We Must Choose

We MUST Choose “This above all: to thine own self be true.” – Shakespeare, “Hamlet” Yes, but what part of thine own self to be true to?  What’s best in oneself?  Or what’s less—sometimes even much much less—than best in one’s self? “For human beings, there is a possibility of making a choice of influences; [...]

The Present Moment

The Present The past is history, The future a mystery, All we have is this moment— It’s the Universe’s gift to each of us; That’s why it’s called The Present. This moment—the present moment—is all we have. How many present moments we each have in life, and how much presence we each have to the [...]

The Four Agreements. The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally

The Four Agreements The Second Agreement: Don’t Take Anything Personally I get the gist of what Ruiz is trying to communicate with his advice of “Don’t take anything personally,” and there’s certainly some wisdom to it, but unfortunately he’s trying to make an absolute out of something that likely isn’t meant to be an absolute, [...]

Making a Different Choice: Choosing a Different Way of Responding Rather Than Our Patterned Way of Responding

The fusion of emotional and intellectual functioning that is prevalent in people at the lower end of the differentiation of self scale, means that, at those lower levels, much of behavior and thinking is emotionally driven. The emotions are so powerful that when a fusion of emotions and intellect occurs (“amygdala hijacking”), intellectual functioning—which is [...]