...Travon Gaines English A FYE- 6099 12 November 2014 Lifetime Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz novel The Four Agreements is about applying four agreements to your life and discovering the true meaning of life while learning how to find freedom, true happiness, and love. This author explains how one should live their life by the four agreements and life will become easier. Living by these agreements I learn to look at situations a different way which helps in a certain aspect of making life easier. Ruiz lived by these four agreements and shared them to help others seek a better life. The four agreements are a new way of living life. Out of all the agreements the three that I focus on the most in my life are to don’t make assumptions, don’t take anything personally, and to always do your best so that I can live an enjoyable and worry free life. The agreement to not make assumptions is a significant agreement that Ruiz talked about because to me it means that you should never judged a book by its cover. “The big mitote in the human mind creates a lot of chaos which causes us to misinterpret everything and misunderstand everything”(Ruiz 65). In our brains we make assumptions because we need to satisfy our need to imply what we think happened or what we think we heard or saw and run with that. If I learn not to make assumptions then that will help me stop worry and not think about the negative thoughts that would cloud my brain rather than the positive thoughts that I should...
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...300 SECRETS 1. A life is a terrible thing to waste. So easy to beat yourself up over mistakes you've made. So many amongst us live in the past rather than loving the present and building a brilliant future. First of all, no one tries to fail or mess things up. Every one of us wakes up in the morning, walks out into the world and does the best we can do based on what we know and the skills we have. But even more importantly, every so-called "mistake' is actually a rich source of learning. An opportunity to build more awareness and understanding and gain precious experience. Just maybe what we could call failures are actually growth lessons in wolf's clothing. And just maybe the person who experiences the most, wins. 2. A world-class company puts systems in place to ensure consistency of results. If you want to get something done and if you want to see consistent results, build a system around it. Celebrate the previous days wins and then rededicate to work for the mission. Systems‛ thinking builds structures into your life so that your best practices actually get integrated into your life. Systems allow you to live in a proactive rather than in a reactive way. And having a bunch of systems in place to keep you at your best doesn't mean that your life will be overly structured and full of stress Because nothing deprives a human being of happiness as much as seeing a life being wasted. 3. ABC. Always Be Connecting with everybody, everything around you. The best leaders build strong...
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...once stated, “It’s the friends you call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” The implication is that you certainly cannot call up your casual acquaintances at four in the morning! Only a best friend can be counted on to wake up in the early morning hours to listen to your life dramas and relationship dilemmas. Arriving at that point in a friendship, where early morning calls are acceptable is not something that can be taken for granted; however, as only certain people will ever meet the criteria of a best friend. What is a best friend? What does it take to consider someone their best friend? The term itself can be defined in multiple ways, either they are the ones whom you have known the longest or the ones who stayed and proved their loyalty. The following individuals will further explain the true meaning of friendship and the importance of having a true friend in their lives. Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others will stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts. We encounter different people in different times and some of them will create a huge impact in our lives. We call these people our friends. Friends are the ones who is always with you to lighten up the dullness of our world. As friends strengthen their bond together, they become best friends. Friends are harder to find, but a best friend is much harder to find. What is a best friend? Mark, a college student who met his best friend since his childhood says, “ To me, a best friend is my childhood friend...
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...The literary works, A Dog's Death and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, are both great examples of the process of death. When you hear about death, it is not necessarily something that is beautiful or happy. There is a lot of grief when it comes to death, but there is also a lot of love. I think love and grief comes when death is around, whether it is for an animal or family member. A Dog's Death talks about the death of a dog. They were not sure as to what had happened with the dog, they think that he may have been kicked or brushed by a car. They took the dog to the vet and the autopsy showed that she had a rupture in her liver. The dog had apparently been young and just learning to go potty on the newspaper. They tried to take the dog to the vet the next morning and in the car ride, she tried to bit her owner and had tied. The dog was only learning to live and yet she was already dying. The last act this dog had made was try and hide the diarrhea she didn't have any control over, she covered it with her newspaper. What I found very intriguing about this poem, is that the dog was treated as if it were one of the family members. It is evident that the family who owned the dog, had no idea what had happened, but you can almost feel their pain (Sherwood, 2001). And that is exactly how the author wants you to feel. I can tell that the author wanted me to feel empathy for the family's loss. I felt myself really connecting to this story because, we owned a husky and we had...
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...walk, unable to see, and can barely breathe let alone speak. Your life was well lived all those years before. You are in such unbearable pain that you can’t even cry. Although your family is there for your every step of the way you begin to think, could ending your life be the answer to the pain? You are in more pain than you can bear. There is no way that you could function without assistance. You think and feel as if your life has no meaning. Well in all reality this isn’t something anyone needs to imagine. This is a real situation for many, many people. These people should be able to make their own choices and have control of their own lives. B. Background information of the topic: Euthanasia is a term still new to many of us. It is a Greek term meaning ‘good death’. It means self imposed death in a relatively painless and merciful way. Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary and active or passive. Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive euthanasia is widely non-criminal. C. Preview of the speech (central idea): Now let's take a look at the reasons on why euthanasia should be legalized. Euthanasia is about giving people the right to choose how they want to live and die, saves money in medical bills, and it also stops the person from having a bad quality of life. Transition to body of...
