Category: Personal Development

Stories, Tips, Excerpts, and Recommended Reading for Self-help and Personal Development

Persistence Where You Would Not Expect?

At the age of 22, I decided to sell self-help books during my summer break to give back to the community. Day after day, I stood in the hot sun surrounded by the bricks of “Brick City”, New Jersey. My sign said “Righteous Books for Sale” and I had a price list of books listed on my cart. I got up early in the morning and pushed my wooden cart full of books about half a mile from East Orange to Newark.

Persistence

Hours would pass without making a single sale. Occasionally, my best friend would come by and hang out with me, making jokes to past time. After one week, I had only sold only about 10 books. A gentleman who simply wanted to support something positive purchased five of those books. While I didn’t make monetary gains that summer I learned an invaluable lesson. One can only reach goals that they set.

How to Achieve Your Dreams with Persistence?

My goal was to simply give back to the community and that is what I accomplished. There was another man on that block, but his goal was to earn money and that is what he accomplished. We will refer to him as many did “The Bum”.

I watched in amazement as this homeless man-made more money in an hour than I could make in four from my corner. He was persistent and did not waver at rejection. When one person told him they didn’t have any money he was asking the next person within seconds. He was adaptable. I once saw him go to one car and tell the person that he was hungry. When offered food, he said that he was thirsty and just needed some change to get water. He would rub his stomach at one car and dance for the next. When he reached his “daily quota” he was nowhere to find for the rest of the day. He woke up early, I know because by 6 am he was already outside and “hungry”.

His goal was to get money and he got it. It’s unfortunate that such a spirit was not used in a productive or constructive way but there was a lesson to learn regardless. If you have a goal, and will to put in the work as if there is no option to fail, the universe dictates that you will reach that goal. Persistence precedes success.

Persistence quotes

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison

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Marc Antoine
marc@marcmoves.com

PS: If you are struggling to tap into the true power within you, or simply looking to bring joy to every aspect of your life, This Book will Help (and is on Sale)

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What Does Commitment to Excellence Mean?

Have you ever been inspired by someone who has made a commitment to excellence? Someone who took pride in his or her work because of its quality? Last week, I met Visual Artist Victor Bong Espinosa from the Philippines. While there was some barrier in our ability to verbally communicate, I realized that a commitment to excellence was universal. Excellence and mastery of a craft are inspiring, especially from one who remains humble.

commitment to excellence

What does commitment to excellence mean?

I saw Victor’s phenomenal paintings displayed in a small room where he stayed while visiting New Jersey. At the time, I couldn’t fathom the thought of someone doing such amazing work to not be seen in public. However, as Victor looked at his work, his smile brightened up the room as he described his paintings. I realized then an important truth. Compensation for a job well done is not always monetary. Here we were in a room in New Jersey, a place where not many would get to see this amazing painting and there was nothing but smiles from the artist as he described his noble inspirations. He said that his passion was painting, and then went on to describe how his inspiration is his homeland, family, travels abroad, people that he met, and their culture.

Dinner with Victor was equally intriguing. He could look at the paintings on the restaurant wall and describe the genre, possible influences for each painting, and where in the world you could find similar paintings. He was a master at his craft who took pride in his work. I am thankful to meet Victor Bong Espinosa, someone dedicated to the universally respected language of excellence!

Commitment to Excellence Quotes

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals” Zig Ziglar

Check out this entreprenur.com article on The 10 Commitments for Excellence in Business

 

 

Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on FacebookWeddMarc Antoine
Email: marc@marcmoves.com

PS: If you are struggling to tap into your true power, or are simply looking to bring joy to every aspect of your life, This Book will Help (and is on Sale)

Thank you!

Finding Spiritual Balance in Life’s Obstacles

Spiritual balance is important in any profession. As a teacher, I often struggled to stay positive after I thought a class went poorly. It took me a long time to regain my spiritual balance as I pondered on students who were not reaching their full potential.

Spiritual Balance in Life

Yesterday, I received some advice early in the morning as someone read my first blog post. The person said, “Don’t fight the negativity/darkness it’s a part of the flow, balance the yin and yang… embrace it, it’s the reason you are who you are today… the stars wouldn’t twinkle without darkness.”

Spiritual Balance

First of all, I knew what this person told me was true because it actually became the theme of my day. I also heard this same advice in different ways from multiple people I interacted with. I became less affected by the moment and more focused on understanding the lesson that would come about from the situation. Furthermore, I perceived potential negative situations as a degree on the spectrum of positive. In other words, I thought about the lesson, in contrast to the emotion that I would normally attach to the situation. I was at peace, life’s student! After receiving that text, I then proceeded to have one of the greatest days of my life. I was simply at peace because I perceived perspective.

