Highlights from The Charge, by Brendon Burchard
(Numbers in parenthesis are Kindle location markers.)
You’re waiting for some kind of permission or right timing to live full out every single day. You feel a restless desire for something more. (195)
any lack of charge in your life is only the result of a colossal failure in strategy. Only the failure to strategically control the contents of your consciousness keeps you from feeling the consistent internal charge of being fully alive, engaged, connected, and fulfilled. (208)
Most of our basic human needs for food, shelter, safety, and belonging have been met and structured by an advancing society. Yet meeting those needs does not, by itself, make us happy. (255)
when our brains are free from the basic animal needs of safety, what engages the most neural activity are those very things: novelty, challenge, connection, and expression. And many of the world’s largest happiness surveys are finding the same at a global level—we want to feel engaged at work, and what makes us engaged are things like choice, contribution, and creative expression. (275)
a consciously designed existence (303)
What they don’t often understand is that the busyness of our lives has a funny way of creating a myopic vision of what’s real or possible. (453)
When you can’t see past your own day planner, it’s hard to see the cumulative reality of who you have become and where you are headed. (455)
It happens when we do the one thing that has ever helped anyone design a different destiny: consciously choose a new self-image and life, and fight to forge it into existence by consistently aligning our thoughts and behaviors to make it so. (493)
At first glance, it would seem that those living the Charged Life have surpassed all obstacles and are living a charmed existence. But that’s not exactly right. It’s just that those with high charge levels enjoy the journey they’re on no matter what obstacles present themselves; they are deeply enthusiastic about facing life’s challenges and designing their own destinies. (536)
One thing I hear over and over from those living a Charged Life is how consistently they practice being conscious of their reactions and realities. (563)
Chargers, it turns out, are incredibly attentive to their internal and external realities, and they work hard to have the traits everyone might assume they readily have. (568)
They see problems in the present as solvable, and so they endeavor to solve them and make the future world a better place. (581)
relationships are seen as the key vehicle to engaging in and enjoying life. (597)
They do not feel responsible for making everyone around them happy if it means compromising their own values. For this, they’re often seen unfairly as stubborn or self-minded mavericks. (601)
their expressive talents tend to make them stand out. They also tend to be unapologetic for their styles or perspectives, instead taking pride in their boldness and their commitment to sharing their works. (609)
Chargers have a high facility for consciously determining what things mean, with a tendency to positively interpret both their struggles and successes in life. (616)
The same goes for all the drives I’m talking about—we are driven by them because they can and do lead to a better existence, but we don’t necessarily need them. (651)
most of the misery people feel in life comes from attempting to control things that either can’t be controlled or are inconsequential. (749)
For the most part, we can control only the quality of our character, actions, and contributions to the world. (750)
Broadly speaking, what we all are after is a sense of control over our inner and outer worlds. We want to have control over our conscious experiences, our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; we want to control the results we get and the relationships we have in the outside world. This desire to regulate and influence our overall life experience is what the human drive for control is all about. (763)
No control means no choice, no exertion of will, and can leave us helpless. Without exerting control, we can’t direct our minds or influence our environment. We are left without the freedom to choose our paths if we leave ourselves completely up to the whims of chance and circumstance. (774)
if you’re going to maintain a sane and positive perspective about the world, it’s important to better guard the information you consume. (797)
Decreasing your exposure to toxic people is just as important as decreasing your exposure to negative media. (806)
One of the most defining choices you can make in your entire life is deciding to control the quality of person you will be on an everday basis. What will you stand for? (836)
“Do my actions reflect the quality of person I want to be, and can be?” (850)
“all the energy and influence we ever want in life is controlled by one thing: whether or not we are purposefully acting as our highest selves. From that place of character flows grace and love, and in that place we find happiness and meaning” (855)
