I started becoming interested in personal development over 40 years ago and I've been involved in teaching it for more than 30 years. After a life of being involved in personal development, there isn't any doubt in my mind what truly makes life worthwhile. I have decided on these 5 things :
- A faith that goes beyond my personal tiny width of things
- Meaningful Relationships
- Freedom to do the things I would like to do
- Work that I enjoy and feel is a contribution to others
- Feeling great about my life
A faith that goes past my own tiny width of things:
I find it so phenomenal that anyone would declare that there's no God. Is somebody so credulous as to accept that they have each bit of information and can truly declare that based primarily on that there is no God?
Fair from this prospective: say that somebody has gone to school all their life and studied each discipline that was available; what proportion of all of the knowledge would they now have packed in their tiny head? Go out and pick up just one grain of sand on some sandy beach and consider how many grains are left on all of the beaches of all the seas in the entire world and the one grain of sand represents their knowledge and the remainder of the grains represent all of the data they don not yet have. Is it irrational to accept that out there in all that unknown knowledge that there might presumably be the knowledge of God?
For me life has been productive and significant because I have belief in and a relationship with an all knowing, all caring, all dynamic God. It gives rhyme and reason to an otherwise incomprehensible existence with absolutely no purpose. You also can have a relationship with God.
Suggestive Relationships:
The second thing which has given a purpose for living is relationships: to have loved a gorgeous girl and experienced the lifelong intimacy that is part of the conjugal union; to have known the joy and the love of having my personal kids and watching them grow into adults and becoming caring and giving individuals, taking on the responsibility of raising their family and making their contribution to society; having grandchildren who are lively and who go around making reference to me as papaw; to have pals who would go the last mile with me, who actually care for me as a person and accept me as I'm; all that is what makes life profitable.
Freedom to do the things I want to do:
The 3rd thing that makes life worthwhile is freedom: the liberty to live my life the way I decide with no state telling me where to live, what to work at and dictating my every move. What a privilege to live in a great land like America, the land of the free and the brave; the land where anybody has the liberty to find the things which gives them pleasure and happiness. America where the only limit is the limits we place on ourselves to learn, to earn, to live a life of purpose, to meet our every dream.
Work that I enjoy and feel is a contribution to others:
The forth thing that makes life worth living for me is work: that is right, work, working at what gives me joy and purpose. Although making money through doing what I truly adore to do is very gratifying, there is much more, and that's the sensation of making a contribution to others and the inter satisfaction of being needed and appreciated for what I'm in a position to do to help some other person reach their dreams.
Feeling A1 about my life:
The fifth thing that makes life profitable and really sums it up is feeling A1 about life: awakening in the morning on a pretty fall day as it is now as I write this tract and taking a big breath of the cool morning air and seeing the wonderful thing about autumn all around, from the golden leaves of the sugar maple just outside of the window to the other colors of oaks,red maples, the orange and green and varying shades of colours all around, and being crammed with excitement about the things that lie ahead for this day. So true is that quote, There aren't any guarantees in life but each day of life is a dear gift . It is up to all of us to determine what our approach will be. We can opt to dwell on the bad and the ugly or we will be able to decide to dwell on the good and the beautiful, and that terribly decision will decide how worthwhile life is.
. Conclusion:
Oh yes, as I mentioned at the start, that it has taken a life of personal development to come to a full circle and to recognize what actually makes life worth living; too bad that we're not born with such an awareness instead of having to live out most of our life just wondering what it is when it is all around us, all of the time.
- A faith that goes beyond my personal tiny width of things
- Meaningful Relationships
- Freedom to do the things I would like to do
- Work that I enjoy and feel is a contribution to others
- Feeling great about my life
A faith that goes past my own tiny width of things:
I find it so phenomenal that anyone would declare that there's no God. Is somebody so credulous as to accept that they have each bit of information and can truly declare that based primarily on that there is no God?
Fair from this prospective: say that somebody has gone to school all their life and studied each discipline that was available; what proportion of all of the knowledge would they now have packed in their tiny head? Go out and pick up just one grain of sand on some sandy beach and consider how many grains are left on all of the beaches of all the seas in the entire world and the one grain of sand represents their knowledge and the remainder of the grains represent all of the data they don not yet have. Is it irrational to accept that out there in all that unknown knowledge that there might presumably be the knowledge of God?
For me life has been productive and significant because I have belief in and a relationship with an all knowing, all caring, all dynamic God. It gives rhyme and reason to an otherwise incomprehensible existence with absolutely no purpose. You also can have a relationship with God.
Suggestive Relationships:
The second thing which has given a purpose for living is relationships: to have loved a gorgeous girl and experienced the lifelong intimacy that is part of the conjugal union; to have known the joy and the love of having my personal kids and watching them grow into adults and becoming caring and giving individuals, taking on the responsibility of raising their family and making their contribution to society; having grandchildren who are lively and who go around making reference to me as papaw; to have pals who would go the last mile with me, who actually care for me as a person and accept me as I'm; all that is what makes life profitable.
Freedom to do the things I want to do:
The 3rd thing that makes life worthwhile is freedom: the liberty to live my life the way I decide with no state telling me where to live, what to work at and dictating my every move. What a privilege to live in a great land like America, the land of the free and the brave; the land where anybody has the liberty to find the things which gives them pleasure and happiness. America where the only limit is the limits we place on ourselves to learn, to earn, to live a life of purpose, to meet our every dream.
Work that I enjoy and feel is a contribution to others:
The forth thing that makes life worth living for me is work: that is right, work, working at what gives me joy and purpose. Although making money through doing what I truly adore to do is very gratifying, there is much more, and that's the sensation of making a contribution to others and the inter satisfaction of being needed and appreciated for what I'm in a position to do to help some other person reach their dreams.
Feeling A1 about my life:
The fifth thing that makes life profitable and really sums it up is feeling A1 about life: awakening in the morning on a pretty fall day as it is now as I write this tract and taking a big breath of the cool morning air and seeing the wonderful thing about autumn all around, from the golden leaves of the sugar maple just outside of the window to the other colors of oaks,red maples, the orange and green and varying shades of colours all around, and being crammed with excitement about the things that lie ahead for this day. So true is that quote, There aren't any guarantees in life but each day of life is a dear gift . It is up to all of us to determine what our approach will be. We can opt to dwell on the bad and the ugly or we will be able to decide to dwell on the good and the beautiful, and that terribly decision will decide how worthwhile life is.
. Conclusion:
Oh yes, as I mentioned at the start, that it has taken a life of personal development to come to a full circle and to recognize what actually makes life worth living; too bad that we're not born with such an awareness instead of having to live out most of our life just wondering what it is when it is all around us, all of the time.
About the Author:
About the author: Jimmie Burroughs is an inspiring speaker and author who has been involved in teaching Christian Personal Development for at least 30 years. There are over 600 articles to help on his website in your personal growth. Be sure to take vantage of the FREE offer to get the e-book The 4 Pillars for Personal Development while available.