Kind: captions
Language: en
as Henry David Thoreau said never look
back unless you're planning to go that
way and that's how people get trapped
there's something inevitable about the
way that the human mind works it's going
to try to draw you backwards it's going
to try to get you to focus on the bad
things that have happened it wants you
to see your mistakes it wants you to
wallow in your mistakes and I'll give it
that maybe it has the best of intentions
maybe it's hope is that I don't repeat
those mistakes maybe what it wants to
ensure is that I do better in the future
but the problem is your energy goes
where your attention is and if your
attention is the past that's where
you're going to live that's where you're
going to spend your time and you're
never going to be able to plan for the
future the future doesn't happen the
future has to be built it has to be
created and if you're not taking the
time to map out that creation then it's
going to happen by accident and you're
never going to get the things that you
want you're never going to become the
person that you're capable of becoming
but to become that pushed and you have
to push yourself you've got to make huge
demands of yourself and to do that to
have the energy to see that through
you've got to know what it is that
you're trying to accomplish and as
William Faulkner said don't bother just
to be better than your contemporaries or
your predecessors try to be better than
yourself but how can you do that if all
you're doing is looking in the past you
can get a have an eye to the future
you've got to know who you are today
you've got to have the self-awareness
the presence to look at yourself
honestly to accept what it is about
yourself that is a week that is
inadequate but without punishing
yourself without spending that time
beating yourself up in the past living
there in the pain of what you got wrong
living there in the pain of all the
things that have happened to you that
were outside of your control that you
didn't want if you want to build
something new don't spend any of your
energy trying to tear down the old
instead spend all of your time trying to
build the new and that becomes the thing
it becomes the race against yourself it
becomes the race to see if you can make
yourself better you have a vision of who
you can become and you're constantly
racing against that person you're trying
to become better than that person you're
trying to outperform your own
expectations and when you can do that
when you can set a bar that is
ridiculously high and then become
somebody capable of surpassing that then
and only then will you become the person
you were meant to be so put all of your
time and energy into building
[Music]
as epictetus said he is a wise man who
does not grieve for things which he has
not but rejoices for those which he has
and that's gratitude isn't it it's the
very base decision that we all have to
make are you grateful for the things you
have in your life or are you always
wanting more and trust me I get it I
understand people that strive for more I
understand people that want something
bigger and better but at the same time
if you allow yourself to only think
about what you don't have to only be
striving for something more that that
obsession will begin to overtake you it
will begin to corrode you but ultimately
it's a choice ultimately at any time
right now in this moment you can stop
and think about what you have you can
put your attention on the things you're
grateful for and watch what it does
watch what it does in that instance the
way that it changes you the way that it
changes your chemistry your feelings in
a moment can shift from negative and
dark to beautiful with nothing else
changing around you nothing but you
deciding that you're gonna focus on the
things you're grateful for nothing but
deciding that there are things in your
life to be grateful for and that is a
decision no matter what is happening in
your life at any moment right now in the
depths of a depression in something
going on terribly in your life you can
choose right now to think about the
things you're grateful for
the breeze a smile from somebody kind a
stranger who holds open a door for you
anything but it's a choice and as
Einstein said there are only two ways to
live your life
one is as though nothing is a miracle
the other is as though everything is a
miracle and what choice are you making
what are you choosing to focus on right
now do you let gratitude fill you up or
not and here's the critical part and I
want you to listen to this really well
whatever you decide whether you decide
we live in a world of miracles or
whether we decide we live in a world
devoid of miracles you are choosing one
thing to the exclusion of the other and
when you focus on something that you're
grateful for when you look
like and choose to see them as grand
miracles even winning is only a gentle
hand on your shoulder even then it's
only a kiss from somebody who you've
kissed a thousand times before even when
it is only holding the hand of somebody
who needed their hand held even when
it's something that simple it really is
a miracle that it really is something
that can fill you it really is something
that will change your chemistry bring a
connection between two people allow you
to see a grander Vista or even just open
a window and look out at the world and
realize that you're alive that this is
all a miracle that none of this is
guaranteed that every breath you take
could be your last and in that you can
choose to cherish what you have in that
you can decide to focus on that you have
a breath to take and even when it's
something that simple when you train
your mind to do that when you train
yourself to decide to see the beauty in
that that nobody can ever take it away
from you and matter where you are
no matter what's going on in your life
you'll be able to rise up and feel the
beauty that is being alive so take a
minute at the worst times in your life
and focus on the things you're grateful
for
[Music]
you