Perfectly Yourself by Matthew Kelly
by Parker · 116 things on NewTwos
- Are we still the consumers or are we being consumed?
- Our hunger is really a desire for connection and union with God
- Every step toward the best version of yourself is a step toward God
- We all need moments of honesty from time to time
- Diets don’t fail. We fail at diets
- People don’t fail because they want to fail
- The reason most of us fail to achieve real and sustainable change in our lives is because we focus too much on the desired outcome and not enough on the progress we are making
- Life is not about doing and having; it is about becoming
- It is God’s dream for us to become the best version of ourselves
- People have an insatiable desire to improve themselves
- No great change happens without grace
- When we are unhealthy we abandon our true selves
- Our only regrets come from abandoning our true selves
- Be kind to yourself
- All great things can only be achieved with a light heart
- Kindness toward ourselves precedes all genuine and lasting growth, and lightheartedness is a sign that we trust that we are exactly where we are right now for a reason
- In every moment, we choose between the best version of ourselves and myriad second rate versions of ourselves
- Which of these options before me will help me to become the best version of myself?
- Practice makes perfect
- Most people change only when the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain required to change
- The people around us can love us and feel loved by us. Little do they know how incapable of live we truly are because we are so filled with the kind of self-loathing that prevents us from loving anybody, including ourselves
- How would your life be different if you really understood your true value?
- we secretly despise who we have become and desperately want to become the self we know we are capable of being. We are trapped by our illusions of perfection, depressed by the difficulty of the road ahead, overwhelmed by our patterns of defeat
- What is the one thing about yourself that would most radically improve your life if you changed it?
- Celebrating progress of fundamental in the psychology of change
- Celebrating progress means giving yourself a psychological pat on the back
- There is nothing more powerful than the way you speak to yourself
- Failure is part of all great achievement and discovery
- If you fail, you are not a failuree
- Are you making progress?
- Progress fills us with gratitude for the now and hope for the future
- We become so preoccupied with what we have and what we do that we lose sight of who we are and who we are becoming
- Progress requires desire and action
- It is not possible to crest a genuinely happier life while not also making the world a better place
- Our capacity for improvement is unfathomable
- Some type of daily examination is one of the fastest ways to growth
- Am I better today than I was yesterday?
- What areas of my life do I need to improve?
- What areas of my life do I need to give more attention to?
- What behaviors are preventing me from making progress toward the best version of myself?
- Who you are today is only a shadow of who you are capable of being
- Baby steps are the secret. Small victories lead to large victories
- Celebrate your progress
- Every experience is richer when we are humble
- Sometimes we fail at things because we are simply not well suited for them
- What are you well suited to achieve and become?
- Each and every one of us must make the journey from the expectations of others to the celebration of the true self God created us to be
- The great challenge is not to succeed in the worlds eyes, but rather to discover what your unique abilities are and offer them to the world in the best way you can
- To feel at home with who you are and where you are and what you are doing is worth more than all the treasures and pleasures money can buy
- Be yourself no matter what they say. We throw the idea around but give little thought as to how very difficult it is to peel back the residue of other peoples expectations, past experiences, and the false expectations we have for ourselves
- Being yourself will never lead to your own self-destruction in any matter or degree
- Being yourself means that everything you do and say will help others to become better versions of themselves
- Our desire to please and serve should be driven by the needs of others, not by selfish ulterior motives
- We should serve others for the sake of service rather than for personal gain
- Remember that what is healthy for you might be unhealthy for someone else
- Are you happy?
- Most of us experience unhappiness when we wander away from ourselves
- Unhappiness is the fruit of doing and saying things that contradict who we are and what we are here for
- Unhappiness is something we do to ourselves
- How will you feel when you are finished doing whatever it is you are considering? Will you get a lighthearted feeling or a heavy, oppressive feeling?
- You will never be happy pretending to be someone other than the person God created you to be
- Pleasure cannot be sustained beyond the experience producing it
- Happiness can be sustained beyond the experience producing it
- Happiness cannot be found by pursuing happiness
- Happiness is a byproduct of living right
- Just do the next right thing
- Every moment is another chance to turn it all around
- You cannot change one moment of the past, so grasp the present moment and change the future
- Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves
- Thoughts create actions. Actions create habits. Habits create character. And your character is your destiny
- Character is not what someone says but what he or she actually does
- We become the people we admire
- It takes hard work and dedication to bring talent to it’s full fruition
- ”I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of the Honest Man.” - George Washington
- What are you not being honest with yourself about?
- Everyone and everything is in place, exactly as they should be in this very moment. Everything may seem out of place, but in fact it is we who are out of place
- The ego is never satisfied, whereas the authentic self is satisfied simply with embracing this moment as an opportunity to progress toward the best version of itself in any way it can
- Make virtue your goal and you will find that the moments of the day come bearing the gift of opportunity
- Your actions profoundly affect your inner reality and sooner or later your inner reality will seek an outer expression through your words and actions or your silence and inaction
- We are all connected
- In every moment of the day we must train ourselves to put character ahead of financial gain and professional advancement, to value character more than momentary pleasures and the esteem of other people, and to place character ahead of our own designs and desires
- Begin to invest in yourself. Investing requires discipline, self-control, and patience
- “Those that fail to plan, plan to fail” - Napoleon
- “The best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing” - Theodore Roosevelt
- “True happiness comes to him who does his work well, followed by a relaxing and refreshing period of rest. True happiness comes from the right amount of work for the day.” Lin Yu-t’ang
- Happiness is found in doing things that we can take pride in doing well and hence can enjoy doing
- ”Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you” - Saint Augustine
- Find something that you consider worthy of your talent and character, and give yourself to it
- Who is god inviting you to become?
- Time is an illusion
- “The unexamined life is not worth living” - Socrates
- Sooner or later, we rise or fall to the level of our friendships. There is no substitute in a persons life for friends of character and integrity
- The common denominator of all successful diets is discipline. Choose foods that are good for you and eat in moderation
- Control your temper, your appetite, and your impulses
- Maintaining character requires constant vigilance and discipline. It’s almost impossible if we allow fatigue and stress to settle into our lives
- Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. Simplicity is the way to clarity
- Learn to say no
- Your life is your own
- Live simply so others may simply live
- What is your mission in life?
- Your mission is driven by the needs of the world and others
- To know your mission and not to follow it is one of the greatest of human miseries
- What can I do to help this person?
- ”The hugest destiny of the individual is to serve” - Albert Einstein
- Interior calm gives birth to calm action
- A reaction is automatic every time, a response is specific to every situation
- In times of silence, stillness, and solitude, we are able to make sense of life
- Opportunity clock rather than alarm clock
- Joy is the fruit of appreciation
- Seek the good in everyone and everything. Believe good things will happen
- Dont seek what is easy. Seek what is possible
- “That which we persist in doing becomes easier—not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Uncertainty is your friend
- God has an incredible dream for you, he wants you to become all he created you to be, the very best version of yourself
- Ignore anything that doesn’t help you become the best version of yourself is too small for you
- If you are to find lasting happiness in this changing world, it will be as your own wonderful self