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One of my all-time favorite quotes about commitment is attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back... The moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to...

Claiming your life has a lot to do with keeping situations and relationships in perspective by seeing them through a compassionate, realistic lens. Satisfaction is relative. Your happiness is relative to a scale you have created for yourself. If you measure your...

Spread out good things over time. If you have 100 units of happiness for the year, it doesn’t make sense to use them all up in one day and be miserable the other 364. For example, two gifts of $40 make people happier than a single $80 gift. What can you spread out...

A word on commitment. Commitment is the foundation, the cement of any genuinely loving relationship with yourself and others. Commitments that are initially shallow may grow deep with time; if not, the relationship will likely fail or be sickly and weak. One of the...

Endurance means doing what has to be done whether you feel like it or not. You alone are responsible for developing your endurance. It cannot be taught by anybody else or given to you by anyone else. During the first couple of weeks of trying to reach a goal, consider...

Spending your time imagining what would have been if you could have changed some little thing, some little decision in your life, is counterproductive. Think about how you can improve for the future, today, but don’t waste your present time thinking about how you...

Imagine for a moment that today is your last day on earth. Now, make a list of all the things that you feel you have accomplished, all the things that you are proud of, and all the things that make you happy. Is it your car? Your television? Your stereo? What’s on the...

Think about the pioneers who traveled across the country with their families to start a new life. They found land and claimed it by hammering stakes in the ground; they marked their settlements and built their homes and settled. Do you feel settled in your life?...

One of the biggest disservices you can do to yourself is comparing yourself to others. It is just a one-way ticket into a self-induced torture chamber, especially when you are depressed. Many of our feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction have their roots in how...