We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light. – Earl Nightingale
What does that mean?
To me, this speaks to the human journey, where we each go our own route, guided by our own understanding and beliefs. We each make our own way, walking in the dark, seeing the world by the candle of our abilities and beliefs.
He implies (or at least I think he does) that we cannot use the light of others to illuminate our way. Why? My belief is that we are each unique, and need our own motivations and own beliefs to help us find our own way. We might use a particularly bright light to help guide us, but we must have our own light with which to see.
Why is having you own light (motivations & beliefs) important?
It’s easy to go along with the crowd, to let others make the decisions and simply follow their lead. This is using someone else’s light to light your way. You aren’t making the decisions, they are, but you will still suffer the consequences.
By having you own light, your own set of motivations and beliefs, you can select your path based on what you want and need. With no light at all, you are simply stumbling around in the dark. Even if you have a direction, or a guiding light to help, you still can’t see your feet or the terrain in front of you. How will you select an appropriate path to get where you’re going without your own light?
Where can I apply this in my life?
What are your guiding motivations and beliefs? What makes you tick? What is the light you use to select between the choices that loom in the darkness of the human journey?
What might your guiding motivations be? By this I mean what forces are part of your core, that engages you and helps keep you working until the job is done? For some, it’s the love of gold, for others, it’s the love of their fellow man, or all of mankind. Grab some paper and write down what some of your motivations are.
What might your guiding beliefs be? By this I mean what beliefs are part of your core, that helps you decide what you will do and what is never to be done? For some, it is Good vs Evil, others divide it Order vs Chaos, and most of us have specific beliefs that apply to specific activities that we particularly like or dislike. Add some of these basic rules to your list.
I imagine you never looked at yourself this way before, right? Has this changed your self image even a little? Has the list lead to even more questions and provoked more thoughts on your beliefs and motivations? I hope so!
The things I looked for when I did this were things that didn’t go well together. As I have done exercises like this before, I didn’t spot any (but I’m certain they do exist, lurking in a dark corner), but perhaps you might. As an arbitrary example, someone might have a motivation to help all mankind, but a strong dislike of a particular group of people.
When you find a contradiction, you have to determine how to best resolve it. I would look at an exception or specific rule first, as it is more likely the part that is in need of changing. Then determine how you are going to remedy your out-of-synch parts. There are as many ways to deal with a topic as there are topics, so you’ll have to work some of this out on your own, or leave a comment or question and I’ll see if I can help.
As this is a very personal investigation, and so very unique to each person, I can’t really help other than to ask you to try this exercise a few more times, and see how you develop over time.
From: Twitter, @motivatquotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/earlnighti385226.html
Photo by meddygarnet
