I was looking in my fridge today and noticed something that I have had taped one the door for so long that I often forget to read it. I found this 6 or 7 years ago on the internet, but I can't remember where and I haven't been able to track the source down. It is, however, something that I have read many times. They are good words to live by.
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Character
1. Get your camp in order. Clean up your messes. Pay your debts. Repair past damage and get it behind you.
2. Find meaningful work.
3. Educate yourself about what character is. Read up on it. Think about it.
4. Appraise your own character, determine what's lacking, and set specific goals to change your behaviour. Start with short-range goals and work up, examining your progress daily.
5. Seek role models and mentors for support.
6. Make truth a discipline. Don't toy with it and don't shade it. Go one day without telling any lies, then two days, a week and so forth. That doesn't mean using truth as a weapon to hurt people. Be clear about your motives before uttering what you assume is 'truth.' If it's a matter of telling your mate you like his or her new hairdo, even if you don't, then do the right thing; make him or her feel good.
7. Get clear about your life goals; then make sure your actions match them.
8. Keep your promises and commitments.
9. Learn how to evaluate the character of others, to get better at distinguishing the good guys from the bad. As Grandma would say, "Burned once, shame on them. Burned twice, shame on you." However, don't go overboard here: being a good judge of people is healthy for you, but becoming arrogantly judgmental is not.
10. Guard your reputation. It's your only one.
11. Before you act, think the action through to its logical conclusion. Philosopher William James said, "The moral act is to think." Says philosopher William Forthman, PhD, "It's almost always better to take the short-term loss - not to steal, not to lie, not to con people - and to operate in an honourable and trustworthy manner because, in the long run, that's a better policy for you. It's also a better policy for society."
12. Make a commitment to help others. Do volunteer work, mentor others - whatever suits you.
13. Keep practicing. To quote Aristotle: “We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
14. Don't lose heart. Sure, there are lots of scum out there who seem to feel no pain getting away with murder, but remember to keep the long view in mind. All you need to do is look at history to see that what goes around really does come around.
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2 comments:
The photos are beautiful. Lovely flowers. Funny pictures of the man climbing the coconut tree. Your holiday seems idyllic.
The four-faced god/goddess, I didn't recognize. I'm curious. Who is he/she?
I liked Lost in Translation, though it is, as you say, a bit depressing. I related to it, too, in a different way. Did you see Memoirs of a Geisha? The film is well done (though the book is far better). Ziya Zhang is wonderful (the same actress as in The Road Home).
Hope your school year starts off well.
I'm not sure which Buddhist god that was. I just liked the faces.
Lost in Translation didn't depress me as much as it made me sad. Both people needed something, but I think they made the right decision at the end.
I haven't seen Memoirs of a Geisha yet. It's showing here in theaters but I'll probably wait until it comes out on DVD. I have had a "thing" for Michelle Yeoh for a long time, and Gong Li is pretty good. I've seen them both in a number of movies. Zhang Ziyi is a little too young for me.
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