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THE JE W E LOF LIF E

The greatest of human freedoms is the ability to choose, at any moment, the palette of our emotional sky. We alone
activate the very energy and emotion through which we experience life. If we wish to feel joy and gratitude in our lives,
then we must direct our beliefs and behaviors in order to accomplish that end. And we must do it constantly, with
such force andrepetition that those emotions become the hues of our daily attitude. This is not easy work, but let it
be our mission.

Perhaps the severest requirement of the good life is to have the constancy of mind to maintain our joy and gratitude
even amid hardship, pain, and injustice.

This is the requirement of self-mastery and happiness. So it rests on our shoulders to notice when we feel bored or
down—and to force ourselves outside to engage with the world again. It’s up to us to appreciate our team even when
a project is failing, and to be thankful for our spouse even amid conflict.

There can be no mastery of life if we cannot transform the energy we feel at any moment into cheerful engagement
and deep appreciation. The self-labeled “realists” will tell us this is impossible. They, who have abandoned hope, will
say that our world is too stressful and cruel, that our genetics and environment are destined to dominate our life and
feelings. They will insist that our unconscious minds and reptilian impulses for fear and selfishness will rule the day
no matter what we do.

But let our own minds decide what is real and what is possible for us. Let our own eyes see among the bored and
battered faces a starkly different, brighter lot. There are those whose faces are so alight with life that they serve as a
blinding reminder, amid the darkness of our time, that joy and charisma and hope still exist. These are the
energizers, the cheerful individuals who inspire and enliven those around them even though their own backgrounds,
genetics, and environments would give cause for them to be apathetic and detached. They, too, might have come
from a broken home or poverty. But instead of choosing bitterness, they seem blissfully aware of, and deeply thankful
for, their blessings, even when those blessings are fewer and more meager than others. These few, the energized and
happy and thankful among us, are not “lucky,” nor are they to be
envied. For their treasures are available to all of us. Their treasure is freely chosen attitude.

We are not blind to the fact it is difficult to choose joy in an agitated, chaotic, often angry world. The social contagion
of negativity spreads quickly because the human mind is susceptible. We are wired to sense and mirror the
emotional energy around us. Seeing fear on someone’s face can trigger a state of fear. Such emotional contagion had
primitive benefits once. It was a blessing in times of grave danger. When the faces of our friends contorted in fear and
they began to flee from some unseen threat, we saw their terrorized faces and automatically felt afraid and fled with
them even before knowing the threat. This prevented us from being eaten or maimed by a prowling animal or
murderous band of men.

But this primal protection is now a mortal enemy. Without predators on the hunt for our flesh, with little to fear but fear
itself, and in a world full of bored, fearful, sullen people, this mirroring impulse can ruin our lives. The energy of the
masses is, at best, a low-tier energy, an emotionally bleak space created by a confused yet cynical people operating
on little sleep, high stress, and a frenetic desire to be somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else.
We must ask ourselves: “Should I conform to their energy? And what of their thoughts and language?”

When the trite and bewildered cynic tells us that the world is going to hell, should we let our mind automati- cally
seek to confirm this reality? Should we, too, allow our mind to cast around for something to complain about? Will we
allow all the negative and needy energy of the world to infiltrate and spoil our motivation or serenity?

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We mustn’t become catastrophes of energetic conformity. We must use our consciousness to overpower our
mirroring impulses. The more we automatically allow our- selves to sync with others’ energy levels—unless they are
the emotional energies of joy, love, and enthusiasm we ourselves wish to feel—the more we diminish our personal
power. The more often we fall in line with the poor language and attitude of the drowning masses, the more we sound
and look like victims. We must never forget that ours is a world of distracted people craving Personal Freedom but
often choosing to operate from fear. And so if we aren’t conscious with our will and vigilance, we risk sliding into their
tragedy. Life can lose its vibrant aura and charm if we do not bend the energy of our minds toward positive
engagement and appreciation. And so let us take back our focus and remember the riches: joy is the jewel of life,
gratitude the gold.

- THE MOTIVATION MANIFESTO, from pgs 157-159

Order this book as a gift for the holidays for someone you love: http://j.mp/ManifestoAmazon

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