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...The Age of Reason took place in the 1700’s in America. People focused on government and living a moral life based on fact and science. They were not as focused on religion as they were during the Puritan times. During the Age of Reason they lived by several guiding principles that guided everyday life. The guiding principle that best represents the Age of Reason is adaptability. Adaptability means to change quickly based on whatever happens. Life was always changing for people living during the Age of Reason. During that time period there was the Revolutionary war and governmental changes. People had to learn to adapt to their surroundings as each change occurred. The guiding principle that best represents America today is courage....
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...definitions. So how can we have a set answer to that question? Well this means that we are going to have to have a very broad definition. It has to be very wide because it has to encompass many famous philosophers’ ideas and teachings. To be a philosopher is to create and conceptualize ideas about how to live life the right way. When thinking about a philosopher we all tend to gravitate towards an image of an old Greek man with a large white beard, bald head and in robes. However, while there were a lot of ferry talented philosophers who were old and Greek, anyone can be a philosopher and we should encourage people to try. It would be ignorant for anyone who considers themselves to be a philosopher to not listen to everyone’s ideas. In Phaedo, Plato states that “Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death. If this is true, and they have actually been looking forward to death all their lives, it would of course be absurd to be troubled when the thing comes for which they have so long been preparing and looking forward.” (Page 5) Many modern philosophers, like Cornel West, have stated that this means philosophy is to learn how to die. I think this is one of that best, closest definitions, because learning how to die, is a short hand for learning how to act when you are living so that you can accept death when it comes to you. I’ll take it...
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...responsibility is being accountable for the decisions made in life. The choices we make affect the outcome, and we are liable for those decisions. Smart and rational life choices will result in success in life. Even if life leads down an unsuccessful path, personal blame is the correct choice and not the blame of others. By understanding that concept, one can turn the unsuccessful path into a successful one. The connection of personal responsibility and success is prevalent in many parts of life, from work to personal life to school. Accepting personal responsibility is a key element for success in school. “Responsibility is ‘response-ability’ – the ability to choose your response to any event, even when the event itself is beyond your control”. (Ellis, 2011, p. 171) Elements exist during school that will be beyond control, such as group work and other team members completing their part of the assignment. By studying hard, participating in group work, collaborating with other students, and doing honest assignments, one can work toward personal success of the highest grade achievable. The work put into assignments will reflect the outcome of success. If there is no effort, the grade will reflect the lack of work. “There is another way, called taking responsibility. You can recognize that you choose your grades by choosing your actions. Then you are the source, rather than the result, of the grades you get”. (Ellis, 2011, p. 171.) By working hard and achieving...
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...Happiness can be found in many different forms. It can be found with the purchasing of inanimate objects that better our living styles or it can be found with someone else that you associate with. The latter is the more imperative of the designs of happiness. In order to be truly happy you need to be able to understand that everything is good within your own life and that you are able to be happy with the people that are in your life and the people that influence how you live your daily life. Happiness is all of the good that someone experiences combined into one emotion. This emotion can, and usually does, bring out the best in people. For someone to be happy they need to know that everything that has happened in their past has happened for a reason and that it has happened in order for them to become a better person. Not only does it make them a better person but it also makes them realize how good they have it or can possibly have it. Although things might be hard to deal with at the moment, people need to realize that they will be able to learn from their experiences and that they will learn to take the good from them all. In the end, the hard times will help people strive for happiness. Happiness isn't free. You have to earn it and work to keep it. The price for happiness is having to suffer and having to question events that occur during one's life. People need to be able to adapt to their surroundings so that they can get the best out of them. You can't...
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...The return to your own lives In modern society, there are still many people don’t know how we best should live our lives. I think The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Matrix both have the similarity of people get learned from mistakes in their lives. At also, the difference of their life is Gilgamesh was afraid of death but in The Matrix, the main character was not afraid of death in his life. First of all, Gilgamesh was afraid of death and he was trying to find immortality. After his friend Enkidu was dead, he could not imagine what death is. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh said, “Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that shall I be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best I can to find Utnapishitim whom they call the Faraway, for he as entered the assembly of the gods.”(The Epic of Gilgamesh P97) So he started his journey and tried to find immortality. Unfortunately, Gilgamesh could not find the immortality in the end of his life. In contrast, the main character was not afraid of death in his life. There are two worlds in the main character’s life, one is The Matrix which is a computer program and another world is the real one which is controlled by artificial intelligence. When his friend Mopheus was captured by agents, he decided to come back to The Matrix to save his friend. When Trinity which is his comrade said to him if he is going back to that dangerous area, he probably is not going to come back to the real world again because those...
