Resource vs. Resourcefulness

Pondering regarding the lives of successful individuals is both inspiring and surprising all at the same time. As a counselor and coach, I have always been astonished by the irony when it comes to achieving greatness among human beings. 

Most of the people who seek my help do so as a result of the imminent nuisance in their lives, but once I dig deeper I recognize that the majority of these persons who find themselves lost actually come from relatively wealthy and affluent families where they had everything they could possibly demand to triumph in life. Expensive gifts, attention, best schools, all means of support, yet you see that many of them are in fact dissatisfied with their lives and continue their existence without much sense of purpose. 

On the other hand, you come across folks who have been through all sorts of crises, kids who did not have enough money to buy food while they were at school, people who have been abused in every conceivable realm growing up, and despite experiencing the type of things that make someone else cry; interestingly enough, very often these people are the ones who make the most out of their lives. 

Thus, the question lingers: What makes the difference between the lives of those who come from nothing and manage to achieve everything, and the people who start their lives amidst all the feasible assets and end up dispirited and hopeless? 

The most outstanding answer to this question was given by Tony Robbins in his historic presentation at TED few years back. He declared that what we truly need in order to thrive and flourish is not resource, but rather resourcefulness. The distinction between these two are quite transparent, while resource refers to the material advantages such as money, time, and social status, resourcefulness is all about using whatever you have in you possession so as to solve difficult problems; creativity, passion, goal, love, determination, conscientiousness, motivation , and most importantly the ability to dream are what constitute the foundation of resourcefulness. 

In the following speech, the legendary Tony Robbins clarifies what truly makes the difference in the quality of people’s lives: 

Please Criticize Me! By Daniel Mulligan

If you want to see me on top, if you want to help me understand my imperfection and improve myself, if you want to make me aware of the self-induced obstacles that are preventing me from reaching my true potential, if you want to allow me to act more maturly, if you want to expand my capabilities and enrich my areas of expertise, if you want to teach me a practical lesson, if you want to grow my emotional intelligence, if you want to assist me in my journey of self-discovery, if you want to make me more likable, if you want to increase my chances of getting result from other people, if you want to make it easier for me to be superior in health, wealth, and wisdom, if you want to give me a marvelous gift and only receive my thanks in return, if you truly want to make me happy then do not compliment me for I am confident enough to compliment myself all day long and thankfully I receive quite a few thumbs-ups from others every now and then.

 

However, I would like you to criticize me since that way you will do me a far greater favor. So,…Please criticize me! Thanks.  

Quotes of the week

1) Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count really count.
- -Albert Einstein

2) Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
--Carl Jung

3) It is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.
— Henry Ward Beecher

4) The dreamers are the saviors of the world.
-- James Allen

5) I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in.
-- The Bible, Phillipians 4:11 (NASB)

6) Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
-- Howard Thurman

7) Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something.
-- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

8) How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.
-– Trina Paulus

9) Say what you want to say when you have the feeling and the chance. My greatest regrets are the things I did not do, the opportunities missed and the things unsaid.
-- Jim Keller

10) You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can't have it.
--Robert Anthony

My Faith

Once upon a time a friend asked me: “What is your religion?” 

To that question I gave the following response: 

“I am a liberal and thus believe that we all have the rights to choose our faith, and with the same token I am inclined to respect other people’s choice of belief system. However, I would use the same autonomy not to select a faith, but to create one. In this way I have set to establish a faith with my own limited knowledge, by myself, and for myself while respecting those who have decided to adopt their beliefs from the convenient sources such as organized religion. 

Hence, I am neither a believer nor a non-believer, neither Jewish nor Christian, neither Agnostic nor Atheist, for to be any of those demands conformation without information; to be categorized as such requires faith or lack thereof without sufficient reason since the futile attempt at proving the supremacy of your beliefs upon others requires the inherently flawed illusion of righteousness as well as a better-than-thou-attitude which only results in repudiation and intolerance. 

