How Will Personal Introspection Improve Your Quality of Life?

Life is full of distractions…Unfortunately, it is very difficult in our present day of instant communications to find the time for personal introspection. Strangely enough, today’s instant communication devices were supposed to save us time and free us up to enjoy our lives. But instead, they often consume our lives. And although we have better communication devices, we have worse communication.

Let’s look at the time we spend in a car:

1. It used to be that a person driving in a car had time to be alone and think about her day or her life. Some people experienced stress in the rest of their day but found that they could relax and have solitude in the car.
2. It used to be that two people driving in a car had uninterrupted time to talk with each other. Traveling together was a time to build relationships with spouses, family or friends.
3. It used to be that a parent would drive the kids and talk with them. This was valuable time together.

Today in cars, I often see the opposite:

• When people are driving alone, they are often on the cell phone or doing work instead of relaxing and thinking.
• When two people are driving in a car, often the driver (not usually the passenger) is talking on the phone. I don’t understand this. I often wonder that if the driver is with friend A but talking to friend B. Then later maybe the driver is with friend B but talking to friend A. Why doesn’t this person just talk to who he’s with?
• When parents drive their kids, parents often talk on the phone to a friend or do work while the kids in the back seat watch television.

I believe that too often we don’t use our modern communication devices in a healthy way. They are meant to serve us and to make our lives better. Too often they seem to rule our lives and steal the quality without us even thinking about it.

For example: If the phone rang right now, would you answer it? You are engaged in reading something that could change your life, yet you might stop to answer the phone. I sometimes hear people answer the phone and say, “I can’t talk now. Can I call you back?” Remember that phones have answering machines or voice mail for a reason.

That’s enough whining about cell phones. I think they’re amazing devices. I just feel that we misuse them like so many other forms of communication. Television, the Internet, computer games, and other forms of entertainment are making us sedentary, solitary people when what we really need is to be more active and involved in relationships.

It only takes a little time and effort each day to make your life come alive. The secret is to take a little time every day for you because you deserve it. You really deserve to have a wonderful life.

3 Questions That Could Change Your Life…

To illustrate how we can make our lives richer, let’s look at a short story by Leo Tolstoy. The title of the story is: “The Three Questions”. Think about how these questions and their answers could change your life.

Question 1: What is the most important time?

Now is the most important time. It is the only time in which we have any power. We do not have power in the past or in the future, but we do have power in the present to make choices.

Question 2: Who is the most important person?

The most important person is the person with us now. That person is the most important because he or she is the only one we can interact with.

Question 3: What is the most important thing to do?

The most important thing is to do good for the person we are with now. To determine how we can serve that person and to take specific actions to do good is the greatest act of love.

Just think of how this could change our lives. Whatever we are doing, we are focused on the present moment and the person we are with. This will create a more meaningful time together and better life experiences. We will have better relationships and will create more good memories of the time we spend together.

Remember the Golden Rule: “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.”

Here is an exercise that I learned from my therapist, Hal Pullin. He recommends that we do this in the morning to focus on what we need each day. Answer these three questions:

1. What do I feel?
2. What do I want to feel?
3. How can I create what I want to feel?

Get the most out of this exercise by writing the answers down. When we write the answers on a piece of paper, we also write them in our minds and in our hearts.

This is an excerpt from my book Attitude Determines Destiny. In it you will learn how to get the most out of life by changing your attitude and making personal changes…changes that can lead you down a life-long path of personal growth.

As a motivational speaker, I conduct seminars and workshops based upon the ideas in my book. I will entertain and inspire your audiences, and I can customize my topics to fit your needs and desires.

Contact me for your next event