Love yourself, your possibilities, your potential. You are mostly unused potential. No matter how long you live, you will not run out of potential. Even those in mental institutions are still serving a purpose.
Choose joy. You have the option. You can close yourself off from joy, but it is still your call.
Accept yourself without pretense. The reality is, you are amazing, warts and all. The less you accept yourself as you are, the more you hold back from the rest of us. And we need your gifts, talents, and abilities. With a few exceptions, we all want you to succeed.
Give away what you know. Don't worry that someone will "one up" you. What you give-time, talent, dollars, knowledge, information-always returns to you, as St. Paul says, ". . .full measure, pressed down, and running over." As someone else once said, "You cannot outgive the universe." I agree.
Practice compassion, which, in its simplest definition means "Do no harm, help where you can." It may sound simplistic, even cool, but it is truly the bedrock of a civilized culture, of a civilized person. You don't have to profess any particular religion or philosophy to practice compassion. Again, like with the point above, compassion will return to you manyfold.
Ultimately, all of the above points, as valuable as they are to the world, are self-serving. And that's OK. The healthier you are mentally, intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually, the more you can offer the world. When your personal and professional successes are based on these kinds of principles rather than greed or fear, you add an energy to the world that can be found nowhere else. I know you've heard it before, but hear it again: you are unique, a one-time speck in the universe that, with nurturing, can make a profound difference. Your recognition of that uniqueness, your cultivating of that potential, is healthy selfishness. It's the key to true success. It can save the world. "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all whoever have." Margaret Mead
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