we should spend as much time strategically planning the introduction of new things and experiences into our lives as we spend planning for what we’ll eat, when we’ll work out, and how we’ll accomplish our goals. (884)
an engaged brain is a happy brain. (894)
setting your sights on enjoying new experiences regularly is one of the greatest ways to remain fully engaged, energized, and enthusiastic throughout your lifetime. (907)
The challenge of seeking new skills is one of the surest ways to test and transcend your own boundaries. Go find something new to learn, and fall on your face trying to learn it. Enjoy the process of learning—it’s one of the easiest paths to a more engaged brain (and life). (935)
It turns out that the project-based, cross-functional team life has robbed you of something you didn’t even know you valued as much as you do: ownership. (965)
Being more involved in a project from beginning to end is more satisfying than just popping into it for part of the time. (974)
your level of engagement and enthusiasm will skyrocket when you decide to participate only in projects you can be fully invested in and be a part of from beginning to end (977)
“The in-box is nothing but a convenient organizing system for other people’s agendas.” (992)
In coaching, we often refer to it as the “competence-confidence loop”—the more competence you have, the more confidence you feel in trying new things (1101)
Personal competence can be loosely described as our ability to understand, successfully perform in, and master our world. Understand. Perform. Master (1125)
people aren’t developing more competency and becoming learning ninjas simply because they are unaware of how they’re evaluating new learning opportunities. (1180)
We also have to help you choose learning challenges that actually light you up and shape your future. (1185)
the key question you will ask yourself is, Is this goal or activity relevant to my future identity? (1193)
In the worst metaphor of all time regarding motivation, people refer to this type of motivation as “the carrot and the stick,” with the stick being a punishment if you don’t act in the desired way, and the carrot being a reward if you act in the desired way. The problem with this metaphor is threefold. First, it assumes that we are all asses. Second, it assumes that we are all asses who will do the desired thing if beaten. Third, it assumes that extrinsic motivations actually drive us at all. (1202)
Will I get something useful from pursuing this goal? (1214)
In taking on this new goal or task, what will you be missing out on? (1221)
What new skill have I wanted to learn but fooled myself into not learning by focusing on some imagined opportunity cost that may not be true? (1226)
How long do I have to wait to get the benefits of trying and achieving this goal or activity? (1229)
What examples can you recall to remind yourself that your hard work and efforts pay off? (1243)
How can you leverage your social circle or a new group of people to help you stay motivated at doing something new? (1251)
Will I have enough time and focus to do a good job learning and doing this new activity? (1253)
What unimportant activities are you spending too much time on, which could be better utilized to try meaningful new things? (1258)
Will I be given the trust and decision-making authority I need to feel as though I’m in control and able to make things happen? (1269)
Yes, life will throw many challenges at you, but you should give yourself even more. I know that sounds counterintuitive. Most people are running from challenges in their lives, not chasing them. (1298)
The fastest way to get better at something is to have a coach tell you where you can improve. (1322)
If we don’t take time to give ourselves credit for what we’ve learned, then we’ll never feel as though we’ve progressed. (1328)
we’re always onto the next thing before recognizing what we just accomplished. And if we don’t recognize what we’ve accomplished in life—even the small things—then we never feel accomplished. (1335)
your self-image could be a lot better, and you ought to be a lot more congruent in how you engage the world. (1404)
It’s one of the most profoundly powerful drives we have as humans—to live in consistent alignment with who we think we are, how we want others to perceive us, and who we want to become. (1406)
Like all human drives, then, congruence can be positive or negative. (1416)
the ultimate challenge of our human drive for congruence: most of us are congruent with how small we think of ourselves—we question our value so we act timidly in life—but we are not congruent in our everyday actions with how great we know we can be—we know we’re patient and loving people, but we lash out at others. (1418)
“Think more of yourself, and demand that your actions be congruent with the best of who you are and who you can be.” (1423)
Variation in who we are in any given context is natural and, despite what some would have you believe, healthy. (1431)
Who has crafted your self-image and standards in life? Has it been your family and friends? The media and society at large? (1440)
