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My Personal Philosophy
I recently read a fantastic book that looks at the personal philosophies of remarkable men and women in the compilation of essays entitled “This I Believe”. I read this book as a part of my book club and when we gathered our hostess asked if anyone had written their own “This I Believe”. As much as I hate writing I forced myself to sit down on the afternoon of our meeting and write my own personal philosophy on life and I actually surprised myself at how profound it was! This is my essay:
This I Believe
I believe in being present in life. To have the ability to notice the little things in life make it incredibly enjoyable.
While in collie I had a assignment to walk a certain route in Detroit that is almost always driven. Myself and two other students walked for miles after having driven the same route a few times. It was amazing to see what we missed in the car flying past everything. The training I gained in architecture school taught me to notice specific details in the built world around me. But, I realize it created more…
Being present to see the beauty of a random baby smiling at me or noticing the song bird that shows up every morning at the same time brings a joy to life that I think some people miss out on.
Whatever comes from my life I want to look back on it knowing that I saw as much as I could. I don’t mean going places and doing things, I mean really seeing what’s around me… being present!!
The other essays in this book really made me think about life differently and helped me create my own philosophy on life. I’d love to hear your own personal philosophies on life and be lifted up by your words and your lives! Leave a comment below and one random person will be chosen to win a straw from me. A winner will be announced on Monday, June 17, 2013.
~ Daedra
Laughter feeds the soul, so do it often!
It takes very little extra energy to be kind: in words, tone, actions, thought (benefit of the doubt, less judging), and it makes everyone feel better (especially YOU), so be kind.
I think my personal philosophy on life is do whatcha wanna as long as it does not hurt anyone anyways.
We are here to help each other and life is too serious to be solemn about..
I am stealing this from a friend. “Love God and love others.” My kids are much better at this than I am. They see into a person without judgement. I am striving.
I like to stick with what the Bible says… “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Time passes much too quickly, so enjoy every minute!
The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them.
While I do take other’s opinions into account, I like to be my own influence and believe strongly in the things I do. 🙂
My philosophy is THINK POSITIVE!!! This is not always easy to follow but I find myself quite frequently encouraging others around me to think positive, to think about the outcome they want and not dwell on the one they do not want. Whenever my girls say, “I can’t…” , I say, “You’re right, you can’t with that attitude.” I then encourage them to create an affirmation, a phrase that says, “I can”. You can achieve anything in life you want to, with the right attitude.
I try to change my mindset from thinking people are doing something to deliberately annoy me to understanding their real motivation or where they are coming from. Its helped me be a more pleasant person inside and outwardly.
Choose your battles wisely!
Enjoy the simple things in life!
My personal philosophy is try not to harm anyone and snuggle a cat every day.
With kids, don’t worry about keeping your house spotless, they don’t care and will remember the time you spent with them. They grow up way too fast. 🙂
Unplug, pay attention, live in the moment!
love it wise person wrote this
My personal philosophy is to be present now, keep it simple, be honest, act with integrity and be respectful.
Appreciate those around you, and let them know.
my top personal philosophy is probably just BE GRATEFUL! So many of my other personal philosophies stem from that. There is always someone out there who would love to have all that you have and who has it much worse. Perspective is powerful.
Live for today ~ what lies in tomorrow is unknown.
I’m with my little guy making memories so house might not be to clean 🙂
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Appreciate what you have, there are always others that have less. The best things in life really are free!
Never let your fear define you. You can accomplish remarkable things when you step outside of your fears and just go for it.
Just keep it real….always remembering that there are no bad days; some are just better than others! 😀
Agreed. So many of us, myself included, look toward “someday” when this or that will be better and then we can be happy. It is all an illusion. We can be happy now, in many small ways each and every day…we just have to learn to see things through a different lens.
I can’t wait to read that book of essays. Inspiration is all around us, it’s just up to us individually how we seek out that inspiration and turn it into our own personal drive. Thanks for sharing your story!
Relax and don’t be too hard on yourself! Sometimes you just need to take a step back and think of all of the good things you’ve done!
My philosophy is to always try to be a peace-maker in my home.
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”
If nothing else, I want to be remembered as someone who always tried to do what was right.
One foot in front of the other is how I tend to live. Sometimes life is easy so keeping going isn’t difficult but sometimes you have to remind yourself to keep going because falling on the floor in a heap never helped anyone. It allows me to live in the moment and love my life and family NOW versus that wispy future when money will be better, the kids will be through whatever tough stafe we’re in, etc.
