I, Alone! Mastering Life's Seven Principles

I, Alone!

Mastering Life’s Seven Principles

Aristides Priakos

Cover Design & Photo: Sixto Serrano

Copyright 2015 by Aristides Priakos

A special thanks to Ms. Arlena Hutton for her great eyes and proofing skills.

Smashwords Edition

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References:

- Character Counts in Iowa from the website of the same name; The Story of the Seed

- www.openthemeeting.com quote from Abraham Lincoln

- A collection of wisdom through Hindu passages from the Hindu scriptures.

- Jim Rohn-Network Marketing Skills

Table of Contents

Introduction

Principle #1: Make Great Decisions

Predicting Your Own Future

Business Buffoonery

Pride & Ego

Principle #2: Be Better Tomorrow Than You Are Today

My Painful Memory

Our Own Painful Past

Better Suggestions

Principle #3: Be of the Highest Integrity

Sharing With Others

Your Following

The Seed of Integrity

Principle #4: Always Seek Wisdom

The Atom Smasher

Wisdom is All Truths in the Universe

The Wisdom of Consciousness

The Wisdom in Philosophy

Wisdom of the Universe

Within Lies Wisdom

Principle #5: Remove Everything Negative

How Negativity Affects Your Life

How the Brain Processes Negativity

The Emotional Kill Cycle

Your Emotions & Negativity

Breaking the Cycle of Negativity

The Bull’s-Eye Targets of Conflict & Desire

Principle #6: Love Yourself First

Your Attitude is Everything

Your Brain Needs Goals to Love

Self-Love & Relationships

Principle #7: Serve Others

Serving Unselfishly

The Note From Above

Serving Your Mind

It’s the Small Things That Count

Serving the Sick & Special Needs

Conclusion & Acknowledgement

Introduction

When you read this book, it is my hope that you understand that we must always try to be the masters of our lives. It is a continuing process. Sometimes it is pleasurable, and sometimes it is painful. How you change your direction and your mind-set to apply these principles to make your life more rewarding and fulfilling is the key element that I want you to take from this book.

You can be a master at mastering something--but in order to be able to master anything, you must start somewhere. Some never start so they never make nor experience the great and positive outcomes from the much needed changes that are required to make one’s life more fulfilling. So how can you attempt to master anything if there is no beginning? Interestingly enough, and the irony as well, is that there is never an end to mastering anything. We should always be seeking and learning.

So, why did I call this book I, Alone! Mastering Life’s Seven Principles? I named it such because ultimately it is you that must take the first step. I don’t care what anyone says-- you can have all the support systems in place but it is still you that must decide to start somewhere. Alone does not mean that you have to go through it or grow alone--it just means that you, alone, must take the first step to positive change.

One such joke describes the above comment. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, but the light bulb really has to want to change!

A funny joke, but the meaning holds so very true. You must want to start to change, and the one thing that must change first is your mind-set. You are the only one that can do that.

Taking action stems from our ability to think for ourselves, and the actions and the steps you take will always result in continually making a decision to do something.

Good, bad or indifferent, we make these decisions based purely on thought. Unfortunately, we make it difficult on ourselves, and many people do not take stock and responsibility for their actions. What do you think your results will be if you take zero action? Pretty bleak, isn’t it? Thus, any attempt to master anything will fall short of our own expectations if you do not start and take action first.

All of our thoughts, emotions, and logic are tied into one collective stream of consciousness. In order to master anything, the collection of your thoughts and emotions will dictate an action which will then lead you into some type of direction.

Direction is just one element to mastering anything, and the direction and focus you have requires some sort of guidance. It must have constant nurturing, and it must contain one key element that most forget--your ability or process to stay on track and never waiver. That is the tough part, but it is not beyond anyone’s ability.

When you finish reading this book, I hope that you reflect on where you are at this point in your life. You must then take some kind of direction and apply all of these principles each and every day of your life. Continuing to do these seven things over and over again will get you some pretty amazing results very quickly.

Principle #1: Make Great Decisions

As I started this chapter, I thought about some of the decisions that I made in my life. I might have changed a few things, but then again, none of us would be where we are at this particular point in time if we changed just one thing in our past. Therein lies the dichotomy—you cannot change anything in your past so why even think about it? Because we are human and we do things like that. Let me ask you a question. If you knew that you could go backwards in time and change just one thing, not knowing the outcome of that action and what it would do to your life in the present, would you do it? I don’t think many of us would. Because you just don’t know. That fear is sometimes what stops us from making great decisions.

At this point you would start second guessing yourself. I should have done this, or I should have done that. Many have said to themselves, If hadn’t been so stupid when I was younger, I would not be in the mess that I’m in right now. Easy to say now isn’t it? Is it financial? Did you marry too young? Did you marry the wrong person or stay together just for the sake of children? Did you pass up on a job you knew you should have taken? Did you pass on buying Apple when it was 25 cents a share and say to yourself Aww…computers will never catch on? Let me clue you in on something. Stop beating yourself up as there is nothing in the world you can do about it. The past is the past, and it is what it is.