Most people are living self-images and sets of standards that were developed by events and people from their pasts. (1446)
The past can be just a convenient dumping ground for unmet expectations. (1448)
When recalling anything from our childhood experiences, for example, we should be vigilant in reminding ourselves that all meaning, association, and integration that attached to it was made through the undeveloped psyche of an innocent and immature child. (1451)
Any influence from any time in our pasts may be a convenient explanation for why we think and behave as we do today, but there is a vast difference between an explanation and an excuse (1457)
Erica Jong said: “Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one is to blame.” (1461)
in the end our self-image is a self-fulfilling prophecy—remember, our human drive makes us behave in accordance with that image. (1467)
who they are and three words about how they treat others (1475)
The words I would love to define the way I think of myself in my personal life are . . (1487)
The words I would love to define the way I interact with others are (1503)
Our mood is our prevailing emotional tone, quality, or attitude. It’s our steady, emotional energy about life. (1543)
As I am fond of saying, “The power plant doesn’t have energy; it generates energy.” We choose the color of our own sky. (1547)
Psychologists even find that those with a positive mood are more creative, resourceful, and resolute when facing life’s challenges. (1550)
So what mood would you like to experience consistently? How would you describe it? Why is that the mood you specifically want to experience? What could you do to stay conscious of your mood? (1553)
the most important factors to mood (1556)
physical movement (1557)
sound or music (1558)
mental focus (1558)
social vibe (1559)
future orientation (1559)
If we operate from a place that says, My word in this world isn’t important or inspiring to other people, then we tend to be frivolous with what we say. (1585)
What becomes powerful is realizing that over time our words come to reflect who we are, and they either hurt or help the world. This is the place that I ask my clients to live from. (1592)
What are your responsibilities in life? What have you started but not finished? What can you do today to better manage your responsibilities and finish what you’ve begun? (1602)
the truth we all stumble onto at some point: only the more humanly connected, caring, and emotionally engaged among us ever become number one at any endeavor (or truly happy, for that matter). (1640)
Almost everything you so desperately desire from others can be sensed only by their demonstration of caring. (1670)
In all human relationships, it’s a remarkably easy formula to figure out: care more, connect more. (1684)
A connection is something you have; caring is something you do and receive. (1688)
Essentially, your brain is built to mimic that which you see and feel in others. (1704)
phenomenon that scientists call “emotional contagion.” This happens because of a system of mirror neurons, (1706)
And the less emotion we feel, the less care we give to ourselves and others. Emotion, it turns out, is the spark that compels us to care in the first place. (1750)
the best therapists are those who teach their patients to manage emotion better and increase their tolerance for dealing with anxiety or negative emotion. (1755)
To be worthy of more caring, we simply must accept it, see that it’s all around us, and, of course, return the blessing. (1775)
Better self-care is the foundation of all personal development. (1782)
How much you eat, drink, balance your responsibilities, and rest is entirely up to you alone. (1785)
If you’re like most high achievers, you’re far too critical of yourself. You’re too judgmental about your weaknesses and struggles in life, and you too often fail to recognize and reward yourself for a job well done. (1814)
allowing others to care for, give attention to, and love you is one of the greatest joys in life. If your guard is up, let it down. If you’ve constructed a defensive wall to protect yourself and keep all the bad guys out, don’t forget who that wall also prevents from getting in—the good guys. (1848)
The only way to experience the deepest levels of human experience is to be deeper in the moment in our interactions with others, fully invested in the now, with them alone. (1874)
our presence with others should also have a goal, and that’s to demonstrate that we care and want to learn something about them. (1880)
if you open yourself up to caring for the people around you, you’ll be amazed at how much there is to know and learn and appreciate in them that you never guessed was there. (1882)
Be so curious about other people that they become curious about you. (That happens almost automatically, thanks to the mirror neurons in their brains.) (1897)
whenever someone shares something with you, be conscious of asking this question: “Wow, how did you feel when that happened?” (1907)
