Growing or Dying?

One of the books I've read is Awaken the Giant Within, by Tony Robbins. This guy who went from being a school janitor to a multi-millionaire is a mountain of energy. He's both practical and story-telling, two appealing ingredients for me.

Recently I listened, for a second time, to a 20-minute video clip of his performance at TED, the Technology, Entertainment and Design Conference featuring 1,000 of some of the world's most influential leaders. He pointed to six basic needs of humans.

The needs of the personality

1. Certainty that they can at least be comfortable.
2. Uncertainty (variety). Too much certainty is boring!
3. Significance: The need to feel more important via money, spirituality, power, or other.
4. Connection (love). Most people settle for connection because love is too scary. Through relationship or prayer.

The needs of the spirit

1. Growth. If you're not growing in some way, you're dying.
2. Contribute beyond ourselves. The secret of living is giving.

Robbins highlights the last two as particularly critical. I'm most touched by that first one.

We're lucky that there are millions of ways to grow. Growth is about adding or building up. For example, today I:

- Sat quietly outdoors for a half hour, taking in some breezy fresh air and sunshine.
- Read Newsweek magazine, learning about the presidential candidates, global warming, the role of women in movies, and various other conversation-starters.
- Shot some hoops, dropping a pound of water weight in the 90+ heat (today's 50 Time: 16 minutes)
- Showered and shaved (more like addition by subtraction here!)
- Analyzed with Dena whether it'd be more effective to keep our current land line long distance phone carrier, or become a full-blown cell phone household (the jury's still out). In addition to the mental exercise of analysis, I think that shared conversation about even small pieces of our future like this adds to our relationship.
- Practiced guitar and singing.
- Wrote to you!

Whether or not they produce immediate, long-lasting, tangible benefits or not, there's happiness in devoting some time each day to inches of personal growth.