“Obsession led me to write. It’s been that way with every book I’ve ever written. I become completely consumed by a theme, by characters, by a desire to meet a challenge.” ~ Anne Rice
An obsession is consuming. It often pushes other activities into the background. It compels and fills your thoughts and impassions your soul with desire. It becomes the beat of your heart and the pulse of your being. It drives you ever forward toward its object.
And while obsessive behavior can destroy and corrupt happiness, robbing it of a sense of freedom and will and sometimes even land you in prison, certain kinds of controlled obsessions can enhance the quality of your life. I recommend the following …
1. Be Obsessed with Kindness
Are you drawn to kindness like a child to candy? Do you regularly think about how you can bless the lives of others? Do you wish you could do more?
An obsession with kindness can be seen in those who are constantly reaching out to do good. They are seen in soup kitchens, ladling soup, in food banks, boxing food and cleaning up after natural disasters.
Such people’s hearts are filled with love and compassion and charity. They care about others, even those they don’t know and have never met.
And it’s an obsession that will draw the best from you as you reach out in service to others. It is guaranteed to add meaning to life and purpose to living.
2. Be Obsessed with Excellence
No matter what you do, be the best you can be at what you’re doing within the time frame you have for doing it. If you have only 10 minutes to prepare for a presentation, for instance, then be the most focused and diligent preparer for each and every one of those 600 seconds.
Make excellence your motto and your theme song. Those obsessed with excellence can usually be found congregating at the top of their classes, at the top of corporate ladders and on the top of winner’s platforms.
They show up to practices first and are the last ones to leave. They are self-motivated and yearn to improve and add value and innovate. They also inspire others to excellence by pursuing it and exemplifying it in themselves.
They go the extra mile and do those things others aren’t willing to do. Often, it’s the small things that put them at the top. They work on their free throw longer than others. They make the phone calls no one wants to make. They follow through and plan and pay attention to the details.
3. Be Obsessed with Happiness
You only have one mortal life. It can be filled with frustration and anger, bitterness, hatred, suspicion and resentment. Or we can become obsessed with developing those characteristics happy people possess.
People obsessed with their own happiness, when pursued correctly, find themselves very unfocussed on themselves in the long run. They quickly learn that the happiest people are focused on others. They develop traits like patience, compassion and gratitude. They smile freely and laugh often.
They are obsessed with seeing the good in the bad and believing that, with a little work, things will work out in the long run even if they aren’t working out yet today.
4. Be Obsessed with Gratitude
What a wonderful obsession to have! Such people possessed with this obsession habitually see beauty and opportunity and decency and humor even in life’s most trying moments. Not only are they obsessed with expressions of gratitude, they’re obsessed with being grateful, with feeling it deep inside.
They have an incurable passion for seeing the good and interpreting life in terms of its blessings even when others only see its pain.
5. Be Obsessed with Wisdom
Those plagued by this obsession hunger and thirst for knowledge and intellectual growth. But most of all, they seek to understand the wise application of that knowledge.
Knowing is one thing. Knowing how and why and if, is another.
If being smart is your capacity to learn and knowledge is what you’ve learned, then wisdom is knowing when and where and why that knowledge should be applied in any particular way … and when it shouldn’t be.
That understanding is what is obsessed over. And so those obsessed with wisdom spend lots of time learning and thinking. They study a broad range of knowledge.
But they spend a particularly large amount of their study time with wisdom literature, reading deeply from philosophical and religious and spiritual texts.
Their libraries display books like Aristotle’s Ethics, Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, the Bible and Buddha’s Dhammapada, among others.
6. Be Obsessed with Character
A wit and intellect, a great sense of humor, popularity, a great personality are not enough for those obsessed with character.
They believe character, their personal commitment to a set of moral standards, is more important than gold or power or prestige. They’re protective of it and don’t place themselves in circumstances where they may be tempted to act against it.
They are not at the mercy of their emotions. They don’t excuse bad behavior by citing bad feelings.
Such obsessives are very comfortable talking about morals and ethics and values and standards. They talk freely of courage and love, of humility, honesty and decency.
