Criticism Comes With Success

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”

— Aristotle

If you want to live a life free from being attacked by conformist machine masses, don’t do anything. Don’t say anything. Don’t be anything. Only participate in the machine systems without complaint, or with complaint, just don’t do anything original, and then maybe you won’t be criticized.

But if you plan or attempt to make any impact upon this world, you will be criticized. You may be loved, but you will definitely be hated. It’s the world we currently live upon.

If you want success, you can’t be afraid of being hated. You have to pretty much get used to being loved & hated for who you are, &/or to ignore it. To listen to a small tribe that you trust, & to ignore any hateful tribes. & as much as possible, listen to your own heart & brain.

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”

— Einstein

You can participate with the scared & often hateful masses, or you can be part of the few who see with your own eyes and feel with your own heart.

The choice is yours.

Comparing, Thriving

We as humans often compare ourselves to each other – or to people of the past. But the thing we probably do most is compare ourselves to our immediate environments & those there.

Sometimes our environments become boxes and trap us in, and sometimes our environments provide freedom.

When we thrive & strive to improve ourselves, to live our best lives, helping others, we are living in more freedom.

When we are comparing ourselves with anger, hating, envious, offensive & defensive, we most likely stay in a box.

I have heard that winners focus on winning, and losers focus on winners.

You can be a winner & focus on other winners too, just don’t look into the sidelines or crowds too long or you may get lost in them, with them, and you don’t want that if you’re a leader, a person of influence; someone attaining their own freedom.

10 Quotes From Dan Millman’s The Peaceful Warrior To Bring You Happiness Today

1) “There is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere. It makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One, you see. And the only laws are paradox, humor and change. There is no problem, never was, and never will be. Release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. No need to resist life, just do your best. Open your eyes and see that you are far more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too! It’s all the marvelous Play of God. Wake up, regain your humor. Don’t worry, just be happy. You are already free!” 

2) “Reality never matched their dreams; happiness was just around the corner — a corner they never turned. And the source of it all was the human mind.”

3) “Sometimes sorrow, sometimes joy. But beneath it all remember the innate perfection of your life unfolding. That is the secret of unreasonable happiness.” 

4) “And so I awoke to reality, free of any meaning or any search. What could there possibly be to search for? All of Socrate’s words had come alive with my death. This was the paradox of it all, the humor of it all, and the great change. All searches, all achievements, all goals, were equally enjoyable, and equally unnecessary.” 

5) “Act happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will.”

6) “The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

7) “‘What do I do then, now? Where do I go from here?’ Dan asked Socrates.

‘Who cares?’ He yelled gleefully.  ‘A fool is ‘happy’ when his cravings are satisfied. A warrior is happy without reason.  That’s what makes happiness the ultimate discipline—above all else I have taught you.’”

8) “Stay in the present. You can do nothing to change the past, and the future will never come exactly as you plan or hope for.  The warrior is here, now. Your sorrow, your fear & anger, regret & guilt, your envy and plans and cravings live only in the past, or in the future.”

9) “Like most people, you’ve been taught to gather information from outside yourself; from books, magazines, experts.  Like this car, you open up and let the facts pour in.  Sometimes the information is premium and sometimes it’s low octane.  You buy your knowledge at the current market rates, much like you buy gasoline.  Like this gas tank, you are overflowing with preconceptions; full of useless knowledge.  You hold many facts and opinions, yet know little of yourself.  Before you can learn, you’ll have to first empty your tank.

10) “Wake up! If you knew for certain that you had a terminal illness – if you had precious little time left to make use of your life and consider who you are, you’d not waste time on self-indulgence or fear, lethargy or ambition.  You do have a terminal illness – it is death. Be happy now, without reason – or you never will be at all.”

1 Empowering Message From The Alchemist

“…That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
—Paulo Coelho

Life can be a mysterious experience, and yet, in one way that life is not mysterious is that when we become better versions of ourselves, everything around us improves. 

This is a Fact of Life.

Act With Purpose

“Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions. But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion. People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time—even when hard at work.”
—Marcus Aurelius

______________________________

What purpose are you living for?

