Sharing is Caring...

Ok this is may sound a little contrasting but it's my blog, I'll bitch if I want to. Why am I becoming such a girl?..

Anyway, I thought I'd tell anyone who's willing to listen about this book I just read. It's really simple but has a powerful message etc etc.. ala "Who Moved My Cheese". It's called Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments by Kent M. Keith PhD.

Nothing to do with any religion but it made the most sense of life of anything I've read since forever. It basically tells u why he adopted these commandments in life and why it makes sense. These commandments of his became so pervasive that Mother Theresa did a mural on a wall of her orphanage in India with a poetry version of these commandments.

I can't possibly type about all the messages he puts in the book but I'll type the commandments. And so... the 10 Commandments are as follows:

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are sucessful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only the top dog.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spends years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world your best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

So well... you can see why it's called the Paradoxical Commandments, but in the book he explains why it's still better to do good in spite of the consequences. Just to pique your curiousity, for example, with the commandment regarding giving your best he says,

"The cost of giving your best can be high (e.g. backlash of jealousy and rivalry, false accusations etc..). The only thing that costs more is not giving your best. If you aren't giving your best, you aren't who you're supposed to be."

And also..

"If you're not giving the world your best, what world are you saving it for?"

Do digest all this for a while... the book is a very worth while read... anything that can make you stop and think for a while is. He backs his commandments with real-life experiences, many personal examples and puts them in a context that we may relate to daily. It's not a boring theoretical discourse or a pretentious noble guide to an alternative lifestyle or anything like that. Depending on the individual, the book will strike a chord at one point or at several.

Looks like I won't type the "contrasting" part I originally intended to, the entry is getting a little long already. Do try getting your hands on the book, if anything, then just to pass time with a little reading, it's only just over a 100 pages.

PS: I don't get any royalties or kickbacks from promoting this. Just one of the rare moments where one person opens up to another.