If you want to feel alive again, care again. (1915)
It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others. —JOHN ANDREW HOLMES JR. (1926)
The best way to endear yourself to a teenager is to talk about nothing in particular, demonstrate that you’re a loser or underdog, and—only when the right moment arrives—show that you give a damn. (1964)
Rule number one in moments of teenage disclosure: match their emotion and then shut up. (1972)
No one knows what to think of you now, but they’re watching, so go show them who you want to be and who you want them to know you are.” (1989)
thanks to social media, we are more connected to more people than ever before, but those connections are more superficial than ever. (2003)
Your friendships have as much bearing on your happiness in life as does the kind of work you do or the amount of money you make. That’s why it’s time you finally figured out the friendship factor in your life. (2007)
No other area influences your life satisfaction as much as your relationship with your spouse or significant other does. (2010)
Psychologists have found that the happiest 10 percent of people on earth have one thing in common: they all have rich, fulfilling social lives and intimate relationships. (2013)
Our brains, whether divinely inspired or genetically mutated, have become tuning forks for social connection and attachment. (2019)
almost all the things that get us in trouble in our relationships—criticism, defensiveness, competition, harsh disagreements—stem from a lack of understanding, acceptance, or validation of each other’s uniqueness and individuality. (2037)
What exactly do I want in my relationships in life? What kinds of friends do I want, exactly? What kinds of lovers do I want? And how shall I attract, keep, and deepen my relationships with them? (2046)
this—you should consider sharing with others what your ideal relationships with them would look like. If they know, they are more empowered to connect better with you. Of course, you should also ask them what their ideal realtionships with you would look like. (2087)
There are two ways to deepen the connections you have with people in your life: one is by accident as you’re brought closer by tragedy or chance; one is by design. (2093)
you get what you look for (2100)
The logic makes sense: if I can find out what is wrong with someone as quickly as possible, then I can more quickly avoid pain from him or her. Over time, we stop seeing people’s strengths and see only their weaknesses or behaviors that might bother or hurt us. (2103)
their life satisfaction. Let’s take a look at your own peer (2161)
It’s hard to take on people’s friendships, but this is territory we must venture into together if we are to achieve a new level of living. (2174)
Strategically make the choice today to start surrounding yourself with remarkable friends who help lift your life to the level of energy and potential you know it has. (2189)
All those people we might be in a habit of calling or connecting with might not really be contributing to our life experiences and happiness. There are battery chargers and there are battery drainers, and there are those with no charge whatever—the “neutrals.” To live a fully Charged Life, we’ve got to get real about who those people are. (2196)
From now on, anyone you mark as “old friends” will be left where they belong, in the past. These will be people you appreciate in your mind and memories forever, but they simply won’t play important roles in your future. (2217)
you keep blaming not having enough time as the problem, when the real culprit is you just don’t highly prioritize these folks. (2227)
The universe has likely placed each of your current friends in your path for reasons known or unknown to you. Honor that and honor them, no matter what direction you decide to go in the future. (2239)
The sad truth is, the world is full of bitter, complaining, finger-pointing energy vampires who suck all the joy and ambition out of life. Give them a shot at coming into the light, but if they won’t, steer as clear of them as you can. (2249)
be on the lookout for remarkable people whose path the universe has allowed to intersect with yours. (2253)
My goal for your growth-friend category is to get it up to a minimum of ten. (2261)
ask the following questions they realize they don’t: • Is this (2264)
Having a group of at least ten awesome friends should be in the top five goals of every human being. The zest, energy, and connection that comes with having great friends is incalculable and indescribable. (2280)
Stable, secure, socially connected. That’s a great recipe for comfort and happiness in life. (2315)
The five forward drives, which I’ll call “f-drives” from here on, are: Change, Challenge, Creative Expression, Contribution, and Consciousness. (2327)
while the baseline drives make you feel more secure and stable, the f-drives function to shake you up so that you can ultimately feel more satisfied. (2330)
the f-drives are more future oriented than the baseline drives, (2336)
