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Introduction
THE UNHAPPY MAJORITY
As you look around at your fellow human beings, you will find it hard toignore the fact that very few people are happy, fulfilled and leadingpurposeful lives. Most of them seem unable to cope with their problemsand the circumstances of daily living. The majority, settling for theaverage, have resigned themselves to “just getting by.”Resignation to mediocrity has become a way of life. As a result, feelingsof inadequacy cause them, quite humanly, to blame society, people,circumstances, and surrounding conditions for their failures anddisappointments. The idea that people and things control their lives is sothoroughly ingrained in their thinking that they normally will not respondto logical arguments that prove otherwise.William James, the eminent philosopher and psychologist, onceobserved that “The greatest discovery of our age has been that we, bychanging the inner aspects of our thinking, can change the outer aspects of our lives.” Wrapped up in this brief statement is the dynamictruth that we are
not
victims, but co-creators
in the building of our livesand the world around us. Or, as another sage puts it, “We aren’t whatwe think we are, but what
we think
,we are!”
THE SHEEP STATE OF MIND
Alesson, which has taken us far too long to learn, is that the opposite of bravery is not cowardliness, but conformity. You may have spentvaluable, irreplaceable years trying to fit into the parade only to learn,too late, that you will never fit it.
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