Here is A 3-Step Process to Begin Creating YOUR Life

More helpful resources:

Set long-term goals & Focus

& Then Stop Looking Back & Live Life Like You’re Driving

17 Marcus Aurelius Quotes On Dealing with Other People

1) “Don’t pay attention to other people’s minds. Look straight ahead, where nature is leading you, through the things that happen to you through your own actions.”

2) “When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and unfriendly.  They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil.”

3) “Welcoming wholeheartedly whatever comes- whatever were assigned—not worrying too often, or with any selfish motive, about what other people say. Or do, or think.”

4) “Don’t waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people—unless it affects the common good.  It will keep you from doing anything useful.  You’ll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing, and why, and what they’re saying, and what they’re thinking, and what they’re up to, and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind.”

5) “God did not intend my happiness to rest with someone else.”

6) “You want praise from people who kick themselves every 15 minutes, the approval of people who despise themselves…..why do you want approval from people who don’t know where or who they are on this planet?”

7) “The tranquility that comes when you stop caring what they say. Or think, or do.  Only what you do. Asking yourself: Is this fair?  Is this the right thing to do?”

8) “So other people hurt me? That’s their problem. Their character and actions are not mine.”

9) “So remember this principle when someone threatens to cause you pain: the thing itself was no misfortune at all; to endure it and prevail is great good fortune.”

10) “That to expect bad people not to injure others is crazy. It’s to ask the impossible. And to let them behave like that to other people but expect them to exempt you is arrogant—the act of a tyrant.”

11) “If they’ve injured you, then they’re the ones who suffer for it.”

12) “Other people’s mistakes? Leave them to their makers.”

13) “If anyone can refute me-show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective— I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”

14) “Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”

15) “Don’t be put off by other people’s comments and criticism.”

16) “Not to be distracted by their darkness.  To run straight for the finish line, unswerving.”

17) A straightforward honest person should be like someone who stinks: when you’re in the same room with him, you know it.  But false straightforwardness is like a knife in the back. False friendship is the worst.  Avoid it at all costs. If you’re honest and straightforward and mean well, it should show in your eyes. It should be unmistakable.”

A Million Dreams

A Million Dreams…

This great song by Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, and Ziv Zaifman expresses dreams of a new world.

A new world that we are creating, together. All the time.

Every day we are creating reality – our reality, which contributes to the collective reality.

What are you contributing?

Here are a couple posts I’ve written about dreaming, to help you begin:

The Power of The Dream

Your Dreams Are Yours

& here is the beginning lyrics of the song A Million Dreams🎶

“I close my eyes and I can see,

The world that’s waiting up for me

That I call my own

Through the dark, through the door

Through where no one’s been before,

But it feels like home…

They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy,

They can say, they can say I’ve lost my mind,

I don’t care, I don’t care, so call me crazy,

We can live in a world that we design…

‘Cause every night I lie in bed,

The brightest colours fill my head,

A million dreams are keeping me awake..

I think of what the world could be,

A vision of the one I see,

A million dreams is all it’s gonna take..

Oh a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make…”

I prefer Pink’s version, here.

To Blame or Not To Blame

“They blame those who remain silent, they blame those who speak much, they blame those who speak in moderation. There is none in the world who is not blamed.”
– Buddha

This Buddha quote reminds me of an Aristotle quote: 

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

We live in a hyper critical world of insecure projections. 

^This makes it hard for any of us to live. 

Because when we go against the grain – when we don’t conform to how they say we should live – we get criticized & blamed.

The crabs in the bucket try to pull us back down into the bucket with them – for whatever reason – mostly fear.

But we weren’t meant to live in that bucket. 

We we meant to live free.

We Are meant to live free.

So let’s do a little less blaming, and a little more living.

Live With Purpose

“Live with purpose. Don’t let people or things around you get you down.”
– Albert Einstein

This world is filled with people blindly bouncing off each other – reacting to stimuli.

Then there are people who break out from reacting & are able to live with purpose.

We are here to live with purpose.

Less reacting – More responding.

With purpose.