the f-drives demand boldness. Incremental change isn’t going to create giant leaps in your life satisfaction. (2343)
Too much change and we’re freaked out; too little and we’re bored. (2353)
When we feel we are expressing our unique selves consistently, we feel truly alive and energized. But take away our creativity, and we slowly start to feel as though we’re just another cog in the wheel of a lifeless, impersonal world. (2364)
I know that this guy, like most of us, won’t do a damn thing unless he has fire in his gut to make real changes. (2444)
The drive for change stems not only from our biological call to grow and learn but also from our conscious and continual desire for newness and excitement. (2452)
you can gauge your chances of living your dream life from today forward by the answer to this simple question: Do I both welcome and cause change? (2479)
If you get a handle on anything in life this year, get a handle on how you feel about, leverage, and drive change. (2482)
this—change is the only path to your dreams, because to grasp them, you must move from here to there. (2484)
People don’t fear change at all; in fact, most people even consciously pull for change. Rather, people fear what change will or won’t bring. Thus, it is in expectation that the demon of fear really resides. (2497)
expectation of loss (2501)
expectation of process pain (2516)
outcome pain (2529)
This expectation is icing on the pudding of pessimism. (2535)
You add worries about outcome pain to those about loss pain and process pain, and you have completed the triangle of fear. (2535)
people fight a tough fight only for something they deeply believe in. The challenge is that we have an epidemic of half-interested wimps running the world. (2612)
We are now a culture flooded with goals and spreadsheets and work plans that inspire no heart, no drive, no courage. (2616)
You want to change? Then do not, under any circumstances, allow yourself to settle on a vision or a calling or a simple change in any arena that is uninspiring. (2625)
there’s a big difference between being truly challenged and just busily checking off your daily tick list or carrying the cross of others’ expectations. (2802)
Nothing in setting a goal demands the most of you; a challenge, on the other hand, is something that stretches your efforts and abilities. (2805)
being busy is not the same as being challenged, just as change is not the same as progress. (2809)
How do you choose “good” challenges? It helps to know that the kind of challenges that bring full engagement and fulfillment in our lives have five things in common. (2828)
singularity of focus (2829)
To inspire a singularity of focus, a challenge must be important to you and it must be something you feel you should do now in this moment. If it’s trivial or not time-bound, you won’t engage. (2833)
stretch our efforts and capabilities (2836)
Third is the ability to score performance (2844)
few people purposely build progress checks into their challenges. (2848)
seeing results or in getting redirected, often happens at the checkpoints (2850)
Cf. Kotter & short term wins Edit
Fourth, satisfying challenges allow for a sense of completion (2852)
Finally, challenges that enliven you are those that allow a sharing of experience and achievement (2861)
activate your more social right brain, which desperately desires to say, Look, Ma, I did it! (2870)
These are the criteria to creating and experiencing challenges that truly make you feel alive: • Singularity of focus • Stretch of effort and capability • Scoring of performance • Sense of completion • Sharing of experience and result (2877)
To live a Charged Life, you’ve got to alter your beliefs about why to take on a challenge. (2891)
The catch with extrinsic rewards is that they’re never enough and they set us on a slowly increasing incline on the treadmill of more (2907)
It turns out social rejection isn’t something that happens as often as you fear. (2919)
Note: Fearing rejection is really about being bad at math Edit
I attribute almost all my personal and financial successes to God first, to my family and mentors second, and, third, to the ways I’ve challenged myself and chosen to meet life’s challenges. (2979)
we must stop thinking that it’s worthwhile to address a challenge only if it’s solvable. (3027)
If you want to feel better about life, you have to feel better about the world. The best way to do that is to challenge yourself to be an active participant in society. (3037)
I believe there is nothing more powerful in life than allowing our own individuality to shine through, to light the world with our own divine uniqueness. (3103)
The drive for creative expression urges us to physically and socially manifest our unique talents, strengths, and perspectives. (3109)
If you lose touch with your creative expression, you lose touch with what is uniquely you—and, thus, you lose connection with self. (3122)
if you can’t tap into your creative self and fully express your ideas and unique talents, strengths, and perspectives, you’ll likely soon find yourself unemployed. (3126)
“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” (3139)
