Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside awakes.
Once we have learned from without, we then have an example, a pattern as to how to grow from within.
Those who have lived their lives by adhering to natural laws and have been the type of people we would like to be, serve as examples to us, and their lives become blueprints for us.
These wonderful people becomes our heroes, models, mentors, and we desire to emulate their character traits into our own lives.
Through the lives of these models, we can see, in great detail, their triumphs, the corresponding obstacles, and how to rise above challenges that we wouldn't otherwise anticipate.
We pay close attention to what they do, say, think,and even feel.
We pay attention to how they prepare to achieve their successes.
These people may not be absolutely perfect (none of us are), and so we need multiple models.
Each of us is unique,so again we need multiple models customized to our unique personalities and circumstances.
We look for the very best, the devine, in our heroes and models.
In our private or unseen lives, we begin to live our lives in like manner as our models.
We begin to form habits and live our lives according to natural laws.
Like planting seeds, in time, our habits of vision, empathy, love, contribution, and integrity blossom and bear fruit.
Not only do they bear fruit, but they do so time and time again.
The more we see desirable results, The more our confidence grows.
Our confidence in such living grows in our hearts as well as in our minds.
These habits that we form are not just stuff we put on a list and check off as we do them, but rather, these natural laws change our very nature.
Once we can sense that our very nature is changing, It is so exciting.
We get so excited by the positive results from living according to strong character traits that we want to share it with those in our family and others in our private lives.
In Time we so greatly appreciate the transformation and improvement in our own lives that we want to help our loved ones do the same.
We in turn become a model for others.
If our lives have truly been lifted, We want to lift the lives of others.
“Truly” is the operative word here.
This means we are convinced of the power and efficacy of natural laws in our hearts and in our minds.
We have implemented these natural laws or character traits and know firsthand the results that can come from adhering to them.
We must keep working on implementing these natural laws or character traits until they become so obvious to us that we surrender our wills to those natural laws or character traits.
Learning from without and growing from within, Takes effort, But it is well worth the effort.
I hope your results and your excitement make you not only want to share with your families, But that you would also want to share with those in your community life—your neighborhoods, Work colleagues, And even strangers, For that matter.
Share your experience and insights of how adherence to natural laws or character traits has helped you.
This approach of learning from without and growing from within naturally resonates with most people, Because we have all experienced it to some degree.
Look at it this way.
Can you think of a person who saw you in a more favorable light than you saw yourself?
Because such a person has a come, you have “learned from without.”
Because someone has become the source of light or inspiration for you, Haven't you in turn desired to become the source of inspiration for someone else somehow, Which caused you to grow even more? That's one example of learning from without and growing from within.
Allow me to give another example.
Just before my husband and I were married, We were busily trying to find an apartment where we would live.
When we found an apartment, We wanted to furnish it with a few things, But like many newlyweds, We were broke.
The only furniture we had was a lamp. That was it. Picture a one-bedroom apartment with just a lamp.
Even though the apartment was small, It was so empty that it would echo every time someone spoke.
My husband's friend from work, Caloy, Knew of our circumstance and wanted to speak to me in private.
A few days after our conversation she had fully furnished our apartment.
In the kitchen/dining area he got a microwave and a microwave stand.
He also managed to find a dining room table with four chairs.
In the living room he got an area rug, A sofa, A loveseat, A couple of plants, A chair, And some decorations for the wall.
Of course, We contributed our lamp.
In the bedroom he furnished a new bed, Dresses, And two night stand.
All of these furnishings are not something he could readily afford, But he wanted so much to do this wonderful things for us.
When we were all in the apartment for the first time, Marveling at our fully-furnished apartment, Caloy said that they were in a very similar circumstance when they were married.
Someone had also furnished their apartment and simply asked in return that when the opportunity arise in the future that Caloy and his wife would do the same thing for another couple.
He thanked us for helping his fulfill his promise, And asked us to do the same for someone else in the future.
This was such a profound experience for my husband and me, And we look forward to fulfilling our promise to Caloy.
Learn from without and grow from within.
What man actually needs is a tensionless state, But rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, But the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.
Most of us can recall times in our lives when we grew exponentially, And there were tough moments associated with that growth.
Many times people tell me they want to get back to when they grew so much and lived a life of constantly learning from without or learning from others and growing from within.
It's almost as if there were different seasons of life in which we experienced such growth.
When I have asked these same people why such growth didn't continue, Given that it was so beneficial, The most common answer is, “Life just got so busy!” Well, Life probably won't be less busy any time soon for most of us.
If in the midst of such busyness we would get back to living such a life, With a time-management tool that would integrate natural laws or the strengthening of our character, We would indeed become the people we want to be.
Ultimately what people want is to have a rich personal life, Rich family life, As well a life of contribution to the broader human family, Whether it's through professional work or volunteer endeavours.
In the context of our three lives, We want to unlock and unleash the potential we all feel is inside of us.
Look at it as a three-Combination lock that you probably used in high school.
Do you remember the directions to open your combination lock?
You had to turn the dial clockwise to a specific number lined up to a notch and then turn to the left for the second number until you passed the second number for the second time around.
You then turned clockwise again to the third number, And when you pulled on the shackle the lock would open.
What would happen to me, However, Was that every now and then, In my rush, I would only turn counterclockwise to the second number once instead of twice, Before turning clockwise to the third number.
When I pulled the shackle, It wouldn't open.
There was no other way to get the combination lock to work other than to start over and try again.
There were no shortcuts on the combination lock.
It is much the same way with our three interconnected lives.
If we want to unlock and unleash the full potential that is in each of us like the unlocking of a combination lock, There is a process that works—and there are no shortcuts. Learn from without then frow from within.
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