The Start of Something Excellent

Perspective and behavior have always fascinated me. Not just those belonging to others but mine as well. Because of this, part of my life journey has been to find harmony in thought and deed so that my days of satisfaction will outweigh the irksome. Like many, I’ve explored all sorts of “methods” to achieve this end. Buying self-help books is just one of them. On that front, I’m hardly alone.

Who hasn’t noticed there’s a zillion dollar self-help industry out there providing a great resource for inspiration but not much else? The industry has been rather pathetic in terms of actually creating independent people who can take care of themselves. I mean, isn’t that what self-help is supposed to do? Teach you how to help yourself? Why hasn't that happened on a large earth shattering scale? Where have the gurus, both religious and secular, failed? It has not escaped my notice that almost all of them employ some kind of metaphor to express their process but I truly feel their use of the metaphor is cursory and therefore lacking. Personally, when I encounter a metaphor, I regard it as a conduit that connects a universal spiritual truth to an exclusive finite reality. Like Mary Poppins’ magic bag: on the surface exists an agent of rules and boundaries, but when you open it up, inside there is an endless universe of interpretive possibility. Think of the power that unleashes! A figurative expression, whether religious or secular, becomes a passageway to receiving applicable insight for deep personal growth. It also means that people who differ in their interpretations no longer have to fight over them. I think that's the best outcome of a concept like this.  

I have been exploring these thoughts with a friend of mine who not only has a Ph.D. in psychology but also happens to specialize in the area of life satisfaction and excellence. Our time together has been very enriching as he has agreed to subject himself to my many questions about his research and ongoing work while I have agreed to explore a metaphor he has created called The Excellence Tree.

I will be posting every Monday morning to my blog about this journey of ours and would like to invite you to accompany us on this trek. Our first stop: self-mastery… or self-harmony as Dr. Brian likes to call it.

Together, we’ll explore the differences in their connotation under the canopy of the Excellence Tree.