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People do stupid things because they believe those stupid things will bring them happiness.
People don't wake up in the morning and say to themselves "Nice day, I wonder how can
I make myself miserable today?" The human heart is on a quest for happiness. You want
to be happy, I want to be happy and we act out of that desire for happiness. We live
out of that desire for happiness. And the human person is made up of four aspects:
physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Now physically, if you eat the right of sorts
of food and you sleep regularly and you exercise regularly, how do you feel? You feel great,
yes or yes? You feel great. You feel more fully alive, you're healthier, you're happier,
you're more focused and you have a richer and more abundant experience of life physically.
Emotionally, you give focus to you relationships. Emotionally, you give focus to your relationships.
Emotionally, you fall in love. How do you feel? You fell great. Yes or yes? Why? Why?
Because you switched the focus off self onto another. And as you switch the focus off self
onto another, you increase your ability to love. And as your ability to love increases,
your ability to be loved increases. You feel more fully alive emotionally, you're healthier,
you're happier, you have a richer and more abundant experience of life.
Intellectually, you take 10 minutes a day to read a good book; not 2 hours, 10 minutes
a day to read a good book. What happens? You become more focused, more alert, more vibrant,
more vital, your vision of yourself expands, your vision of the world expands. Intellectually,
you are healthier, you're happier, you feel more fully alive, you have a rich and more
abundant experience of life. Spiritually, you step into the classroom of
silence, you take a few moments each day to get reconnected with yourself, to get reconnected
with your God. What happens? A sense of peace. A sense of peace. You feel more focused, more
alert, more centered, more peaceful in your life.
Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, we know the things that bring us happiness.
We just don't do them. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, we know the things
that bring us happiness, we just don't choose them. We just don't choose them. Because life,
our whole lives, they are a series of choices. We're making them every day, hundreds of them.
Some of them are big as what are we going to wear to college and some of them are small
as what are we going to do with the rest of our lives. But we're making decisions every
day. That was a joke. I appreciate the courtesy clap.
We're making decisions every day and those decisions are forming our actions. Those actions
are forming our habits. Those habits are forming our character. And that character is forming
our destiny. Right in the middle there, the foundation of life, the foundation of character
- habits. What are your habits? What are your habits? What are the things you do every day
or every week or every month with honorary consistency?
Because if you can tell me what your habits are, I can tell you what sort of a person
you are. If you can tell me what your habits are, I can tell you what your future looks
like. Why? Because habits create character. Good habits create good character, bad habits
create bad character. And your character is your destiny. The foundation of life, the
foundation of success, the foundation of character - habits. But the foundation of habits - action
and primarily choices. Choices. How do you make your choices? Do you choose
happiness? Do you choose happiness or are you choosing misery? When you look at your
habits, are they things that are bringing you happiness or when you look at your habits
are they things that are bringing you misery? When you look at your habits, do you find
choices for happiness or choices for misery? You see, I believe in heaven and hell. I believe
in heaven and hell and I believe they start in this life. And I believe in this life we
are the creators of our own heavens and our own hells. We choose 90% of our happiness
and we choose 90% of our misery. We create our heavens in this life and we create our
hell in this life. Are we choosing happiness or are we choosing
misery? Are we choosing happiness or are we choosing misery? And how do we make our choices?
Well the world is tingled to just three philosophies. Most people everyday, when they make most
of their choices, work out of one of 3 operating philosophies.
Number one: Individualism. Most people, when they have to make a decision in their lives,
they simply ask themselves: "What's in it for me? What's in it for me? What can I get
out of it?" And they make their choice based on what they discover in the answer of that
question. Individualism. Second most dominant philosophy in our age
is the philosophy of Hedonism. Hedonism. We ask ourselves "if it feels good, I'll do it.
If it feels good, I'll do it, if it doesn't feel good, I won't do it."