Yesterday I wrote about what I called the heart of freedom, stating that being able to choose your beliefs was more important than being able to change your environment. I quoted Viktor Frankl stating that being able to choose your beliefs was a freedom that could never be taken away. What does that freedom get you? "Just" feelings? Or does it get you more than that? He followed up yesterday's quote with When we are no longer able to change a situation — just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer — we are challenged to change ourselves. By no means would I suggest his environment had anything desirable, but observe where this ability took him. In the midst of one of the…

Viktor Frankl, whom the Nazis captured and imprisoned as a slave laborer in concentration camps including Auschwitz and Dachau, perhaps best clarifies and shows that you can feel free independently of physical constraints and that feeling free gives you all the value of being free. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of…

This post covers the fourth of several non-Method methods, generally expanding on non-Method method 3, "The Secret" or "Law of Attraction." People often, somewhere in the middle of presenting the Method for the first time, for example, ask if the Method is not just positive thinking. Likewise, I hear non-Americans say things like "What is it with you Americans and always wanting to feel happy all the time? Everything in life is not about happiness." I agree with the sentiment. I don't promote trying to feel happy all the time, "positive thinking," affirmations, or the like. They feel like putting lipstick on a pig. I promote you being you, being more aware of yourself and your emotions, and developing skills to act on that knowledge…

This post covers the first of several non-Method methods. People often try to improve their lives by changing or getting rid of something in their environment. By environment I don't mean trees and lakes and streams, but anything that affects your emotional system, as described in my posts on the environment as part of the Model. Typically that thing is their house, car, job, or significant other, but could be anything -- a new diet book, a new labor-saving device, a new degree, stopping seeing a friend, etc. This strategy comes from believing that something external is holding them back from a better life. Or at least that changing something external will improve it. I call the strategy "I need a new house/car/job/boyfriend/girlfriend/etc" Sometimes changing…

I've written about the Model, my foundation for understanding value, meaning, purpose, importance, etc in life, based on understanding yourself, particularly your motivations, emotions, and emotional system. I'll now start on the Method, which covers how to implement the Model. I developed the Model on my own, without intending to create something meaningful or helpful, though I think I ended up doing so. The Method, however, came from applying the Model in life. If you learned the Model and implemented it in your life, I expect you'd come up with the Method too or something similar. By reading my Method you can save time and resources by avoiding my mistakes. I can't think of anything more valuable in life than to replace more of your…

[I replaced this post with a series on The Model. Click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] For the past six weeks I've posted on the Model, my model for human motivations and emotions. The Model forms the foundation of what I consider the best way to view and live life. For those who have been reading along, I recognize it may have been a bit dry or academic. I expect later posts will make life and living the lifestyle you want seem easy and obvious, but require referring back to the Model, in which case this summary will simplify learning it. Today's post summarizes all those posts, which will probably end up a chapter in…

[This post is part of a series on The Model -- my model for the human emotional system designed for use in leadership, self-awareness, and general purpose professional and personal development -- which I find the most effective and valuable foundation for understanding yourself and others and improving your life. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Ask people -- yourself! -- what they value and freedom will rank near the top. What do they mean by freedom? I bet you don't know and that this post will show you can have more. The better you know what freedom means, the more you can bring…