Chapter 1
JANUARY 1
Once we truly know that life is difficult -- once we truly understand and accept it -- then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, it no longer matters.
RLT, p. 15
JANUARY 2
Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them?
RLT, p. 15
JANUARY 3
Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems.
RLT, p. 15-16
JANUARY 4
Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and our wisdom.
RLT, p. 16
JANUARY 5
Wise people learn not to dread but actually to welcome problems because it is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning.
RLT, p. 16
JANUARY 6
The tools of discipline are techniques by which we experience the pain of problems in such a way as to work them through and solve them successfully, learning and growing in the process. When we teach ourselves discipline, we are teaching ourselves how to suffer and also how to grow.
RLT, p. 17-18
JANUARY 7
You can enhance the pleasure of life by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. RLT, p. 19
JANUARY 8
The time and the quality of the time that their parents devote to them indicate to children the degree to which they are valued by their parents. RLT, p. 23
JANUARY 9
When children know that they are valued, when they truly feel valued in the deepest parts of themselves, then they feel valuable. This knowledge is worth more than any gold. RLT, p. 24
JANUARY 10
The feeling of being valuable is a cornerstone of self-discipline because when you consider yourself valuable you will take care of yourself -- including things like using your time well. In this way, self-discipline is self-caring.
RLT, p. 24
JANUARY 11
You can solve any problem if you are simply willing to take the time.
RLT, p. 28
JANUARY 12
Problems do not go away. They must be worked through or else they remain, forever a barrier to the growth and development of the spirit.
RLT, p. 30
JANUARY 13
We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them.
RLT, p. 32
JANUARY 14
We must accept responsibility for a problem before we can solve it. We cannot solve a problem by saying "It's not my problem," and hoping that someone else will solve it for us. We can solve a problem only when we say "This is my problem and it's up to me to solve it."
RLT, p. 32
JANUARY 15
To be free people we must assume total responsibility for ourselves, but in doing so we must possess the capacity to reject responsibility that is not truly ours.
RLT, p. 64
JANUARY 16
The problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for is one of the greatest problems of human existence. To perform this process adequately we must possess the willingness and the capacity to suffer continual self-examination.
RLT, p. 37
JANUARY 17
It is only through a vast amount of experience and a lengthy and successful maturation that we gain the capacity to see the world and our place in it realistically, and thus are enabled to realistically assess our responsibility for ourselves and the world.
RLT, p. 37
JANUARY 18
No problem can be solved until an individual assumes the responsibility for solving it.
RLT, p. 39
JANUARY 19
By attempting to avoid the responsibility for our own behavior, we are giving away our power to some other individual or organization. In this way, millions daily attempt to escape from freedom.
RLT, p. 42
JANUARY 20
As adults, our choices are almost unlimited, but that does not mean they are not painful. Frequently our choices lie between the lesser of two evils, but it is still within our power to make these choices.
RLT, p. 42-43
JANUARY 21
The entirety of one's adult life is a series of personal choices, decisions. If we can accept this totally, then we become free people. To the extent that we do not accept this we will forever feel ourselves victims. RLT, p. 44
JANUARY 22
If our lives are to be healthy and our spirits are to grow, we must be dedicated to the truth. For truth is reality. And the more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world.
RLT, p. 44
JANUARY 23
Our view of reality is like a map with which to negotiate the terrain of life. If the map is false and inaccurate, we generally will be lost. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are, and if we have decided where we want to go, we will generally know how to get there.
RLT, p. 44
JANUARY 24
Only a relative and fortunate few continue until the moment of death exploring the mystery of reality, revising their maps of it, ever enlarging and refining and redefining their understanding of the world and what is true.
RLT, p. 45
JANUARY 25
The biggest problem of making internal maps of reality is not that we have to start from scratch, but that if our maps are to be accurate we have to continually revise them.
RLT, p. 45
JANUARY 26
We must always hold truth, as best we can determine it, to be more important, more vital to our self-interest, than our comfort.
RLT, p. 50
JANUARY 27
What does a life of total dedication to the truth mean? It means a life of continuous and never-ending stringent self-examination.
RLT, p. 51
JANUARY 28
The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action. RLT, p. 51
JANUARY 29
To know the world, we must not only examine it but we must simultaneously examine the examiner.
RLT, p. 51
JANUARY 30
Fortunately, we are beginning to realize that the sources of danger to the world lie more within us than outside, and that the process of constant self-examination and contemplation is essential for ultimate survival.
RLT, p. 51-52
JANUARY 31
Examination of the world without is never as personally painful as examination of the world within.
RLT, p. 52
Copyright © 1993 by M. Scott Peck, M.D., P.C.