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...Psychology of Leadership Mr. Bicknell Jonathan Figueroa 8-18-13 Authentic Leadership Story A life experience can tell a lot about a person and can influence others to become a better person. Many people have very sad life experiences, and others have had a great life experience. Each experience tells a life lesson that everybody can benefit from. In this case, my father’s life experience has motivated me to become an even better person. Life experiences from others can impact another person life to become even greater. That is what my father has done. His life experience has made me become an even better person than what I was before. Born and raised in the country side of El Salvador, my father, from the day he could start to walk has been working with his brothers, sisters and father and mother to just barley live on their own. He would start his day off by waking up as soon as you can see and start working until you couldn’t see no more. He has been doing that for 13 years of his life. Every day would be a challenge to him because he would perform different task every day that not your average teenager would do here. Living in the same room with 6 of your brothers, with no bed has truly made my father what he is today. At the age of 18, my father made one of the hardest decisions of his life and that was migrating from El Salvador to the United States of America. He started his journey in the United States by buying a flight from California to Boston and that’s when...
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...computers. He mentions that this was one of the best decisions he ever made. He then speaks about Apple. He started it up with a friend at the age of 20 and in ten years it grew to be a two billion dollar company with over 4,000 employees. He talks about how he eventually got fired only to go on and start up a company called Next and Pixar. He then says that this was also one of the best decisions he ever made. I believe that any decision he makes will end up working out because he believes in himself. He says you can’t connect the dots looking forward, only looking backwards afterwards, so you have to trust that they will connect. You have to trust in something; your gut, karma, destiny, something. He believed in something whatever that something was. Steve Jobs said he used to walk downtown to receive one good meal a week. He slept in his friends dorms every night. He made the sacrifice, he took the risk, never settled, and he never gave up. He did what he loved and did “great work”. Every characteristic of an entrepreneur I can think of, Steve Jobs has it. As a future entrepreneur, this video inspires me to make sacrifices. Every good entrepreneur must make some sort of sacrifices in their life to do what they love and truly believe in. Whether that’s living off ramen noodles for a couple years, sleeping on the floors of your friends dorm room, or giving up social life sacrifices must be made in order to succeed. “If you live each day as...
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...Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong. As a christian and an overall person, I have many ethics or morals that I live by and believe strongly in. I am by no means perfect and I make mistakes, but I try my best to live by a few rules so that I can be the best person I can be. By living with ethics, I hope to inspire my peers around me to make the right decisions and still live life to the fullest. Ethics are an essential part of the foundation on which a civilized society is built, so I make sure to emphasize them in my life. The biggest aspects of my ethics include being loyal, having faith in Christ, and respecting everyone around me. Loyalty is a strong feeling of support or allegiance. I strongly believe that if you commit to someone or something that you should be faithful to your commitment. As a teenager, I face many situations with my friendships where I am put in the position to turn on my friends when they aren’t looking, but I always do the strong thing and walk away. If you are a loyal person, you are almost sure to have friendships with others because people will see you as a trusted peer and they will gravitate towards you. The ethic of loyalty is sometimes overlooked or underestimated, but I believe that someone’s ability to stay faithful...
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...their senior year of high school is which school to attend and whether to live on campus or commute. There are both advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios. The entire college experience is a learning trip and it is oftentimes a young adults first step towards independence. Living on campus is an adjustment and is a huge eye-opener to the real world. The college dorm life is considered to be part of the "full college experience," but the costs of living in a residence hall can persuade students to remain home while they are in college in order to avoid housing fees. The biggest advantage of living on campus is that it gives you a chance to gain independence. Some students know they want to move out of the house but aren't quite sure they're ready to have their own apartments. Living on campus can provide an in-between step (Lyons 1). Students will still be living on their own and responsible for taking care of their living space, it just wont be as overwhelming as paying rent and everything else that comes with owning an apartment. Another great thing about living on campus is you are much closer to your classes so it will take much less time to get there. Being able to get to and from classes more quickly means students living on campus will also have more time to devote to getting their coursework done (Lyons 1). One main advantage of living in a dorm is that companions always surround you. Your roommates and surrounding mates are other students who are generally...
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...Have you ever think about death? If you have the ability to save someone’s life, without sacrificing anything, would you do it? There are more than 150,000 people die in Australia every year. Most of them were died for cardiovascular diseases, cancer, injury and respiratory diseases. Also, at this moment in Australia there are 79,000 patients on the transplant waiting list. Each day more than 100 people are added to the national transplant waiting list and 17 people die unnecessarily simply because the organ they need is not available. This is a crisis and it has a cure. Almost everyone has the power to save their live, including you and me. Imagine that for the past 5 years you have been to hospital 3 times a week for dialysis, the only thing can help you at this point is a new kidney, because the dialysis is not a lifetime solution. Think about how frustrating and anxious you might be to live a life waiting for a organ transplant that could be much more easily if a great amount of people donate it. After a transplant of a vital organ, the average survival rate is over 80%. A massive increase from the 20% that would live without the surgery. With medical breakthroughs, and a organ and tissue donation, you can help save the live of many people all over the world. One person who donates organs (hearts, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and intestines) can save up to ten lives, while a tissue donor (corneas, bone, skin, heart valves, tendons, veins, etc.) can improve 12 or more...
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