They work on being compassionate and kind. Their honor and integrity cannot be bought and are never compromised. Those so obsessed therefore tend to be deeply respected, trusted and admired. They see moral flaws of pride and selfishness as things to be overcome. Their word is their bond.
They stand for something which strengthens their sense of purpose. The beauty of those obsessed with character is that they seldom ever wince when they look deeply into a mirror, peering into the depths of their own souls. As such, they sleep peacefully, undisturbed by the pangs of conscience or guilt or shame.
7. Be Obsessed with Growth
Personal growth obsessives are uncomfortable with plateaus and stagnation. They cringe at statements like, “That’s just the way I am” or “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
They challenge themselves and look for opportunities to learn and overcome, to stretch and become something better than they were before.
They grow spiritually, mentally, emotionally, professionally, and in their relationships. They work on their character and review their days and weeks and months and years to see how they can improve next time around.
They go to seminars and check out personal growth tapes from the public library. They read and work out and eat well and push themselves outside their comfort zones with regularity.
They welcome challenge because of the growth they experience from it. And because they are so dedicated to growth in general, they never become too lopsided, dedicated to one area of growth to the utter neglect of others.
Afterthoughts
“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance … have brought me to my ideas.” ~ Albert Einstein
Obsessions are tricky things. While those obsessed with whatever it is that drives them and defines them are those who tend to cluster at the top of any industry (sports, entertainment, business, whatever), those obsessed with what they do often struggle in other areas of their very successful lives.
Divorce, estranged children, character flaws made huge by media attention and health problems are commonplace among some of the people who have obsessed their way into the public spotlight.
There are healthy forms of obsession – a passionate form of dedication and drive – that leads to great things if you use that passion to move you steadily toward your goals instead of being controlled by those inordinate levels and kinds of obsessive qualities.
But an obsession with life, with living it well, fully, immersed in the joys of it, filled to capacity with the passion of living it, engulfed in the flow and rising tide of deep abiding happiness is an obsession that we would all do well to acquire.
Your turn:
What are your healthy obsessions? Or what targeted obsessions do you plan on developing for 2012? Please share in the comments below.
And feel free to obsessively Share and Tweet this post if it resonated with you (or you think it may with others).
Ken Wert, at MeanttobeHappy.com, is dedicated to inspiring readers to live with purpose, act with character, think with clarity and grow with courage. He believes we were all meant to be happy and can be if we but learn and apply the principles that produce it. He blogs at Meant to be Happy.
Don’t forget to sign up for a free ebook and a monthly newsletter.
Don’t Forget To sign up for the PTB NEWSLETTER!
Related Articles:
The 21 Habits of Healthy People
GET THE BOOK BY
ERIN FALCONER!
Enjoyed every bit of your article. Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged!.
Very good blog article. Really looking forward to read more. Really Great!.
WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by searching for .edu blog
Also visit my web-site Vibrators
Useful information. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m surprised why this twist of fate didn’t took
place earlier! I bookmarked it.
I simply couldn’t leave your web site prior to suggesting that I actually loved the
standard info an individual provide to your visitors?
Is going to be back often to inspect new posts
Hi there, this weekend is pleasant in favor of me, as this point in time i am reading this wonderful
informative post here at my residence.
I was able to find good info from your articles.
I enjoy reading through a post that will make people think.
Also, thanks for permitting me to comment!
I got this web site from my friend who shared with me
concerning this web site and now this time I am browsing this web page and reading very informative articles or reviews here.
I blog frequently and I genuinely thank you for your content.
Your article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to
book mark your site and keep checking for new information about once per week.
I opted in for your RSS feed as well.
Hello, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was
just wondering if you get a lot of spam responses?
If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?
I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any help is very much appreciated.
Hello Dear, are you actually visiting this web page on a regular basis, if so then you will
absolutely obtain nice know-how.
Yes! Finally someone writes about euro truck simulator 2
indir.
Thank you, I have recently been searching for
info approximately this subject for a long time and yours is
the greatest I have found out till now. However, what in regards to the bottom line?
Are you positive concerning the source?
My family members always say that I am wasting my time here at
web, except I know I am getting familiarity
daily by reading thes nice articles.