Let me give you something to think about for a minute--the decisions you made two, or perhaps five years ago, are indeed affecting your life in the here and now.

That is not my opinion—it is a fact. I think all of us at some point in our lives have possibly second guessed ourselves and said, If I had a chance to do it over again I would change this or I would change that. Going back to my initial question: If you had a chance to do it all over again, what would you change?

You might change where you live or perhaps you might have done something differently. You would most certainly not be where you are today. Decisions require that you take action, and by taking action, positively or negatively, it will always determine an outcome. Always! If your thought process is of mal intent then your outcome will have negative or even disastrous results. You knew going into the thought process of that decision that the outcome may not be in your favor.

I’ll give you an example. A man is at a horse track. He only has $50 left in his pocket. His choices are few, aren’t they? Does he take that 50 bucks and bet on a horse that has odds against him, or does he use that money to go home and feed his family? He has a gambling problem, you might say. He may very well have a gambling problem, but that is not the point here, so stay with me on this.

His thought process requires him to act on that thought at that exact moment in time. That action now requires him to make a decision. If he takes the money and steps up to the window and bets it all on the number five horse, his odds of winning are very low. Yes, he is gambling with that money; but isn’t that what many of us do when we make poor decisions? You are gambling with your own outcome--your future! The decision that he made betting on that horse will inevitably create an outcome that he knows may potentially have a terrible result.

Think about it for a minute. If you make a decision that you know deep down is the wrong thing to do, you are truly gambling with the outcome of those actions because you have just given up the control of your own destiny. The betting man, in this example, had to make a decision that required action, which most often will result in a negative outcome. Of course, I use the gambling illustration because it is easy to understand and hopefully everyone gets it. Here is the first nugget of the book—Every decision that you will ever make for the rest of your life will require you to take some type of action.

This is not that complicated to understand, is it? We make decisions all day, and sometimes we don’t even know we are doing it because our subconscious is so strong that we do things by default—like driving, making coffee or even shopping. You know what you have to do when you take action because you have done that same action so many times before. It becomes routine—you are conditioned.

What about the events in your life that have not yet been determined by your decisions? For instance, what about a new job that you are considering, a marriage proposal, or even the decision to have a baby? All of these have not reached an outcome because a decision to act has not yet been determined.

Predict Your Future

How do you make a great decision? You must first, and in every case, try to consider the potential outcome. You are almost trying to predict your own future. You may say to yourself, that sounds ridiculous. However, you can determine many of the variables far in advance of taking action because you should have a keen understanding of the differences between right and wrong. Almost all decisions are based on right and wrong. Period! End of subject! The actions that you take based on your thoughts and decisions will invariably create a positive or negative outcome.

I’m not talking about picking the right or wrong golf club. Dang, if I hadn’t used the seven-iron I’d be on the green right now instead of the sand trap! No. That is not what I mean. I am merely stating that right and wrong will be based on what you have learned in the past, a social authority, or even God for that matter, and what it is you use as a reference point to direct your thoughts. The ability you possess to utilize your brain to think freely for yourself will help you make the best decision you are capable of making. A great decision is something you should always strive for and seek.

Going back to my earlier question: what benefits will you receive from that new job? How does it affect your life? Will you have to move? Will it require you to take on a great deal more responsibility? Do you feel good about the people that are involved with this potential new position?

What about the case of asking someone to marry you? That is a pretty big decision, isn’t it? It is probably one of the biggest decisions you will ever make, next to having a baby, but I will delve into that in just a few minutes. Marriage is not something you jump into as something very important must happen first. You must develop a sense of trust with that other person.

Not only is that person supposed to be your best friend, but now you must consider the fact that both of you must now make great decisions together. That requires a great deal of trust and confidence in the other person’s ability to make great decisions on your behalf, as well as theirs. Pretty interesting, isn’t it?

Gaining trust from another person does not happen overnight. Just like anything else, it is a process that happens over a period of time. That time period, however it looks for you, must pass and certain things must happen to earn that trust, as we like to say in our society. Trust is earned by doing something for another person in little bits and pieces.

Let me give you an example. Would you trust someone to watch your child if you only knew them for a few days? Absolutely not! If you did, then that would not be making a great decision, would it? But how did you know so fast the outcome of that decision? Because it is engrained in our subconscious as we know what is right and what is wrong. It would be wrong to trust someone with your child only knowing them for a few days. That is a trust that is developed over a period of time. It is something we just know what to do.

Remember, humans are social animals, and we have a structure already in place. We know that a decision, such as the above example illustrates, is so very simple to understand. And we do this time and time again. If you recall a few paragraphs above, I was going to tell you about having a baby. Here is the interesting thing about this. Coming naked into this world (as well as our early