Good character

There is nothing permanent except change.”

“Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.”

About 2500 years ago there lived a man named Heraclitus in the city of Ephesus in Greece.

He lived a lonely life, created his own cryptic philosophy and wasn’t that fond of humanity. Still, he became a big influence on famous stoics like Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.

And he had a few really good words of wisdom that I would like to share today.

1. Envy is a really good way to hurt yourself.

“Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.”

Happiness often seems to be fleeting. But people can hold onto envy and make it even stronger over the course of many years.

But how can you become less envious? Three of my favorite tips are:

Stop comparing yourself to others.

Comparing what you have to what others have is a good way to make yourself miserable. It feeds your ego when you buy a nicer car or get a better job than someone else. You feel great for a while. But this mindset and the focus on comparing always winds up in you noticing someone that has more than you. That someone has an even better job or car than you. And so you don’t feel so good anymore.

A more useful way to compare is to just compare yourself to yourself. Look at how you have grown and what you have achieved. Appreciate what you have done and what you have, how far you have come and what you are planning to do.

Think about what’s in it for you.

I have found this to be helpful in many cases when I have negative thoughts or when I’m behaving in a less than useful way. Basically, I ask myself: “What’s in it for me?” And each time I fall back into that negative headspace and behaviour I remind myself of this question and the answer.

This reinforces to me the pointlessness of what I’m thinking. And often I just think to myself: “Oh, I’m being stupid again. Time to focus on something useful/fun/positive instead.”

Asking yourself what is in it for you is a good way to find distance from your thoughts and behaviour and to motivate yourself to just drop the less useful thoughts whenever you can.

Think about what your envy is telling you.

What you think and feel about the world can often tell you quite a bit about yourself.

So thinking about what your envy tells you about yourself can help you to learn more about yourself, what you fear and how you may be fooling yourself. Think about what is reflected when you feel envious of someone else.

Is it a fear of rejection? Of not being good enough?

Or a fear that you will lose something/someone/some part of yourself you feel very attached to? If so, why are you feeling so attached?

Try to find a solution or help – from books, people, the internet etc. – for whatever fear or belief within you that you think is making you feel the envy. Ask yourself: “What can the envy reveal about me?”

2. Understanding can not be found in books.

“Much learning does not teach understanding.”

When you read a lot you may think that you understand things. But you never really understand anything until your experience it. Yes, knowledge can help you to avoid pitfalls and improve quicker. But it can’t relate how it feels to experience something. And it can’t relate how you experience something since we are all a bit different from each other.

So you have to take action and do things. And when you start doing things you might also discover that things are often a bit more messy in real life than in books where it may seem like you only have to follow a clean ten step method to get the results you want. But that’s part of the fun of living life rather than just thinking and reading about it.

3. Be like the child again.

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”

When you were a kid and were playing you were totally focused on what you were doing. You were curious rather than filled with fear. There were no worries about tomorrow or yesterday. You weren’t lost in endless looping thoughts. You were just in the moment.

You tried to learn to ride your first bike. You fell, scraped your knee, got up again. And again. And again. Until you could do it. Failure was just a temporary annoyance, not a reason to give up.

It is a bit funny and at the same time a bit sad how much of what one may strive for through personal development that is about being like a child again.

Because it’s about living in the moment. About not being bogged down by constant, often kinda pointless thoughts that just produce negative emotions within and outside of you. It’s about being open and curious and not getting trapped in your comfort zone or fear.

So I guess that personal growth may not be so much about adding new layers to yourself but to shed some those that you have gained over the last few decades.

All that positive stuff was there in the beginning. You may still reconnect with it from time to time. And you can learn to spend even more time in that wonderful headspace where you are present, positive, open, kind and curious. While still being a responsible adult.

And if you are looking for a good place to start with this, I would recommend to learn to spend more time in the present moment again

Dear M.R. President Obama. I just wanted to congratulate you !
Let me start by saying that I think that you will do great things for this country and the people of are great nation.
I come from a very well educated family.In westchester NY
I unfortunately dropped out of school. so i am not the best at spelling or grammar. but i will do my best.


I think giving bail out’s for failing banks that have mismanaged their money by making bad investments
Is a very bad idea.
If their loss of revenue is because of loans on homes and businesses that have been foreclosed on then the money should be set in a program that would help people to pay there mortgages and loan payments

This could be done by using bail out money to pay there mortgages and loans. the home owner would then pay the bail out fund back at a% interest this would assure that at least some of the bail out money would go to the people that actually need it .
Here is another way to make sure that bail out money is going to the right places.
When applying for a loan be it business or private the loan could be applied for at the bank.
This would then be turned in to the fund department that would then over see the content of the loan. the bail out fund would then back the loan. The borrower could then repay the loan to the fund.


Example
If the borrower was to borrow lets say $200.000 then the loan would be for lets say $210.000 from the bank.
They would then send the loan over to the bail out fund for approval if approved the fund would then pay the bank $210.000 the bank would then loan $200.000 to the borrower this gives the bank a $10.000 guarantee.

The lend-e would then repay the loan to the fund at $220.000.

This would stimulate lending with out waste. It would all so give the fund a surplus over time. The banks could regain stability for investing and lending.

This would also stimulate the economy by creating small business that would in return lower unemployment. And further stimulate the economy.

A percentage of the tax money that is generated from the investments that the banks would make would go toward the fund and government stability

This would also put a set amount of interest on what a borrower barrows.

With a set amount of debt the borrower can then manage there debt more efficiently

This would not regulate the interest rates that a bank would make on other lending investments but would help to assist them in secured lending through the bail out fund that would be replenished by this program and in return creating a perpetual fund that would grow over time and would relieve the strain of an ever growing government debt.

In time the fund would no longer be on the backs of the tax payer but would be a self sustaining entity.

Should the fund be forced to foreclose on a loan such property could then be resold at government auction to reclaim the remainder of the loan. But with out attaching all the fees, charges and expenses that banks acquire. Thus reducing the risk of loss on the initial investment by the fund.

People with existing faulty loans could also apply much in the same way. Giving the banks relief and yet saving people from loosing there homes and businesses.

It is sad to say but it seams that just giving billions to banks and hoping that they will do the right thing is very risky!

Now for this plan or for any other plan to work there must be very close monitoring over everything from the fund itself to what it is being used for and who is prospering from it.
Now How to enact such a plan would be to set a comity lets call it the {bail out fund comity } the comity would be responsible for the fund and held accountable for every penny, for who will receive funds and who is denied and why.

Banks that want to participate in the fund program would half to apply and be approved.
Banks would have to show good faith in cooperation with the bail out fund program.
This is just an idea. and i have a lot more ideas that i think could solve a lot of problems


Soon to come how to solve the medical problems and keep almost every one happy.

How to stimulate an economy

Solve the Nataniel debt

Foreign affairs

I think president Obama is on the right track but he has a hard road ahead!