Outstanding quest there. What happened after? Thanks!
Wow, wonderful blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is excellent, as well as the content!
Hi there everyone, it’s my first go to see at this web site, and piece of writing is in fact fruitful in support of me, keep up posting such posts.
Hi, i think that i saw you visited my weblog so i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting
to find things to enhance my web site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
I visited several websites however the audio feature for audio songs present at this web page is really marvelous.
I absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your post’s to be
exactly what I’m looking for. Does one offer
guest writers to write content for you? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on some of
the subjects you write in relation to here.
Again, awesome website!
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours nowadays, yet I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours.
It is lovely price enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and
bloggers made just right content material as you
did, the web shall be much more useful than ever before.
This piece of writing provides clear idea in support of the new users of blogging, that genuinely how to do blogging
and site-building.
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I certainly enjoyed reading
it, you’re a great author. I will ensure that
I bookmark your blog and will come back in the foreseeable future.
I want to encourage yourself to continue your great writing, have a nice
afternoon!
What’s up, of course this piece of writing is really fastidious and I have
learned lot of things from it regarding blogging.
thanks.
Hi there, I discovered your site via Google while searching for a
similar subject, your site came up, it appears great.
I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there, just become aware of your weblog through
Google, and located that it’s really informative.
I’m going to be careful for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future.
Lots of other folks shall be benefited from
your writing. Cheers!
Whoa! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a entirely different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
Hi, I do believe this is a great site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may come back once again since I
saved as a favorite it. Money and freedom is
the best way to change, may you be rich and continue
to guide others.
Wonderful post! We will be linking to this particularly great article
on our site. Keep up the great writing.
I’ve been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours these days, yet
I by no means found any fascinating article like yours.
It is pretty value sufficient for me. Personally, if all site
owners and bloggers made excellent content material
as you did, the web shall be a lot more useful than ever before.
This design is spectacular! You obviously know how to keep a
reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I
was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Wonderful job.
I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you
presented it. Too cool!
Have you ever thought about publishing an ebook or
guest authoring on other websites? I have a blog based on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you
share some stories/information. I know my visitors would
value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to send
me an e mail.
Fantastic website you have here but I was curious if you knew of
any discussion boards that cover the same topics discussed in this article?
I’d really like to be a part of group where I can get opinions from other knowledgeable
individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Bless you!
Hi my loved one! I want to say that this post is
awesome, great written and include almost all important infos.
I’d like to see more posts like this .
Why You Should Stay Away From Audemars Piguet Fake Models?
There are a variety of products on the market as an alternative to products that have
high prices and are difficult to buy. Although some of these are replicas of the original product, there are also fake products.
In this article, we will examine why you should stay
away from fake products and Audemars Piguet fake watch models.
By reading our article, you can learn about
these areas and learn how to distinguish fake
products.
Hello very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Superb ..
I will bookmark your website and take the feeds additionally?
I am glad to seek out numerous useful info right here in the post, we want work out more strategies on this regard, thank
you for sharing. . . . . .
I was recommended this blog by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody
else know such detailed about my difficulty.
You’re incredible! Thanks!
writing services foor college papers Shongaloo village Bianca
detectives privados islas baleares
After going over a handful of the blog posts on your web site, I honestly appreciate your way of blogging. ラブドール
EIS Components is the stocking Distributor of A3212ELHLT-T, we specialize in Allegro MicroSystems, LLC all series electronic components. A3212ELHLT-T can be shipped within 24 hours after order. If you have any demands for A3212ELHLT-T, Please kindly submit an RFQ here or send us an email. We will reply you as soon as possible.
Chocolate Kush has a strong chocolate aroma with hints of vanilla and a sweet, earthy Skunk flavor. The bud is dense with a combination of dark green and brown hues and a thin layer of trichomes on the surface.
에볼루션카지노
317GzRQnR,,&
에볼루션바카라
526TnXzvL+<<
에볼루션블랙잭531FHBKjj’@=
에볼루션카지노
125RBSvoX*@}
에볼루션카지노
308MCvAYh`+(