Your linear thinking had better be applied to a bigger vision and picture that resonates emotionally with those you lead. In short, you need to bring a creative sensibility to everything you do at work. (3146)
The social-media sphere isn’t actually driven by a desire to connect and gather fans and followers as much as by a deeper need to express ourselves creatively. (3154)
If you’re not creative and collaborative, no one listens to you, and you quickly find yourself marginalized, tasked with the mundane, or, more likely, laid off or seeing your work outsourced. (3162)
Your role at work is now fundamentally judged by how well you create new ideas, tools, technologies, content, and campaigns that help your clients and coworkers tap into their highest potential or express themselves more fully. (3163)
The way you write your emails, dress for work, or decorate your home is an act of expression. (3174)
the Creative Expression Quiz. (3178)
it’s time to bring a renewed commitment to living and creatively expressing who you really are. (3206)
Go back to the Creative Expression Quiz now and turn it into a Creative Expression Planner by writing out each of the categories and asking yourself how you can bring more creativity to that area of your life. (3211)
creatives are incredibly social people whose creativity literally depends on their interactions with the world. (3220)
If you want to become more creatively expressed in life, start watching people as a practice, paying close attention to how others creatively express themselves. (3231)
Sometimes, just paying attention to people helps us notice new things within ourselves. (3232)
“connecting your brain means connecting with people and the world.” (3248)
Creativity isn’t just about ideas; it’s about physical form. (3262)
Real creativity ends up as something (3264)
Creativity, though, isn’t a trait; it’s a discipline. Those who say they are not creative are often those who are averse to the hard work of transforming a good idea into something truly magnificent. (3270)
You don’t walk into a room, look around, and say, “Oh, there’s my unique voice in the world.” Rather, you walk into the room, talk to a bunch of people, and, in sharing, discover and communicate traits and truths about the essence of who you are. (3293)
I believe that if I meet you, there’s a reason, and I ought to try to figure it out and contribute in some way to your life, even if it’s just to give you a brief respite from your day so you can laugh or reconnect with your strength or your dream. (3321)
At our deepest depths rises a drive to contribute. We want to know that we’ve given of ourselves and played a significant part in shaping the world around us. (3369)
What’s not obvious is that not all methods of contribution are created equal, and that not all giving leads to real impact in the world or to a sense of personal engagement and fulfillment. (3390)
We can think of giving as being one of two varieties: giving of and giving to (3400)
Ours is a society that has falsely assumed that contribution must mean giving to some specific cause rather than simply giving of our best selves. Thus, too many people don’t recognize the fact that simply being who they are is contributing significantly to the world. (3413)
What if simply living your truth, being your best, and fully expressing your strengths, talents, and abilities at whatever you do were sufficient to contribute to the world? (3416)
You have an extraordinary ability to contribute to the world by bringing the best in you to bear in any endeavor. (3431)
Sometimes we forget to integrate our own personal contributions to the world into our identity. (3435)
It’s time you finally allowed yourself to sense the impact and contributions you’ve made in the world. (3446)
Your contributions have added and will continue to add up to something. It’s time to take account of them so that you finally give yourself the credit you deserve. (3450)
While giving of is really about mobilizing our internal resources for our own sakes, which often ultimately leads to an impact in the world, giving to is all about mobilizing our resources with the specific intent to contribute to something directly and specifically. (3456)
choosing the right giving activity matters just as much as choosing the right cause (3470)
the Five Contribution Fulfillment Factors. (3474)
having an opportunity for creative expression is critical to finding a giving experience deeply satisfying and meaningful. (3478)
the most meaningful experiences in giving and contributing always involve mentoring others. (3490)
“Will this opportunity guarantee my ability to mentor others?” Yet this is precisely the question we must learn to ask if we want to feel we are contributing meaningfully to the world. (3495)
Third, satisfying contribution experiences let us see the direct social impact of our efforts. (3498)
In their rush to go in and make a difference, they hadn’t made a true connection, and therefore they didn’t feel they had made a real contribution. (3512)
