Your Personal Philosophy … Socrates, Plato, or Puppies?
When you think about the great philosophers, who comes to mind?
Aristotle, Socrates, Epicurus, Confucius, Contrera???
Wait a minute, hold the phone, stop the presses, kill the power!!!!
Contrera??? What impact does his philosophy have on the world?
While the likes of Socrates and Plato may have changed the way we view the world, it is our personal philosophy that determines the level of happiness (internally) that we experience on a daily basis.
Your personal philosophy is rooted in your beliefs, and the sum of your beliefs reflects your internal belief system. This system provides the lenses with which we both see and experience the world. It determines what we make things mean.
What you believe about money, relationships, education, government, success, love, etc. determines the actions you take and therefore the results that you get. If you aren’t happy with the results you’re getting in your life … chances are you’re probably not happy.
Your personal philosophy and what you believe today impacts the results you’re getting in your life far more than what Socrates wrote 2,485 years ago.
So what is your personal philosophy? What are you making things mean?What choices are you making in your life? Are you achieving the results you want?
Below are 3 situations and 3 possible reactions that may help you gain clarity on your own personal philosophy. Choose the way you most typically react:
1. When someone you love makes a mistake do you: A) Get angry and tell them to get there act together. B) Say “don’t worry about it, we all make mistakes.” C) Say “Don’t worry about it, everyone makes mistakes” and then spend the next hour lecturing them on how they could avoid making mistakes in the future?
2. If someone shares bad news about a person that you really don’t like do you: A) Think to yourself … good they deserve what they get. B) Think to yourself even though you are not fond of them you still hope they are okay. C) Think to yourself better them than me!
3. When your driving and someone cuts you off do you: A) Slam on the horn and yell an obscenity. B) Smile and let it go. C) Yell, smile and give them the finger as you pass them.
If you answered B to all of the above questions, than chances are you have a healthy personal philosophy and are reasonably happy. If you answered everything but B to all 3 questions you might ask yourself … how’s that working for you? Are you truly happy? Do you want to be happy?
Sometimes happiness comes down to having a personal philosophy that is based on enjoying the simple things in life, letting go of all the things that create frustration, and angst, and most importantly, letting go of all the things you have no control over!
Maybe the great philosopher, Charles Schultz (the creator of Charlie Brown) was right when he said …
“Happiness is a warm puppy!”
I guess if you can’t lick ’em … might as well join ’em!