Religion is a choice that people make in order to appear just, I on the other hand do not choose to be right, but rather I choose to be happy.”

The Independence Bell

 

A Happy Day for New York, Same-Sex Marriage Legalized

Promoting the mental health as well as social status of LGBT has always been one of my passions in the world of psychology and politics. As a devoted liberal, I realized that unfortunately most of the LGBT’s suffer from lack of self-confidence and it is quite painful to hear that almost 40% of this minority group goes through their lives either attempting suicide or contemplating to do so. 

While I am heterosexual myself, I have always considered sexual orientation to be a result of genetic predispositions. Due to lack of knowledge and dogmatism homosexuality was considered a disease in the ancient times and most often the identity of the homosexuals were kept a secret.

However, the American Psychiatric & Psychological Association has removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses more than three decades ago, and thus the new gay movement began. More and more celebrities, politicians, social workers, nurses, athletes, and etc came out of the closet and set out to ignite a movement to “promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty” for all the homosexuals out there.

Later, the liberal movement which consists of both hetero and homosexuals joined this movement in order to increase its effectiveness thereof. It is safe to say that there exist plenty of individuals from all walks of life who support the LGBT in their strive to make their voice heard. Nowadays, the gay movement’s voice can be heard on the streets, behind the podium, and even on national TV in political Talk Shows such as MSNBC’s Rachael Maddow Show.

Well, it finally happened, and it happened in none other than my beloved New York City. On Friday June 24th, New York law makers legalized same-sex marriage and New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can get married along with Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C. 

Alas, we witnessed many gay bashers on the internet who condemned this movement and posted insulting messages on various forums, that is why I decided to write this post and tell all the gays out there:

Not all heterosexuals are homophobic and that there are plenty of us out there who understand you and foster your grand cause. I personally would like to congratulate the gay movement for this significant achievement.

As Martin Luther King emphasized on the concept of freedom and liberty  in his magnificent speech known as  “I have a dream”:

“And this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.…”

And that bell was irrevocably heard, the ring of freedom was heeded in New York City. So I would like to leave all of you gays with one sentence:

Be happy of who you are, come out of the closet, and show the world that sexual orientation is no more important in determining your destiny than your color of preference, thus it is time for all of us to come together as humans and enjoy thriving in  a free world.   

 

The Future of Medical Science

In one of our Talk Shows the subject turned to euthanasia where we discussed the morality of killing a patient with an incurable illness painlessly. 

During that discourse one of the attendants gave an example regarding one of his friends who was fully paralyzed from the neck down after a disastrous accident and the fact that he only wanted to die so his suffering would stop. When it comes to such patients who have lost hope, alas, samples are ample.

I personally believe that the term "incurable disease" in the medical science should be replaced with the term “not curable yet”. Simply put, the technology within the medical field is progressing rapidly thanks to the digital and computer science, and everyday new solutions are emerging for ailments that were considered to mark the end of functional life merely years back. 

Believe it or not, the future of medical science is glorious to say the least. The digital technology allows a doctor to carry all the information she needs during her diagnosis in a tiny iphone; via robotics we can now prepare fully functional machinelike limbs for the paralyzed and limbless alike. Nanotechnology allows extremely microscopic robots, as small as a blood cell, to traverse the circulatory system and monitor all the vital functions and detect ailment. The social networking and communication technology can give the patients the opportunity to visit their doctors online without having to leave the comfort of their houses since only about 30% of all visits to the doctor’s office actually require physical presence of the patient, and many other new innovations that are on the way. 

Robotics helps paralyzed patients to not only walk, but also take the stairs.

We are already amidst a robust evolution in the world of health and medicine, so those of you who know a friend, relative, or acquaintance with a severe illness that seems incurable by most doctors, just remind them that their disease is merely “not curable yet”. All they have to do is to trust in the future of the medical science.

I would strongly recommend you to watch the following speech by an experienced oncologist named Daniel Kraft concerning the drastic expansion of the medical field in the upcoming years;