How to get your spirituality back?

Spiritual Balance

I saw the emotion I would normally attach to a given situation and almost laughed at it. Furthermore, I finally understood the importance of spiritual balance. I would not be writing this now without the negative experiences in my life. It’s from those experiences I developed the passion, fire, and drive for better. The universe creates duality for balance and peace. Appreciation for hot occurs after the cold experience. When you touch water where does hot end and cold begin?

As a child, I remember my mom saying, “why do you want the shower so hot?” As steam fogged the mirror, I would reply, “It’s not hot mom!” I would then fold my arms and increase the heat. I can laugh at this situation now because I can better understand it and the emotions I used to attach to that situation. Let’s embrace life’s lessons and find balance in the classroom.

Spiritual Balance Quotes

“Mind, as matter, may be transmuted, from state to state, degree to degree, condition to condition, pole to pole, vibration to vibration. Transmutation is a Mental Art.” -Kemetic Teachings

“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? It was neither this man sinned nor his parents, but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him.” -John 9:2-3

Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on Facebook

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Marc Antoine
Email: marc@marcmoves.com

PS: If you are struggling to tap into your true power, or simply looking to bring joy to every aspect of your life, This Book will Help (and is on Sale)

Thank you!

Be Yourself Even If Your Environment is Toxic?

We have heard this many times, “Just be yourself!” What does it mean to be yourself?

Be Yourself: The Secret Formula to Removing Negativity

Be Yourself Meaning

To be yourself is to align your actions with your higher purpose in life. With practice, these actions will become second nature or natural.

Do you remember the last time you blinked? Do you think about breathing to breathe?

These actions are so necessary to our survival and well-being that our unconscious takes over.

Is being yourself not as essential to your well-being? If so, then how can we make positive thinking about ourselves as natural as blinking or breathing?

This is something that I struggled with for a long time. In my life recurring negative thoughts associated with two fears that I had to overcome.

be yourself

The first fear is the fear of something negative happening.

The second fear was of me doing something negative leading to something negative happening.

Whenever either fear was present I would have a negative thought. At that point, I would then act out of that fear and try to overcome that fear. This did not work to rid me of the thought! For example, I would try to tell myself hey “I’m watching too much TV!” and then I would go a week without watching TV, this did not help. Or I would say to myself just ignore it. While this worked for some this did not work for me.

That’s when it finally clicked I could not get rid of a fear by acting out of fear. I could not get rid of a negative thought by acting on that thought whether in a positive or negative way. I had to simply become myself!

What do you mean to be yourself?

be yourself

It’s simply the choice in the “valley of decision”! Every moment was an opportunity to decide. For example, let’s say you are walking into the bank and you see someone else about to walk in. They are just far enough from the door that you say to yourself “if I hold the door for this person I will be holding it for about ten seconds”. Then you think “umm ten seconds is a long time.” Then you think “what will the person inside the bank think of me for holding the door this long. Umm, they will think it’s weird.” Then you walk in the door like you didn’t see the person trying to enter the bank. The person walks in and gives you a look. You act like you did not see them again. They know better but most importantly you know better. That was the “valley of decision”.

How did we do? Did we invite positive energy or negative energy? Did we act within our self or act outside of our self because of some external reason?

Be Yourself and Overcome

So how did I get rid of various negative recurring thoughts at different points of my life? I started to live on purpose with purpose! I did what my higher (moral self) would do at each point in my life when I had to decide. By doing this I put out the energy that I wanted to receive. I was not looking to see what I could get from something, someone or some situation but rather I saw how love and life are work. The first thought is always to hold the door open for ten seconds! That is the real you, that is natural! When you do what is natural you don’t think twice about your decision. When you act outside of yourself that experience/energy/ thought will recur in your mind as you think about what you could have done differently.

For more on how you to be yourself check out this Wiki How Article.

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Be Yourself Quotes

“They who grasps the truth of the Mental Nature of the Universe are well advanced on the Path to Self-Mastery.” – Kemetic Wisdom

“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from you good ones.” –Benjamin Franklin.

“To destroy an undesirable rate of mental vibration, concentrate on the opposite vibration to the one to be suppressed.” -Kemetic Wisdom

Did This Help You? If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you commented below and shared on Facebook

Marc Antoine

Wedd

marc@marcmoves.com

PS: If you are struggling to tap into your true power, or simply looking to bring joy to every aspect of your life,This Book will Help (and is on Sale)

Thank you!