It's the Sky the Limit (I)

"The Sky’s the Limit" was written by Wayne Dyer and it is the first book I read on personal development. Ever since then, I read a lot of books on personal development. 

I am an unhappy person. At first, I thought I was unique. After reading this book, I began to realize that others have the same problem as I.




Some of the points in this book I found useful for me include the following (the categorical groupings are my adding):

Self Image and Self Confidence

• No one is superior to anyone else by nature.
• You are full of confidence that you can master this situation, because you have a strong belief in yourself.
• Anyone can rid himself of self-defeating thinking and behavior and grow into a human being who lives fully day by day.
• Refuse to conform and to establish yourself as a person with your own dignity and self-respect.
• No one is any better than anyone else.
• How you decide to think is one of your most important choices to make in life.
• Virtually all your self-defeating attitudes and behaviors originate in the way you choose to think.
• You can choose any attitude you would like to have under virtually any circumstances.
• We need not place any limits on our abilities to undertake any activity that interests us.
• When you determine your own fate according to your own best thoughts, you are transcending your weaknesses and taking charge of your life course as best you can.
• In any situation, what matters is how you see yourself and when you do get the feeling of ‘insecure’, ask yourself whether you have them because you really do feel internally insecure, or whether you just feel insecure because you have come to think of yourself that way in this kind of situation. A little calm thought about your situation can get you out of your panic if you just stop worrying about how ‘insecure’ you are.
• Is my behavior right or effective in making me happy, no matter how others label it or how I have labeled it yesterday.
• Insecurities are eliminated by actions.
• If you learn how to take care of your body, how to use all its glorious qualities, you will be a much more effective, productive and happy person.
• Deep within you are natural attitudes, capabilities and potentials that will aid you in every operational area of your life.
• If you cannot stop worrying about other things when playing, you are still letting someone other than yourself be in charge of your thinking center.
• Love yourself, find positive about natural curiosities and in control of your own lives.
• To keep those external signals from blocking out your inner impulses, so that you can assume as much control of your own life, be as independent of other people’s opinions and make as many important decisions for yourself as possible.
• Become attuned to the constant interplay of inner signal can give you real security, peace of mind and joy.
• Only you can be the creator of your integrity.
• Personal integrity and being honest with yourself to be far more important.
• Only when your motivations are internal to begin with, and you are pursuing the intrinsic payoffs of finding an even better way to do what you do, of becoming a more talented, more appreciative person, do the motivations for growth become unlimited.
• You must have self-respect. You have an inalienable right to be in this world as much as anyone else does.
• We all have an instinct to belong, to feel important, to engage in significant relationships.
• Your ability to love and be loved depends completely on yourself.
• Everybody loves that person because he loves himself and he knows how to love everybody in one way or another. He knows how to be thoughtful in any human interaction, how to be considerate, to make others feel immediately at home with him, how to ‘open up’ himself without being defensive or afraid that others will reject him, which he couldn’t care less about.
• The feeling of being useful, of creatively making a difference, of possessing some task and carrying it out to completion.
• There is nothing more important than feeling a sense of significance and prepare about yourself as a human being.
• Personal fulfillment comes from within and trusting your inner signals.
• Self renewal, motivation and spiritual refreshment that come from recreation.
• Lives and motivated by highest values. Seek out your own truth. Go after beauty and justice in your world. Insist on being treated with dignity, demand goodness.
• Cultivate friendship that are meaningful for you.
• Don't settle for less than you might become. You are as great as any human who has ever lived here before you. You can become anything you choose and that greatness is yours for the taking if you really want it.
• You are as old as you decide you are.
• Everything about yourself which you do not like is within your capacity to change if you make the decision to do so. Your personality is what you allow it to be.
• All people have dignity and value, regardless of the mistakes they make.
• Your thoughts are your very own personal responsibility. All of your feelings and behaviors are preceeded by mental processes called thoughts.
• You do not have to get yourself cornered into upward-mobility trap.
• Cultivating a strong sense of appreciation for the worth of the other person.
• You get to be where you are according to how much you trust yourself and what you do.
• Playing for yourself, to improve your skills, to achieve at the level that is satisfactory to you, to be relaxed and stress-free and to stop the incessant comparison with others.
• Does not worry about others 'rejecting' him.
• Thinking internally is a valued ingredient in your life.
• Holistic world-view allows him to see meaning everywhere.Unshakable sense of security comes from internal feeling of self-worth.
• Never upset by labels people stick on him or others.
• Sees the past purely in terms of what it has taught him about how to live now, the future purely as more present moments to be lived to the fullest when they come. Plans for the future only insofar as is necessary for fulfillment of personal life projects. Lives exclusively and fully in the present moment.

Being perfect

• Being perfect means viewing yourself with new eyes, letting yourself arrive fully into life.
• The essence of your perfection is in your own ability to look at yourself, accept what you see as perfect in the present moment, and then be able to grow into something quite different, but still perfect.
• Able to grow from a situation in which you fail to reach your goal. It involves not demanding perfection from yourself in every single thing you do, but, instead, thinking of yourself as perfect and thus capable of growing.
• Doing your very best at everything all the time will wear you down and keep you from achieving excellence in any area of your life.

In the past, I always tried to do things as perfect as I can. I rehearsed the presentations I was going to do as many times as possible, hoping there was no error at the time I actually performed. This exhausted me. And I don't know in fact this is due to my lack of security. I do not trust my ability to deal with anything unprepared. But life simply cannot be controlled.