the world is full of half-interested, halfhearted would-be contributors playing at quarter speed. We’re not going to shift the planet if we don’t engage ourselves and others in finding fulfilling ways to contribute. (3528)
I don’t believe in contributing to causes or projects; I believe in investing in and serving people. (3543)
Fate funding—it means giving to those whom fate has placed right in front of us who are in need or have a cause they are deeply passionate about. (3545)
I like to think of mentoring as a responsibility and a privilege on the road of life. (3556)
there’s this point where maybe you need those you mentor as much as they need you. The mentorship casts you as a role model, and engaging in that role inspires you to call forth the best in you. (3561)
If life is about meaning, then how will I know if I’m creating it or experiencing it? The best answer I’ve found is contribution. (3590)
How do we live at the highest levels of our own human consciousness? How do we transcend them? (3692)
One would assume that people feeling a heightened sense of consciousness are better able to direct their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. They can find peace in conflict, and faith, resilience, and transcendence in struggle, because they can use their own thoughts to define the meaning of the events and experiences of their lives. (3724)
how shall we best use our conscious ability to control our thoughts and our lives? Where shall we focus so that we can move the needle toward higher and sustained levels of happiness and engagement? (3737)
It all comes down to moving from the fascination of how you are conscious into a focus on what you should be conscious of (3739)
a question you should ask yourself several times during each day: Where shall I focus my thoughts right now? (3747)
awareness is not the same as self-direction. (3752)
How shall I feel right now? This is a question you should ask yourself several times a day. (3764)
We can choose our emotional energy in any given moment, and that is one of the greatest wonders of the human experience. (3782)
the mark of higher consciousness is always full integrity with self and deep respect for others. (3787)
We can reach higher thought consciousness in our relationships by consistently asking ourselves, How are others thinking and feeling in this moment, and how would I like to interact with or influence them? (3794)
Am I moving forward in life at the speed I wish to? Am I taking the necessary actions to do so? Am I managing my thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and relationships in ways that help me progress, grow, and contribute? (3803)
The instrument panels I imagine are headed “Thoughts,” “Feelings,” “Behaviors,” “Relationships,” and “Speed of Progress.” (3809)
It’s only in challenging ourselves to connect to something more than ourselves that we can feel something more than ourselves. (3826)
Whether walking into a new room, calling up a friend, sitting down to write, or greeting my wife when she walks in, I ask myself, How present am I right now on a scale of one to ten? (3846)
What if all my negative emotions about the past are no longer relevant to this present moment and who I want to be now? What if, by viewing the past in a negative light, I’m failing to appreciate the gift of life I was given and still enjoy today? What if the past was but a moment, and now I’m in a new moment? What if this moment is only the beginning of a new and miraculous unfolding for me? (3850)
This person has been reintroduced into my life at this precise moment. I wonder why. I’m going to pay attention and give this conversation my full presence and see where it leads us. (3882)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “Someday, after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energy of love; and for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” (3912)
When it comes to our own technological advancement, we are perhaps the most oblivious and unappreciative generation in history. (3925)
We can rise above being stimulus-response animals and cultivate our own emotions, steering our free will into creating a sense of awe within our being. (3930)
Shall we let our impulses alone control us, or shall we direct our attention and activities to a higher state of motivation, meaning, and morality? Shall we let the world go spinning past us, or shall we use our presence to slow it down, take it in, appreciate the magic of it all? And through each day and up to the very end, when we sense those last moments of life, shall we simply and casually wonder about the force of something beyond us, or shall we slip the bonds of our limited senses and choose to connect with and live through divine love? The choice, as it has always been, is yours. (3948)
As a society, we must stop looking at those things that are labeled as “hard” as also being “bad.” (3970)
www.TheChargeBook.com/resources (3978)
Living a Charged Life requires much of you. You must be more conscious about designing your days and activating your drives. (3999)