Session 3: MY PRINCIPLES

Shifting to Your Core

STARTER QUESTION/S:
1. Share one blessing that happened to you in the past week.
2. If you were to look in the mirror, how would you see yourself?*
*Creative Tip: Bring an actual mirror. And while a member of your group is sharing, have
them face the mirror.

SUBJECT:
Genesis 1:28 MSG
God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting Gods
nature. He created them male and female.

The following is a list of statements made by many experts in their fields. At the time, they
were said they sounded intelligent. With the passing of time, they sound idiotic.

Top 10 All-Time Stupid Quotes:

1. There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. - Kenneth
Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
2. Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. - Marshal Ferdinand Foch, World War
I Commander, 1911
3. Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances. - Dr. Lee
De Forest, Father of Radio, 1967
4. Television wont be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People
th
will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. - Darryl Zanuk, 20 Century Fox
Head, 1946
5. We dont like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out. - Decca Records rejecting
The Beatles, 1962
6. For the majority of people, the use of tobacco has a beneficial effect. - Dr. Ian
MacDonald, LA Surgeon, 1969
7. This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means to
communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. - Western Union, 1876
nd
8. The earth is the center of the universe. - Ptolemy, Astronomer, 2 Century
9. Nothing of importance happened today. - King George III, July 4, 1776
10. Everything that can be invented has been invented. - Charles Duell, US Patents
Commissioner, 1899

Having read these, let me share with you another list of statements made by real teens just like you.
Youve heard them before, and they are just as ridiculous as the list above.
No one in my family has ever become successful. Id be crazy to think I could make it.
Its no use. My dad and I will never get along. Were just too different.
My mom hates me.
Shes so pretty-- Ill bet shes a snob.
Me? Thin? Are you kidding? My whole family is full of fat people!
A paradigm is the way you see something - your point of view, frame of reference. So a paradigm
of self is how you see yourself. Positive self paradigms can bring out the best in your, while
negative self-paradigms can limit you.
Paradigm Builder: To build a positive paradigm what do you do?
Spend time with someone who believes in me and recognizes my potential.

So Whats a Paradigm?
What do these two lists of statements have in common? First, theyre all perceptions about the
way things are, not facts. Second, these perceptions are all inaccurate or incomplete even
though the people who said them are convinced theyre true.

Another word for perceptions is paradigms [pair-a-dimes]. A paradigm is the way you see something;
its your point of view, frame of reference, or belief. Sometimes our paradigms are way off the mark,
and, as a result, they create limitations.

Paradigms are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms about yourself or life in general,
its like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. That lens affects how you
see everything else. As a result, what you see is what you get. If you believe youre dumb, that very
belief will make you dumb. Or, if you believe your little sister is dumb, youll look for evidence to
support your belief, find it, and shell remain dumb in your eyes. On the other hand, if you
believe youre smart, that belief will cast a rosy hue on everything you do.

A teen named Kristi once shared with me how much she loved the beauty of the mountains. One
day she went to visit her eye doctor and, to her surprise, discovered that her sight was much worse
than she had thought. After putting in her new contacts, she was astonished at how well she could
see. As she put it, I realized that the mountains and trees and even the signs on the side of the road
have more detail than I had ever
imagined. It was the strangest thing. I didnt know how bad my eyes were until I experienced
how good they could be. Thats often the way it is. We dont know how much were missing
because we have messed-up paradigms.

We have paradigms about ourselves, about other people, and about life in general. And we

cannot center our lives on these paradigms.

We need to center on principles.

We are all familiar with the effects of gravity. Throw a ball up and it comes down. Its a natural
law or principle. Just as there are principles that rule the physical world, there are principles that
rule the human world. Principles arent religious. They arent based on nationality or race. They
arent mine or yours. They arent up for discussion. They apply equally to everyone, male or
female, rich or poor, famous or obscure. They cant be
 bought or sold. If you live by them, you will excel. If you break them, you will fail. Its that simple.

Here are a few examples: Honesty is a principle. Service is a principle. Love is a principle. Hard
work is a principle. Respect, gratitude, moderation, fairness, integrity, loyalty, and responsibility
are principles. There are dozens and dozens more. They are not hard to identify. Just as a compass
always points to true north, your heart will recognize true principles.

For example, think about the principle of hard work. You may be able to scrape by using shortcuts
and faking it for a while, but eventually itll catch up to you.

You cant fake playing golf, tuning a guitar, or speaking Arabic if you havent paid the price to get
good. Theres no way around it. Hard work is a principle. As the NBA great Larry Bird put it, If
you dont do your homework, you wont make your free throws.

It takes faith to live by principles, especially when you see people close to you get ahead in life by
lying, cheating, indulging, manipulating, and serving only themselves. What you dont see,
however, is that breaking principles always catches up to them in the end.

Take the principle of honesty. If youre a big liar, you may be able to get by for a while, even for a
few years. But youd be hard-pressed to find a liar who achieved success over the long haul. As
Cecil B. DeMille observed about his classic movie The Ten Commandments , It is impossible
for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law.

Unlike all the other paradigms, principles will never fail you. Theyll never
gossip behind your back. They dont move away. They dont suffer career-ending injuries. They
dont play favorites based on skin color, gender, wealth, or appearance. A principle- centered life is
simply the most stable, immovable, unshakable foundation you can build upon, and we all need one
of those.

To grasp why principles always work, just imagine living a life based on their opposites a life of
dishonesty, laziness, indulgence, ingratitude, selfishness, and hate. I cant imagine any good things
coming out of that. Can you?

Putting principles first is also the key to becoming a person of character.

SHARING:
1. What are some positive self paradigms you have about yourself?
2. What are some negative paradigms about yourself?
3. What are the paradigms that your parent, guardian, or teacher might say about you?
4. What is that one negative paradigm you would like to change?
5. What is one situation you need to see the other sides point of view?
6. Name one person who believes in you and recognizes your potential. Spend more time
with them.

SUPPLICATION:
What are things you want to pray for?
Pray for each others needs.