I’ve recently been through months of medical and emotional upheaval that caused me to question my faith (I was certain at the start I was seeing signs I was on the right track in fighting against everyone’s “easy solution” of cutting in and removing an organ, while I wanted to keep trying to find a way to retain hope of future plans being fulfillable – only to have someone sit down and gently make clear to me there WAS no other option, that even remaining whole and eradicating the issue by other means would still leave me unable to fulfill our plans – those plans are dead, the signs were imagined/lies of my mind.)
I’m still alive, recovering from a surgery that has left me an emotional wreck, though I keep this well-hidden.
What I’ve learned from this is a simple thing – I am stronger than I believe. I am more brave than I think.
Don’t sweat the small stuff…and make time to have a warm cookie or two with the kids 🙂 You should also have a smoothie with a cool smoothie straw!!!
Live through your heart and enjoy what you have, don’t long for what you don’t have.
Never contribute to malice what can be explained away by stupidity.
I truly believe in “do unto others as you would have done unto you.”
Live one day at a time!
Enjoy every day, every moment – as if it were your last…
I have learned that life is 98 % perspective. No matter your circumstances, you can turn your life around to make it something worth living. I have also learned that in this world, you must slow down to appreciate all that life has to offer. Life happens quickly enough. You have to make your pace through life slower than the pace of the world so that you can not just notice, or appreciate, but really get out of life what it has to offer. This allows that us to be able to give back to a world that is constantly changing. Stopping to smell the roses is just the beginning. Smelling the fragrance of life should inspire us to plant gardens.
Be kind, gentle, and loving to everyone, at all times.
Never regret. If you think it is the right thing now, do it now, not tomorrow because now is the right time and tomorrow it may have passed. I’ve been trying to live this. It’s a hard one. Been trying to stop and breath in the air–taste it, feel it–really stop and enjoy.
Balance. My personal philosophy is that nothing works if your life is out of balance.
“You can do more than you think you can do” – words of inspiration from my Bikram yoga teacher, that come back to me again and again.
great message, I learned this all too well when my mother became terminally ill, and later died at a very young age. It became all too important to live in the moment, and enjoy the little things in life.
I believe that love is the greatest gift and the most important thing in life!
For every negative point I say about a situation, I must say 3 positive points. Keeps me from dwelling on the negative.
Read and laugh every day
I try and look for the positives, things can always be worse.
One quote I have tried to live my life by: “Practice being grateful.”
I try, even though this is often difficult:
“Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.” – Maggie Kuhn
“Life is a journey, not a destination”
Love God and Love others. Those are the GREATEST commandments. Everything else will fall into place.
I believe in being authentic. I’m going to make mistakes, I don’t always live in the moment, I will sometimes have a negative thought. The “live like you’re dying” type messages always seem so unattainable to me because we -do- have to make a living and be serious sometimes. But authenticity is both admirable and attainable. Whatever I do, I strive to do it in a way that is genuine. I don’t want anyone to have to wonder where they stand with me, or what I’m really feeling. I believe in living my life in such a way: when I say something, it’s from my heart; when I do something, it’s because I believe in it. I’m not rich or famous or bubbly or gregarious. I’m just me…and even if “me” isn’t always ideal, at least it’s real.
Find time to smell the flowers 🙂
Always take time for nature…..it is in fact the one way to re-connect with ourselves and the bigger picture.
always live life honestly and clean in all ways- so many live to see what they can get away with- how about life live so you do not have to worry about what will catch up with you
Be nice, be kind, do good to others, but all without expecting anything back.
And dont let others change who you are. If someone is being rude then be nice, dont let others’ attitude change yours.
Ana
Emily Laney is our random winner! Congrats! I’ve emailed you for your contact information.
Even more true once you have kids I think. It’s so important to just cherish the “now” and not worry about all the little insignificant things that can wait, like dishes, cleaning, etc. It’s hard to follow this mantra but I think so good for the body, mind and soul.
Your loved ones will prosper if you prosper. They will fail if you fail. Karma.
On days that my kids seem like my children require every ounce of me and I am frustrated. I remind myself before I know it these days will be gone. So I try to cherish these times that they actually want to spend with me and soak it all in. Not long down the road they will be teenagers and I will wish that they wanted to hang out with me more.