We touched on this earlier in the week. We are going to take a little deeper dive into the subject today. I want to start with a fitness analogy because it is my belief that physical improvement mirrors self-improvement rather well. If you are a trainer looking to help someone get in shape, your best chance at success is to find an activity that person enjoys. It is not as though only one activity will get you in shape. Some people like running, some people like walking. Some go to the gym. Some work out at home. All of these will help get you in shape. Alas, there are many people who say their way is the best. It might be the best…for them. I think we can all appreciate that there are many different ways to improve our physical fitness. At the end of the day they all lead to better physical health.
If this is so easy to understand with physical fitness, why is it so difficult to understand with religion and politics? Someone can practice a different faith than you and still lead them to a greater sense of peace and connection with their creator. If what they practice helps them become a better version of themselves for their family, community and themselves, who cares if it is different than ours? Same with politics. Yes, we have different beliefs on how things should be run. At the end of the day I think we all want a safe, affordable place to live where we are free to think and be any way that does not harm others. Rather than screaming at each other for being different, why not find ways in which our different approaches lead to the same goal?
This happens even among self-improvement teachers and coaches. “My method works the best!” you will hear someone claim. Maybe it does for them and a select group of others. A different method may work better for others. That is why I listen to many different speakers. You can hear a message many times and it will not resonate with you. Then you hear a person explain it just such a way that it finally clicks with you. Would you waste your time screaming at all the other people that they are wrong, or would you accept that their method may work for people who are different than you? This seems like a commons sense question, but it should be asked more often.
Can you think of examples where there may be different paths to the ‘top of the mountain’ that will all work? Can you think of ways people can work together despite their differences?
SECRET 2 AN AMAZING LIFE 