514. Eliminate. Less is More

"The height of Civilisation always runs to simplicity." - Bruce Lee.

Every day decrease the amount of rubbish around you. Do not add to it. Eliminate noise, ornamentation,  excess paper, fat etc from your self and your enviornment. Learn to listen. Learn to meditate - reduce the clutter of sounds and ideas rushing around in your mind. Cultivate an appreciation of the simple line drawing of Japanese Art that brings the mind to rest when you simply let your gaze fall gently on it.

207. A List of Good Practices

Here is a list of good practices. You should take each one and attempt to establish it in your character. Take one a week and in six months you will be a different (better) person.

1. Succeed at home first.
2. Seek and merit divine help.
3. Never compromise with honesty.
4. Always remember the people involved.
5. Hear both sides before judging. *
6. Obtain the wise counsel of others.
7. Defend those who are absent.
8. Be sincere and decisive.
9. Develop a new proficiency every year.
10. Plan tomorrow's work today.
11. Hustle while you wait.
12. Maintain a positive attitude.
13. Maintain a sense of humour.
14. Be orderly in person and in work.
15. Do not fear mistakes. Fear only the absence of creative, constructive and corrective responses to your mistakes.
16. Facilitate the success of others.
17. Listen twice as much as you speak.
18. Concentrate all your abilities and effort on the task in hand.
19. Get organised and stay organised. Have a system for everything !
20. Always ask "What would the Wise do here ?"
21. Make everything as simple as possible but no simpler.
22. Keep practicing.
23. Stay close to your goals.
24. Meet adversity with composure.
25. Study every day.
26. Always keep your word.

115. Your Life is up to You

You are responsible for how you lead your life. You must take responsibility for your behaviour,thoughts, speech and actions. You cannot talk your way out of situations into which you have behaved yourself. You are not responsible for those things that happen exeternally. Things very often happen through no fault of your own. There are plenty of people who will try to blame you for these. You need to be very clear about which of these things are and are not your responsibility. Keep refining your clarity. Be particularly careful of your speech. Your speech is hugely influential. If you say things to people they very often will act on your words. When speaking, you must first be very clear in your own mind what it is you want to convey. Then formulate it in such a way that there is no ambiguity. Make any important distinctions as clear as possible and explain them in a logical manner. Finally, watch and listen at least twice as much as you speak.

You will be deeply affected by the relationships in your life but you can never blame your problems on anyone else. If, for example you have a problem with the way someone is treating you, it has arisen because you have, in some way, taught that person to treat you in this way.

If you are to succeed, you will encounter many failures on the way. This can be discouraging if you allow it to be. It need not be. You can seek support from those around you. This is one thing but you must not allow yourself to rely on some overly responsible individual to bail you out time and again from spiritual, emotional, financial or relational difficulties. To do so would be extremely unhealthy.