Three Levels of Thinking

Make the leap from asking, "who am I, and what do I want?" to asking that most powerful question of all — "how do others see themselves, and how can I help them feel stronger and more successful?"

Games are played in all kinds of places — sports stadiums, backyards, offices, classrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms. But games are won in only one place — in the mind of the winning player. That's why Michael Jordan was consistently better than the tallest player in the National Basketball Association every year he played — having better physical tools to work with was not enough to beat a player like Jordan, thinking at a higher level. That's why some salespeople consistently sell more — of the same stuff to the same people — than the rest of their colleagues. That's why David slew Goliath, and that's why your personal path for your success begins right between your ears.

Here's the fact: how we think is the key to how we live. It's the key to your happiness, the key to your personal goodness, and the key to your success.

East Versus West in the Pursuit of Happiness

One useful model of observation on how people think comes in the classic description of the difference between Eastern thinking and Western thinking. Begin with the observation that unhappiness is the product of unmet desires. Eastern thinking says, change your desires to match what you already have, and you will become happy. Western thinking says, change the world to fit your desires, and you will be happy. If you are unhappy because you live in a tiny house and want a bigger home, the traditional Eastern view would be to change your desire so that you want no more than you already have. The Western view would be to go out and build a bigger house, at almost any cost.

There's some wisdom in this model, but the world we live in today is no longer easily divided between East and West; each tradition has drawn on the other for decades now, and the habits and patterns of thinking of each have blended together in important ways. And in my experience, the most successful people have always combined elements of both traditions in their thinking — they embrace the ambition and outward focus of the West as well as the patience and humility of the East.

We all know people who are filled with the Western ambition to go out and change the world. Many succeed, at least now and then, by pushing against the forces of the world and reshaping them. But just about all of them also fail now and then — because they come face-to-face with people, ideas, or parts of the physical world that are simply too strong to be moved. And we all know people who are filled with Eastern patience and humility, ready to reshape their own desires to fill the world. At times, this approach to life is powerfully rewarding, with the ups and downs of the external world softened by a philosophical detachment from external things. But how many opportunities to make positive change in the world slip by, how many chances to have a real impact on the world are missed, because of this detachment?

But imagine the man or woman who looks at the world and understands, this is when I should push, here is the opportunity to reshape the world in some small way, and knows too when to say, here is when I must step back, here is when my desire has to yield to patience. The real power lies in being able to see both visions — both the ambition of the West and the humility and patience of the East — and being able to employ each when it best suits the challenge at hand.

From Book of 'The Power of Purpose' :

The Power of Purpose begins with a simple but remarkable statement: "The more you focus on helping others, the more you will succeed in reaching your own goals." Peter S. Temes builds on this fundamental insight to share a simple plan for living with the truest and most enduring kind of happiness.

http://www.enotalone.com/article/5958.html