach things from the mindset of joy and opportunity. Do you stand for a positive attitude?

Let’s Work Together

Cooperation– People look at the world in two primary ways: cooperation or competition. When I was a young man, I loved playing sports, and I always thought the match was the thing to prove you were better than someone else. That missed the value entirely. The real lesson was that you could rise and become better as a collective through cooperation with your teammates than you were as an individual. Great things can be done cooperatively and far surpass the selfish things that competition brings. Looking back, I value all the people that I ever was a part of a team with at whatever level. There are many situations that, in some small way, work together to allow the group’s strengths to overcome the weakness we all have as individuals, and that plan is fantastic. I want to take that into every relationship I have, personally and in business ventures, always. Do you stand for cooperation?

Better Today than Yesterday

Improvement– In my life, I have noticed that either you are getting better or you are getting worse. It is sporadic to stay the same, even for a day. So it is my goal to improve 0.01% each day somehow, but on the best days, physically, mentally, and spiritually. If I can manage to do that, then I will be a better person today than yesterday and hopefully have a more positive effect on the world than before. You are going to change in some way. I am probably choosing to be better rather than getting worse. This is often a choice to seek the other things I stand for; this should happen naturally, but it is vital to set an example for others that is positive in a world full of bad examples. Do you stand for improvement?

So there is a shortlist that I could expand upon for many pages. Maybe this is the next book idea in some way. But for today, I wanted to state what I want to stand for to guide myself in life. To help me when I have questions about what I should do. I want to say yes or no based on the things that I stand for. What is it that you stand for, not just in words, but in thoughts and actions as well?

“Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.:- John Madden

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”- Peter Marshall

“You must stand for something! It does not have to be grand, but it must be a positive that brings light to someone else’s darkness.”- Anthony Carmona

 

21

Our Stages

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Carl Jung teaches that we all pass through four stages of life if we are fortunate enough to have a long enough life. When I look at today, there is enough proof in our society that he was right on in his assessment. Therefore, all thinking beings should be at least asking themselves questions about their current progress. Where are you in life?

Athlete Stage- Preoccupied with how you look, your body, and nothing else seems significant or as important as that. The media functions in this sphere by creating a particular body image that all people should strive to possess to be considered attractive.

As a culture, we pander to this stage, teaching them to become good consumers. Our society teaches that it’s not only looks that matter; you can still be acceptable by having the right possessions.  This shallow belief continues into the other stages. Many still believe that money can buy happiness. It can’t. What brings you joy?

Warrior Stage– During this stage of life, young people are driven to get out there and conquer the world. There is a constant movement to be the best, get the best, do our best, and do what warriors do and act like we think warriors should work.  This stage has you believing that by defeating others, you have more value for yourself.

So many organizations are built on the false lure of competition. That by winning at anything, you are a more intelligent, better, or more desirable person. The actual value of competitive sports is not the competition but the cooperation that success takes. If you learn the lessons of competition, it builds teamwork, the trust of others, the value of your teammates’ skills, and attempting to achieve goals as a group. So how do you view competition?

Statement Stage- People start to realize the warrior stage has a lack of real purpose in it. Life is more than acquiring material possessions and simply achieving for yourself and your glory. At this stage, all most want to do is stop being selfish and give to the world. It seems essential to leave the world a better place than it was before you arrived here.

People start to look to do good things in charitable works and looking for ways to give back to society rather than take from it. The valuable lessons of cooperation allow those that learn them to work better with others. What is your statement? 

Spirit Stage– Since the other stages are based on the exterior of things, our looks, accomplishments, and legacies, this stage focuses on who we are.  We are more than our bodies, and there is a spirit and soul inside that takes this journey. We are far more than our possessions, more than our friends, more than our profession, more than our country, etc. We are all spiritual beings having a human experience.

So as you look at the world, you will see your journey as something to be experienced, not something to be owned. As we pass through the stages, it is essential to look know each has a purpose. As we develop, it is all leading to a spiritual awakening. Some will never get to this point, but most will eventually. Some will find it through organized religion. Others will find it in the delicate and unforgiving movement of nature. One Carl Jung quote that defines this process well:

“Thoroughly unprepared, we take the step into the afternoon of life. Worse still, we take this step with the false presupposition that our truths and our ideals will serve us as hitherto. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning, for what was great in the morning will be little at evening and what in the morning was true, at evening will have become a lie.”

We are all seeking our place in the world and moving through changes. Not everyone is going to experience everything the same, but your perspective will change. Those who are clinging to the past are wasting their years.  LIFE IS EITHER SADNESS OR EUPHORIA…………..