Silence is golden

Take the risk to be still. Know provocateurs can't touch your inner peace unless you let them. Anyone can verbally attack another person. You may know a smart aleck or someone who would like to get your goat. Why permit that?

Anyone can be angry and express things with the aim of harming others. Anyone can be sarcastic, devalue and belittle people. Silence is a universal refuge, a place to ignore such behavior and project a very poignant reply to insults. Silence is a peacemaker.

It takes a warrior to be silent and to recognize the benefits and strategies of passive action. Silence is very powerful. Silence can also enable you to spread love, compassion and positive feelings that some adversaries wouldn't expect. Manifest and intend good things from inside you. This will set yourself free.

Silence is more valuable than you might think. Spiteful words can injure feelings, but silence can highly influence the soul. Have you ever thought that silence can actually be the loudest voice and leave the greatest impact?

Silence is a source of great strength. The best weapon against anger and volatility is silence. Why add fuel to a fire? Sometimes saying nothing is the best answer, the most compelling speech. Its not necessarily a reprimand, but can acknowledge the foolishness of certain acts that aren't worth your time or energy.

"The world would be much happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak."   –Baruch Spinoza

Agree to disagree

How often do you encounter people who continually disagree with you as if to spite you? Why is that? Some people seem born to challenge you or to make your life difficult. Is it possible you attract troubled people into your life? Why?

Why would leaving your emotions behind seem like a perfectly logical thing to do? Some people learn to become detached and at least act disinterested, but it may not answer the question 'why resorting to this is needed.'

You could always ‘agree to disagree’ as a way to resolve conflict. Yet, adversarial types don’t desire to compromise.  By nature, they appear intolerant. They reject views, opinions or positions because they feel like it.  What do you do with people who act as though additional conflict is called for, effective and desirable? They may avoid amicable terms and continue to disagree because they have never learned how to agree.  Why has nobody taught them? 

Beyond explanation

Some people dream of creatures described as angels. No conclusive explanation about them is unanimously accepted. At the same time, no person has been able to decisively disprove their existence. Reality prompts a closer look. Why would you desire to disprove or support this phenomenon? What does it mean to you?

Consider this: 'There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.' ~C.S.Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

Let's assume humans exist to exercise free will in forming our characters either in openness to Higher Forces or the self-centeredness that leads to rejecting them. As you choose to create a relationship with them (being forgiven by grace rather than through your own goodness) then, in heaven, your life is supposedly different.

Some religious traditions suggest this self-same process applies to angels. However, unlike with humankind, angels have already chosen for or against the staus quo. 'Just like humans, the Angels may undergo a period of probation during which they are free to choose between good and evil. What if spirits who rejecte the ways and universal laws of Higher Forces become demons?

Steps to build confidence

If you've ever found the courage to attend some kind of group activity, you may be pleasantly surprised at the impact it has on your confidence. You discover a level of success that is linked to getting over whatever holds you back. In order to move ahead on your own terms, its useful to recognize what you need work on and then, to find effective ways to deal with this.

I take the example of Toastmaster's. This is a mentoring program for people who desire to improve on their public speaking skills. Now, its not only for business people or anyone else who is expected to do presentations in a workplace. Toastmaster's is a team-building exercise where peers encourage your efforts and offer constructive criticism you that you can learn to improve. The structure is empowering rather than discouraging. It is a toll people use to learn and grow.

Many people would love to develop the ability to be able to speak more impromptu at events, to learn to control their nerves, to strengthen persistence, and to develop core reasons for believing in themselves. All this is possible through activities like Toastmaster's where personal success depends on what you hope to get out of it and what kind of work you're willing to put in.

Over time, I've met very experienced public speakers who remain humble and open to learning. I've met beginners who's primary aim it is to overcome getting up in front of a group of people. They all share meaningful stories and discover they have much in common, for even experienced speakers began somewhere. I've known people to attend meetings for long periods before they got brave and were willing to even open their mouths and introduce themselves. Yet, for those people, that was a significant accomplishment.

Each step forward is still a step forward. The size of the steps you take is less important than the effort itself and what it symbolizes. Your confidence and self-esteem will influence your sense of success. Yet, your desire to recognize your strengths and weaknesses will determine what you get out of self-improvement efforts. One thing is for certain, taking no steps will get you nowhere fast.

Think up your existence

Human beings never really see the whole story of their lives as its unfolding.  Situations you initially judge as tragic or disappointing may reveal a completely different perspective that you missed.  How would your mindset affect all that?  Quite honestly, it is the pivotal part that shapes everything.  You actually devise or think up your existence.  Can you see through illusion?

If you decide your thinking process will limit your experience, it will, that is, unless it doesn't.  How you draw from your mind is what you will perceive and express.  You are exactly what you think.  You are the level of awareness which is experienced.  You've already done the choosing.  Everything you desire to do, be and have will unfold right before your eyes.  Just concentrate.

Its said that the highest level of pleasure you will experience would be an offshoot of creating who you really are.  Thinking positively will help convince you that you can create such an experience.  You can tap into those resources which will enable you to see clearly.  Choosing options of lower levels of pleasure enables you to forget why you're alive and what you were really born to do. Yet, learning to recognize what you aren't enables you to see what you are.  Condition yourself to sense the positive.